Regina Rubino / IMAGE: Global Vision: An Actuarial Journey: From Statistics to Style

In college I was an actuarial science major. Statistics. I eventually attended Boston University for my graduate work but it wasn’t easy. I had to study hard and block out other things.

But my personality is outgoing. I don’t want to stay at home all the time. I want to learn about so many things. I always enjoyed reading about style and luxury and how people change, so this was one way to expand my world and knowledge even though I was studying numbers.

I also watched a lot of television. The habit began before Boston when I was enrolled in a school in Waterloo, Canada. It was a boring place. There was not a lot to do. So I had time. I was either exploring topics and ideas online, or I was watching Sex in the City.

That show influenced me a lot in my understanding of Western culture. I wanted so badly to live in New York City I applied to Columbia University. It didn’t work out, so I went to Boston which was really nice.

Not that my TV hours were restricted to North American entertainment. I also watched shows based in Hong Kong — a multi-cultured city — and Korean shows helped me learn much about Asian cultures beyond my childhood home in Shenyang, China.

I graduated from Boston University in 2009. I spent months trying to find a job. But the U.S. economy was so bad, and really hard on insurance companies, it was impossible to find a job. Being an international student probably didn’t help.

After a couple months with not one interview, I was kind of lost. I decided to go back to Canada to see if I could make a life there. But then something amazing happened.

My aunt Ming Hodgson and her husband Dr. Gregor Hodgson live in the Los Angeles area. Just as I was about to leave for Canada, my uncle contacted me and said he had received an email from Regina Rubino. Her company IMAGE: Global Vision collaborates with many companies in Asia and was looking for someone who could help in several areas that actually related to my background.

Regina was seeking someone who could conduct analysis, pricing and risk assessment to help estimate financial outcomes. She also required assistance developing evaluation and reporting standards for her projects; and she hoped to rely on analytics to improve market positioning strategies. I was also intrigued by her interest in using actuarial concepts to assess company policy and procedures as a means of solving a wide range of corporate problems.

It was really good timing, if the position was right for me. But despite a fascinating job description, at first I wasn’t sure.

Leaping and Embracing

Even though all my stuff had been sent to Canada, I got on a plane and flew to Los Angeles. It was March 8, 2010.

One of the first things I did was take a tour of the Andaz West Hollywood. Regina and Robert had designed a new identity for the hotel. I thought it was amazing, everything was so nice.

After the tour I knew I wanted to work for Regina and would challenge myself to learn things that depended on my actuarial studies and my ability to adapt that knowledge for potentially ground-breaking applications.

One of my first responsibilities pertained to a presentation IMAGE: Global Vision was preparing for a trip to China. As I busied myself with analytics and other concepts, I was struck by the way Regina and the other artists in her studio used the English language. It was so different from the way I speak English. The words were beautiful.

When accepting the job, I didn’t expect to learn so much about creative expression and how it relates to business.

I now also manage project deadlines, which is an extremely important aspect of the IMAGE: Global Vision reputation and identity design process. I am constantly challenged to look at things from new angles and consider unique perspectives, always with the hope that we discover how we might make the presentations better and fuller. Fortunately, I read so many magazines in college I already knew a lot of brand names. I’ve applied all that to the work, as well as my statistical studies and my love of luxury and style.

But now I am ready to embark on a new, exciting journey.

I want to learn how the designers come up with ideas so that I can give them more information and the kinds of analysis that will inspire them.

And I want to learn how the designers communicate with each other. This is my first job. I still think more like a student than an artist. To grow, you have to consider yourself. And then you have to think about other people.

~ Ningning Lu