Gigi / 张佶菁

Gigi was born in Shanghai, grew up in Shanghai and never thought she would leave Shanghai. As a good daughter, she studied hard and for a time, it seems everything went according to plan -- she got a great education, great job, had a care-free life. That is until, one day, on her way to work, Gigi looked up at the office building. This was the same building she passed so many times before, at the same time every day. At that moment she felt just how monotonous her life has become. So, she took the GMAT and crossed half the earth to study MBA, in a small town of New Haven. “Just 2 years to gain a world perspective, and I will be back in Shanghai,” thought Gigi. But then she got a job in Chicago after graduation. “OK. Just 2 more years to gain U.S. work experienced -- good for career,” thought Gigi. But then she met Alex...

Chance and uncertainty make life a beautiful journey.

Alex / 普力

Alex was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. After moving to New York and graduating from high-school, Alex attended Harvard University where he studied Mathematics. Having no clue what to do with logical thinking, he jumped from I.T. to consulting, and back to academia, completing a Masters Degree in Statistics and a Yale MBA just 2 years before Gigi. Momentarily joining the the dark side, as a banker for J.P. Morgan, Alex eventually moved to University of Chicago to apply his quantitative and finance skills to design better investments for retirees.

It will be a couple of years, before a chance encounter engineered by his MBA friend would lead Alex to meet Gigi...