An American came to China and fell love with Sanya
Vanessa Jencks is an editor for That’s Sanya who has lived in China with her husband and two adorable children for eight years. They first lived in Yizhuang, Beijing, where she saw that China has been successful in creating a business development area. So when she heard that Hainan was going to become a Free Trade Port, she felt sure that it would succeed. She and her family moved to Sanya, the southernmost city of this tropical island. “The scenery is absolutely beautiful and I really appreciate that the Sanya government is taking environmental protection more seriously. We all love Sanya,” Vanessa said.
Starting her own business in Hainan
The policies of the Hainan Free Trade Port attracted Vanessa to come to start her own business here. She has registered two businesses in Sanya. The first business she started was a human resource recruitment company which helps bring International talent to Hainan and it was the first foreign-owned HR company in Hainan. Vanessa found her passion in media though, so she switched tracks. Vanessa learned that the “That’s” national media brand was operating several city-themed pages, including That’s Beijing, That’s Shanghai, That’s Guangzhou, and That’s Tianjin. She approached them to ask if they were interested in content sharing, and they said “Why don’t we start this brand together?” Since then Vanessa has became the brand operator of That’s Sanya. “The audience for That’s Sanya is not only international residents of China, but also the global market,” said Vanessa.
Making a dream into reality
Last month, Vanessa got to speak on Channel 13 national news in Israel about Hainan and Sanya. “There is a lot of interest also from other countries around the world in what’s going on in Hainan,” said Vanessa. When asked how long she will stay in Hainan, she laughed and responded “I will stay in Hainan until my hair turns white. Now I have my dream job, working for That’s Sanya. Getting to promote Sanya and Hainan across the world is literally a dream come true for me,” she said.
