Hey, do you know who the lady in the picture with JackMa is? Her name is Tong Wenhong and she has an amazing story. She joined Alibaba 16 years ago as a receptionist and now she is a Vice President of the company.

Well, it all started when Jack Ma decided to give her 0.2% shares of Alibaba as a reward for her loyalty and hard work. He told her that those shares would be worth 100 million when Alibaba goes public in the market. He asked her to stay with the company and not to switch to other jobs.

She agreed and waited patiently for years. She asked Jack when Alibaba would go public in 2004 and he said soon. She asked again in 2006 and he said soon, again.

But nothing happened for a long time. She never got her 100 million. She must have felt frustrated and disappointed, right?

But she didn’t give up. She kept working hard and learning new skills. She climbed up the ladder and became a Vice President of Alibaba.

And then, in September 2014, Alibaba finally went public in the New York Stock Exchange. It was a huge success. It was worth 245.7 billion dollars.

And guess what? Tong’s 0.2% shares were now worth 320 million dollars. She became a millionaire from a receptionist.

Isn’t that incredible? I think it’s a great example of entrepreneurship and patience. Sometimes, things don’t go as planned or as fast as we want them to. Sometimes, we have to wait for the right opportunity and the right timing.

But if we have a vision, a passion and a perseverance, we can achieve our dreams. We can create our own success stories.

That’s what I learned from Tong Wenhong’s story. Whenever I feel like giving up on my goals, I think of her and how she waited for 16 years to get her reward.

She inspires me to keep going and to never lose hope.