Lillian - Asia Pacific Director

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  • March 6, 2023
  • 3 minutes of read time

Lillian - Asia Pacific Director

Summarize your career in a few lines

I worked as Finance and HR manager in a German company before I joined Seppic in 2005 as the project manager for our Qingpu plant in Shanghai.  And then I moved to business for vaccine adjuvant in China.  In 2012, I was offered to work in Paris as the change manager for the new Enterprise resource planning project until I came back to China and was in charge of the Beauty Care business for Asia Pacific in 2014.  In 2017, I started to be in charge of all the business in Asia Pacific, including the Qingpu plant.

Why did you want to do this job?

This job is very diverse, which allows me to deal with different interesting markets in different countries and manage different functions in Seppic Shanghai.  And this is for sure what I wanted to do from an early age, as I like different challenges and the current job allows me to use my multiple knowledge gained from my diverse experiences in the past.

What drives you in your daily life?

What drives me is the passion for making things better together with the team.  Although we already have a very good base, we always have chances and opportunities to make things better, especially when we are facing such big potential markets in Asia.  It is challenging, but interesting as well. When I see anything improved after the efforts of all the team, it fulfills me the most.

What are you most proud of? What would you say is your greatest achievement?

I do not have the greatest achievement, all the achievements are accumulated from the small changes.  What makes me happy is that together with the team, I am trying my best to progress on all the aspects and fulfill all the responsibilities that I was assigned to throughout my journey in Seppic.

What has been your biggest challenge in your professional life?

My biggest challenge was to work as the change manager in Paris for a new Enterprise resource planning project.  Everything was new, not only the environment, but also the job itself.  And in addition, I didn’t understand French at all. I got good support from my colleagues, and I tried my best to progress myself everyday, even just a small achievement to pronounce one word in French. It may not be a very pleasant period of time for the ears of my colleagues to endure my bad accent at that time!

How has Seppic accompanied you throughout your career?

Seppic gave me various chances to grow in different areas and business lines.  So I had chances to start from zero in areas that I was not familiar with.  And this enabled me to learn a lot in different aspects and be capable of learning faster and faster. Seppic did not give me boundaries, instead, the firm supported me to make things better, and this made me grow.

If you had to give one piece of advice to a young woman starting out in her professional life, what would it be?

Think big without boundaries, but start with small progress.  Embrace the changes and challenges. Be confident, especially when you encounter difficulties, treat it as a good chance to learn.