Category: Careers

Alumni interview: Ai Ching Goh, Piktochart Co-Founder

Posted on by Ellie

Co-founded by Malaysian-born Ai Ching Goh (BSc 2008), Piktochart is a visual communication tool that allows users to create infographics, posters and more – without the need for design experience.

Ai Ching Goh launched the start-up alongside her partner, Andrea Zaggia, a few years after graduating from the University of Bristol with a degree in Experimental Psychology. Since then the business has seen tremendous growth and is now used by more than 20 million people worldwide.

Last month, Ai Ching Goh was recognised for her achievements when she won the entrepreneurial category of the prestigious 2020 British Council Alumni Awards. Here she talks about her time in Bristol and her path to entrepreneurial success.

Congratulations on your recent award! How did it feel to be recognised for your entrepreneurial achievements?
Very unexpected. So grateful! I never thought that my journey as a student at Bristol would have led to this.

You co-founded Piktochart with your partner, how did you come up with the idea for your business?
Ten years ago, it was the golden age of click through rates – meaning adverts at that time received a far higher number of clicks per view than they do now. As time went on it was becoming increasingly apparent that companies would have to ‘pull’ their customers to them through interesting and valuable content. We predicted that this trend was only going to get more visual, which is why we started focusing on infographics. They really help to communicate complex information that otherwise would not be as easily understood. That’s how we got started with Piktochart!

We believe that effective, great communication is essential to every business. Every role (not just the CEO, HR or PR person) needs to be really good at it. It helps the company to represent itself in a very clear way to its customers and stakeholders and expand efficiently by being one single cohesive unit.

You’re passionate about creating a positive working culture at Piktochart. Can you tell us a bit more about why this is so important to you?
The first company I joined after graduating was a big corporate. I arrived bright eyed and bushy tailed – ready to take on the world. I was sure I was going to make a great impact. But instead, I learnt a series of lessons that would forever change my point of view about ‘work’.

I was hired as an Associate Media Manager, managing a $14M portfolio of radio, TV, magazine and newspaper expenditure and often networking with the celebrities of Malaysia. It was a glamorous job, but I encountered difficulties in the workplace. I became quieter and more lacking in confidence until I withdrew into my tortoise shell. I had a lot of ideas, but I worried so much about whether I sounded stupid that I just stopped asking, stopped doing and tried to guess what was wanted from me.

I was so affected that every weekend, come Sunday, I would start crying because on Monday I had to go to work. I was only in my 20s but I was so burnt out and stressed that eventually my physical health took a toll and I was hospitalised. It took me three months of resting to get better. I spent my days with my iPad, reading about life and thinking about what kind of future I wanted for myself. The biggest thing I learned was that I couldn’t work in an environment like that again.

When it comes to the workplace, you’ve got to get the people and culture right. You can build a successful and enduring corporate business, but if the employees are crying on their Sundays, it’s not a business that I want to be part of.

Example of a Piktochart Instagram template

How do you find balance outside of your working life? What do you do to wind down?
I spend time with my daughter and at the moment there’s very little winding down! My daughter, who is almost three, is a ball of energy. Her nicknames are ‘tornado’ and ‘earthquake’. So as you can imagine, I usually feel like I’m working harder over the weekends – but no complaints! She’s been one of the best things that has happened to my husband and myself. We love cooking, going to the parks, exploring and trying new things, reading the bible, singing.

What kind of student were you?
I was outgoing, took on multiple part time roles, I didn’t do very well in my studies during the first and second years but caught up in the final year. I spent a lot of my time in AIESEC, mingling with the Europeans, and checked out a lot of bars when I was there.

Where was your favourite place to spend time in Bristol and why?
Clifton Hill. I had multiple favourite places but I think this one would top it all. It’s such a pretty place to go for a walk, especially because of its quaint little shops. I also loved the farmers’ market, whenever they had one on!

How did studying at the University impact you as a person?
It made me think more critically which came in handy for writing essays etc. Apart from that, it constantly forced me out of my comfort zone. I took on multiple roles in AIESEC, travelled for conferences and built some of my most enduring friendships. I also was part of the Telethon team at the Development and Alumni Relations Office (DARO). I had to survive not being at home for more than three years, but all of it really shaped me to be someone who dared to take chances.

What advice would you give to Bristol students who might be hoping to start their own businesses?
I think that work experience is important. However, if you’ve been entrepreneurial throughout your life, then find a way to quickly validate your ideas and fail fast. The path of an entrepreneur is filled with failures and you would be wise to find ways to “shortcut” it, for example by learning from books, by getting a mentor, by building prototypes and not being afraid to fail.

Alumni interview: Sam Rowley, Wildlife Photographer

Posted on by Ellie

For many of us, choosing what we want to be when we ‘grow up’ can be a life-long mission, but not for Bristol alumnus, Sam Rowley (Bsc Biology 2016). Since the age of ten he’s known exactly what he wants to do: travel the globe capturing some of the world’s most beautiful animals on film.

Now, Sam works for the BBC’s Natural History Unit and since graduation he’s photographed and filmed animals in countries such as Ethiopia, Madagascar and India. But his most recent achievement took place much closer to home, when Sam won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year: Lumix People’s Choice Award for his depiction of mice fighting on a London tube station platform.

We caught up with him to chat about his recent win, Bristol wildlife and top tips for aspiring photographers.

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“Life and careers are never linear”: Interview with Alex Wilmot-Sitwell

Posted on by Clare

Following his recent appointment as one of the University’s Pro-Chancellors, we caught up with Bristol alumnus, Alex Wilmot-Sitwell, to talk about his career trajectory, life experiences and his time at Bristol.

Alex graduated from the University with a degree in History (BA 1983) and went on to start his career in Corporate Finance at The English Trust. He moved to South Africa in 1991 and subsequently joined Robert Fleming in South Africa as a Director in Corporate Finance in 1995. He joined SBC Warburg in 1996, which later became UBS. At 37, he became Head of UK Investment Banking at UBS and moved back to London. During his time at UBS, Alex worked on some of their biggest deals, including the restructuring of Lloyds Banking. At UBS, he went on to become Global Head of Investment Banking, co-CEO of UBS Investment Bank and finally CEO of UBS AG in APAC. He served on the Group Executive Board at UBS AG.  In 2012 he joined Bank of America Merrill Lynch as the President of their business in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Today, Alex is a Partner at Perella Weinberg Partners’ advisory business based in London, having joined in September 2018. He has regularly been ranked as one of the 100 most influential people in the City.

Alex was a Vice President of Save the Children UK from 2008 – 2014 and a member of the University of Bristol Centenary Campaign Board from 2009 – 2014. He was also on the Advisory Board of The Sutton Trust until 2018. Today he serves on the Advisory Board of the National Theatre.

What attracted you to study at the University of Bristol?

Then, as now, Bristol stood out for me as a university with real depth and breadth and as an institution which had quality and respect right across the board.

What is your fondest memory from your time at Bristol?

Without a doubt it’s the friendships that I made there. To this day I still have those strong networks around me that have stood the test of time. I also loved the city, especially Clifton for its architecture and the splendours of the Suspension Bridge across the gorge. And you can’t beat the Downs for a breath of fresh air. It’s just such a beautiful city, I loved studying there.

One of your sons also graduated from Bristol – have you spoken about the differences and similarities you both experienced while studying here, and can you tell us about them?

Yes, my son Ben graduated in 2018. Since my time as an undergraduate the University has changed a lot, not least by doubling in size, but I think the city remains an amazing place to be. Like me, Ben has left university with a strong group of incredible lifelong friends. In fact, my niece is also currently studying at Bristol and she too loves the vibrancy of the city and the friends that she’s making there.

What is the best career advice that you have ever been given?

My father used to remind me that ‘the cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable people’ and this has stuck with me. There can be a tendency, especially when you reach very senior management positions, to talk yourself into thinking that you are indispensable and always right. No-one is either of those things. You can’t take yourself too seriously. If I had to give career advice, I would say that life and careers are never linear. Sometimes you have to go backwards in order to go forwards and we shouldn’t be afraid of that.

What’s been the proudest moment of your career to date?

Becoming Chief Executive of UBS Investment Bank in 2009, only 12 years after I restarted my career. To be frank, I was a late starter. I went off on some entrepreneurial tangents which didn’t quite work out. I only went into banking properly in 1995, at the age of 34, which is quite old for mainstream banking! I had tried various things before that, including living and working in South Africa through interesting and difficult times, so to get to that point after some false attempts makes me quite proud.

As a history graduate, what do you feel we can learn from history? In today’s political landscape do you think we are in danger of ignoring previous lessons?

I think it’s quite foolish to overlook historic patterns and precedents as things do tend to repeat themselves. I believe in always looking forward, but we must remember that we can learn a lot from historical events, which can improve knowledge and decision-making in judgements about the future. It can prove dangerous to ignore what history can teach us.

As someone who is passionate about the arts, can you tell us about a recent performance, exhibition or work of literature that’s moved you and why?

I’ve just finished reading Jack Fairweather’s phenomenal book The Volunteer, about a Polish resistance hero who voluntarily got himself sent to Auschwitz where he built a resistance movement. It’s a harrowing but brave story of survival, selflessness and putting others before yourself.

My wife and I have also just seen Sir Tom Stoppard’s play Leopoldstadt, set among a Jewish family in Vienna across six decades, where many of the family were sent to Auschwitz. This year is the 75th anniversary of the ending of World War Two and the Holocaust is highly relevant today in terms of a real threat to tolerance, the rise of extreme right-wing politics, nationalism, Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism. It’s a stark reminder of how appalling and dangerous populism and intolerance are, and how we should celebrate and protect an open and tolerant society.

As one of the newly appointed Pro-Chancellors, what are your ambitions for the University of Bristol in the future?

Bristol has a tremendous opportunity to be innovative. The Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus development is very exciting, joining up different areas of Bristol and becoming a world-leading centre for science and technology. Likewise, the changes to the Clifton campus, including the new library will be hugely positive. I see them as a centre, a gathering point at the heart of the University.

Universities generally are facing unprecedented challenges right now; financial, social and sustainability. Managing universities in the UK in an era where free movement of people – students, researchers, academics, teachers – is due to be restricted is another challenge. Bristol has an opportunity now to be a thought leader. Universities need to change and evolve in order to meet student requirements. Our graduates will end up doing jobs that haven’t even been invented yet. Bristol needs to be at the forefront of innovative thinking in order to excel in this space.

Bristol Mentors: ‘It’s fantastic to feel you have helped give someone the confidence to reach for their goals’

Posted on by Grace
Image: Bristol Mentor of the Year Sam Rose (left) with one of her mentees Tien (right)


Sam Rose (MA 2006) won Bristol Mentor of the Year 2019 for her remarkable mentoring of two students last year. She shares her experience of the programme and talks to us about what it meant to her to support an aspiring lawyer and policy maker.

What inspired you to join as a Bristol Mentor?
I loved my time studying at Bristol and mentoring was a fantastic way to re-connect with the Bristol community in a meaningful way. I remember finding the leap from studying law to moving into a career quite challenging. I couldn’t decide what sort of lawyer I wanted to be or even whether I wanted to stay in academia and study law at PhD level. I didn’t know anyone who had experience of those careers and it would have been really valuable for me to have been able to chat through the options with someone who had been there.

The team at Bristol Mentors was fantastic – really supportive and inspirational so once I had made contact with them, they made it an easy decision.

Can you tell me a bit about your mentoring partnership – who did you mentor? How did you structure the mentorship and what do you think your mentee gained from the experience?
I was spoiled to have two mentees in the first year of the scheme. As I live near Oxford and work in London, the majority of our catch-ups, which were about once a month, were over Skype, Google Hangouts or the phone.

I also reviewed application forms and CVs for them and provided written comments. We met in-person and I arranged for one mentee to do work experience at my office and for the other to have a networking lunch with two of my colleagues who had worked at law firms she was interested in.

I hope I was able to give them some professional insight into the careers they were interested in and to help them to feel confident to pursue them.

Is there anything that worked particularly well with your mentoring that you would use again with another partnership?
I think it worked well for both mentees to get insight from my colleagues as well as from me. I am lucky that in my current role I have lovely colleagues who were happy to dedicate time to have career conversations with them.

What do you enjoy most about being a mentor?
I have met two bright and inspiring young women. The scheme ended in the summer but I have had contact with both of my mentees since then and met with Tien (pictured, right) this weekend to catch up whilst she is home from her year abroad.

Why do you think mentoring is valuable?
It’s a way to pass on what you have learned to people who really value it, which is enormously rewarding. It’s also a lovely way to meet charming and intelligent young people and to stay connected with Bristol.

Do you have any tips for people who are thinking about joining as a mentor, or people who have just started a mentorship?
Don’t underestimate the value of a calm and encouraging chat with your mentees. It’s fantastic to feel that you have helped to give someone the confidence to reach for their goals.

In three words, how would you describe Bristol Mentors?
Flexible, rewarding and insightful.

Are you interested in becoming a Bristol Mentor for 2020/21? Find out more about Bristol Mentors here or get in touch with our team at alumni-mentoring@bristol.ac.uk

“There are few impossible challenges”: Interview with Dr. Andrew Sheng

Posted on by Ellie

Following his recent appointment as one of the University’s Pro-Chancellors, we caught up with Bristol alumnus, Dr. Andrew Sheng, to talk about his career, his time as a student and lessons for the future.

After graduating from the University with a degree in Economics (BSc 1969)‌‌, Andrew rose through the ranks of the Bank Negara in Malaysia, to become Chief Economist and Assistant Governor. He later worked at the World Bank as a Senior Manager, where he undertook pioneering work on bank restructuring.

Now, Andrew is a distinguished fellow at the Fung Global Institute, chief adviser to the China Banking Regulatory Commission, and a board member of Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the sovereign wealth fund of Malaysia. Andrew has published widely on monetary, economic and financial issues and is a regular contributor to leading economic publications throughout Asia.

What initially made you want to attend the University of Bristol?
I came to England to try and learn something about Britain. Bristol was my first choice as I wanted to get a first-class education and get to know many English friends and the countryside.

What was your fondest memory from your time in Bristol?
Good friends, fabulous wines and Bristol sherry. It was where I met my wife, Suan Poh, who came to do her doctorate in social psychology in Bristol.

How did studying at the University help you in your career?
I learnt a lot from my tutors through the personal interaction. One of them went on to become the Governor of the Central Bank of Iran. Getting a First in Economics helped when it came to getting interviews for jobs. But it also really gave me the confidence to appreciate that there are few impossible challenges, the only barrier being your own will to tackle them.

What’s been the proudest moment of your career to date?
We must appreciate that every achievement is always that of a team and never of one’s own doing. There have been many moments when I felt, looking back, how did we manage to survive that crisis? The best moments come after you get through the hottest fires. You learn never to take the future for granted.

What is the best career advice that you have ever been given?
The day you wake up and don’t feel like going to work, that’s the time to move on. The best job is the one that you enjoy and I must say I’ve enjoyed them all, so far.

You have always been a believer in the power of education. Could you give us an example of something interesting that you’ve learnt recently from an unexpected source?
Education is all about continually learning, adapting and honing your skills. An old friend told me over Christmas that she wanted to spend more time educating her grandchildren because they will face the greatest challenges from climate change and have much less opportunities because of technology disruption. Her children are too busy working to re-tool themselves for the New Age. We, the baby-boomer generation, created the greatest wealth, but also the greatest inequality and endowed the next generations with the highest debt. In effect, we consumed more than our fair share of planetary resources at the expense of social and planetary justice. The next generation will pay for most of this. I totally agree with her. The young, including the young at heart, must think out of the box to survive the tough days ahead.

As one of the newly appointed Pro-Chancellors, what are your ambitions for the University of Bristol in the future?
The experiences and mental attitudes of students, as well as their exposure to projects, are becoming increasingly important to employers. This means that universities need to have much more multi-disciplinary approaches to education and skilling, with good feedback mechanisms from employers to change curricula, with students working as employees or start-up interns much earlier than before. The future for graduates today is far tougher than when I graduated. It will be far tougher in the days to come, so the University needs to prepare its graduates for this.

Climate change, disruptive technology, intense geo-political rivalry, widening social inequality, migration and aging demographics are all wicked problems* that require new skills and paradigms to tackle. We won’t have simple answers. We just have to adapt by becoming more flexible, creative and open-minded to radical ways of dealing with problems and learning by doing.

* “a social or cultural issue or concern that is difficult to explain and inherently impossible to solve.” study.com/academy/lesson/wicked-problem-definition-examples.html

You’re sharing your expertise… and inspiring the next generation

Posted on by Grace

Rebecca Hellen (BA 1994) tells us her reasons for becoming a Bristol mentor.

I studied Art History and History at the University of Bristol and decided that a career in conservation was a great combination of the practical and academic. I then went on to study Science Chemistry for Conservators, before doing my postgraduate study at the Courtauld Institute of Art. In 2002 I started my role as Paintings Conservator at Tate.

The art world can be quite daunting. I didn’t come from an artistic family and like Hudi, I went to a state school, so I know what it’s like to try and enter a world you have little connection to.

Being a mentor was an opportunity for me to explore a broader and more open kind of coaching style than I’ve done before. It was really interesting working with someone much younger than me. I work a lot with postgraduates who are already committed to a career in conservation, but undergraduates are different – they are at a more influential and critical stage of their professional life.

I really enjoyed working with Hudi. I gave her some advice about talking to senior people and general etiquette, as it’s not something you necessarily learn. There are lots of very bright, relaxed and passionate people in the art world and it was really good to remind someone in Hudi’s position that everyone is human and that we all started out somewhere.

The mentorship was a flexible, easy-going arrangement and it was so satisfying knowing I could make a difference to Hudi’s final year experience. Mentoring is a great way to help make good things happen for the next generation.

Hudi Charin (BA 2019) shares her experience of the Bristol Mentors programme and the impact it has had on her experience since graduating.

I’d never studied History of Art before coming to Bristol so I didn’t really know what to expect. But I read The Story of Art by E. H. Gombrich and suddenly I was hooked. I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s my degree!’

In the summer of my second year I was really worried about applying for jobs and internships. I didn’t really have anyone to speak to about it and most people I knew were studying other subjects. So when Bristol Mentors contacted me it was a real relief. I was stunned and delighted to be partnered with Rebecca Hellen, Paintings Conservator at Tate.

I didn’t know much about conservation before but I do now! On our first meeting, Rebecca showed me around the Edward Burne-Jones exhibition at Tate Britain, which was amazing. She showed me before and after x-rays of the paintings she’d worked on and shared so much knowledge about how the exhibition was put together. It was such a privilege to get that behind-the-scenes insight.

It can be really lonely applying for jobs. Rebecca was an amazing sounding board for any questions I had and she taught me so much about the different roles within the art industry. It also made such a difference to have someone from the art industry look over my CV and job applications. Since meeting Rebecca I’ve secured four internships at galleries in London, while previously I hadn’t managed to get any. I’ve also done a placement with Bristol Museum, I’ve made some really good contacts and I’m thinking about applying for a Master’s which Rebecca has been able to help me with too. This mentorship has made such an enormous difference.

Bristol Mentors is the University of Bristol’s alumni mentoring programme, providing career-focused support for students from under-represented backgrounds by matching them with an alumni mentor. 

Celebrate 10 years of student achievement with the Bristol PLUS Awards

Posted on by tabitha.haydon

The Bristol PLUS Awards lunched in 2009 to reward students for developing skills through extracurricular activity and articulate their value to employers.  Although these original principles are unchanged, activity and engagement has evolved, with just 165 completers in the first year, to over 1000 more recently. 

2019-20 marks the 10 year anniversary of the Bristol PLUS and Outstanding Awards and we are inviting all past award alumni to celebrate with us! Each cohort of our Award alumni are part of this growing success, as we evaluate student feedback to make continuous improvements to the credibility and value of the Awards. We are proud of the inclusive and accessible nature of the Awards and the variety of projects students get recognition for – from volunteering at Oxfam to completing an internship at a city firm, leading a sports club or learning a language.

While employability has been at the heart of the Awards, the personal benefits are vast. Students report improved confidence, feeling empowered to make decisions about their future and realising their potential.

The Bristol PLUS Award has become an effective way to build up confidence. It encouraged me to enrich my life experiences while at university. It is not only about improving employability, but also about truly maximising wellbeing. – 2nd year Mechanical Engineering (PhD)

Students completing this fully extracurricular Award now make up around 4% of the university population, but we have ambitions to reach more. If you completed the Award in the past 10 years we would love to hear about what you are doing now. Wherever you are in the world, your story could inspire the next generation. Or perhaps you work in a business that could benefit from engaging with the University and like-minded proactive students like you once were. To find out more, please email career-plusaward@bristol.ac.uk for more info, or read this recent blog.