MEET GRADUATE JULIE JIA, JAZZ LOVER AND ENTREPRENEUR
04 June 2019
Shenzhen, in Guangdong Province in south-eastern China – a modern metropolis that links Hong Kong to China’s mainland – is home to Queen’s 2012 Master’s in Business Management & Marketing graduate, Hairuo Jia (Julie), who is just months away from opening a boutique jazz club.
During a recent visit to Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Beijing, Queen’s Alumni Officer for Engagement, Stephen O’Reilly, caught up with the serial entrepreneur Julia Jia who set up and runs her own successful wine distribution business in 2014.
“My best memories of Queen's,” Julie told Stephen, “Was the Lanyon building – certainly it was the first image of Queen’s I got when I did enrolment at the student guidance centre.
“The professional and caring attitude of the staff – the statistician professor who taught me the importance of data and data telling a story, are also important memories.
“What I studied at Queen’s taught me the importance of data and understanding data for business. This helped me greatly when I started my business – the need to read the data and predict the trends,” she added.
Born in China, Julie attended Shenzhen Experimental High School before graduating with a Bachelor's degree in E-Commerce/Electronic Commerce from Shenyang Aerospace University, in 2010. She came to Queen’s the following year to study business. Speaking in 2015 in an INTO video, Julie said: “I chose Management because China’s economy is booming and it demands practical management skilled people.”
While at Queen’s she worked part-time as an interpreter in the Students’ Union. Clearly someone who enjoyed her time in Belfast, she sums up Queen’s as ‘caring, professional and loving’.
After graduating, Julie spent 2012-14, firstly as a Chartered Marketer Assistant at Queen’s and then as an Associate Director Assistant at Aviva plc in Hong Kong, before setting up her own wine distribution business.
Fast forward five years, when it opens later this year, Roots House – a boutique jazz club with a select wine list and creative cocktails – will marry two of Julie’s greatest passions in life, namely fine wine and great jazz.
The bar will be located in OCT Bay in the Nanshan District, one of the most aesthetic and artsy areas of Shenzhen. A live house jazz bar with regular performances, it will offer seasonal wine selections, a dynamic wine list and creative cocktails with a jazz twist.
“We are focused on being a pure and dynamic platform that spreads jazz culture,” Julie told Stephen. “We also want to find interesting wines for our customers, to bring the joys and delights of fine wine to Shenzhen.”
Julie, whose company supplied the wine for a celebration event in Shenzhen during a November 2018 University visit to China, is even planning to offer a couple of drinks with a distinctly Northern Ireland feel, and has even come up with a name – Lanyon Cocktail!
One will comprise Belfast Gin and tonic water – there’s even talk of a dried cherry blossom flower from Northern Ireland by way of decoration – and one featuring Bushmills Whiskey with lemon juice and toasted lemon peel.
Asked what advice she would give to prospective students, Julie said: “If you want a place where you can really grow up, with not much distraction, then Belfast/Queen’s is the place!
“The people are very warm and welcoming and if you want to get a job in the UK you can have the opportunity by studying at Queen’s.”
For more on Queen’s graduate activities in China please contact the University’s Alumni Relations Engagement Officer Stephen O’Reilly on tel: +44 (0)28 9097 3135.
To submit graduate news items, or for general enquiries about this story, please contact Gerry Power, Communications Officer, Development and Alumni Relations Office, Queen's University Belfast or telephone: +44 (0)28 9097 5321.
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