Jade Zhang and equality, in the name of Mulan

A three and a half years Giada Zhang is taken to the cinema to see Mulan. It’s a new Disney cartoon but the story of Hua Mulan, a Chinese girl who dresses up as a man to fight in place of her sick father, has been known in China for centuries. Despite her age, her parents know that the little girl will be able to follow the film closely: Giada spent the first two years of her life in China with her grandparents, university professors, in Wenzhou, an hour by plane from Shanghai, to learn the four arts of the perfect schoolboy.

«Reading, because it is important to have culture; knowing how to play an instrument, because music teaches empathy; dance, because physical activity is linked to the mind; and chess, to learn the strategy ».

Two years old?
“Yes, the grandparents insisted that my parents, who had taken me back with them in Italy, where I was born and where they had restaurants, continue. And so they did. They have always pushed me to follow more courses and passions, because it was important that I could choose the life I wanted ».

So they took her to see Mulan with a purpose, not for fun?
“Both: I remember well that at the end of the film they told me that I was like that heroine, I could do anything and that males and females were the same. The same that they later said to my younger sisters: today Ambra and Elisa go to university in London, the older one has just started working in an investment bank. At home we follow the philosophy of “Chiku”, literally “eat bitter”, which derives from Confucius: you have to make many sacrifices to achieve a great goal ».

Today her parents are getting more rest and she is the sole director of the Mulan Group, a company that produces Asian ready meals. What sacrifices did he make to get here?
“My job was to study. So I always went to school with enthusiasm and the first thing I had to learn was the Italian language. Until middle school I didn’t speak it very well but the difficulty of being different for my mates and not having the grades I wanted pushed me to work harder and harder, I studied in the evening, even in the back of the restaurant, after the various volleyball courses. , piano, dance, and finally I turned. In high school I began to have my first satisfactions, in the fourth I went to do a year of high school in New York, hosted by a family. There in the melting pot for the first time I didn’t feel different, and I started studying other languages ​​too ».

Bocconi did the rest. She graduated in International Economics and Management, an all-English course of study, and speaks five languages. At the university she also founded a feminist association.
«Yes, Women in Finance, a network of young women from all over the world engaged in one of the most masculine fields: finance. When they come in, we work alongside them with a more experienced mentor to help them ».

Think gender differences do are shortening?
“I am aware that it will still take a couple of generations. At the job interviews I do, given the same experience, age, educational qualifications, if I ask for the previous salary, women declare 30-40% less than men. But I am optimistic, the fact that we talk about it already means that something changes. Here I have many male entrepreneur friends, in their thirties, who never asked each other anything, then they had daughters and they tell me annoyed that the Carnival costumes for girls are still only for princesses and for children only for superheroes “.

Do you have any plans to have children?
“Not for now, I’m very busy at work. But the time will come. I like to think that there is the right time for everything: in life it is like being a juggler who manages several balls, but throws them in the air one at a time ».

If he had a daughter, would he educate her how she was raised?
«I would do the same things again, my parents just spurred me on, they didn’t impose anything on me. I’ll give you an example: at 16 I wanted to give up the plan. They told me that I had to decide, alone, they advised me to continue and one day I would understand why. I had invested eight years in studying the instrument, and it was a shame to throw them away. So I decided to continue, but by changing teachers. Today I understood that it was the right choice ».

In 2002 her parents founded the company she runs today, and in 2007 Mulan Group is born. Who came up with the idea of ​​calling it that?
«I remember that day: it was afternoon and we were in front of the construction site. We were just wondering: what do we call it? My parents wanted something that was reminiscent of Asia but also their daughters. We are also in via Equal Opportunities ».

How did you lead the company in this difficult year?
«We immediately realized that the ready-to-eat market was in decline during the lockdown, because it is an impulse buy. Instead, those who managed to enter the supermarket in March were stocking up, all were chefs, bread and pizza at home. In two weeks we created a new product, thematic boxes, reconverted and trained the staff, made arrangements for logistics: this is how an e-commerce service was born that from Cremona ships fresh Chinese food, but also Thai and Vietnamese food all over Italy. , in 24 hours. We immediately received hundreds of orders from all over Italy. We knew that things would never go back to the way they used to be and we had to innovate, my philosophy is speed over perfection, speed at the expense of perfection. Every year we continue to grow by 35-40% and in 2021 we are also in Germany, France, Austria, Slovenia and Poland, reaching 3.5 million dishes per year ».

What would you say to a girl who thinks that studying no longer leads to anything?
«To study why it is necessary. But not to close, do internships, travel, learn languages, volunteer, enrich their training in many ways. Because I meet many who are 28 years old, three degrees and a master but have never worked. I’m out of this world ».