Girls in STEMM: Bayer Recap
On April 20th, Bayer hosted students from Keystone Academy participating in the Girls in STEMM program at its Beijing Bayer Center.
The morning started off with a welcome from Annie Wang, HRVP, Bayer Greater China and APAC. Annie introduced Bayer’s mission and core business. As a company that entered the China market as early as 1882, Bayer China promotes a culture of inclusion and diversity, and utilizes culture and sports as a source of joy and inspiration for cohesion and understanding across boundaries. As an international company, Bayer also supports DEI as part of its social responsibility.
The girls had a chance to hear stories from female leaders in STEMM such as Yao Li, Vice president of Bayer Group, Head of Medical, Bayer Pharmaceuticals, Daisy Hu, Senior Vice President of Bayer Group, Head of Marketing, Bayer Pharmaceuticals, and Hua Zhang, Vice President of Bayer Group, Site Head of Research and Development, Head of Regulatory Affairs, Bayer Pharmaceuticals. During the follow-up Q&A moderated by Annie Wang, students challenged these leaders with questions covering KPIs for diversity and women empowerment, pricing strategy for new drugs, and traits Bayer is looking for in potential employee candidates. And in return, they got excellent feedback on how to chase their dreams and develop soft skills like communication and persuasion--critical for driving change in the workplace.
Later in the session, students enjoyed a guided tour of the Bayer offices and Bayer Gym. On the tour, Bayer showed the students how they promote their new drugs inside the office and learned about flexible work arrangements that Bayer offers to its employees to stay healthy during COVID.
To wrap up the day, students lunched with Xiaolan Zhou, Executive Vice President, Head of Commercial Operations China, Bayer Pharmaceuticals, President of Bayer Group Greater China, and the aforementioned women executive leaders at Bayer. Working in the pharmaceutical industry for almost 26 years, Xiaolan shared her STEMM journey, responded to questions including work-life balance, developing people, initiatives of executives on gender diversity, and Bayer’s China strategy.
Thanks again to all the volunteers from Bayer China for sharing their personal stories and inspiring the girls from Keystone Academy Beijing.
Click the "Read More" button below to learn more about the Girls in STEMM program and how your school or company can get involved next school year.
The Women Empowerment Council (WEC) is an engaged network of leaders and decision-makers that aims to advance gender equality in businesses in China and beyond.