We are so excited to have a conversation with Becky!
She’s an inspirational leader we are fortunate to know, and we wanted to share her story with our listeners. Becky (Ben) is a former Senior Technical Manager for Materials and Platform Innovation at Sherwin Williams. She was transitioning to a new role at the time of the podcast recording. She recently joined Michelin as a Sr. Manager for Materials Science and Technology Platform.
Since she was a little girl, she has always been deeply passionate about uncovering the beauty of life. Initially torn between pursuing artistry or science, she ultimately chose to pursue her studies at one of China’s premier institutions with a focus on polymer programs. Subsequently, she followed the guidance of her graduate school professor and earned her PhD in Chemical engineering. Together, they authored numerous papers, providing Becky with the opportunity to travel and present her research to the global community.
Driven by her desire to apply her extensive technical knowledge to real-world industrial challenges, Becky made the pivotal decision to join Avery Dennison, a renowned global leader in pressure-sensitive adhesives. And she joined Sherwin Williams 5.5 years ago. As of today, she has spent over a decade in the industry, continuously expanding her expertise, forging connections, and engaging with diverse perspectives.
Her greatest joy in her work lies in leading teams to tackle complex problems and drive meaningful impact.
Resources:
Becky on LinkedIn
Transcript
John Simon Sr. 00:06
John, welcome to Simon Says, inspire a podcast about life leadership and building legacies. I'm John Simon, SR
Dina Simon 00:14
and I'm Dina Simon.
John Simon Sr. 00:16
Our guest today is Becky Hsu. Becky is Senior Technical Manager for materials and platform innovation for Sherwin Williams. Becky has a PhD in chemical engineering. Becky, welcome to our podcast.
Becky Schu 00:29
Thank you, John Dino, thank you for having me here.
John Simon Sr. 00:31
Why don't you take a minute or two and just tell our listeners a little bit about yourself, maybe where you live and where you're from, and maybe a little bit about your family, what you'd like to do in your spare time?
Becky Schu 00:43
Yeah, I have always been the type of person who is very passionate about life and discovering the beauty of life. Since I was young, I've always been very interested in painting and drawing, so I always thought I will become an artist. Why I had to decide which degree to pursue at like, when I was applying for college, I decided to, instead of become an artist, I decided to, like, go to the polymer program, because back then, my parents, or, like, the mindset in China will be, it's much easier to find a job as a scientist than artists. That's probably true. I really enjoyed my study there. I went to one of the best university in China that has the polymer program. And afterwards, I met my professor in graduate school, and he was a rock star in his field, in the polymer physics. So I decided to follow him all the way to Texas to get my PhD degree in chemical engineering, specialized in Polymer physics. My research field is called rheology. That's like the glass transition of small molecule glass formers and the polymers, which were very fundamental, but we were able to publish a dozen of good papers, and I got the opportunity to present at international conferences and share my our discoveries with our colleagues, and it was really fun, but my research was nothing about applicable problems. Now we have those technical knowledges. Now we have those good findings, good papers. How can I solve actual industrial problems? About it? So I decided to join Abra Dennison. They are the global leader for price sensitive adhesives, and rheology was a larger part of it. So when I first started, my role as a senior rheologist is to develop a method when Avery was going into different markets, for example, medical devices, reclosures for food, reclosure packages for food, what type of radiology performance we needed to design into those different portfolios. And I really enjoyed my role. It was my first role in industry, of course, making much more money. And about one half years later, they had an opening. About then they were looking for analytical slash technical manager. And originally the hiring manager, the VP of R D, was looking for someone much more senior, like with more years of experiences. So for the environment I grew up with. I have never been encouraged to, like, take a leadership role or anything, and becoming a leader or becoming someone manager, just like a strange idea to me. But I talked to a senior of Senior Fellow in my organization, and she encouraged me. So I reached out to this VP of r&d, asked her whether she can give me opportunity to try and issue, if she wants, I can do a trial period for like, four months doing by doing two jobs, and if she doesn't like what she has been seeing, we can, I can just go back To my seniorologist job. And she said, Yes, I really I'm really grateful that she gave me this opportunity, and I think I exceeded her expectations by my four month of time. And I was leading my team to solve a lot of problem, industrial problems for both internal and external customers, qualities, r&d, and improved our efficiency significantly. And that was really fun. And in the end of my career in Avery I also started the product development role, because I was going to transit into that about five and a half years ago, a recruiter on LinkedIn found me for this rowing show, and they just finished the merge and acquisition with Valspar, and everyone in material science was gone, except for one people. So they asked me whether I wanted to take the challenge and build the team. And I said yes. So I joined the company back then, middle. San these days, we are building a really good team. We have projects that we are supporting all the performance coding groups, from automotive to protected with marine to industrial wood, etc, as well as the traditional architectural Sean Williams businesses. Last year, in June, I also got promoted that they gave me additional group for the platform type of research, which I have always been wanting to do, because I wanted to see what is the other side of the world besides the material science. How can we develop platform type of innovation that can deliver multiple products and provide the technology pipelines for our company. So that's where I'm today. Now,
Dina Simon 05:47
oh my goodness, wow.
John Simon Sr. 05:49
That's quite, quite a lot for a young lady. So Becky, why don't you tell us a little bit about your personal life. You know, married and children?
Becky Schu 05:58
Yeah, yes, I'm married with two kids. We have a six year old and a two year old. I never thought like I before I had kids. I always get nervous about the idea of being a mom. I did not expect myself to become a mom. I don't really know how to cook. I still don't know so that was a quite journey. I had my first kid when I was in Avery. But these days, like these days, I enjoy spending time with them. My older daughter had an assignment last week. She was supposed to write down who was her role model and why. So she wrote it was my mom, because she's a scientist and she can paint and she can play music and she plays with me. I was like, Wow, I'm glad my image in your mind is multi dimensional. So motherhood has been smoother than I thought it would be, and I'm glad. Like, I feel like I'm setting up role models for my kids.
Dina Simon 06:55
Oh, you absolutely are. I love that. So you gave us a lot. Could we unpack some of your career? So you came here from China, and you followed your professor to Texas, and had all those accolades. And then Avery Dennison, where did you move to? Where are they located?
Becky Schu 07:13
Oh, they are in Cleveland. Okay,
Dina Simon 07:14
so you moved to Cleveland. Were you in Cleveland? Based there? Yeah, I was,
Becky Schu 07:19
yeah. Originally, the role was in Pasadena. They were closing down the abramowski Center. So I was in Pasadena for several a month, and then we moved the Internet to Cleveland,
Dina Simon 07:30
okay. And then you moved when Sherwin brought you in, you came to Minnesota, yep, so you've moved around a little bit Yes.
John Simon Sr. 07:41
So tell us a little bit about how you got to the US from China.
Becky Schu 07:46
So I don't consider myself to be very good with math. Actually. I know some people would disagree, but I have always been better at English for just compared with other subjects. So I had uncle that he got his master's degree in University of Michigan or Boston and Boston University, so that was really early, much early on. And then, besides that, no one else from my family went aboard to get a degree or something. But I have always been wanting to see what's the other side of the world. I don't want to spend my entire life on just in one place. So initially it was a my classmate would ask me, oh, are you super nervous now you are going to a completely strange country without knowing anyone. I said, I'll be okay. I'm ready to explore. I was 22 I got to 2122 got to do less. I was very young and very passionate about embrace all the changes with life. That's such
Dina Simon 08:47
a such an admirable quality, because not I mean change and that leap of faith to go across the world, not everybody has that that's so awesome. And your family that you left back in China, I'm sure you have a big family back there. Tell us a little bit about your family back in China, and I know you were there recently, so a little bit about how often you get to see them and what that connectivity looks like. Yeah.
Becky Schu 09:08
So during covid, I wasn't able to see them for several years, and I just saw them the past January they were doing well. My mom retired several years ago, but she found a lot of fun stuff to do, and so does my dad. And I also have cousins in China because I'm the only child and my cousins are also the only child. So cousins are kind of like our siblings, not seeing them. The food in China is great. I always get the massage there. Whenever I go all the nails done and enjoying the part I can enjoy the most in us. And I also know what to enjoy. Why? I mean, other countries, sure, yeah, make the best of both, yeah, or maybe not even both. Maybe it's multiple, like being when you're Mexico without the new things to enjoy there,
Dina Simon 09:59
right? And you know. So you know enough about China. When you go back, you go back to things that you are familiar to you when you're over there. So like the best of where to go and what to do, you know? So it's going home. Yeah, yeah.
John Simon Sr. 10:14
So you, you attended Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, yes. And how did you how did you like? Love it. That's a big change from just about anywhere.
Becky Schu 10:26
So I went to Texas Tech. I also got offers from other universities, which were in much larger cities. And my back then, my classmates told me, Well, maybe you should considering going other cities, because it's much easier to find an internship, but back then, I was just so determined to follow my professor, and he's really, really nice person. So Well, book is, yeah, in the middle of nowhere, the college town, the only time I heard about Texas on TV show was more than family. There was someone like pretending they were very classy, elegant, high taste, like pretending he was from Europe. And his friend was like, come on, you were from Lubbock.
Dina Simon 11:12
And I guess, yeah,
Becky Schu 11:13
that I then I said, Okay, maybe that's the image about lab book. It was fun. I mean, nothing there to do, so I had to spend a lot of a lot of time in the lab and write papers, which may be a good thing for a graduate student anyway,
Dina Simon 11:25
right? Yes. And following a professor very similar to following a boss, right? Like so you knew how brilliant this professor was, and wanting to stay connected and the were in the great work that you would do together. So that also does make sense, yeah. And
John Simon Sr. 11:42
it kind of ties back a little bit to rich when he went to the University of Arizona, which modern Denton, his professor that he that he knew and really respected,
Dina Simon 11:53
yeah, yeah. He wanted very specifically to study under that person, and that's why he chose U of A. So some some similarities there. Yeah. So Becky, I actually want to stop and talk about your name, because I know you as Ben. So will you share a little bit about the the whether we're calling you Becky or Ben? What's the name? You know, the what's the interesting story behind the name? Yeah.
Becky Schu 12:17
So my original name is when it's a character, it means running. And my last name Shu means slowly. So my name together means running slowly. It means progressing slowly but steadily. And when it being translated, so it is, it has always been harder to blatherize the Chinese characters. So when they translate it, it just happened to be be the combination of three letters, B, E, N. It's a coincidence. And I like my name a lot in Chinese, but I think when being translated into b n, it really lost all the meanings behind it. And another thing is, when I order pizza, or why do other things. If I say my name is B and then I always have to spell it, spell it out. So I started to use Becky as my pizza name, and no one would ever ask me to spell it out for like, the second time. Everyone gets it immediately. I was like, Wow, that must be a good name to use. Yeah, I'm going to go back with Becky. And although, like for the people who already knew me as Ben, I'm more than happy to be called by Ben too. I think just part of the journey to have to have different names and but I agree. I do like my Chinese name a lot. It's not a typical woman's name. It's more like gender neutral name, and has good meanings. It's not a very common name I have never seen in China. Like it's likely you just have people with the same names, but I have never seen anyone with the same names with me.
Dina Simon 13:50
Oh my gosh, I love that story.
John Simon Sr. 13:51
And that's pretty interesting, because there's over a billion people there, right?
Dina Simon 13:56
Yeah, yeah. And so Becky, I love that you chose that. That's so funny that you use that as your pizza name, and then nobody ever had to ask you how to spell it, because it's a more common name, Becky. And Ben is actually a pretty common name here, but Ben is probably short, mostly for Benjamin, so it's more, more of a of a boy name. So I don't know if you know this, but my grandma, her nickname was Benny. Oh. It said b, e, n, Y, yeah, yeah, so, and we sometimes call her Ben, but Benny was her nickname. But I love that story, and how powerful. And then also just yeah, how much meaning your Chinese name had. And then in translation, it lost some of that meaning. And so for you to figure out, then something else that you know feels special to you. And so I love that. So I just wanted to ask, because I know you as Ben, and as we were communicating on the podcast that I learned that you actually go by Becky. And so thank you for the education behind the story. Yeah,
Becky Schu 14:57
I think there will still be a lot of people. On in me by then, but that's, that's totally okay, right?
Dina Simon 15:02
Yes. So with that, would you like to share that you have a more recent development in your career and also some new adventures, as far as where you may be headed physically in in those adventures, I
Becky Schu 15:17
decided to accept the offer from Michelin as a technical director, so I'll be leading my team to look at from the materials innovation perspective, how can we improve the performance for different tires and airless tire designs for automotives, airplanes, etc. So I'm very excited by this role, that I'll be based in South Carolina and have the opportunity to relocate to Europe in the future. So I yeah, just couldn't wait to start. I will. I mean, I like my current job, but I also couldn't wait to start my new
Dina Simon 15:54
job. Yeah, well, you were so excited for you, because, again, your career has been very powerful. So just even your story about asking, you know, Hey, can I, can I do these dual jobs for four months to try and see if I can step into leadership? Because that's not necessarily something that I had, you know, growing up that, hey, that was an image that I could see myself stepping into leadership. But you did, and you've continued to grow in your leadership capacity and the teams that you're leading, and always very successful. So I know that your team at Sherwin is very sad to see you leave, but there's, you know, everybody's excited for you to go and have yet another amazing experience where you're continuing to grow in your knowledge and expansion of you know, different applications based on what it is that you're doing. And moving into the tire space is something very different than the paint space, right? Yeah,
Becky Schu 16:48
it is, yeah, yeah, very something new.
John Simon Sr. 16:51
And how thankful Are you that your boss at Avery Dennison, she gave you the opportunity to split your job a little bit but become a team manager and working in that type of environment. Because, as you said, you didn't know if you really wanted to do that, but it's errand that you're very good at it, you know, with all these new opportunities you're going to have, and you know, you I was reading a little bit in your bio about your interface with cross functional teams, manufacturing, marketing, sales, and that takes a special person that can tie all of those together and make them all happy.
Becky Schu 17:28
Yeah, I still keep in touch with my old boss. Yeah. She's just really, really amazing person that even I was not sure I could be a good fit or not, because in the traditional Chinese culture that especially women, are not encouraged to take the lead. And I know my parents may not understand that, but I took the opportunity. I tried, and yes, my boss was super supportive. I am really grateful. Yeah, I still there was one time we were having a training, and they asked us to think about the person, one of the person that inspired us the most. And I thought about her in this and her note,
John Simon Sr. 18:09
Oh, that's fantastic. Well, that's really good. And, you know, we talked about life, leadership and building legacy, and what a great legacy you will be able to build for other young ladies out there.
Becky Schu 18:20
I think for other young ladies, that may be more abstract, but if I think about for my kids, that's more tangible. I wanted to leave them the legacy that girls can achieve anything they want to. They can explore all the potentials they have. There's nothing that would stop them and they would have they can join different types of life or the different things they want to do,
Dina Simon 18:45
yes, and you're showing them that path, oh my gosh,
Becky Schu 18:48
trying. And the world is their stage.
Dina Simon 18:51
Love it. Yes. So your six year old, who wrote this beautiful little thing about who she admires the most. So, so tell us about the girls. Is your youngest? A girl as well? Two, yeah, go through your old and so the six year old. What is she into these days? So is she like in kindergarten, first grade?
Becky Schu 19:11
Oh, yeah. She just started kindergarten. Spanish Immersion last year.
Dina Simon 19:15
Nice, nice. And with the move, with the new job, will you all go to South Carolina and then you said over to Europe, possibly in a couple years? Yeah,
Becky Schu 19:24
probably. So I'm going to move by myself. First check out the schools, because that's super important, and then find the house. And then we need to, yeah, we need to decide, like, when are we going to then enroll her into the new schools? She's very excited about changes. I told her about that, and the way I said it is I passed a test, so she was very excited, like she can try different things, although she liked her current school a lot
Dina Simon 19:51
too. Sure. Yeah. And what does your husband do? So he's need a spur
Becky Schu 19:55
of remote work, consulting, programming, things like that. So. He's very supportive of my career. I'm very lucky,
Dina Simon 20:03
yeah, and he's got the flexibility then that he can pick up and move with you. Yes, yeah, yeah, very nice.
John Simon Sr. 20:11
What would you tell your 20 year old self if you could go back and take a look at what you've done? Is there anything you would have done differently?
Becky Schu 20:19
Wow, I love that question. So I first, the first time I heard about that question was in a woman leadership meeting, and there was a lady, she was probably at her 50s or 60s, and she wrote a letter to her 20 year old. So thinking that, wow, if I got to do that, if I can ever write a letter to my 20 year old, I would tell myself that I could choose way more than what I believed I could, and now I'll have a good life. I'll be able to push my potentials and overcome the difficulties and achieve what I thought I couldn't achieve.
John Simon Sr. 20:54
Very, very good.
Dina Simon 20:56
Yes, yep, just to believe in yourself, yeah. And, you know,
John Simon Sr. 20:59
moving like you did from, you know, Avery and then to Sherwin, and now to Michelin. You're proving that that you can, yeah, you're looking for a challenge. You're looking to make the world better. You're looking to make yourself better. Yeah, that's
Becky Schu 21:12
what I'm trying to
Dina Simon 21:14
do, yeah. And it's going to be so fun just to stay connected and watch you. So I have a question for you, Becky, on the creative side. So in your let the letter that your daughter wrote, she said that it sounds like that artist and musical stuff is still in what you do. So do you have any of those types of art passions? Because that was originally where you thought you would land in the art world.
Becky Schu 21:34
Yeah, I still have, I just have, I still have my painting just over there, yeah. So I like to paint, oh, I just painted jeep.
Dina Simon 21:42
Oh, did you well? I drove it your one?
Becky Schu 21:45
I mean, it's not. I want it to be more rusty, but it's not as rusty as I wanted.
Dina Simon 21:51
Oh, my gosh, yeah. Looks
John Simon Sr. 21:53
like Rick's jeep.
Becky Schu 21:54
Yeah. I want it to be like, the like, very muddy thing, but it's not. I like to paint sceneries, especially the sceneries, like, within two Wow,
John Simon Sr. 22:04
oh yeah.
Dina Simon 22:05
I'm always so impressed with people that have such a creative brain, but then also the scientific brain, right? Like, that's awesome. So I'm sure that the art is probably a release and a passion for you. Yeah,
Becky Schu 22:17
it is. I almost got admitted into the master program of art when I was in graduate school, but I did not get it. I had to pay for my own tuition. I did not have money for it,
Dina Simon 22:28
maybe later in life, right? Yeah, yeah. Well, we are so excited about your new adventure. We love, you know, again, just this journey of a little girl leaving China, and look at all that you've done. I'm sure that your family back in China is just watching in awe of all the amazing things that you've done and continue to do. And I'm sure they're not surprised, because they know who you are, but I'm just I'm sure they're very excited for you, and I'm sure they miss you. So like you said, Well, you couldn't go back through covid, and then you you went back this January is that the first time both girls got to go? Yes, it is, yeah. Had your oldest child been back at all? Not during the covid, but yeah, but, but during the work Yeah, after covid, yeah. And we're thinking about having her to attend Mandarin immersion school, like maybe in Hong Kong this summer too, so she can, hopefully she can grow up to be like, trilingual, nice, okay, the goal nice. And you were over there for a couple of weeks, weren't you?
Becky Schu 23:28
Yeah, yeah, including the Christmas, yeah, nice, nice.
Dina Simon 23:31
Well, I'm sure your family was thrilled to see you, huh? So Becky. We just are so appreciative of you being on we love your story. We think you're an inspiration again, to many girls. Love your message to your girls, and they're going to achieve so many amazing things because they get to watch you as their role model, and hold on to that letter that your six year old did, and hold it in a safe place. But I'm sure there'll be many more to come as well, because you're just a huge inspiration to them. They're watching you, but you're a huge inspiration to any of the women that you're leading and all of these teams and the people that you've been able to, you know, touch throughout all these different jobs within your career. And I'm sure they're watching and super excited for you as well.
John Simon Sr. 24:16
Thank you, and as you, as you move to southshare and Ireland, make sure you share your podcast with your new friends down there, and hopefully we'll pick up a whole bunch of new listeners.
Becky Schu 24:28
Yeah, well, yeah,
Dina Simon 24:30
what part of South Carolina is Michelin and Greenville? Okay, nice. Yeah, that's
John Simon Sr. 24:36
big town. Yeah, it is.
Dina Simon 24:38
Yeah. Have you been there before?
Becky Schu 24:40
No, I thought I did, but no, I have been to Charlotte, Atlanta and Atlanta, but not to Greenville. Just too bad it didn't have direct flight to me. Now, this otherwise would be perfect. Yeah,
Dina Simon 24:50
yeah, it's I've I have actually been there. It's beautiful, and that's one of the benefits like you guys will be getting, not that we had a real huge winter here in Minnesota. This year, but it will be a whole new change of scenery. It's not quite down as far south as Texas, but you'll have a new place then to experience here in the US.
Becky Schu 25:09
Yeah, before I moved to Minneapolis, I was so worried about the coldness, so I asked a friend who used to work in Minneapolis, she asked me to get a really long coat. So I bought a coat online. It. It says it can help me to, like, go out when the temperature is minus 60 F I never wear it. I can just, I feel like, more like a Minnesota now, because I can just wear my light, super light jacket outside, right? Just walk really quick, and I'll be okay.
Dina Simon 25:40
But the first year you were here, you probably
Becky Schu 25:46
were a little chilly.
Dina Simon 25:47
Yeah, I think, yeah, yeah. And it is, like, last week when it got cold again, it was town in like the 10, like 1020 at certain points of the day, same thing. It's like, I'm not pulling my coat back out. I'll just run fast from the car to from point A to point B, yes, yeah,
Becky Schu 26:03
yeah, that was shitty,
John Simon Sr. 26:05
yeah. And a great part about South Carolina, you're not far from the ocean, you're not far from the mountains. There's a lot of places that you'll be able to visit that I think the girls will enjoy.
Becky Schu 26:16
Yeah. And then my professor moved to NCSU, so it's also easier for me to visit him, too. It's only like, five hours away.
Dina Simon 26:23
Nice. Yeah, that's fantastic. I'd love to come visit maybe when you get settled. It would be super fun to come see you. Oh, that'd be great. Yes. Well, Becky, thank you so much for being on the podcast. We know that you're an avid listener and you enjoy it, so when I said, well, then we need to have you on and you're like, really? And I was like, yes, so thank you for choosing to spend some time with us and share your very inspirational story. And we just really appreciate it.
Becky Schu 26:50
Thank you so much.
Dina Simon 26:53
I would like to thank Becky Xu for joining us on the podcast. She's quite the inspiration of a young girl moving from China to the US for school and having just a brilliant career, and will continue to have a brilliant career and just growing and learning and teaching others as always. I'd like to thank my father in law, John Simon, for being my co host, and until we talk again. You
John, welcome to Simon Says, inspire a podcast about life leadership and building legacies. I'm John Simon, SR
Dina Simon 00:14
and I'm Dina Simon.
John Simon Sr. 00:16
Our guest today is Becky Hsu. Becky is Senior Technical Manager for materials and platform innovation for Sherwin Williams. Becky has a PhD in chemical engineering. Becky, welcome to our podcast.
Becky Schu 00:29
Thank you, John Dino, thank you for having me here.
John Simon Sr. 00:31
Why don't you take a minute or two and just tell our listeners a little bit about yourself, maybe where you live and where you're from, and maybe a little bit about your family, what you'd like to do in your spare time?
Becky Schu 00:43
Yeah, I have always been the type of person who is very passionate about life and discovering the beauty of life. Since I was young, I've always been very interested in painting and drawing, so I always thought I will become an artist. Why I had to decide which degree to pursue at like, when I was applying for college, I decided to, instead of become an artist, I decided to, like, go to the polymer program, because back then, my parents, or, like, the mindset in China will be, it's much easier to find a job as a scientist than artists. That's probably true. I really enjoyed my study there. I went to one of the best university in China that has the polymer program. And afterwards, I met my professor in graduate school, and he was a rock star in his field, in the polymer physics. So I decided to follow him all the way to Texas to get my PhD degree in chemical engineering, specialized in Polymer physics. My research field is called rheology. That's like the glass transition of small molecule glass formers and the polymers, which were very fundamental, but we were able to publish a dozen of good papers, and I got the opportunity to present at international conferences and share my our discoveries with our colleagues, and it was really fun, but my research was nothing about applicable problems. Now we have those technical knowledges. Now we have those good findings, good papers. How can I solve actual industrial problems? About it? So I decided to join Abra Dennison. They are the global leader for price sensitive adhesives, and rheology was a larger part of it. So when I first started, my role as a senior rheologist is to develop a method when Avery was going into different markets, for example, medical devices, reclosures for food, reclosure packages for food, what type of radiology performance we needed to design into those different portfolios. And I really enjoyed my role. It was my first role in industry, of course, making much more money. And about one half years later, they had an opening. About then they were looking for analytical slash technical manager. And originally the hiring manager, the VP of R D, was looking for someone much more senior, like with more years of experiences. So for the environment I grew up with. I have never been encouraged to, like, take a leadership role or anything, and becoming a leader or becoming someone manager, just like a strange idea to me. But I talked to a senior of Senior Fellow in my organization, and she encouraged me. So I reached out to this VP of r&d, asked her whether she can give me opportunity to try and issue, if she wants, I can do a trial period for like, four months doing by doing two jobs, and if she doesn't like what she has been seeing, we can, I can just go back To my seniorologist job. And she said, Yes, I really I'm really grateful that she gave me this opportunity, and I think I exceeded her expectations by my four month of time. And I was leading my team to solve a lot of problem, industrial problems for both internal and external customers, qualities, r&d, and improved our efficiency significantly. And that was really fun. And in the end of my career in Avery I also started the product development role, because I was going to transit into that about five and a half years ago, a recruiter on LinkedIn found me for this rowing show, and they just finished the merge and acquisition with Valspar, and everyone in material science was gone, except for one people. So they asked me whether I wanted to take the challenge and build the team. And I said yes. So I joined the company back then, middle. San these days, we are building a really good team. We have projects that we are supporting all the performance coding groups, from automotive to protected with marine to industrial wood, etc, as well as the traditional architectural Sean Williams businesses. Last year, in June, I also got promoted that they gave me additional group for the platform type of research, which I have always been wanting to do, because I wanted to see what is the other side of the world besides the material science. How can we develop platform type of innovation that can deliver multiple products and provide the technology pipelines for our company. So that's where I'm today. Now,
Dina Simon 05:47
oh my goodness, wow.
John Simon Sr. 05:49
That's quite, quite a lot for a young lady. So Becky, why don't you tell us a little bit about your personal life. You know, married and children?
Becky Schu 05:58
Yeah, yes, I'm married with two kids. We have a six year old and a two year old. I never thought like I before I had kids. I always get nervous about the idea of being a mom. I did not expect myself to become a mom. I don't really know how to cook. I still don't know so that was a quite journey. I had my first kid when I was in Avery. But these days, like these days, I enjoy spending time with them. My older daughter had an assignment last week. She was supposed to write down who was her role model and why. So she wrote it was my mom, because she's a scientist and she can paint and she can play music and she plays with me. I was like, Wow, I'm glad my image in your mind is multi dimensional. So motherhood has been smoother than I thought it would be, and I'm glad. Like, I feel like I'm setting up role models for my kids.
Dina Simon 06:55
Oh, you absolutely are. I love that. So you gave us a lot. Could we unpack some of your career? So you came here from China, and you followed your professor to Texas, and had all those accolades. And then Avery Dennison, where did you move to? Where are they located?
Becky Schu 07:13
Oh, they are in Cleveland. Okay,
Dina Simon 07:14
so you moved to Cleveland. Were you in Cleveland? Based there? Yeah, I was,
Becky Schu 07:19
yeah. Originally, the role was in Pasadena. They were closing down the abramowski Center. So I was in Pasadena for several a month, and then we moved the Internet to Cleveland,
Dina Simon 07:30
okay. And then you moved when Sherwin brought you in, you came to Minnesota, yep, so you've moved around a little bit Yes.
John Simon Sr. 07:41
So tell us a little bit about how you got to the US from China.
Becky Schu 07:46
So I don't consider myself to be very good with math. Actually. I know some people would disagree, but I have always been better at English for just compared with other subjects. So I had uncle that he got his master's degree in University of Michigan or Boston and Boston University, so that was really early, much early on. And then, besides that, no one else from my family went aboard to get a degree or something. But I have always been wanting to see what's the other side of the world. I don't want to spend my entire life on just in one place. So initially it was a my classmate would ask me, oh, are you super nervous now you are going to a completely strange country without knowing anyone. I said, I'll be okay. I'm ready to explore. I was 22 I got to 2122 got to do less. I was very young and very passionate about embrace all the changes with life. That's such
Dina Simon 08:47
a such an admirable quality, because not I mean change and that leap of faith to go across the world, not everybody has that that's so awesome. And your family that you left back in China, I'm sure you have a big family back there. Tell us a little bit about your family back in China, and I know you were there recently, so a little bit about how often you get to see them and what that connectivity looks like. Yeah.
Becky Schu 09:08
So during covid, I wasn't able to see them for several years, and I just saw them the past January they were doing well. My mom retired several years ago, but she found a lot of fun stuff to do, and so does my dad. And I also have cousins in China because I'm the only child and my cousins are also the only child. So cousins are kind of like our siblings, not seeing them. The food in China is great. I always get the massage there. Whenever I go all the nails done and enjoying the part I can enjoy the most in us. And I also know what to enjoy. Why? I mean, other countries, sure, yeah, make the best of both, yeah, or maybe not even both. Maybe it's multiple, like being when you're Mexico without the new things to enjoy there,
Dina Simon 09:59
right? And you know. So you know enough about China. When you go back, you go back to things that you are familiar to you when you're over there. So like the best of where to go and what to do, you know? So it's going home. Yeah, yeah.
John Simon Sr. 10:14
So you, you attended Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, yes. And how did you how did you like? Love it. That's a big change from just about anywhere.
Becky Schu 10:26
So I went to Texas Tech. I also got offers from other universities, which were in much larger cities. And my back then, my classmates told me, Well, maybe you should considering going other cities, because it's much easier to find an internship, but back then, I was just so determined to follow my professor, and he's really, really nice person. So Well, book is, yeah, in the middle of nowhere, the college town, the only time I heard about Texas on TV show was more than family. There was someone like pretending they were very classy, elegant, high taste, like pretending he was from Europe. And his friend was like, come on, you were from Lubbock.
Dina Simon 11:12
And I guess, yeah,
Becky Schu 11:13
that I then I said, Okay, maybe that's the image about lab book. It was fun. I mean, nothing there to do, so I had to spend a lot of a lot of time in the lab and write papers, which may be a good thing for a graduate student anyway,
Dina Simon 11:25
right? Yes. And following a professor very similar to following a boss, right? Like so you knew how brilliant this professor was, and wanting to stay connected and the were in the great work that you would do together. So that also does make sense, yeah. And
John Simon Sr. 11:42
it kind of ties back a little bit to rich when he went to the University of Arizona, which modern Denton, his professor that he that he knew and really respected,
Dina Simon 11:53
yeah, yeah. He wanted very specifically to study under that person, and that's why he chose U of A. So some some similarities there. Yeah. So Becky, I actually want to stop and talk about your name, because I know you as Ben. So will you share a little bit about the the whether we're calling you Becky or Ben? What's the name? You know, the what's the interesting story behind the name? Yeah.
Becky Schu 12:17
So my original name is when it's a character, it means running. And my last name Shu means slowly. So my name together means running slowly. It means progressing slowly but steadily. And when it being translated, so it is, it has always been harder to blatherize the Chinese characters. So when they translate it, it just happened to be be the combination of three letters, B, E, N. It's a coincidence. And I like my name a lot in Chinese, but I think when being translated into b n, it really lost all the meanings behind it. And another thing is, when I order pizza, or why do other things. If I say my name is B and then I always have to spell it, spell it out. So I started to use Becky as my pizza name, and no one would ever ask me to spell it out for like, the second time. Everyone gets it immediately. I was like, Wow, that must be a good name to use. Yeah, I'm going to go back with Becky. And although, like for the people who already knew me as Ben, I'm more than happy to be called by Ben too. I think just part of the journey to have to have different names and but I agree. I do like my Chinese name a lot. It's not a typical woman's name. It's more like gender neutral name, and has good meanings. It's not a very common name I have never seen in China. Like it's likely you just have people with the same names, but I have never seen anyone with the same names with me.
Dina Simon 13:50
Oh my gosh, I love that story.
John Simon Sr. 13:51
And that's pretty interesting, because there's over a billion people there, right?
Dina Simon 13:56
Yeah, yeah. And so Becky, I love that you chose that. That's so funny that you use that as your pizza name, and then nobody ever had to ask you how to spell it, because it's a more common name, Becky. And Ben is actually a pretty common name here, but Ben is probably short, mostly for Benjamin, so it's more, more of a of a boy name. So I don't know if you know this, but my grandma, her nickname was Benny. Oh. It said b, e, n, Y, yeah, yeah, so, and we sometimes call her Ben, but Benny was her nickname. But I love that story, and how powerful. And then also just yeah, how much meaning your Chinese name had. And then in translation, it lost some of that meaning. And so for you to figure out, then something else that you know feels special to you. And so I love that. So I just wanted to ask, because I know you as Ben, and as we were communicating on the podcast that I learned that you actually go by Becky. And so thank you for the education behind the story. Yeah,
Becky Schu 14:57
I think there will still be a lot of people. On in me by then, but that's, that's totally okay, right?
Dina Simon 15:02
Yes. So with that, would you like to share that you have a more recent development in your career and also some new adventures, as far as where you may be headed physically in in those adventures, I
Becky Schu 15:17
decided to accept the offer from Michelin as a technical director, so I'll be leading my team to look at from the materials innovation perspective, how can we improve the performance for different tires and airless tire designs for automotives, airplanes, etc. So I'm very excited by this role, that I'll be based in South Carolina and have the opportunity to relocate to Europe in the future. So I yeah, just couldn't wait to start. I will. I mean, I like my current job, but I also couldn't wait to start my new
Dina Simon 15:54
job. Yeah, well, you were so excited for you, because, again, your career has been very powerful. So just even your story about asking, you know, Hey, can I, can I do these dual jobs for four months to try and see if I can step into leadership? Because that's not necessarily something that I had, you know, growing up that, hey, that was an image that I could see myself stepping into leadership. But you did, and you've continued to grow in your leadership capacity and the teams that you're leading, and always very successful. So I know that your team at Sherwin is very sad to see you leave, but there's, you know, everybody's excited for you to go and have yet another amazing experience where you're continuing to grow in your knowledge and expansion of you know, different applications based on what it is that you're doing. And moving into the tire space is something very different than the paint space, right? Yeah,
Becky Schu 16:48
it is, yeah, yeah, very something new.
John Simon Sr. 16:51
And how thankful Are you that your boss at Avery Dennison, she gave you the opportunity to split your job a little bit but become a team manager and working in that type of environment. Because, as you said, you didn't know if you really wanted to do that, but it's errand that you're very good at it, you know, with all these new opportunities you're going to have, and you know, you I was reading a little bit in your bio about your interface with cross functional teams, manufacturing, marketing, sales, and that takes a special person that can tie all of those together and make them all happy.
Becky Schu 17:28
Yeah, I still keep in touch with my old boss. Yeah. She's just really, really amazing person that even I was not sure I could be a good fit or not, because in the traditional Chinese culture that especially women, are not encouraged to take the lead. And I know my parents may not understand that, but I took the opportunity. I tried, and yes, my boss was super supportive. I am really grateful. Yeah, I still there was one time we were having a training, and they asked us to think about the person, one of the person that inspired us the most. And I thought about her in this and her note,
John Simon Sr. 18:09
Oh, that's fantastic. Well, that's really good. And, you know, we talked about life, leadership and building legacy, and what a great legacy you will be able to build for other young ladies out there.
Becky Schu 18:20
I think for other young ladies, that may be more abstract, but if I think about for my kids, that's more tangible. I wanted to leave them the legacy that girls can achieve anything they want to. They can explore all the potentials they have. There's nothing that would stop them and they would have they can join different types of life or the different things they want to do,
Dina Simon 18:45
yes, and you're showing them that path, oh my gosh,
Becky Schu 18:48
trying. And the world is their stage.
Dina Simon 18:51
Love it. Yes. So your six year old, who wrote this beautiful little thing about who she admires the most. So, so tell us about the girls. Is your youngest? A girl as well? Two, yeah, go through your old and so the six year old. What is she into these days? So is she like in kindergarten, first grade?
Becky Schu 19:11
Oh, yeah. She just started kindergarten. Spanish Immersion last year.
Dina Simon 19:15
Nice, nice. And with the move, with the new job, will you all go to South Carolina and then you said over to Europe, possibly in a couple years? Yeah,
Becky Schu 19:24
probably. So I'm going to move by myself. First check out the schools, because that's super important, and then find the house. And then we need to, yeah, we need to decide, like, when are we going to then enroll her into the new schools? She's very excited about changes. I told her about that, and the way I said it is I passed a test, so she was very excited, like she can try different things, although she liked her current school a lot
Dina Simon 19:51
too. Sure. Yeah. And what does your husband do? So he's need a spur
Becky Schu 19:55
of remote work, consulting, programming, things like that. So. He's very supportive of my career. I'm very lucky,
Dina Simon 20:03
yeah, and he's got the flexibility then that he can pick up and move with you. Yes, yeah, yeah, very nice.
John Simon Sr. 20:11
What would you tell your 20 year old self if you could go back and take a look at what you've done? Is there anything you would have done differently?
Becky Schu 20:19
Wow, I love that question. So I first, the first time I heard about that question was in a woman leadership meeting, and there was a lady, she was probably at her 50s or 60s, and she wrote a letter to her 20 year old. So thinking that, wow, if I got to do that, if I can ever write a letter to my 20 year old, I would tell myself that I could choose way more than what I believed I could, and now I'll have a good life. I'll be able to push my potentials and overcome the difficulties and achieve what I thought I couldn't achieve.
John Simon Sr. 20:54
Very, very good.
Dina Simon 20:56
Yes, yep, just to believe in yourself, yeah. And, you know,
John Simon Sr. 20:59
moving like you did from, you know, Avery and then to Sherwin, and now to Michelin. You're proving that that you can, yeah, you're looking for a challenge. You're looking to make the world better. You're looking to make yourself better. Yeah, that's
Becky Schu 21:12
what I'm trying to
Dina Simon 21:14
do, yeah. And it's going to be so fun just to stay connected and watch you. So I have a question for you, Becky, on the creative side. So in your let the letter that your daughter wrote, she said that it sounds like that artist and musical stuff is still in what you do. So do you have any of those types of art passions? Because that was originally where you thought you would land in the art world.
Becky Schu 21:34
Yeah, I still have, I just have, I still have my painting just over there, yeah. So I like to paint, oh, I just painted jeep.
Dina Simon 21:42
Oh, did you well? I drove it your one?
Becky Schu 21:45
I mean, it's not. I want it to be more rusty, but it's not as rusty as I wanted.
Dina Simon 21:51
Oh, my gosh, yeah. Looks
John Simon Sr. 21:53
like Rick's jeep.
Becky Schu 21:54
Yeah. I want it to be like, the like, very muddy thing, but it's not. I like to paint sceneries, especially the sceneries, like, within two Wow,
John Simon Sr. 22:04
oh yeah.
Dina Simon 22:05
I'm always so impressed with people that have such a creative brain, but then also the scientific brain, right? Like, that's awesome. So I'm sure that the art is probably a release and a passion for you. Yeah,
Becky Schu 22:17
it is. I almost got admitted into the master program of art when I was in graduate school, but I did not get it. I had to pay for my own tuition. I did not have money for it,
Dina Simon 22:28
maybe later in life, right? Yeah, yeah. Well, we are so excited about your new adventure. We love, you know, again, just this journey of a little girl leaving China, and look at all that you've done. I'm sure that your family back in China is just watching in awe of all the amazing things that you've done and continue to do. And I'm sure they're not surprised, because they know who you are, but I'm just I'm sure they're very excited for you, and I'm sure they miss you. So like you said, Well, you couldn't go back through covid, and then you you went back this January is that the first time both girls got to go? Yes, it is, yeah. Had your oldest child been back at all? Not during the covid, but yeah, but, but during the work Yeah, after covid, yeah. And we're thinking about having her to attend Mandarin immersion school, like maybe in Hong Kong this summer too, so she can, hopefully she can grow up to be like, trilingual, nice, okay, the goal nice. And you were over there for a couple of weeks, weren't you?
Becky Schu 23:28
Yeah, yeah, including the Christmas, yeah, nice, nice.
Dina Simon 23:31
Well, I'm sure your family was thrilled to see you, huh? So Becky. We just are so appreciative of you being on we love your story. We think you're an inspiration again, to many girls. Love your message to your girls, and they're going to achieve so many amazing things because they get to watch you as their role model, and hold on to that letter that your six year old did, and hold it in a safe place. But I'm sure there'll be many more to come as well, because you're just a huge inspiration to them. They're watching you, but you're a huge inspiration to any of the women that you're leading and all of these teams and the people that you've been able to, you know, touch throughout all these different jobs within your career. And I'm sure they're watching and super excited for you as well.
John Simon Sr. 24:16
Thank you, and as you, as you move to southshare and Ireland, make sure you share your podcast with your new friends down there, and hopefully we'll pick up a whole bunch of new listeners.
Becky Schu 24:28
Yeah, well, yeah,
Dina Simon 24:30
what part of South Carolina is Michelin and Greenville? Okay, nice. Yeah, that's
John Simon Sr. 24:36
big town. Yeah, it is.
Dina Simon 24:38
Yeah. Have you been there before?
Becky Schu 24:40
No, I thought I did, but no, I have been to Charlotte, Atlanta and Atlanta, but not to Greenville. Just too bad it didn't have direct flight to me. Now, this otherwise would be perfect. Yeah,
Dina Simon 24:50
yeah, it's I've I have actually been there. It's beautiful, and that's one of the benefits like you guys will be getting, not that we had a real huge winter here in Minnesota. This year, but it will be a whole new change of scenery. It's not quite down as far south as Texas, but you'll have a new place then to experience here in the US.
Becky Schu 25:09
Yeah, before I moved to Minneapolis, I was so worried about the coldness, so I asked a friend who used to work in Minneapolis, she asked me to get a really long coat. So I bought a coat online. It. It says it can help me to, like, go out when the temperature is minus 60 F I never wear it. I can just, I feel like, more like a Minnesota now, because I can just wear my light, super light jacket outside, right? Just walk really quick, and I'll be okay.
Dina Simon 25:40
But the first year you were here, you probably
Becky Schu 25:46
were a little chilly.
Dina Simon 25:47
Yeah, I think, yeah, yeah. And it is, like, last week when it got cold again, it was town in like the 10, like 1020 at certain points of the day, same thing. It's like, I'm not pulling my coat back out. I'll just run fast from the car to from point A to point B, yes, yeah,
Becky Schu 26:03
yeah, that was shitty,
John Simon Sr. 26:05
yeah. And a great part about South Carolina, you're not far from the ocean, you're not far from the mountains. There's a lot of places that you'll be able to visit that I think the girls will enjoy.
Becky Schu 26:16
Yeah. And then my professor moved to NCSU, so it's also easier for me to visit him, too. It's only like, five hours away.
Dina Simon 26:23
Nice. Yeah, that's fantastic. I'd love to come visit maybe when you get settled. It would be super fun to come see you. Oh, that'd be great. Yes. Well, Becky, thank you so much for being on the podcast. We know that you're an avid listener and you enjoy it, so when I said, well, then we need to have you on and you're like, really? And I was like, yes, so thank you for choosing to spend some time with us and share your very inspirational story. And we just really appreciate it.
Becky Schu 26:50
Thank you so much.
Dina Simon 26:53
I would like to thank Becky Xu for joining us on the podcast. She's quite the inspiration of a young girl moving from China to the US for school and having just a brilliant career, and will continue to have a brilliant career and just growing and learning and teaching others as always. I'd like to thank my father in law, John Simon, for being my co host, and until we talk again. You