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46 | GRAVITAS MAGAZINE GravitasMag.com Did you work all the way through college? Yes, I did. I was fortunate enough that my parents could afford my college education. ey worked really hard to fulfill their own A merican Dream so I didn't really have to worr y about money. For me, it was about tr ying to figure out what to do with my life. Once I started work ing , I became so focused on the work that my education k ind of took second place. Ultimately, my grades suffered because of my extracurricular work. One time, I was even put on academic probation, which led my career advisors to tell me, "You're never going to be a law yer because you' ll never get into any of the decent law schools." So, I thought, "Okay, I need to pull it together and start focusing on academia." I became motivated and found the will to pull my grades back up. You ended up spending some time in London during your education. How did that transpire? Interestingly, one of my professors, the head of the political science department, was pulling together a program to send a handful of A merican students, specifically students in poli-sci and international affairs, abroad to London to work as a research assistants for the British parliament. He put me for ward, and I was accepted into the program. My parents wouldn't give me the permission to go, so he called them up and implored them to let me go. See, when you get a call from a professor—especially in an Asian home—it's a pre y big deal. Needless to say, I went to London. e strangest thing happened the moment I stepped out of the airport; I felt home for the first time in my life. A er that summer, I called my parents to let them k now I wasn't coming back. ey could not understand or accept this news. at's when they threatened to cut me off financially. Fortunately, I had all this money squirreled away from various small jobs, so I said, "Fine. I don't need your money." I completed my law degree with honors because this time around I was studying areas that actually interested me. My parents were shocked when they saw me becoming ver y academic and studious for the first time in my life. How did you land your first job at Universal? I was applying to many internship programs during my first and second years at law school, but I was having trouble geing into one because of the thick competition. en, one of my girlfriends, a former banker, found herself work ing at Universal Pictures in business development. She told me, "Agnes, you don't have the personality to be an investment banker. You need to consider entertainment." As it turned out, they had an internship available in international productions and acquisitions, out of their London offices. I didn't think I stood a chance, but they ended up offering me the internship the ver y same day I applied. I was there for five years, but ultimately I saw a glass ceiling at Universal, so to speak. ere were also a lot of gender politics at play— something I didn't really appreciate. For example, finding out that the male finance analyst, who started out at the company mak ing less than I, was now mak ing close to 20,000 pounds more than me. at might have been the final straw. Apart from that, I was mak ing all sorts of decisions for the company that were well above my pay grade. My boss was such a law yer; he couldn't make a decision to save his life. In fact, he actually got rid of my title because he didn't want people who were transacting with me to k now how junior I was…leaving me title-less. He even jerked me around with a promise of promotion. Ultimately, I'm so glad he was like that because I would not have had the opportunities it presented me. If I had started out my career doing in-house work at Universal Los A ngeles, for example, they'd probably have had me just do talent deals, day in and day out. But at the Universal International group, I got a wide breadth of experience. Basically, I was able to figure out FROM TOP TO BOTTOM: Golden Globes After Party. A night out with friends in Hong Kong. Comic Con with collegues. 46 | GRAVITAS MAGAZINE GravitasMag.com

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