Next Step Connections History

In 2004, I was part of an exchange program in the United States and studied for one year in Utah. I had the chance to live in an international dormitory, where I was able to live and make friends with other students from all over the world. My roommates were from Taiwan, Japan Brazil, Peru, Hong Kong, England, Spain. I really felt like a global citizen for the first time in my life.

After graduating in summer 2005, I decided to venture East to participate in an internship in Shanghai. I had started learning Chinese at University and had just four months of time before starting my graduate studies in the US. I landed in Shanghai in December 2005 and was immediately caught by this extraordinary destination. Instead of pursuing a master's degree, I founded Next Step Connections in Fall 2007 with the aim of offering a safe platform for foreign students looking to experience China through a professional work experience.

Francois liot from Paris, France and Len Hayashi from Los Angeles, California joined in 2008 and have helped us grow the number of participants by building partnerships with leading educational organizations in North America as well as recruiting fantastic employees.

In the last few years, over 400 "Next Steppers" have chosen us to gain work experience in China. The future looks bright as we will be opening more programs and destinations as well as making a positive impact on a growing number of international students.

-Jerome Le Carrou

We made it happen

Our first "Next Stepper" came from Stony Brook University, New York. He landed at Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, China at 5.45pm on February 16th, 2008. Originally from New York, this young and talented photojournalist did a three-month journalism internship at China's premier newspaper, "China Daily".

At the end of his internship, he was offered to work as a contributor to the newspaper. Through this symbolic accomplishment, we realized we were doing way more than just organizing internship programs in Asia. We were actually helping students take a real step forward in their career.