Josie Zhao, Chief Operating Officer of Deutsche Bank China, spent almost 20 years living and working outside of her home nation. Just one year ago, Josie accepted the role with Deutsche Bank in Shanghai and as a Returning Chinese, she has spent much of the past year re-acclimating to life and work in China. Josie and Ally sat together for over an hour, maybe closer to two even, and walked through her journey to the top of the male-dominated banking industry. They talked about her challenges coming back to China after 20 years abroad, how she managed to win the respect of her team as a female senior leader, not seen as fully Chinese, nor fully ‘laowai’. Josie is honest when it comes to balancing life and work, her family, her view on successful mentoring, and career sponsorship. For Ally, it was incredible to sit with Josie and hear her story—what an inspiration woman! The interview is long, one of our longest yet, but we promise, it’s worth listening to every second.

A special thanks to the International Professional Women’s Society who connected Josie to Limitless for the interview. Josie was a juror for the 2016 Women’s Leadership Awards (WLA). Now in its 10th year, the WLA recognizes professional women who have emerged as leaders in their field. As leaders, these inspiring women have made a marked difference in the Shanghai community and have forged paths for others to follow.