Hayley Yu making her mark

MAKING HER MARK

Dio Old Girl Hayley Yu (2011) is part of a select group of alumni named on the University of Auckland’s 40 Under 40 list for 2019. These exceptional graduates under the age of 40 are chosen from the more than 10,000 students who graduate each year from the university.

Hayley did a BA/BCom majoring in politics, film, economics and international relations. In 2015, she was named as one of seven finalists in the

EY Business Student of the Year.

Alongside her studies, her interest in social entrepreneurship saw her found the university club Social Innovation NZ to enable, educate and connect students to social enterprise opportunities. It also involved securing funding for social enterprise start-ups and providing domestic and global internship opportunities. In 2016, the club grew to a national organisation, supporting three university campuses.

“At the time, social enterprise was a lot more niche than it is today,” says Hayley. “This experience was very formative because I found my passion for social change through business. It also connected me with several people who have become lifelong friends and challenged me to become a more effective leader.”

Hayley successfully crowd-funded a trip to the UK to research eight leading food social enterprises. Her passion for social entrepreneurship saw her join forces with two other University of Auckland students to found a start-up called Clove. It was designed to give home chefs a marketplace to sell their food and to empower more people to eat healthy, home-cooked meals. The venture won the New Zealand entry for the 2016 Microsoft Imagine Cup and went on to win the Asia-Pacific regional event with a trip to Seattle for the worldwide finals. While Clove didn’t take out the global prize, it did help Hayley score a job offer from Microsoft working across philanthropies and digital strategy. “My time at Microsoft showed me the power technology has to empower generations. In 2017, I organised a two-day product experience for Festival for the Future. Seeing the way people lit up when they engaged with the HoloLens and the Surface Hub made me even more inspired to make technology accessible to communities beyond boardrooms.” at the Women of Influence Awards.

She is now working as an agency account strategist at Google Australia, supporting advertising agencies with their strategic enterprise opportunities and organising events within Google to facilitate the indigenous Australia dialogue amongst Googlers. It’s a role that’s given her scope to explore her various interests. Outside of Google, she’s working on a project looking at the intersection of food and culture.