Women In Tech Spotlight: Virginia Liu

Virginia Liu is the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Ecosystems at Agora. While working at Microsoft in 2017, she met Tony Zhao, Agora’s founder, and CEO. She was interested in the fact that Agora was building APIs to enable developers to easily add real-time voice and video to their apps. Liu decided to join the company with a mandate to grow the Agora developer community and build a partner ecosystem. Agora is a Real-Time Engagement Platform that provides reliable worldwide coverage with ultra-low latency (high-quality, steady streaming), scalability (supports user base increases), and flexible interactive features (available 99.9% of the time). Agora helps developers embed video calls, voice calls, recording, real-time messaging, interactive streaming, and analytics into their platforms.

Originally, Liu never saw herself as the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Ecosystems at Agora. She earned her bachelor's degree in Economics from Zhongshan University, before earning her MBA honors degree from UNC-Chapel Hill. She joined Agora from Microsoft, and before Microsoft, worked as a board member and managing director for AppCampus, a 24 million dollar mobile accelerator jointly funded by Microsoft and Nokia. She said in an interview that she did not know “anything about high-tech until I started working at Microsoft. We are living in an ever-changing world and being a life-long learner is essential to the success of any leader.” Liu had several career shifts before she realized that anyone can grow and learn a new skill if they put their mind to it.

Growing up in a foreign country and having a finance background, Liu never imagined that she could have a successful career in marketing in the United States. From her experience at Microsoft, and working in the business technology space, she learned about the many obstacles, and stereotypes that women in tech and business face daily. Liu recalls that there were many stereotypes about women in the tech industry as being hard workers, but not great leaders. When working at Microsoft, she thankfully met a manager that pushed her to become a better leader. The woman taught Liu that it was essential for leaders to look beyond the simple characteristics that leaders should have, and look at what characteristics leaders are lacking.

When asked about her advice to aspiring Women Leaders, Liu emphasized that life is too short to waste on people who doubt your abilities and potential. She asks the upcoming women leaders to believe in themselves, working with and for people who believe in them. She also encourages constant self-introspection, and stated that “It is certainly noble to strive to be a great leader, but it is important to remember that your day-to-day actions are what truly inspires others to succeed.”

To be a great leader, you must encourage innovation and creativity. Leaders must exemplify the highest moral standards and a strong work ethic that encourages others to do the same. Having an open mindset and the ability to foster an authentic communication style is vital to success, which can be seen in Liu’s leadership style.

The moral of this story is simple: be open to change. Liu never thought she would have the job she has today. Every day is a new day, with new opportunities, challenges, and moments of self-introspection. We must learn to conquer and seize each day, and open ourselves to pathways that the universe may offer us. Just because the road to our goal or destination may look different than the one we wanted, does not mean we will not get there. Each opportunity is a learning experience.