Cecilia Fang thrives as a Modern Work Specialist, a position she has held at Microsoft for two-and-a-half years. This involves looking after more than 95 customers across Aotearoa (New Zealand). Fang explains products to clients, enabling them to connect, collaborate and be secure in a hybrid work environment. Dynamic both in and out of the office, Cecilia loves to do boxing, high intensity interval training, lift weights, dance and play with her dog Panko in her downtime. While she is invigorated by her work, Cecilia’s career path has involved courageously overcoming its share of hurdles. Raised in a traditional Asian household, she says she grew up under the weight of many cultural and family expectations. She often had trouble focusing, sitting still and keeping quiet. It took Fang’s arrival in a tech workplace environment and being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) for many things to make sense. Now, Fang is determined to own her diagnosis and open up conversations for other employees to do the same.

Life’s early challenges

As a child, Fang felt that she might not have the same priorities as the adults around her. “Growing up in an immigrant Asian household, you have these expectations you feel you have to rise to and that your family expect you to meet,” she says. Along with shouldering these expectations, Fang’s childhood was always in a state of influx. Her family moved frequently throughout Australia and Aotearoa due to her father’s work commitments, which meant that she attended about 11 or 12 different schools. In hindsight, Cecilia says that this made it difficult to form close friendships. Without a feeling of permanence, she focused on achieving the best grades possible in the hope of gaining her family’s approval.

The university chapter

Fang graduated from school with impeccable grades but wasn’t sure what she wanted to study at a tertiary level. She thought she was too clumsy to be a doctor and didn’t like maths enough to study engineering. She felt envious of others who had a specific talent such as being able to draw or play an instrument – the path ahead for these people seemed clear. It was really by the process of elimination that Fang enrolled to study economics and law. “I also thought it would make my parents happy. What was important to them was job security,” she reveals of the decision. Fang gave law and economics her best shot but it didn’t excite her. The thought of waking up each day and being a lawyer made her feel unhappy. She began having panic attacks.

“This is where I want to be!”

While still studying economics and law, her potential career trajectory then took a dramatic turnaround. As part of her extra-curricular program, she was invited to visit the Microsoft office. Everything about the technology environment and industry ticked Fang’s boxes. The people were friendly, approachable and dynamic. As the industry is always evolving, she could sense that the learning would never stop. And there was another bonus – if she secured a position within the tech industry, she might be able to wear a hoodie to work. Fang applied for the Microsoft Aspire Program and was thrilled to be accepted.

Surprise! We’re having a lockdown

Fang joined the Microsoft Aspire program mere months before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. Unfortunately, this meant that the usual connections a new employee might form and the assurance that comes from normal workplace orientation activities just weren’t available. While Fang struggled with a lack of confidence during this period, what transpired during the pandemic and lockdown turned out to be life altering. “Isolation made me acknowledge things about myself that I hadn’t faced or understood in the past,” she says. Fang had always struggled to sit still or maintain focus. She would often zone out of conversations and lived a chaotic life. She had always told herself these were just bad personality traits and something about her that needed to be ‘straightened out’. [video width="1920" height="1080" mp4="https://news.microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/66/2022/07/MSFT-Cecilia-Fang_-v2_Subtitled_v3.mp4"][/video] Lockdown meant spending long periods of time alone, prompting self-reflection, as it did for so many. Fang finally found the time and space to research her symptoms and realised that she might have ADHD. Her feelings suddenly made sense and were confirmed when she sought the help of a psychiatrist and received an official diagnosis.

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