30
under
30
THE STORY: For Stephanie
Yu, helping immigrant families
navigate the education system
in North America is about
maximizing something she
never had: choice.
Yu was born and raised
in Shijiazhuang, China; her
parents—a stay-at-home mother
and truck-driver father—paid
$1,000 a semester for her pri-
mary school education. It was a
sound investment. Yu excelled
as a student, ranking among
the top 100 in her province
by high school. At 16, she was
accepted on full scholarship to
Capital Normal University in
Beijing, but on the condition
that she study English litera-
ture: "It was interesting, but
not really my passion." While
pursuing her degree, she also
studied simultaneous transla-
tion, which led to a high-prole
role translating for top o¢cials
and world media during the
2008 Beijing Olympics. That
was followed by a job as a
senior PR consultant for Ogilvy
and Mather in Hong Kong.
Yu's facility with language
led to her pivotal move to
Canada. At 22, Yu met her now-
husband just three months
before he was due to move to
B.C. to pursue his
MBA, and
decided to give up her bur-
geoning PR career and apply
to universities in B.C.; she was
accepted to the University of
Victoria, again on full scholar-
ship, and graduated with a
master's in applied linguistics
in 2011. Yu started Bole
Education Services in 2013
after observing that many
Chinese immigrant families
she encountered struggled to
make sense of North America's
approach to education. "In the
U.S. and Canada, there are so
many enriched courses so kids
have a lot of choice. In China,
there are not a lot of options;
it's all about a score."
Bole oŸers one-on-one
academic and extracurricular
planning, as well as summer
boot camps, debate clubs and a
variety of academic enrichment
courses through a membership
model. While the company's
aim is to help immigrant fami-
lies navigate the school system,
identify their children's inter-
ests and prepare kids for col-
lege and university admissions,
Yu has found they often need
support in other areas. With
many fathers working in China,
mothers are often alone in deal-
ing with cultural and linguistic
gaps that stand between them
and their westernized children.
In response, Bole has begun
running support-group-like
seminars for kids and parents
so they can share their stories
and begin to understand each
other better.
MARKERS OF SUCCESS:
Bole has three locations in Rich-
mond, Vancouver and White
Rock and boasts more than 10
employees. The company has
brought in nearly $1 million in
revenue to date and plans to
expand to the U.S.; Yu has also
started developing programs
for Korean families. —J.B.
stephanie yu
Founder and ceo, Bole
education services
age: 29
58 BCBusiness april 2016
Best advice
you've ever
received?
"Tomorrow is
another day"
G u y h a l f o r d - t h o M p s o n
s t e p h a n i e y u
