Business / Companies

Thrifty businesswoman finds balance between home and career

By Huang Ying (China Daily) Updated: 2014-04-10 07:11

Although she now has a bachelor's degree in Chinese literature from Peking University and a master's degree in journalism from Fudan University, Gong spent three years out of school before she was admitted to the first of those respected educational establishments.

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She's a woman with a clear life plan and great determination to execute it.

"At the very beginning, I already had my life planned: I would retire around the age of 46 and then spend the rest of my time with my family," said Gong, now 37.

The businesswoman has a 4-year-old girl. Her husband quit his job as a neuroscience researcher at Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a few years ago to support her career.

Despite being an ambition-driven entrepreneur, she also maintains a well-organized family life, with all members showing great support for her career.

But when asked about her advice for young female entrepreneurs who want to keep a balanced life between career and family, she said family should always come first and she is against sacrificing personal life for career success.

"In this way, I think I'm really very lucky," said Gong.

Every day in the morning, she spends about one hour on the running machine at home before going to work, because she thinks it helps to keep healthy.

Her business icon is Elon Musk, chief executive officer and co-founder of Tesla Motors Inc, the US electric carmaker, because of his success in several different sectors he has invested in.