About Us
GuavaTalk is a New York and Beijing-based startup providing high quality affordable online education for students all over the world. Our first product is Mandarin language learning taught online by native speakers in China. We hope you enjoy it. Please signup, give us frequent feedback, and join us in creating a new way of learning.
Meet Our Management Team
Chris Luo is a Co-Founder. He began his career as a management consultant for Mercer Management Consulting, where he advised CEOs of Fortune 1000 companies on growth strategy. After Mercer, he moved on to strategy, corporate development, and marketing roles at Capital One and Vonage. He is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business, where he was a Palmer Scholar. His undergraduate degree is from Harvard College, where he was Phi Beta Kappa.
Steve Hwang is a Co-Founder. Most recently, Steve spent seven years at Goldman Sachs, first in the commercial real estate department, then as a trader for principal strategies, an elite proprietary desk whose revenues exceeded over $1 billion per year. His undergraduate degree is from Northwestern University in Economics and Psychology.
Brian Chew is a Co-Founder. He previously was a software developer for Longs Drugs, where he designed and developed network and web applications utilized for order processing and distribution. Brian graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Ann So is a Co-Founder. She spent over ten years in executive management for Korea Express, the largest logistics company in Korea. She holds various certifications in logistics including Hazardous Goods, FCA, and NVOCC. Most recently, Ann oversaw the management as the COO of a private nursing school called Angeles College of Nursing. Ann majored in Business Administration and Accounting at Langara College in Canada.
Stan Wang is a Co-Founder. He is currently also the Director of East Coast Operations for Red Bricks Media, a San Francisco-based interactive marketing agency. Prior to Red Bricks, Stan handled the product marketing and buying for the MP3 line at Coby Electronics. He began his career in product management and sales at Akamai Technologies. Stan holds a BA in Biochemistry and Master's in Operations Research from Cornell University.
Mike Marcinkowski is a Co-Founder. Mike graduated from Northwestern University with an undergraduate degree in English and a certification to teach at the secondary level. After three years of teaching high school English and college preparatory writing, Mike moved into the corporate world and managed costs and quality for McMaster-Carr Supply Company. During his time at McMaster-Carr, Mike attained a Masters of Arts in Writing from DePaul University, where he graduated with distinction.
Meet Our Board of Advisors
Professor Fangyuan Yuan holds a doctoral degree in foreign language education with research interests in second language acquisition, thematic-based instruction, Chinese pedagogy, and Chinese business culture. She has published widely including two influential business Chinese textbooks. Her research papers have appeared in leading international journals in the field of applied linguistics. She is a frequent presenter and panel organizer at national and international conferences on language teaching and learning. She has developed and coordinated the most comprehensive business Chinese program at the US collegiate level at the University of Pennsylvania. She has 12 years of experience in teaching Chinese at the university level in the US, first at the University of Pennsylvania and currently at the Modern Languages Department of the US Naval Academy,where she holds an assistant professorship.
