What brings a Digital Marketing Manager from the beating heart of Hong Kong and the big city of London to Stockholm, Sweden? Veronica Lee explains that, along with talking about the importance of balance between human and technology, as well as telling us about styled milk tea and some penguins from the South.

The question is where to draw the line. The world is becoming more digital. You can barely pay with cash in Stockholm any more and a common way to identify yourself is through BankID. Veronica Lee knows. She analyzes in a realistic way, with a touch of philosophy.

- Technology is created by humans and everything depends on how we use it. If you want to make artificial intelligence rule the world, which is a bold and wild idea, you can do that. For me, though, tech is a way to improve our quality of life. It helps us, makes us more convenient. 

How?

- If you’re hungry, you can easily search for a restaurant on Google, maybe a sushi nearby. You get ten or even ten thousand results. You don’t have to walk around and find the place yourself. But technology will not replace humans if we don’t let it. It’s our job to strike a balance.

“Early adopters”

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Veronica started to work with global agencies that became more and more digital. After a few years, it was time to explore the world.

- I went to London and had two good years there. I met people from Sweden who were nice, friendly and gave me a lot of advice. Along with the fact that I wanted to go to another country where people speak really good English and work more in the tech side, I came here in 2018.

So you have been in Sweden for three years. Stockholm is regarded as one of the leading fintech cities in the world. How is it to work here?

- The Swedish people are very early adopters of technology. Here you have BankID and cashless services, which helps people to adapt to technology. In terms of advertising, Hong Kong is more advanced, and in terms of population, the United Kingdom is bigger. But Sweden is really forward when it comes to generic technology.

And how do your days at Northmill look like?

- As a Digital Marketing Manager, my role is to help the company acquire new users and help them improve their financial life. My day-to-day is a lot about data, numbers and reading these in order to turn them into actionable insights and items. I am interested in fintech and admire the fact that Northmill is a place with diverse cultures and with people from around the world.

“Huge potential”

Speaking of fintech, Veronica analyzes the Swedish neobank she is working for. Northmill’s vision aligns with hers, which also sparked her interest for the job.

- We have several plans in the pipeline in order to transform into a company with even more organized and trackable data. Our targets are quite ambitious, but I can see huge potential at Northmill. If we see a product that can add value to us, we can make it happen. Not many companies have that flexibility and vision. That is a big plus.

How would you describe Northmill in three words?

- The people are very friendly and helpful, but I would first and foremost describe Northmill as ambitious, challenging and a young adult.

Welcome to the jungle

Veronica is herself a young adult, who claims to be more of a big city person than a nature person - even though nature was a reason why she moved to Sweden.

- It’s important to have a balance, which you are able to have in Sweden. Here I started to enjoy nature a lot. You can do different things in the four seasons of the year. For instance, I am not good at skiing, but I try to be on the slopes in winter.

What else do you enjoy doing?

- Meet new people. Hang out with friends. Socialize. I also like cooking or dining in a restaurant. Sometimes, I miss those local restaurants in Hong Kong called “Cha chaan teng”. They serve some barbeque meat. It would be nice to have some Hong Kong style milk tea afterwards - a very rich black tea with evaporated milk. 

Hong Kong seems nice, but is there any other place you would like to visit? Without a camera…

- I could go anywhere without a camera, but if I can’t bring one I would go to a dangerous place, like some jungle in the Amazon, where it would be a good idea to not bring a camera. Another place is the southern pole to see penguins and southern lights.

Being a part of the digital world, Veronica knows the importance of digitizing in order to keep up with people's needs. But where to draw the line? How to strike that balance? Veronica analyzes in a realistic way. With a touch of philosophy.

- As humans, we need to feel like humans rather than talking to a robot or just work with machines. But we can take advantage of technology, along with finding ways to add human touches in tech and in our lives. The combination will make us happier.

Quick questions

Favourite movie?

Shutter Island.

Favourite book?

I am currently reading 1984 by George Orwell. It’s one of my favourites.

Coffee or tea? 

Coffee.

The forest or the beach?

The beach.

Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo?

Messi.

Al Pacino or Robert De Niro?

De Niro.

Pizza or pasta?

Pasta.

Which languages do you speak?

Cantonese. Mandarin. English. A bit of German.

Would you rather look into the future or change the past?

Look into the future. What has happened has already happened. We have only today. Yesterday makes us the person we are today. We can only learn from that lesson and use it to create the future.