Serena Wong Jhing Mern

Proactive skills development

Serena has embraced opportunities and taken an active role in Sheffield student life. She learned the German language alongside her degree and studied abroad in Vienna, Austria, where she set up a WhatsApp group to bring UK Erasmus students together, and organised a Jubilee picnic to combat loneliness during the pandemic. During her year in Austria, Serena worked alongside Austrian students to compete in the Vienna Idea Hackathon, where her team successfully reached the competition final.

During the first Covid lockdown, Serena pro-actively sought opportunities to continue developing her skills and secured a role as Digital Marketing Consultant at tech startup SlingApp, where she proposed a new sales plan to her managers. Through her studies, Serena also gained digital marketing work experience on a self-employed basis for Dirasa Catering, and then used her newfound skills and knowledge when setting up her own social media brand and online store on Vinted. 

A responsible citizen

In the University, Serena supported other students as a Placement Ambassador and shared her experiences with prospective students as a Student Ambassador. In the Carbon Neutral Society, she took on important marketing activities when the Marketing Lead left the society mid-semester, promoting the StepUp Sheffield Campaign and boosting awareness of water usage in the student accommodation. As a result, she was invited back to the Society to assume a leadership role. 

To further support her community, Serena ran a half-marathon for the first time, raising £670 for the Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity, and shared her running journey on social media to influence others to take up running. She also volunteered as a Steward for the Spider Walk charity fundraising event in 2019, and took a committee member role for the Sheffield Malaysian Games 2020.

Serena also volunteered in her local community in Malaysia, joining a food truck to cook meals for children in orphanages and participating in street litter picks and beach clean-ups.

Award-winning success

During her placement year as a Management Consultant at Atkins, Serena co-led an expansion strategy in the northern region, shadowed tech engineers and participated in a mentoring and reverse-mentoring scheme with bi-weekly meetings over 8 months. As a result of her success she was nominated for Atkins’ Young Professional of the Year Award and secured a graduate job offer from the company.