Isabella Cai has used the ‘data mindset’ she developed at GPS to develop a platform for fostering children’s development in Montessori education
Isabella Cai’s career has been defined by incessant curiosity, and she has seized opportunities to expand her knowledge and develop new ways to implement her data skills — honed at UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy (GPS) — to make a real-world impact.
Cai grew up in China and started her career at Johnson & Johnson’s Chinese operation as a management trainee. Because it was an international company with a large footprint, she said that its culture was different from anything she had experienced before.
The experience at the multinational corporation encouraged her to learn more about the world beyond. She figured that one of the best ways to explore more of the world and get an outside perspective on China was to study abroad. As it happened, her husband’s aunt had attended GPS, so she already knew that she wanted to study there.
At GPS, she concentrated in international management and had a regional focus on China. But when she started her studies, she said that at first there was some culture shock coming to the U.S.
“Initially, when you get here as an international student, you speak a different language, you have an accent, you eat differently, you do things differently, you have a different culture,” she said. “All of those things felt a little bit overwhelming for me at the time.”
But eventually she realized that the differences she and other international students brought to GPS were welcomed.
“It took me a few months to realize that I can embrace my uniqueness,” she said. “I was in such a diverse community, so I learned that it’s fine to be who I am. My upbringing, my culture and my background — all of those have a lot of value.”
After receiving her degree from GPS in 2014, Cai worked at the Open Mobile Alliance, where she drew on her knowledge of Chinese business. After about three years there, she moved to Qualcomm to work in a role that leveraged her data analysis techniques.
A pivot to education
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Suddenly, Cai had two young daughters who weren’t able to go to school.
“Their school was trying to do online education, but it definitely was not going to work putting a two- and four-year-old in front of a screen for hours and trying to get them to learn,” she said.
Cai took a unique approach to overcoming the challenge: setting up a Montessori learning environment within her home.
“At GPS, we were encouraged to be curious about what’s happening, to try to leverage what we learned in the classroom to solve real-world problems,” she said.
Even before the virus hit, Cai had been thinking about getting into the education sector. As such, she had the background knowledge and the passion for education to become thoroughly versed in how to make a stimulating learning experience for her daughters — all while continuing to work full-time at Qualcomm.
In fact, she even set up a group at the technology company where she could talk about best practices for Montessori education with colleagues with children.
In talking with other parents about Montessori education, as well as through her own experience finding a school for her children, Cai realized that many parents were overwhelmed by the sheer number of factors that went into deciding which Montessori school to send their kids to, including cost, spot availability, and how authentic the Montessori education is that each school provides.
“‘Montessori’ is not a trademarked term, meaning anyone can open a school and call it a Montessori school. And that makes it challenging for parents,” she said. “Because of my mindset of working with data for so long, I realized that, actually, you can help streamline the process by effectively collecting, organizing and presenting the data points that they need to make the decision.”
That’s why she created a platform that consolidated all the information about different Montessori schools into one place, so parents could quickly learn everything they needed before going into the world of Montessori education. This included comparing different schools’ profiles and booking a tour with the schools that seemed like the best fit — turning an hours-long, labor-intensive process into one that takes only a few minutes.
Later on, as Cai continued to work in the education industry, her passion for Montessori grew so much that she became what she calls “a Montessori evangelist,” striving to bring impact to the industry.
Cai’s company, Y Montessori, is currently developing a mobile application, called Montopia, that empowers Montessori schools to engage and educate parents, involving them in their children’s learning journey. Cai’s data mindset and skills were again one of the driving forces behind the app, from its early-stage research all the way to its current pilot phase, from which she has received promising data.
Encouraging entrepreneurship at GPS
“Doing this startup has allowed me to embrace my uniqueness as a female founder, coming from an international background,” she added. “I know that I have something new to contribute.”
But Cai said that starting a new business often isn’t on the radar for GPS graduates, which is something that she hopes to remedy as one of the newest members of the school’s Alumni Board.
“I want to let students and young graduates know that there are tons of resources out there that they can leverage if they want to pursue that route, and we’re there to help,” she said.
But more broadly, she said that she joined the board so that she can help students navigate their way through their careers, regardless of which path they choose.
“I’ve received so much help along the way from the GPS network,” Cai said. “I’ve grown tremendously over the past 10 years, and now that I’m in a position where I’m able to offer more help, I want to pay it forward.”