Introducing 2012 ProInspire Fellow: Di Yu
Name: Di Yu
Hometown: Chelmsford, MA
Previous Organization: Advisory Board Company
Current Organization: Good360
What inspired you to make the switch into the nonprofit sector?
Travel has always challenged me to take a second look at my goals, values, and personal life trajectory. As someone who constantly has an idea at the back of her mind on how to solve a myriad of problems, I’ve always been fascinated by the potential to use creativity to solve critical world challenges. However, it wasn’t until a trip back-packing Australia that I realized I was ready to diverge from the traditional path and try to invest my passion and skills towards making a societal impact, specifically to leverage innovation to create opportunities for others. Proinspire offered the perfect transitional point to not only join an organization at the brink of driving change but to meet a group of like-minded individuals with the intrepid spirit to evolve their ideas into action.
What is your current position, and a typical day like?
My current position is Manager of New Product Development at a nonprofit social enterprise as we prepare to launch an e-commerce marketplace integrating crowd-funding, impact story-telling, and social media to serve a growing network of 30,000 charities, schools, and charities. There are two important pieces to the strategic technology launch: implementation of a new enterprise resource management system to streamline business processes internally and development of the innovative marketplace to increase access for our non-profit customer base.
Given the nature of the job, each day brings new lessons, challenges, and rewards. On any day, I may be leading meetings with the marketing team to brainstorm quantitative metrics to showcase the impact of our non-profit customers in the community, designing the inventory control mechanism behind our crowd-funding feature, or jumping on a teleconference to walk through the organization’s operational process with external consultants. Through my experiences I have gained a 360 degree view of how a non-profit business model works and how technology can drive the new frontier of social change.
What is your professional background and areas of expertise?
My background is in healthcare consulting and I have expertise in market analysis, financial modeling, best practice research, project management, and organizational strategic planning.
Where did you work prior to making the switch?
Prior to the switch, I worked for the Advisory Board Company, consulting major hospitals and health systems in the US on strategic service line planning and major capital investments. I worked with a fantastic team to help hospitals evaluate market growth strategy, especially within cardiovascular care, and benchmark gaps in staffing, operational efficiency, and facility investment.
What are you involved in outside of work?
I think entrepreneurship is not only strictly limited to initiating business or social ventures but can be applied to all facets of life. In particular, it can be leveraged as a teaching tool to inspire students to gain the core skills to aim for a bright future. Currently, I am a mentor for BUILD, a non-profit which enables inner city high school students in DC to develop an entrepreneurial business idea and participate in a business plan competition. After structuring their plan, the students directly implement their own business in the community!
Tell us about your past leadership experiences and how they are helping you in your current role.
In my past role, I have had the opportunity to manage a number of engagements that helped me hone my communication and time management skills, which have been paramount to my current role. In particular, by leading hundreds of interviews with a diverse range of stakeholders, from nursing directors to COOs, I’ve learned different ways to engage with people who offer varying perspectives and insights. This has helped me become a better project manager at Good360.
What blogs or websites do you read on a daily basis?
I watch at least one or two TED talks on a daily basis. Learning from leaders, innovators, and scientists talk about how they’re pursuing their passion while tackling global problems really inspires me to go out and pursue my own goals for social impact.
If your friends and enemies had to describe you in three words, what would they be?
Intrepid, Independent, and Curious
What is your dream career if money was not an option?
My dream career would involve lots of travel. I would like to start my own social venture, expanding education or health care in developing nations.
Where do you hang out in the DC area?
In the summertime, you’ll find me taking photographs at local drum circle in Meridian Hill Park. In the winter, I will typically be sitting with a good book under the atrium at the National Portrait Gallery.