Zhang did not plan on teaching. She read finance and supply chain management at Syracuse University, added a master's at New York University, and spent close to nine years working overseas and in finance, latterly at a venture capital firm. Today she teaches economics and business across three curricula and coaches Hanlin's business competition teams.
Background
- Master's degree, New York University
- Dual bachelor's in finance and supply chain management, Syracuse University
- Close to nine years of overseas and finance-industry experience, including a venture capital firm
- College Board certified AP teacher
Teaching record
- AP: 90% of her students score 5
- A-Level and IGCSE: 85% at A or A*
- IB economics and business: over 90% score 7
- SIC: five coached teams, 80% advanced to the global round; an individual silver in the 2026 S14 season
- BPA 2026: every coached team in both the practical and academic tracks reached the global final, taking national gold, silver and bronze placings
- Diamond Challenge 2026: her team reached the United States semi-final
Why the classroom
She tried teaching English first and found it flat. "Explaining grammar did not give me much back," she says. Economics was different, because she could reach for something outside the textbook. "I can use real situations to help students understand, and I get to put more of myself into it."
That instinct traces back to a business law professor at NYU who taught almost entirely from real cases and set open-book essay examinations. "I never opened that textbook again," she says, "but I actually understood the material."
Teaching brands students already argue about
Her most-used case is Pop Mart. She asks students why they are willing to spend on a blind box, how the company markets it, and what exactly it is reaching in them. Once they have analysed it as consumers, she turns the question around: if you were launching a venture, how would you design it so the market believed in your idea?
She is blunt about what makes a strong business student. Interest has to come first. The students who do well in competitions read around the subject on their own, and arrive with ideas she did not give them.
One subject, three different exams
Zhang teaches the same economics three ways, because the assessments reward different things.
- AP rewards fast, accurate conceptual grasp. There is no extended essay, so the work is making sure students genuinely understand each concept and can apply it under multiple-choice and short-answer conditions.
- A-Level and IB reward output. Here she sends students back to the textbook to learn definitions properly, because extended analysis has to stand on precise foundations.
Across all three she pushes towards the same end. Early on she does most of the talking; later she wants the student doing it. "A teacher should not use their own fixed thinking to limit what a student can imagine." If the logic holds, she backs the idea.
Choosing a business competition
- SIC leans towards finance and investment, and rewards research and data analysis. It suits students who already follow markets. You have to say why a company is worth backing, show the data, and reach a defensible decision.
- BPA splits into an academic track, which tests recall and understanding and suits methodical students, and a practical track, where students build a complete venture across people, finance, product and market.
- Diamond Challenge resembles the BPA practical track, testing invention and the ability to solve a real problem.
Advice she repeats
For students heading overseas, she is emphatic about language. As a state-school graduate she found TOEFL and the SAT hard, and language remained a barrier well into her first year at university. Settle English before you go, she tells them, and everything else gets easier.
Outside teaching there are two dogs and a long habit of travelling. She credits both with keeping her curious enough to understand what her students are actually interested in.