College of Communication Invites Ginger Chen, Speak's Mandarin Go-To-Market Lead, to Share Her Framework for Breaking Through Career Obstacles
Date :
2025-12-12
Department :
International Master's Program in International Communication Studies
【Article by College of Communication】
On November 20, the National Chengchi University (NCCU) College of Communication hosted Ginger Chen (陳佳君), the Mandarin Go-To-Market Lead for the Speak AI English learning app. Titled "A Framework for Breaking Through Obstacles," Ginger shared with students how she achieved her ideal career goals using a specific thinking framework, despite not having a background of studying or working abroad. This framework ultimately earned her the trust of the foreign startup, Speak, where she became the first person in their Taiwan office and the head of the Mandarin market.
Ginger started by playing a commercial that went viral on social media when it was released in February: "The Worst English-Speaking Spokesperson: Lee Yang (李洋)." Through this advertisement, she shared that she had studied English for over ten years but still hesitated to speak in the past. Therefore, the core theme of her talk was how to change one's mindset when facing similar life challenges in order to achieve one's ideal goals.
Ginger led the students back to her 22-year-old self, on the verge of graduating from a master's program at National Chiao Tung University. Facing the question of her next steps, she employed a thinking framework to guide her decision.
First, she identified the dilemma: Her graduate studies were primarily focused on technology management, but she had little interest in the technical aspects. Second, she understood her strengths: During her undergraduate years, she discovered she enjoyed interacting with people, giving presentations, and excelled at verbal expression. Based on her strengths, she established her goal of entering an advertising agency. The final point was preparation, so she began taking marketing courses and participating in business management competitions. She ultimately achieved her goal by joining the prestigious Ogilvy Advertising.
Fast-forward to Ginger at age 29. Having worked at two major companies—and feeling a sense of stagnation with the highly repetitive nature of her marketing role at Lexus—she yearned for new growth. Furthermore, attempts to interview at foreign companies were unsuccessful due to her English skills being less competitive than those who had studied abroad.
She revisited the obstacle-breaking framework and inventoried her strengths. She realized that combining her extensive marketing experience with the nascent field of digital marketing would be a significant advantage at the time. She then set the goal to ensure growth in the digital marketing domain, regardless of the job title. As an action step, she accepted a pay cut and joined a small team where she could "hone her skills" and cultivate comprehensive digital marketing capabilities.
Five years later, Ginger had become a manager at the tech startup PressPlay, but once again felt her career was stalled. She identified her strength: specialization in the technology education industry. She then established the goal: to gain cross-border enterprise and market operation experience. She took action by proactively seeking opportunities to develop overseas markets.
Two years later, while browsing job openings, she found a foreign company looking for talent in tech education who could execute marketing strategies. This company was Speak. At Speak, she successfully achieved her goal of managing a local market within a multinational enterprise.
In the second part of her speech, Ginger shared her personal English learning journey, returning to the obstacle-breaking framework to analyze why she struggled with English. At the mindset level, she lacked sufficient motivation. At the goal level, she had no clear objectives. For practice, she was unable to find an effective method. For review and correction, she was unsure how to improve.
Ginger emphasized the critical importance of mindset, recommending two books: Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise and Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. She stated, "If you have the mindset that 'I really want it, and I can definitely achieve it,' it can influence many things."
Returning to the framework, she set a goal for herself: achieving fluent spoken English within a year and a half. She established a cyclical review process—recording herself, reviewing videos, and making notes—and turned it into a habit: practicing speaking first thing every morning. Finally, she documented her progress and watched the recordings repeatedly. Ginger ultimately recorded over 200 videos until she was proficient enough to confidently participate in interviews with foreign companies.
Following Ginger's compelling presentation, she invited Speak's Influencer Marketing Associate, Jasmine (an NCCU alumna), to share how Speak helps learners improve their English speaking skills. For this event, Speak generously offered all attendees a one-month trial of Speak Premium.
Jasmine then detailed Speak's main features and design philosophy, which are divided into two areas: systematic course learning and flexible conversation practice. Upon initial download, the AI Tutor assesses the user's goals and proficiency level to recommend a suitable course level. The course structure includes video instruction from an AI teacher, repetitive speaking practice, and an AI rapid Q&A session in a chat format to encourage application of the learned material.
Furthermore, Speak offers advanced conversation practice. Users can engage in AI conversations based on system-built scenarios in the "Topics" section or highly customize the conversation setting and role in the "Community" tab. Jasmine explained that Speak's design philosophy is to meet the needs of English learners at all levels through the Speak Learning Method: "Learn, Practice, Apply, and Deepen."
I-Hui Cheng, Director of the International Master's Program in Communication Studies (IMICS), concluded the event by thanking Ginger for taking the time to speak at NCCU and for the one-month Speak Premium trial, giving every student the opportunity to use Speak's AI technology to improve their speaking skills.
She also thanked Ginger for genuinely sharing the obstacles she encountered in her career, noting that facing difficulties is not necessarily a bad thing, but rather an opportunity to re-examine one's goals and ask, "What do I truly want to pursue?" Director Cheng also discussed the significance of the College of Communication offering EMI (English as a Medium of Instruction) courses, which provide students with the opportunity to access knowledge in different professional fields using English, enabling them to confidently communicate with international partners in the workplace in the future, just like Ginger.
On November 20, the National Chengchi University (NCCU) College of Communication hosted Ginger Chen (陳佳君), the Mandarin Go-To-Market Lead for the Speak AI English learning app. Titled "A Framework for Breaking Through Obstacles," Ginger shared with students how she achieved her ideal career goals using a specific thinking framework, despite not having a background of studying or working abroad. This framework ultimately earned her the trust of the foreign startup, Speak, where she became the first person in their Taiwan office and the head of the Mandarin market.
Ginger started by playing a commercial that went viral on social media when it was released in February: "The Worst English-Speaking Spokesperson: Lee Yang (李洋)." Through this advertisement, she shared that she had studied English for over ten years but still hesitated to speak in the past. Therefore, the core theme of her talk was how to change one's mindset when facing similar life challenges in order to achieve one's ideal goals.
Ginger led the students back to her 22-year-old self, on the verge of graduating from a master's program at National Chiao Tung University. Facing the question of her next steps, she employed a thinking framework to guide her decision.
First, she identified the dilemma: Her graduate studies were primarily focused on technology management, but she had little interest in the technical aspects. Second, she understood her strengths: During her undergraduate years, she discovered she enjoyed interacting with people, giving presentations, and excelled at verbal expression. Based on her strengths, she established her goal of entering an advertising agency. The final point was preparation, so she began taking marketing courses and participating in business management competitions. She ultimately achieved her goal by joining the prestigious Ogilvy Advertising.
Fast-forward to Ginger at age 29. Having worked at two major companies—and feeling a sense of stagnation with the highly repetitive nature of her marketing role at Lexus—she yearned for new growth. Furthermore, attempts to interview at foreign companies were unsuccessful due to her English skills being less competitive than those who had studied abroad.
She revisited the obstacle-breaking framework and inventoried her strengths. She realized that combining her extensive marketing experience with the nascent field of digital marketing would be a significant advantage at the time. She then set the goal to ensure growth in the digital marketing domain, regardless of the job title. As an action step, she accepted a pay cut and joined a small team where she could "hone her skills" and cultivate comprehensive digital marketing capabilities.
Five years later, Ginger had become a manager at the tech startup PressPlay, but once again felt her career was stalled. She identified her strength: specialization in the technology education industry. She then established the goal: to gain cross-border enterprise and market operation experience. She took action by proactively seeking opportunities to develop overseas markets.
Two years later, while browsing job openings, she found a foreign company looking for talent in tech education who could execute marketing strategies. This company was Speak. At Speak, she successfully achieved her goal of managing a local market within a multinational enterprise.
In the second part of her speech, Ginger shared her personal English learning journey, returning to the obstacle-breaking framework to analyze why she struggled with English. At the mindset level, she lacked sufficient motivation. At the goal level, she had no clear objectives. For practice, she was unable to find an effective method. For review and correction, she was unsure how to improve.
Ginger emphasized the critical importance of mindset, recommending two books: Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise and Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. She stated, "If you have the mindset that 'I really want it, and I can definitely achieve it,' it can influence many things."
Returning to the framework, she set a goal for herself: achieving fluent spoken English within a year and a half. She established a cyclical review process—recording herself, reviewing videos, and making notes—and turned it into a habit: practicing speaking first thing every morning. Finally, she documented her progress and watched the recordings repeatedly. Ginger ultimately recorded over 200 videos until she was proficient enough to confidently participate in interviews with foreign companies.
Following Ginger's compelling presentation, she invited Speak's Influencer Marketing Associate, Jasmine (an NCCU alumna), to share how Speak helps learners improve their English speaking skills. For this event, Speak generously offered all attendees a one-month trial of Speak Premium.
Jasmine then detailed Speak's main features and design philosophy, which are divided into two areas: systematic course learning and flexible conversation practice. Upon initial download, the AI Tutor assesses the user's goals and proficiency level to recommend a suitable course level. The course structure includes video instruction from an AI teacher, repetitive speaking practice, and an AI rapid Q&A session in a chat format to encourage application of the learned material.
Furthermore, Speak offers advanced conversation practice. Users can engage in AI conversations based on system-built scenarios in the "Topics" section or highly customize the conversation setting and role in the "Community" tab. Jasmine explained that Speak's design philosophy is to meet the needs of English learners at all levels through the Speak Learning Method: "Learn, Practice, Apply, and Deepen."
I-Hui Cheng, Director of the International Master's Program in Communication Studies (IMICS), concluded the event by thanking Ginger for taking the time to speak at NCCU and for the one-month Speak Premium trial, giving every student the opportunity to use Speak's AI technology to improve their speaking skills.
She also thanked Ginger for genuinely sharing the obstacles she encountered in her career, noting that facing difficulties is not necessarily a bad thing, but rather an opportunity to re-examine one's goals and ask, "What do I truly want to pursue?" Director Cheng also discussed the significance of the College of Communication offering EMI (English as a Medium of Instruction) courses, which provide students with the opportunity to access knowledge in different professional fields using English, enabling them to confidently communicate with international partners in the workplace in the future, just like Ginger.