Eileen Kwei, BA 01 – Networking with Sincerity and Authenticity

Mar 14 2024 • 26 mins

The OneHaas alumni podcast is thrilled to welcome Eileen Kwei, the Managing Director and Chief Administrative Officer of Artisan Partners, a global investment management firm that offers a wide range of high-value-added investment strategies.

Eileen was born in the U.S. and spent the first six years of her life in New York where her parents furthered their studies at American universities. When they decided it was time to move back to Taiwan, young Eileen quickly realized she was not going to fit in with her classmates who all spoke and read in Mandarin while she only knew English. But she was determined to assimilate into the culture of her new home. A determination that would come in handy again when Eileen moved back to the U.S. for high school and had to re-assimilate into another culture.

Eileen chats with host Sean Li about how those cultural experiences have influenced the way she builds relationships with people in her career, her family’s rich cultural history as mainlanders in Taiwan, and her approach to mentoring and networking.

*OneHaas Alumni Podcast is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*

Episode Quotes:

Her experience assimilating to Taiwanese culture

“Having spent the first six years of my life in the U.S., English was my first language. I didn't speak or write Mandarin. I think thinking back to that period of time, despite how I looked on the outside, I was different, and being different was hard, and I learned that firsthand. But in hindsight, that period of time was also a very valuable life lesson for me to learn about perspectives. Don't make assumptions. Give others the benefit of the doubt. Walk in other people's shoes.”

The importance of preserving Chinese culture in her family

“My family fled from mainland China to Taiwan, but so did I think a million other people.

And my grandparents on both sides had this strong sense of responsibility to provide for those who came along with them and to uphold that culture and those values that they were accustomed to when they lived in mainland China.”

A major takeaway from her first job

“There are many ways to invest. Alpha generation or generating returns above the benchmark is possible in any market environment and to be a good investor does not just require skill, but it requires tremendous judgment.”

Her approach to networking

“I really care about people, I want to understand where they come from. I want to be able to appreciate their perspective, whether it's the same or even better or different than mine, gives me maybe a more genuine starting point and hopefully that sincerity and authenticity comes across and is reciprocated, as not just a launch pad to have that connection off the bat, but to really serve as a foundation to foster meaningful, long-standing, hopefully lifelong relationships.”