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By: Lauren Perrodin

Breaking free of your caregiver’s watchful eye is every child’s dream growing up. While not realized right away, this is the life that Linkai Han always wanted.

Born in China, his parents worked hard to give Linkai the best life possible. They moved to Brazil when he was only five years old to learn a new language and uncover a different way of living. As he developed his language skills, he was able to excel in his studies and improve on more than one dialect.

“I learned English in school but my parents would also put me in extracurricular classes for English… I do see how that helped me develop in many ways, so I’m thankful for that,” says Linkai. And developed he has! Today he can speak Mandarin, Portuguese and English and is working on learning Russian and Spanish on his own time.

Linkai didn’t stay put in Brazil during his young impressionable years. He and his family traveled to New York City and Europe — further expanding his wanderlust and desire to understand what else is out there for him.

When he turned 18, he applied for a community college in California that was connected to his high school in Brazil. He was accepted to Foothill College in Los Altos Hills. “Moving to the U.S. wasn’t really my choice,” confesses Linkai, “it was my parents' choice.”

From here, our star student applied to University of California, Riverside’s four-year environmental engineering program at his parents’ behest. Although it wasn’t an easy transition participating in a larger university environment as an international student, he says “Any time I [sought] help, I was helped.”

UCR University Extension alum Linkai with Cynthia Welle Jason Daily and Kevin Vaughn at AIRC conference After earning his BS degree, there was no stopping him. Still looking to find his passion, he decided to pursue an American work experience program with UCR University Extension. He hit a bit of a speed bump with the documentation for the program, so he chose to enroll in two postgraduate diploma programs in Digital Marketing and Management while he waited for his paperwork to straighten out.

Linkai took this happy accident as an opportunity and says he’s thankful he was able to learn from this mistake. It gave him the opportunity he has today.

He draws a lot of his inspiration from the book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter, and from working out at the gym while in school. Both taught him that discipline, consistency and drive can go a long way. Linkai’s ultimate goal is to become a founder and CEO of a company within the marketing and sales industry.

Through his hard work and dedication, Linkai had the unique opportunity to talk about his journey at the AIRC conference in December 2022.

“Not every student is going to come here great and disciplined, but I just want to tell everybody here that it is possible to develop yourself mentally throughout the years and mature yourself and accomplish your own goals.”

Linkai's presentation was full of passion, humor, and inspiration. He talked about staying in the US as long as possible and making millions. The room laughed, of course, and with a big, warm smile he said, "you laugh now," and everyone applauded.

Our international superstar is now an Account Manager at Boundless Promotions in Riverside, California. We couldn't be more proud of his personal success!

UCR University Extension alum Linkai Han outside dining Linkai Han
BS, Environmental Engineering, UC Riverside
Postgraduate Diploma in Digital Marketing, UCR University Extension
Postgraduate Certificate in Management, UCR University Extension