When I initially met Jenny Bai a few months ago in New York, I was in awe of her unwavering confidence and forward-thinking insights on US-China relations that seemed to be far beyond her 25 years. Jenny Bai, Founder and CEO of The Red Connect, is definitely a woman on the move who will shape China’s “coolness factor” on a global level for many years to come. Want to learn more about China’s future exports in the fields of branding, pop culture and media? Read on!

I never know where you are in the world from one day to the next! Tell me a little bit about your background, how you became such a global citizen, and where you call “home.” I was born in Shanghai but left when I was three years old. Growing up in the States, I lived in Virginia, Maryland, D.C., California—went to Dana Hall in Massachusetts, Vanderbilt in Tennessee and today, I currently travel back and forth between Beijing, New York and Dallas. After I graduated from Vandy, I was really itching to move to NYC to become a fashion designer, but my ever-wise mother said to me: “why go to New York to do something everyone is already doing? Why not try China?” As a child growing up in white suburbia, China had never been a large part of my life. And yet, for some reason, per mom’s suggestion, the idea to move to China seemed right. Literally the next day, a year before graduation, I found a job teaching little kids English in Shenzhen. About two months before I was set to leave for Shenzhen, I got a call from the organizers of the teaching program. “You aren’t allowed to teach at that school anymore, because you are essentially not white enough,” was something along the lines of what they said to me. “Well, you had better find me another job then,” I replied. And they did—in Tianjin, teaching basic business and English at the Tianjin University of Finance and Economics. And so I got on a plane, like many others before me, to reach the land of ESL-plenty; except I promised myself that a) I would use my teaching experience as research into the Chinese psyche and b) six months into my trip, I would find my next big step. Six months to the day, the eve of my birthday, I was searching online for a job and saw an ad looking for a Chinese, female marketing manager for a product called yourchinaguide.com. Since I was Director of Marketing for The Great Gourmet during my junior and senior year in college, I thought I would be well-suited for the job; however, I wasn’t crazy about the site. Good marketing is one thing, but it must be supported by a good product. So, I said to the founder of yourchinaguide.com: “How about I create a business model, and you fund it?” I was astounded when he said yes! And so The Red Connect was born, about two and a half years ago—as a business culture firm, consulting expat managers and facilitating MBA business trips. I’ve been solidly committed to creating cross-border connections ever since.

You describe The Red Connect as a cultural consulting company. Specifically, what type of work does The Red Connect do? And what is Tianjin Elite?
Interesting you should ask. The Red Connect is actually undergoing a somewhat drastic transformation. When I first founded TRC, I was catering more to my investor’s interests; I was able to branch out a little via consulting, but the focus was still mainly on interpretation and translation assistance. Since I’m more of a creative type, this kind of work was too black and white for my taste. A little over a year ago, I was Director of the Marketing Committee on the board of the American Chamber of Commerce—Greater Tianjin Branch; through them I did a lot of work with hotels in the area. What I learned was this: even though Tianjin is the third largest city in China, it’s way behind in terms of development. While it’s a great city for business, there is not much (cross) cultural activity in the area, especially relative to Beijing. So, we saw the opportunity to create Tianjin Elite, an attempt to bring luxury lifestyle to outsiders coming into Tianjin. When a city really starts to develop in China, the first thing people may notice is a drastic increase in the number of malls showcasing big luxury brands. I began to witness this in Tianjin and decided to create a book to distribute to the top 10 hotels in Tianjin, for display in each of the rooms, which included high-fashion images and artistic branding of what the city had to offer in terms of luxury, culture, and play. However, as we learned the hard way, securing an ISBN number in China is nearly impossible without some serious connections and cash; since we were only about half a year old, we just weren’t ready. But Tianjin Elite did propel us in the direction I wanted TRC to go, which involves media, buzz-campaigns, and creative cross-border initiatives. Most recently, a new partner (Dai Biao owned by @pdkay) and I are working on a project for the Shanghai 2010 World Expo, geared towards engaging cross-border urban youth culture in the U.S.-China equation. I have been eyeing this cross-cultural youth market for some time now, and am excited to help push it to the forefront of China buzz. Talk about a branding job: it’ll be fun trying to give China a “cool” factor.

Tell me a little bit about The World of Chinese.
Since Tianjin Elite opened the publishing door, I began to take an interest in Chinese media and what part it played in cross-border affairs. About eight months ago, I was consulting a Chinese culture and language magazine called The World of Chinese, published by The Commercial Press, Beijing’s oldest publishing house, best known for their Oxford dictionaries. For the past two years, the rag had been run by an entirely Chinese team; since the publication was for English-speaking expats, they seemed to be going nowhere. So, I was invited to become their Managing Editor and Creative Director, aiming to re-brand and re-position the image, content and target audience. TWOC is finally starting to make a little noise now; we have a strong and useful product targeting a more sophisticated audience. I’m still running around putting out quite a few fires, though; the majority of Chinese media will always be at least semi-government-run, and to that end, the challenges are a daily occurrence.

As you stated, The World of Chinese is a Chinese-published magazine and must follow the guidelines as put forth by China’s government. How do you integrate content that will be useful and interesting to the foreign community at large while adhering to the policies and norms of China and just how strict is it?
Two factors to consider: 1) China’s government is obviously politically sensitive and 2) office politics in China are really heavy on a micro and macro level. I was aware that I couldn’t mention topics such as Mao, the Cultural Revolution, and Tiananmen in the magazine, but I was not prepared for how office politics would affect the content.  In my opinion, there is already way too much traditional Chinese information out there, so I doubt if anyone wants to spend their leisure time reading yet another publication about the Great Wall. TWOC is also not a local rag like the Beijinger, City Weekend, or even Time Out. So, part of my intent in the re-brand was to introduce a business culture section, including useful information via case studies, market trends, biz tips, etc. But I really had to fight for my vision. Concepts like guanxi (relationships) and mianzi (face), topics widely covered by Western consultants everywhere, had a tough time making it through inter-office procedures. My Chinese bosses (and there are a slew of them, especially in the publishing industry) all felt that discussing guanxi in a useful light was too close to speaking on corruption, and talking about the ways mianzi play an integral part in Chinese behavior was in fact not humble enough. It’s an ongoing battle. I’m actually hoping to find a publisher in the States to publish TWOC; that way, we can get in all the honest and useful stuff, but still have a strong team of China experts generating the content.

How far does China have to come before it becomes a “household name” in the US in terms of branding and pop culture?
In terms of crossing over and exporting China’s “coolness factor,” I think someone in the middle is needed. China could be “cool” in the U.S. tomorrow, but that depends on what happens with branding. In China, I feel like the idea of branding is synonymous with the idea of face, both of which represent a reaction to an emotional trigger. China is obsessed with luxury brands because it equals status, but what China doesn’t have yet is the history behind its branding, like the U.S. does. Take kaixin001.com, for example: a fiercely popular online community for young people and a great project overall. How do you introduce it to the U.S. and translate it into an American-friendly product? You need someone who understands how to cross such a product or concept over, without losing the Chinese element, which oftentimes means keeping the Chinese people who are associated with it. The problem is, these types of “someone” are far and few between, even though many claim to be these so-called experts. That’s why I’m so excited for the project @pdkay and I are working on for the World Expo. We’re not China experts; we’re connectors. We want to link up the actual target audience with each other, the people who would make China a part of their daily U.S. lives; once they’re linked up, via content, campaigns, events, we want to provide a platform for them, so that the “cool factor” evolves naturally. China will become a “household name” when the two sides actually begin to personally interact with each other on a regular and integral basis. I definitely want to be a spark in that movement.

You were born in China but were raised and educated in the states. Now, you’re doing business in China. What advantages and disadvantages do you have?
It’s funny, actually. Pretty much every Chinese business contact I make is interested in talking to me because I look Chinese but grew up and was educated in the West. People in the West also can’t wait to talk to me because I’m based in China. For some reason, they all assume that I know more—about what, I’m not sure. It’s an interesting phenomena. From a personal development point of view, China has changed my life. After living here for about three years, I’ve seen three types of “foreign behavior.” The first is the expat who is initially very excited about being in China, but then settles into frustration and cynicism. The second group is made up of those who thrive on the “expat package,” never really making an effort to understand China because their nicely padded bubble doesn’t require it. Then, there are people who make an effort to know the local community and the Chinese mindset. I try to fall into the latter, but gaining an understanding about something doesn’t necessarily mean that it gets easier! It has really made me stop and think about a lot of things that I used to take for granted, though. A good example of this is a lesson many expat managers could stand to learn: we assume a lot and because culture is so innate most don’t stop to think about whether or not their ideas are being conveyed or if the Chinese person on the other end even understands the true meaning behind what is being said. I think expat managers should consider the midpoint between micro- and macro-management to be the best way to go in China. You know that exercise about writing down the instructions on how to make a peanut butter sandwich? So many people forget to include steps like “open the jar.” Well, you can’t forget those steps in China, or any foreign country for that matter. Everyone has a different set of experiences and critical thinking skills, and in order to communicate effectively, you first have to even the playing field.

Why should the global under-30 crowd care about China?
Good question. In my personal opinion, I think that the under-30 age group in America just doesn’t “get it” yet, particularly about international affairs. It’s a generalization—I want to make that very clear. But, one of the reasons we need to introduce China via pop culture is because it’s what young people in the U.S. will gravitate to, and it’s that young market that will catapult China relations to an entirely new level.

In terms of China, what should media in the West be focusing on?
Well, one thing they should not do is keep beating China down! Many Chinese people interpret Western media as being hostile towards China. While American journalists may think that they are being truthful or interesting in their coverage, their reports are actually biased, negative and often ignorant of accurate facts. In order to really grasp what’s going on in China, you have to go directly to the source. Too many assumptions are made, otherwise.

What’s next for you?
I figured out that even though I’m consulting people on certain aspects of China, and even though I’m all about connecting experts to experts to create great initiatives, I’m still no expert. I love China, but it is not my culture, even though it’s my heritage. I need to focus State-side, and keep combining my knowledge with other specialists to make China more than just Chinatown in the U.S. Technology also excites me (although I think we need a new word for “technology” – sounds so antiquated!) We’re already sitting in sort of a second “dot.com” bubble, with the rise of Twitter, iPhone apps and all those other fabulous new media bits. So whatever I do, I’m bringing those treats with me.

Want to learn more about Jenny Bai, including the story behind her new wrist tattoo which reads “Vanup?” Check out her website or leave your questions in the comment section of this site! You can follow Jenny on Twitter at @jennybai.

Interviews branding, Culture, Jenny Bai, Link Up Learn More, Media, The Red Connect, The World of Chinese, World Expo, Youth