Hi there👋 
About Samaritan
My name is inspired by Samaritan, the super intelligent AI from Person of Interest who wants to eliminate all of humanity. I picked the name in high school, when I got bullied and dug my head deep into study. Got full scores in math. Thank you, I guess.
I was born in Shanghai, China, and I’ve been hustling around ever since, looking at the beauty of this world, continuously talking and trying new things. I studied C++, spent numerous sleepless nights, and won second place at the World Robot Olympiad in high school. My prize was a free trip to Mount Huangshan!
I studied Mathematics in undergrad because I got full scores in math all through middle and high school, and I didn’t like robotics just copying algorithms without knowing what’s underneath. But I found out my super interesting math background was too abstract for the real world, so I double majored in Finance. (And quit my minor in painting.) I did all kinds of internships: banking, marketing, data science, human resources. I loved fashion, exhibitions… and the perfumes from my loved one.
My gap year in 2020 was spent pitching my startup idea to random VCs in Shanghai and Hangzhou. I got invited to incubate at Apsara Cloud Town by Alibaba (you know it because DeepSeek was incubated there too). Failed, obviously. But I enjoyed travelling between cities and the food was really good. 🍜
I moved to the United States in 2021, and spent maybe the most unstable period of my life in the first half year. Covid came, I got dumped by my boyfriend, I quit my startup, quit my job. I travelled for half a year, drove from San Diego to Seattle, spent a month in Hawaii and still couldn’t figure out who I am or what I want. But I guess I just went to CMU and started my journey of learning computer science then?
CMU years were fun and tiring. I got serious issues with self-identity, as a woman, as non-binary, scared of not being the best in the class, not being the most popular, talented, beautiful person in the room. So I took 4 courses every semester, did hardcore classes and strived for A’s, did research and got three papers published, and found internships at large tech companies. I got a photoshoot, got drunk on multiple different people’s couches, and met a bunch of my best friends there. 🤩
From 2023 to 2025, I lived at @thriving.mushrooms, a coliving experiment in San Francisco that taught me everything I know about community, female divine spirituality, shared grocery bills, and the chaotic beauty of living with 15 of your soon-to-be best friends. I spent my fair share of nights at @706SF, diving deep into cultural salon talks and finding the heartbeat of the city’s intellectual underground.
Given my background, you may know what my job is already. I have quite a successful and stable career trajectory in software engineering with rocket promotion and am greatly appreciated by my peers, my mentors and my managers. Luckily, I got to work in the most trending field with the most sexy and tech-savvy areas. I have great friends (aka my manager and tech lead) who may be at least 15 years older than me, and we travel together. Cannot blame life more for that.
I’ve been solo travelling since 2022: Paris, New York, Vancouver, Tokyo, Kyoto, Lima, Cusco, Santiago, Patagonia… I met someone in Patagonia who really knew me and loved me with his whole heart. And then I lost him. 🥲 I don’t know if I would go on that trip again but I miss the adventure and the people I have in my heart.
Burning Man, Blank Space, Bombay Beach. Volunteering @echoher, creative writing at Stanford.
I still don’t know where I’m heading. But I guess that’s the life itself.
