Zoe Wang joined us this semester as our social media intern. I’m so excited to have her on board. She’s the perfect complement to me, reducing my long-winded content into little bite sized pieces! Zoe let me interview her, so that we can all get to know her better. Welcome her to the team!
Tell us where you go to school and what you are studying?
Zoe: I’m currently a graduate student at University of Southern California, and I’m majoring in Digital Social Media. I got my undergrad degree for both Film and Media Studies and Education Science from University of California, Irvine.
Why did you choose to study media?
Zoe: When I was in high school, I was sure I wanted to learn media, but at that time, I wanted to learn journalism. When applying for university, because my understanding of the application process is not deep enough, I chose the film major. After four years of studying films, I began to be more interested in media related to videos and fell in love with documentaries. Because of the rapid development of modern social media, when applying for graduate schools, I chose to study digital social media. This is a major that is both adapted to the times and interesting.
Oh interesting, that makes sense. What do you hope to do with your degree in the future?
Zoe: I want to get into the Internet or media industry, and I want to run my own social media when I have time.
How did you find For Animals. For Earth. and what made you want to intern with us?
Zoe: I found For Animals. For Earth. from the Annenberg Career Link, which is a USC website supporting students’ exploration of various career paths and opportunities. What made me interested to intern with For Animals. For Earth. is the content of the brand. I’m really interested in the topic of how everyone can make small steps to help animals, and help the earth. That’s an idea I always agree with.
What do you spend your time doing when you’re not working on school or work?
Zoe: In my spare time I like to watch documentaries, bake, and make videos for my guinea pigs and upload them to social media accounts.
Whoa! That’s fun. What are your guinea pigs’ names and can we follow you on social media?
Zoe: They are named Brownie and Popcorn. You can definitely know their names by their color! You can see my videos of them on xiaohongshu.com (https://www.xiaohongshu.com/user/profile/5e87a4660000000001003e8f)
I’m curious, how is the movement to help animals and the environment similar and different between China and the United States?
Zoe: This question is a little difficult to answer, because I have been in the United States since I went to the University, and my parents have not had any pets before I leave China, until three years ago, they had a golden retriever. So until then, I didn’t know much about the animal protection.
I would like to say the biggest difference is that China’s animal-protection practices are dominated by the government, while the United States has more civil society organizations to protect animals.
Ah, ok that makes sense. I imagine animal welfare and environmental protection interest has grown in the past few years. But it makes sense that it’s more driven by the government than from the civilians. Do you know, is it common now to have pets in China?
Zoe: Yes, it is very common to have pets in China, most families choose to have dogs and cats.
What is one simple idea that you think readers could try in their lives to make a difference?
Zoe: Adopt a pet rather than buying a pet!
