I'm Tia Xiao. I build brands through campaign planning and content, with AI as my newest creative tool.
Creative that opens markets.Data that proves it.
Marketer · Creator · Teacher
Beijing → Manchester
Doing marketing before I had the title.
I've spent 5+ years growing e-commerce brands in China. The job titles said "operations", but the work was marketing: campaigns, content, community and the numbers behind them.
It started with university internships, where I found I loved pulling a plan together and shaping how a brand shows up. Now I'm doing an MSc in Fashion Management at the University of Manchester, and looking for my next role with a DTC brand or a global marketing team.
Two cities, one playbook.
Years of building brands in China. Now learning the UK market from Manchester.
Beijing
Where I learned marketing at speed, inside some of China's fastest-moving e-commerce brands.
- Lululemon Part-timeFeb–Sep 2026Sales and event support. Among the store's top sellers, and shot content for in-store events.
- Guotai Ping'an Department Store2023–25Management trainee. Built the company's first SOPs and trained teams across 8 stores.
- Huayi Life (FlowerPlus)Jan–Sep 2023China's unicorn flower e-commerce brand. Campaign marketing and owner of the online store's GMV.
- Missfresh2021–22China's first major fresh-grocery e-commerce platform, and an early category leader. Content and campaign marketing.
- Zhen You Liang Ba Shua2020Content marketing. Ran 4–5 promotions a month from a trend-led content calendar.
- Secoo Internship2019–20Luxury e-commerce platform. Content operations intern.
Manchester
Where I'm learning the business of fashion and how UK shoppers think.
- Oxfam charity shop VolunteerOct 2026–4 hours a week. I price donated items, merchandise the shelves and make product labels.
- University of Manchester2026–27MSc Fashion Management.
Three projects I'm proud of.
Open a card to see what I noticed, what I did, and what it earned.
Missfresh · Social growth · 0 → 1
China's first major fresh-grocery e-commerce platform
Turning a year-end report into a growth loop
45%share rate, against a 10% target
1.3K-factor: new users per sharer
41%coupons redeemed
2 monthsfrom idea to launch
+Read the caseClose
China's first major fresh-grocery e-commerce platform
Turning a year-end report into a growth loop
- Insight
- Every share could bring in a new customer at almost no cost. The company had never built a sharing feature, so I made the case that it was worth building.
- Strategy
- Built the platform's first year-end report around a New Year's Eve dinner idea: users "seat" friends at their table, and every invitation carries a coupon. Wrote the copy, drove the timeline and checked ROI with finance.
- The hard part
- The sharing feature had to be built from scratch on a tight deadline, so product and IT were the hardest teams to win over. I went through my manager to their leads, and in every meeting explained what we were building, why, and how it could lower our cost per new customer.
- Outcome
- Sharing came in 4.5× above target, and coupons turned that reach into orders.
- Takeaway
- Make sharing feel like an invitation, and growth pays for itself.
Missfresh · Campaign · Brand purpose
China's first major fresh-grocery e-commerce platform
A classic product, relaunched with a purpose
¥450Knet revenue from one product
3 daysfrom launch to result
+Read the caseClose
China's first major fresh-grocery e-commerce platform
A classic product, relaunched with a purpose
- Insight
- The product was a proven seller, and the relaunch could also help local farmers earn more. That story could build the brand's reputation as well as drive sales.
- Strategy
- Positioned the relaunch as a farmer-support campaign. Worked with local authorities to promote it and with PR on press releases. Watched sales live and adjusted pacing to protect stock.
- Outcome
- ¥450K net revenue in three days, plus positive coverage for the brand.
- Takeaway
- A product with a purpose sells harder and builds the brand.
Huayi Life (FlowerPlus) · 618 · S+ priority project
China's unicorn flower e-commerce brand
Protecting profit in the year's biggest sale
96%of a very high GMV goal
2×products on sale
+40–50%auto-renewals vs May
+Read the caseClose
China's unicorn flower e-commerce brand
Protecting profit in the year's biggest sale
- Insight
- Bundle pricing could lift revenue per order. When a product ran low, bundling it kept it selling and moved more high-margin products.
- Strategy
- Monitored sales and stock across twice the usual range and coordinated stock planning across teams. Co-designed the discounts, ran livestreams on the store and WeChat Channels, and sent segmented push notifications.
- Outcome
- 96% of the GMV goal on the company's most important project of the year. Q3 subscription pre-sales lifted auto-renewals 40–50%.
- Takeaway
- Revenue is easy to promise. Profit takes discipline.
A big sale is
a hundred small
decisions.
How I plan a 618 sale.
618 is China's mid-year shopping festival. I planned it for WeChat, the biggest sales channel at Huayi Life (FlowerPlus).
Real figures are hidden.
- 2 months outSet the targetSplit it by channel and push, using past years' data.
- OfferDesign the deal1–2 year flower subscriptions, cheaper than everyday plans.
- CostClose the gapModel cost with buying, then tune pushes, discount or mix.
- BuildTest and prepareA/B-test audiences, shoot products, sign off samples.
- ~2 weeksRun 3–4 wavesA new theme each wave, plus livestreams.
- AfterReviewCompare with past years and plan the next one.
No campaign ships alone.
I've worked as a project owner in a three-person content team, where each of us ran our own projects end to end.
One project, five teams, about ten people.
Every campaign I ran needed design, product, buying, legal and customer service to say yes. My job was to keep everyone moving toward the same date and the same number.
When the first fix didn't work
At Missfresh we had to rewrite hundreds of product pages. AI writing tools weren't good enough yet, so we moved the work to an outsourced writing team to save cost.
- The first batch of copy wasn't good enough to publish.
- We wrote new page templates quickly and agreed them with each category owner.
- With the templates in place, the team switched to batch production.
Every problem you find is a good problem. It shows you what to fix.
- Excel dashboards, profit and cost models
- Campaign data my own dashboard for every campaign
- CapCut video editing
- Photoshop image editing
- AI agents research and production
- Office Word, PowerPoint
- English
- Chinese (Mandarin)
AI is my newest creative tool.
I build small AI agents for the slow parts of marketing, so more of my time goes into ideas.
Topic forecasting
Collects data on similar posts and videos, then predicts which topics will perform before I make them.
Video-editing agent
My own agent that handles the repetitive parts of editing short videos.
Job-screening agent
Screens and sorts job listings against what I'm looking for, so I only spend time on the right roles.
IELTS mini-program
A WeChat mini-program that turns my IELTS study method into a tool other learners can use.
Off the clock, still building.
The things I do for myself are where I test ideas first.
Growing a children's dance studio
A lifelong hobby turned side business. As a certified children's dance teacher, I taught at my teacher's studio for nine years and ran much of its marketing.
Fashion & luxury
MSc Fashion Management
University of Manchester, 2026–27.
INSIDE LVMH Certificate
LVMH's online programme on the luxury industry.
My IELTS channel on Xiaohongshu
小月要努力: short videos with IELTS study methods for learners starting from a weak base. I plan, film and edit every one.
Turning my channel into a product
A WeChat mini-program built from my IELTS content, so followers can practise with my method.
What I'm noticing.
Notes from working in two markets, and two brands I keep studying, one from each side.
Selling in the UK vs China
Pricing donated items at Oxfam every week, after years of selling online in China, has shown me how differently the two markets work.
Mostly their own websites and retailers. There's no single marketplace where every brand shows up.
Spread across the year.
The brand's own channels.
Several platforms share attention.
Mature and broad, online and on the high street, with charity shops everywhere.
In-store shopping is still a big share of spending.
Why it matters. A brand going global from either side has to rebuild its route to the customer: new platforms, new sales moments, new people selling for it.
- It sells something people want to show. The products are built to be seen, like the phone case that holds a lip tint, so every purchase becomes a post.
- The founder's look is the marketing. Hailey Bieber's nails and personal style went viral first, and products you hold in your hand travel well on social media.
- It owns a mood. Launches use fruit, food and nature to tell one story, natural beauty, and the brand helped move a whole generation toward a more natural look.
- The ingredient is the name. Products are named after their active ingredient and its strength, like a 5% tranexamic acid spray, so you know what you're buying at a glance.
- It knows its audience. Young Chinese women know more about skincare than ever and want proof, not promises. The brand sells science.
- The right voice. A deep partnership with a creator who explains medical science makes the brand's claims feel credible.
- A reason to come back. Every order includes skincare cards and a recycling card. Send back empty bottles and get a coupon, which is still rare for Chinese skincare brands.
Say hello, 你好
or both.
Open to roles in the UK and China