Stitching Together East and West with Yunsu Tang

Why this is worth your 5 minutes

If you’ve ever felt out of place in a professional setting, battled imposter syndrome, or struggled to reconcile identity with ambition, this episode is a must-listen.

Yunsu Tang, AI Growth Marketer and creator of the newsletter From East to West grew up in Hong Kong in one of the city’s oldest lineage families. On the surface, her life seemed successful: international education, top-tier jobs, and global advisory experience. But internally, she wrestled with insecurity, cultural expectations, and the pressure of belonging. We dive into this on the Low to Grow podcast.

Her first venture, Senie, was a mental health platform for young professionals, born from her own struggles. Her story isn’t just about career achievements. It’s about how curiosity, reflection, and openness transformed anxiety into a purposeful impact. If you don’t have time to listen to the episode, keep on reading for some nuggets of wisdom!

3 Lessons You Can Apply Today

1. Understand Your Own Relationship with Fear

Yunsu’s early career was marked by imposter syndrome. Despite excelling at top firms, she constantly compared herself to peers and questioned her belonging. Her strategy for navigating fear? Reflection and self-awareness.

By noticing whether she instinctively fights, flees, or freezes in the face of anxiety, she could respond intentionally rather than reactively.

Try this:
Identify one area in your work or life where fear shows up. Can you train yourself to pause and ask: am I overthinking, avoiding, or overcompensating? Understanding your pattern gives you agency.

2. Relationships Are Critical, Don’t Do It Alone (all the time)

After her father passed away when she was 15, Yunsu didn’t process grief openly, especially in her traditional family. It was friends, mentors, and the professional networks she built through Senie that helped her make sense of her experiences.

Listening to others’ stories revealed she wasn’t alone, and inspired her mission to support other young professionals navigating pressure.

Try this:
Reach out to one peer or mentor this week. Ask not for advice, but to share their story. Connection is often the bridge to clarity and growth.

3. Align Your Work With Purpose, Not Just Validation

From East to West, Yunsu consistently balanced ambition with meaning. Her startup whilst at the London School of Economics, Senie, helped young professionals manage career anxiety and navigate cultural stereotypes. Her time at Synchro meant that she could help organizations make smarter decisions using AI-driven insights. In both cases, purpose guided the work more than external recognition.

Try this:
Before your next project or decision, ask: does this serve a meaningful purpose, or am I chasing approval? Purpose fuels resilience and fulfillment.

The Messy Truth Behind Yunsu’s Journey

Success is rarely linear. For Yunsu, it involved:

• Losing her father at a young age and navigating unprocessed grief

• Balancing traditional cultural expectations with personal ambition

• Overcoming imposter syndrome in elite professional settings

• Launching a mission-driven mental health platform while still building her own resilience

• Continuously learning how to bridge cultural and professional worlds

Yunsu’s ventures weren’t just about technology or business. They were platforms for self-discovery, cross-cultural dialogue, and helping others feel less isolated. The messy truth? Achievements don’t erase inner struggle, confronting them does.

Annie’s Anecdote

Speaking to Yunsu, what resonated most with me was her humility in describing imposter syndrome, grief, and cultural pressures in a multigenerational East-Asian family.

She doesn’t present a polished “success story.”

She shows us that even in high-achieving, global environments, anxiety, identity struggles, and self-doubt are real. It’s normal to feel human!

My biggest takeaway?

Growth happens when curiosity, relationships, and self-awareness meet action.
We can pursue impact while honoring our inner complexity. And being open about your journey doesn’t weaken you, but rather connects you to the people who need your story most.

ChatGPT drafted the first copy of this article before I came in to edit. If ChatGPT was my intern, my feedback would be: medium edits.