Carly Lee
Height:
Hometown: Vancouver, BC
Languages: English
Occupation: Assistant Marketing Manager & Freelance Career Coach
Carly Lee is a Career Coach to students across the country and Assistant Marketing Manager for a global brand best known for its premium travel & lifestyle benefits. From working with innovative startups to big tech giants, she’s loved exploring the intersection of artificial intelligence and mental health services, the career advancement of women in tech, and so much more. Her curiosity for different cultures also led her to opportunities reporting into offices based in Canada, the United States and Singapore. Recently selected as 1 of 10 EF Future Nobel Laureates scholars worldwide, she felt grateful to have received an invitation to attend the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden while presenting on an Equity for Women through Education project, a topic she’s passionate about.
As a new graduate thankful for all the mentors who’ve made a deep impact on her life, Carly enjoys volunteering as a judge, panelist and mentor – whether it be for a startup pitch competition or workshop for emerging leaders. Especially as the first person in her family to attend university, Carly continually strives to empower students, women and other underrepresented groups so they can better support themselves, the people they love and ultimately, everyone in the universe. Over the years, she’s co-organized initiatives including an award-winning business event, learning disabilities career conference, and startup hackathon for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Always searching for new experiences, Carly enjoys travelling and tasting a diversity of cuisines in her spare time; from cactus tacos to puffer fish – the world’s deadliest fish! Her home country Canada however, will always have a special place in her heart. Carly was born and raised in Vancouver having spent parts of her childhood in the small, peaceful city of Duncan with a population of ~5,000; the place her grandpa first settled in. Today, she resides in Toronto and is eager to visit Windsor through Miss Universe Canada, where she hopes to serve as a positive inspiration that anyone can grow their confidence and serve as an advocate for the people around them.
What are your interests and what do you enjoy doing the most?
Thankful for all the volunteer speakers, judges and coaches who’ve made an impact on my life, I feel most fulfilled mentoring students so they too can grow their careers and better support themselves and the people around them. I love “paying it forward” while hearing their stories and growing my confidence in the process. This year, I served as a Mentor for the Marketing Accelerator Program helping students build their dream career – it’s an organization I’ve supported (and even co-led) since 2020! In my free time, I enjoy exploring different cuisines, cultures, and countries too. Whether it be tasting puffer fish – the world’s deadliest fish, or zucchini flower at one of Montreal’s best restaurants, I’m always searching for new experiences.
List any special training you have had (music, art, drama, dance, etc.)
I grew up playing the violin since elementary school and was part of our string orchestra for eight years. Wanting to continually grow my confidence and build on my public speaking skills, I’m also grateful to have received business case competition training from a collection of coaches and judges; ultimately representing my university at a regional marketing competition in Regina, SK and national design thinking challenge in Victoria, BC as well.
In what sports, if any, have you participated?
I took swimming and ice skating lessons as a kid! I happen to love watching Olympic figure skating too. When I’m back in my Vancouver, you can find me ice skating at Robson Square or cycling by our gorgeous seawall over the summer.
Name one person, other than your parents, who has had the most influence on your life. Why?
Other than my parents, my grandma has made a huge impact on my life. While my grandpa was working away in Canada my grandma was raising four children in her home country before finally being able to move after almost 20 years without seeing one another. I certainly miss all the delicious and nutritious dinners she cooked for me as a kid too. I am truly inspired by their lifelong dedication, patience, and love for our family. As restaurant owners with nurturing, resilient personalities, they have instilled in me the values of perseverance, generosity and so much more.
What is your proudest personal accomplishment (other than participating in this pageant)?
My proudest accomplishment is being personally invited to coach a team of four first-year students and seeing them place as a Top 5 Finalist in a business case competition. I felt so happy seeing them smiling with their trophy in hand and first-hand seeing their growth over the weeks! It was truly a full-circle experience as this was also one of the first competitions I had ever placed in too. The once shy 16-year old me would have never guessed that I could place in a public speaking competition, let alone empower and train others or be joining Miss Universe Canada as a national delegate today.
What is the most interesting or unique thing that has ever happened to you and/or what is the most interesting thing about you?
The most unique thing that has happened to me was receiving an invitation to attend the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden. As a fan of Nobel Laureate Claudia Goldin’s insights on women’s participation in the workforce, I was thrilled to see her receive the Prize in Economic Sciences.
As for an interesting thing that has happened to me, I felt lucky to have met celebrity Olivia Rodrigo (one of my favourite artists!) through a work event in Toronto recently!
What is your career ambition and what are you doing or plan to do to accomplish that goal?
I’ve always shared a passion for helping others while continuing to grow and step out of my comfort zone. Whether I manage a startup or collaborate with a team, I strive to become an empathetic leader who can make everyone feel safe and become someone they can trust; who always has their back. As I gradually gained my newfound confidence over the years, I feel honoured to have been invited to judge entrepreneurship competitions, mentor aspiring marketers and more. I feel lucky to have landed opportunities to mentor interns at my 9-5 and on the side, serve as a freelance career coach here to listen to students’ pain points, stories and dreams. I think the best ideas come when everyone feels comfortable! By becoming an open-minded leader, hopefully, we can put our brains together and work towards making a positive impact on the universe.
What would be your “dream job” in life?
Inspired by my family, my “dream job” in life would be to dive into entrepreneurship! Having spent well over two years in the career coaching space and placed in a couple startup idea competitions to solve the affordable housing crisis, it would be a dream to take all the skills I’ve been learning and build a startup that empowers people so they can better support themselves, the people they love and one day, continue to pay it forward. Outside of my 9-5, I absolutely love mentoring students across the country as a freelance career coach but it would be my dream to amplify the impact I have on the universe.
Describe where you were raised and what your childhood was like.
I was born and raised in Vancouver, surrounded by mountains, nature, and beautiful bodies of water. We would spend all our school breaks taking a ferry to Vancouver Island and staying at our grandparents’ cozy home though. That’s where our family restaurant was located! I remember having so much fun building blanket forts and experiencing the outdoors with my cousins too. I loved exploring the best of both worlds – Vancouver’s bustling city center and Duncan’s peaceful parks.
List any interesting or unusual jobs you may have had.
One of the most interesting jobs I’ve had was working as a Waitress & Cashier for a Chinese-Canadian restaurant based in Duncan, BC – apparently the smallest city in Canada by area with a population of ~5,000. Growing up as a shy kid, this experience was meaningful as it was my first step to growing my confidence; from nervously taking orders on day one to enjoying the conversations with local customers over the summer. More importantly though, this restaurant was founded by my grandparents and run by my family after they immigrated to Canada. I certainly felt a huge sense of gratitude seeing the sacrifices they made and hearing the little breaks they had during the year. They instilled in me the values of hard work which I’ve continued to bring throughout my career journey.
List any volunteering you have done.
One of my first experiences was serving as a volunteer for the Variety Children’s Charity where I often contributed to fundraising goals by selling our signature heart pins and recycling. That meant wearing rubber gloves and digging through recycling bins for juice boxes, aluminum cans and so on before hosing down our large buckets with a dose of Pinesol. Little by little, those 5-10¢ recyclables amounted to thousands of dollars. Although this definitely wasn’t a glamorous opportunity, I continued on for close to three years and honestly had a ton of fun along the way!
Since then, I’ve (1) volunteered as a competition judge, mentor & panelist for over 12 initiatives, (2) founded a chapter of Wish Youth Network Society to support children with medical conditions & empower students with volunteer opportunities and (3) co-organized a number of events including an award-winning business event, the Learning Disabilities Career Conference and Startup Hacks. Being the first person in my family to attend university and have a corporate career has also given me the purpose of helping everyone grow their confidence and career so they can better support themselves, their families and the people they love.
What is your most unusual talent?
I often hear that I’m smiling all day 🙂
Where is the most interesting place you have been to?
There have been so many wonderful places I’ve had the pleasure of exploring, but visiting Canada’s Niagara Falls was certainly magical! The day felt perfect with a beautiful rainbow within view and of course, my family by my side.
What do you hope to be doing in ten years?
I hope to serve as a positive inspiration that anyone can grow out of their shells, take risks and be ambitious in achieving their dreams! When I do have kid(s) in about ten years, I hope to be able to look at them and feel proud of sharing my stories, learnings and decisions throughout life too.