Move over, traditional career guides. In an era where jobs can involve managing virtual economies, designing sustainable cities or programming artificial intelligence, the classic career path isn’t kids’ only option. For the next generation navigating a world of limitless career possibilities, the well-meaning advice to “follow your passion” can feel overwhelming without a map. Now, a wave of adults with truly fascinating jobs are throwing that map wide open. They’re stepping out of their labs, studios and field sites to share the real, unfiltered career advice they wish they’d had – not just about how to land the job, but how to build a life of curiosity, resilience and purpose. This is more than career day; it’s a mentorship movement designed to inspire the innovators, problem-solvers and dreamers of tomorrow.
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Tell us your name, and give us the elevator pitch about your job.
I am Mary Peng. I am originally from New York and have lived in China since 1991. I am the CEO and Founder of the International Center for Veterinary Services (ICVS), the first full-service, wholly owned foreign enterprise animal hospital and humane animal welfare resource center in Beijing. ICVS was founded in 2006.
I am the president of INN Beijing (International Newcomer’s Network), a non-profit community organization that helps expats, returnees and long-term residents of all nationalities not only to survive but to thrive in Beijing.
I am a board member of the Jane Goodall Institute China (JGI Roots & Shoots) and trustee emerita of the Jane Goodall Institute Global board.
Could you walk me through a typical day or week in your role? What are your primary responsibilities?
My day usually starts before 6am. It is the best time of day to check emails and messages and to organize the day and week ahead. I manage all of the hospital’s operations, including finance, legal and regulatory affairs, marketing and our outreach and non-profit programs for the community. Our non-profit humane animal welfare programs include pet adoptions, fostering programs, shelter medicine programs, Trap-Neuter-Return programs, neonate care workshops and pet import/export information sessions. We provide internship programs for local and international schools and host a veterinary learning exchange program for veterinary students and practicing veterinarians from overseas. I speak with ICVS’s management team and doctors daily to ensure hospital operations are running smoothly and to discuss any support that the doctors and staff need to provide the best care for our patients. I have meetings every week with ICVS clients and community partners at schools, universities, companies, and embassies.
As a JGI board member, I meet online and in person regularly. As an INN volunteer, we plan monthly Coffee Mornings and Trekkies and our BIG events for the community every week.
Our next BIG event will be the 2025 INN Halloween Fun Party on Oct 26. The Halloween Party is one of the most popular INN events of the year and will sell out! Last year, we had over 120 attendees, including more than 40 kids, at the INN Halloween party.
Every weekend, I host free “ICVS Departing from China with Pets” online information sessions in English and Chinese for pet owners from across China and overseas. I share information on preparing pets for export to more than 180 countries. And several times a month, I volunteer at an organic farm and pet shelter in Beijing. ICVS provides vaccinations, spay/neuter surgeries and medical care for the shelter pets, and we enroll them into our adoption program to help them find their forever families.
What is the most rewarding or fulfilling part of your work? What problems do you get to solve? On the flip side, what are the most significant challenges or stressful aspects of your job?
The most fulfilling part of my work is the small victories I see every day. When the pet is sick, the whole family is sick with worry. We often see three generations of the pet’s family at ICVS – the parents, the kids, the grandparents and often other extended family members, all coming to ICVS with their pet. The pets cannot tell us what is wrong, so being able to provide world-class medical care, diagnostics, surgeries, treatments and hospitalization to help the pets get better and go home with their families is very rewarding. And for pets that are facing end-stage diseases or progressing towards the end of their natural lives, helping them stay comfortable and maintaining a good quality of life is equally important. We all want the best for our family members and working at ICVS every day with our wonderful team helps to deliver that care for beloved pet family members. Every day is filled with problem-solving. Businesses face constantly changing legal and regulatory requirements. Managing supply chains for drugs, medical supplies and equipment is a constant for the healthcare industry and it is even more challenging for animal healthcare.
One of the ongoing challenges of my job is educating the community to “Adopt, Don’t Shop” for pets. The animal sales industry is still a new and largely unregulated sector with many animals bred for profit. The animals are often sold before they are fully weaned. As a result, the purchased pets often have health issues as their immune systems are not strong, and [they]are unlikely to have been vaccinated. It is very worrying to see such young pets very sick and often struggling to survive if they become ill shortly after purchase. Not all of the pets survive even with intensive treatment and hospitalization. The stray and rescued pets are often healthier as they have fewer issues with inbreeding and have already proven they can survive life on the streets. There are so many beautiful and healthy adoptable pets waiting for adoption families. Please adopt, don’t shop!
Another major challenge is helping pet owners prepare their pets for export. People often move to other cities in China and also overseas. Depending on the destination country, it could take 1.5 months to nine months or more to prepare a pet for export. And costs associated with pet export have to be budgeted for well in advance of the departure date. Our mission at ICVS is to help keep pets and families together when the time comes to depart China. But there are many cases where an emergency situation arises, or visas are cancelled or not renewed, or a once-in-a-century global pandemic occurs, that disrupts lives and may require pet owners to relocate on short notice. If the pets are not fully prepared – what ICVS calls “departure ready” – the pets might not be able to leave China with their families. If pets cannot travel together with their owners, this results in many additional costs for pet care, boarding, hiring relocation agents to complete customs declaration and to physically ship pets overseas. And if resources or budget is not available, some of these pets may never reunite with their families. This is why I give free online information sessions at ICVS on preparing pets for export to anyone who needs help. Because pets are for life.
How did you get to where you are today? You can talk about your educational route, pivotal moments, unplanned detours and any other decisions that you find important.
It was never planned that I would open the first international standard full-service animal hospital in Beijing. I started my career in advertising and marketing after graduating from Barnard College of Columbia University. Over ten years of working for multinational advertising agencies (e.g. Saatchi & Saatchi and Dentsu, Young & Rubicam) in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and New York taught me so much about marketing and advertising and consumers. I needed more knowledge about general business management and knew I that I wanted to run a business myself one day. With a career change in mind, I left the ad industry and applied to business school, earning an MBA from Columbia University. While I was in New York completing my MBA, I was hired by McKinsey & Company and worked at the firm for nearly six years, during which time they brought back to China as a senior management consultant. During this entire time, I had my beloved cat, Boo Boo, with me. I adopted Boo Boo as a kitten in 1994 in Beijing. I brought her to the USA with me and then back to Beijing when we returned in 2002. My experiences as a pet owner in China during this time, trying to find vaccinations, getting her spayed, and figuring out how to relocate her overseas and then back to China made me realize that China needed to develop all of these sectors. I lived through the same experiences pet owners face today, but at an earlier time in China’s history. And I knew that the Chinese people loved their pets and wanted the best care for them. I had a healthcare emergency with Boo Boo in 2004 in Beijing, and it changed my life. It made me realize that the animal healthcare industry was not going to improve naturally with time. By 2004, more than ten years had passed since I first adopted Boo Boo, and the animal healthcare sector had barely advanced. I realized that if I wanted to have better healthcare for my pet, I would have to be the person to bring about that change. I left my career as a management consultant to learn about the animal healthcare sector, with the goal of bringing to China a world-class, full-service, international-standard animal hospital. ICVS opened in 2006, and we have been honored to serve pets and their families for nearly 20 years.
Starting a business is never easy and is filled with challenges and difficulties along the way. You don’t know what you don’t know. All of my work experience in advertising, at McKinsey, and my business school education did not provide me with the complete knowledge to run a healthcare company. But everything I had learned was useful, and it allowed me to problem-solve through all of the challenges I faced along the way.
Creating ICVS lifted the entire animal healthcare industry as it raised standards and professionalized the sector.
Knowing what you know now, if you could go back and give one piece of advice to your teenage self about work and life, what would it be?
Do not pass up any opportunities, and do not be afraid to take the risk. When I graduated from college, I was set to join a huge insurance company as a claims-adjustment trainee in New York. Instead of taking this safe and well-paying job, I took a risk and accepted a starting-level position at Saatchi and Saatchi in Taiwan. I barely survived to the end of each month on a modest entry-level salary. But the hard work paid off and gave me a wonderful career in advertising. And this first career that I loved helped me become more qualified for future opportunities. When my cat needed healthcare in China, when the pet healthcare sector did not really exist yet, I took the opportunity and the risk to help create the pet healthcare sector. I am so happy I took those opportunities and risks. I have never lived with regret about what my life could have been. The work will be incredibly hard, and there will be a lot of uncertainty and very scary days. But keep your eye on the long-term and know that everything you do and every risk you take will give you the knowledge, abilities and confidence to face your future.
Images: Mary Peng
