#017: Becoming Stories: Who is Mike Zhang? (Part 2)

In the final episode of Season One, Part Two of the conversation with Mike Zhang, we continue exploring his journey of faith. Mike shares his heart for evangelism and reflects on what it means for him to live with a willingness to share the gospel. He also speaks about the power of mentorship and the importance of recognizing and embracing the learning opportunities woven into everyday life. The episode closes with the moving story of how Mike learned English, a testament to perseverance and the people who helped shape his path along the way.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Hello, hello, and welcome back to Becoming Known, a podcast where faith formates and a meaningful conversation come together. This is our very last episode of season one, and we are picking right back up in a conversation with Mike Bang. I hope you all enjoy. And for you, Mike, are there any areas of scripture or the Christian walk that you're really trying to dive in more over, you know, the rest of your Christian journey or even this upcoming year, 2026?

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Um, any aspects of my walk I want to focus on more, basically?

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Any aspects of scripture or the Christian walk that you want to explore more, feel like you want to dive deeper into? Um Alexa stop. That means we're almost dead.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Um I don't know if I have a um great practical example. I think for me, um, one thing I really want to be able to do um is just uh like read all the Bible, like read more of it. Okay. Um I know our church this year challenges to read the Bible in a year, which I did not do. But I but it is something that's always been my to-do list. I don't do well when I'm given like quote-unquote homework assignments. I think that's why I didn't feel I wasn't able to accomplish it. Okay. Um but but from my personal perspective, I really want to. So like trying to read, um, especially aspects I feel like of um certain books in the Old Testament that I feel like I maybe on the surface seems like, oh, this doesn't seem as relevant, but I think there's relevance and um you know utility and of course wisdom in all the books in the Bible. Otherwise, I I don't think um, you know, I don't think God would have inspired you know those before us to have put the Bible and assembled the Bible the way it is today. Um so uh yeah, I think um reading more um for sure. I I try to read. I try is maybe too strong of a word now. I I used to try to read every morning, but I feel like I'm only doing that like a couple days a week at most. And yeah, um, so um, but I think maybe back to your question, uh that does kind of speak to kind of the um more uh practical habits that um at least speaking for myself, I should be doing more on a frequent basis or daily basis, even that I think I need to be um just better at in general.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Um and then maybe now that I've thought about your question a bit more, I think another thing that I have been trying to be better about, at least, is um like sharing the gospels too. Because like again, my you know, I didn't grow up um as a Christian. I would say the vast, vast majority of my friends are not Christian.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

Um, I would even mention my family, you know, is not Christian. Um and you know, for someone who's uh you know, more recently in his life, uh was exposed to Christianity, was given the good news for the gospels. Like, I feel like uh I don't know, maybe a lot of other people in this similar situation can relate, but it's like, I was given this good news, I want to like share with other people, like friends, family, loved ones. Um, but I also understand you know that's can be a delicate topic sometimes. Not everyone is as open to it or or to rephrase, they might not be as open to it in that moment in their lives, um, which I think is something I can relate to for sure. So uh yeah, it's something I try to be cognizant of when I sense someone might be open to this, and I will definitely um poke them more, or otherwise I um just wait and see if they ever want to talk about um Christianity or my faith specifically. I always try to be willing to talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

Okay. Yeah. Cool. Mike, thank you for sharing. Uh I think it's gonna be fascinating this upcoming year because, as you mentioned, at our church, this past year was a year of biblical literacy. This upcoming year is a year of evangelism. Yeah. So I think um it'll be interesting. I'll have to have you back on the podcast um next year to just see how your experiences were and um how you have found the material and the overall theme of our church moving into next year.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

So yeah. Thanks.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

You're welcome. Um, okay, so now I want to circle back to something that I put a tab in when you said you would put in a few hours on a Sunday and prep for the upcoming week. Mike, what do you do for work?

SPEAKER_00 5:31

Uh yeah, so I uh work in a uh biotechnology company as a research scientist. So we do a lot of um research, I guess, for lack of a better term, uh into uh new ways to develop drugs to treat uh diseases like uh cancers and other chronic diseases. Okay. So yeah, that's that's the that's the gist.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Okay. And how did you get into this?

SPEAKER_00 6:01

Um so I would say probably from my school days, I mean, I so my bachelor's degree is in um biomedical engineering. So it's um yeah, as the name implies, I kind of engineers who take or leverage engineering principles and try to utilize in you know biology-related applications. So medicine, of course, is a um big one in that space. Um and I think if your question is about research specifically, I would say um it was actually something that uh one of my best friends from college kind of got me into um like my probably last year in college, because he was very, very passionate about research. Um and he was always working in a research lab as an undergraduate student in all his spare time, you know, nights, weekends. And in the beginning, I was like, hey, like you want to go um hang out and do something? And he would tell me, no, I I got work. And I didn't really understand at first, and then eventually I started asking, so like, what is it you're doing? Like, what why are you so passionate about this thing that just sounds like uh at the time to me, just boring work, you know? Um and long story short, I I think I I really do think he was a big um factor, more so than any professor or teacher or anything like that I had, about getting me interested and excited about what type of career that could be. And then yeah, fast forward, so yeah, I then um kind of worked in that space a little bit, and then I went back for school, um, as you already alluded to. Um, and um yeah, now I work um here in Seattle at a company, biotech company.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

Okay. And where'd you go to school and what was your PhD in?

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Uh so I went to school in um University of Maryland in Baltimore, and my PhD is in chemical engineering.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:07

Um but um in our field, honestly, the the name of the degree really doesn't it can't, or I shouldn't say I was gonna say it doesn't mean much, but I shouldn't say that. I I I'll rephrase and say it can be deceiving.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

Meaning it's really about like what it is you were doing during your PhD. Um and I say that because if you ask me any basic question about like what you might think a chemical engineer might should know or might know, like about like oil industry or something, I couldn't answer a single question in that.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:39

Um but um but about like biology, immunology, um like cancer therapy stuff, that that's kind of more uh my background is, I would say. Um so despite, yeah, despite my degree name in chemical engineering, I um I know very little about chemical engineering.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

Okay. Interesting. Okay. And you have mentioned in conversation before that you're a manager, is that right?

SPEAKER_00 9:09

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

How long has that been the case?

SPEAKER_00 9:12

Uh so it's been on and off, but the shorter answer is um my current team I've been managing for the last year and a half or so. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So uh the slightly longer answer is that when I when I first joined this company I work at, um I think, I forget now, I think it was six months or a year into uh my tenure, I was managing one person. And then, yeah, long story short, we had a lot of team changes. So I was managing like a different single person like every six months or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

Um but but the past couple years I've been on a more kind of stable team where um yeah, I've been managing for about a year and a half or so.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

Okay. Do you enjoy management?

SPEAKER_00 10:01

Yeah, I I really do. I mean, I uh I see it more as mentoring um in our field because we um at the end of the day, we're scientists, like we have to we have to do the science, know the science, um like also discuss and showcase the science.

SPEAKER_02 10:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

So it's more um I see it more as mentoring than managing, I guess. Um which I don't know, maybe my reports don't appreciate that, but uh depend on what type of um style they may prefer. But um, yeah, I I think uh as a side note, I will say like that was another appealing part of me wanting my wanting to go get a PhD because there was a point where I was thinking maybe I want to stay in academia and become a professor um because the mentoring piece really appealed to me. But then I learned about all the other things that professors have to do and I realized I don't want to do that. And I don't think I would have made it, honestly, either. In in that um if I pursue that, it's a it's a crazy, uh, crazy competitive space too.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

Um you give off Professor Vibes, though. You definitely give off Professor Zang.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

Oh okay. Yeah. I'll I'll take that as a compliment, I think.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

It is. Oh, okay. Cool. And are there any? I feel like with management, you can pick things up from other managers and see things that you want to take into your own toolbox or not. And then there's also resources, podcasts, books, things like this. Um, has there been anything or any person that's particularly influenced how you mentor, coach, manage?

SPEAKER_00 11:43

Uh yeah, I would say um I I try to definitely observe those around me um uh and kind of pick out things that I feel like uh they're doing well. Even things are not doing well, like things that I try to consciously avoid, for example. Um uh and I definitely I would say another a big one for me is uh was my PhD advisor, actually. Um he I think was a great mentor for me in many ways. I mean, um there were definitely things that he could have been better in. Um I think that's a natural feeling for mentors when you've had them as a mentor for many, many years. Um I actually knew my PhD advisor as a side note uh before I started grad school.

SPEAKER_02 12:38

Oh wow, okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

But um, but one thing that he uh really gave me an opportunity to do as a grad student that he really emphasized was that um so to take a step back, uh the the kind of PhD experience for our field or like our broad field, not just chemical engineering, but like just our broad field, I would say, is um it's all research focused, right? It's not really, I mean, yes, we have classes and stuff too, but it's all about kind of what you're doing in the research labs.

SPEAKER_02 13:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

Um and my PhD advisor, my mentor, he was very adamant that especially early on, when you know we are not really expected to know what we're doing ourselves, to um mentor undergraduate students that want to work in the lab, even if it's part-time. Okay. And so that was like good training for me to like mentor, manage, coach, whatever you want to call it, junior members, uh, especially at a time when I didn't really even know what I was doing. Okay. And I felt like that actually really helped me a lot um shape kind of my mentoring or managing style now.

SPEAKER_02 13:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

And try to also from there, uh, yeah, understand where I especially upon reflection, a lot of things I'm sure I did uh very poorly, that some of my um mentees would tell you today that yeah, I was not good at that. Uh but I think I definitely learned a lot there and um yeah, try to then just pick up tidbits here and there from other people. I'm not usually, at least on this specific example, um like reading books or podcasts about or sorry, reading books or listening to podcasts or anything like that about this, because I feel like there's a lot of good concrete examples around me that um I can draw from. Like I should draw on like the knowledge that I have very readily accessible first um before expanding out.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

I think that's such a good tip for people.

SPEAKER_00 14:52

Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

That's awesome. I I know some people to many people's annoyance, but some people use that same argument for like Amazon. We have returned to the office, and they think it's very critical that we have that in-person innovation. Um, I do see the argument, especially for people that are earlier on in their career. It's like it's kind of hard to learn if you're not picking up the cues and learning from those around you. Um because I'm I myself am in a fairly specialized field, but it's almost like I had an apprenticeship for my manager, but I was sitting right next to her at the office. So, what you're saying about taking advantage of okay, what's right here readily available, that makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Yeah. And I guess another thing I'll quickly add to that is for us at least, um, again, many I I know there are many styles of like managers, management, all those things. Um and there's uh I'm sure many of them work very well. Um, and of course, depend on how it suits one's personalities, things like that too. But I think for me, I I really have found my mentors in the past to be great when they've one been very strong scientists, and two been willing to uh impart that not just science per se, but the approach to science onto me.

SPEAKER_02 16:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:17

And I think my PhD advisor was really good about that. And even my current manager, he's also a very like fantastic scientist, and I am willing to impart like his approach onto me. So I um I think that for me has just been um has really shaped my I think management style ultimately.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

Yeah, okay. That's so cool. Yeah, awesome, thank you. Okay, I have one more topic before we move into our closing. Um, but can you share with us um where your hometown is?

SPEAKER_00 16:51

Yeah, so uh so I grew up uh in a town called um Westford, which is in Massachusetts. It's like about 30 35 miles-ish northwest of Boston.

SPEAKER_02 17:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:06

Um, but I was born um in uh Wuhan, China, which is a very big city in China, but not a city most people knew about until uh the pandemic.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

Yeah, for sure. And how long were you in Wuhan, China before you moved over to Massachusetts?

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Uh so Massachusetts wasn't the first state my family lived in, but um I I moved to Massachusetts, I think, when I was five. Oh wow. Okay. Um my parents had already moved there before me, and I was living with my relatives in China.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

Um uh but I briefly lived with my parents when they were living in Alabama, so that was actually the first um place I lived in the US.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

Alabama, okay, curveball.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

Um my dad was going to school there. Okay. So that's why my parents are living there.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

Going to school for what?

SPEAKER_00 18:03

Uh so he has a master's in um mathematics.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

You have a very smart family. Okay. Very academically inclined family.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

Um, well, uh this might be off topic, but like, you know, it's partially cultural and partially like um practical in the sense of like, you know, you need a job. Um how do you get a job? Especially my dad in particular, he really wanted to move to the US. That was like I I've been told um by like my my aunts, like from my dad's side, like that's all he would talk about back in that point in his life. Like, how what do I have to do to be able to um immigrate to the US? Um, so he found like a practical path, which was um become a student, uh uh study, you know, like a hard science, and then look for some job in like hard science, engineering, stuff like that. And okay. And yeah, he um that's what he did. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

Okay. Okay. And um so I know how it is when you're a kid and you like hear things, but you might not always dive into the reasons why. But just hearing your aunt say, oh yeah, you know, your dad was really big on he wanted to immigrate here. Um, do you know what drove that passion for him to want to be in the US and bring his family over?

SPEAKER_00 19:34

Uh it's a good question. I never asked him. Um I'm not even sure if he would be willing to tell me, uh, just because he's not a very talkative person. But uh but uh but I think a big part, if I had to guess, um the obvious part, uh the obvious reason I think is just opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

Um uh especially um you know back at that time, um, you know, living in China for uh the the opportunities um to really do a lot of things was just very limited, I would say. Um I mean um it was also a time when you know China was still kind of recovering from just really, really bad economic situations. I mean my parents were both born um around the time of uh the Great Famine too. So like they they've seen that like really, really bad, then they saw it, um, especially by today's standards, still pretty bad. And I would imagine that was probably in my dad's thought process. Well, like, well, how do I get out of this uh life? Well, the US seems like it has a lot of great opportunities, so I'm gonna do whatever I can to immigrate to the US.

SPEAKER_01 20:50

Wow. Um, that touched me.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

Um yeah, but uh yeah, I was just gonna say, I if I had a guess, I would say that's probably a big component to it. I don't know if that was the only reason, but I'm sure that's a big component.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

Okay, wow, okay. And for you, are there any early childhood experiences that really stick out to you that you remember either in China or here in the US?

SPEAKER_00 21:17

Um, I mean, a lot of them I I feel like I still remember bits and pieces, but um in general, anything specific that you're asking?

SPEAKER_01 21:27

Anything that might have shaped you, anything super positive, anything about adjusting to culture at all when you shifted? I don't know if that was a big shift for you or not since you were young.

SPEAKER_00 21:39

Okay. So maybe related to that last question, I do remember my first day of school in the US, I didn't know a single word of English. Wow. And my dad, who brought me to school that first day, he dropped me off, said something to my preschool teacher, which I obviously didn't understand. And then left. And I was like, what am I supposed to do? I I had um no idea. Yeah, it was um but I just remember um my first day very clearly and then just like a splattering of different days throughout that first few weeks. Yeah. And then I just remember knowing English after. Like I don't actually remember learning English. I just remember, well, actually, maybe knowing is too strong, but I just remember then one day I knew enough to be able to converse with like the other students in class. At least um but somewhere between that. I mean, like it's pretty like I feel like commonly said that like kids pick up languages fast, right? So like I I guess picked it up fairly quickly somehow.

unknown 22:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

Yeah, but that I do have a thinking, like um that is kind of like proverbally threw me in the deep hand. He was just like, I I don't think he warned me anything. He he just told me, oh, we're gonna be going to this thing called school. Um because I didn't go to school when I was in China, and he just left.

SPEAKER_01 23:09

Oh little Mike Zhang, oh gosh, that sounds like a lot.

SPEAKER_00 23:13

Yeah, I that was um memorable for sure. Um just because I I um I mean I remember doing a lot of hand gesturing with my teachers, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:27

And your dad, did he learn English before or after he moved?

SPEAKER_00 23:32

Uh I think he learned before because you have to take the um a test. Uh what's it called? I can't remember the test now, the name off the top of my head. But you have to take a test to um even to study in the US to like prove like you can at least know enough English that you can actually like study um in the States. Um so so he must have learned. Um I actually don't know how he learned, but he must have like found books or something to learn. Um yeah. Um if I had to guess at least. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:15

Uh yeah, he's pretty good about learning stuff when he puts his mind to it, my dad. Uh like he learned to drive by him, like mostly by himself. I think he told me he had one like 20-minute session with a friend of his. Yeah. Like showed him the basics and then he learned to drive. Okay. Um uh yeah, so I'm assuming probably similarly, he probably just found resources to teach himself. But um, there might have been some English courses at some local university in China that he maybe was taking, but I don't know. Yeah, it's a good question. I'll remember to ask for that.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

Okay, you should. He just sounds very determined and competent.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

So uh when he wants to be, he can be very good service. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:00

Sometimes he doesn't want to.

SPEAKER_00 25:01

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

Okay. Um, and then for you, do you are you s do you still speak another language? Are you still fluent in Mandarin? Or what else?

SPEAKER_00 25:13

Uh yeah, I can speak Mandarin. Um and like with my family or relatives, we actually speak like the Wuhan dialect, which is basically a dialect of Mandarin. Okay. Um yeah, I speak uh Mandarin. Uh I can't read or write very well though. Um like I can read enough where I can like kind of follow um like subtitles of movies if I'm like watching movies that are not in Mandarin, but like other Chinese dialects I don't understand. I can kind of follow it, but I can write, I usually tell people I can write at a first grade level. Okay, okay. Reading is maybe like a fourth grade, fifth grade level.

unknown 25:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 25:59

Um, but but yeah, uh speaking only because practically like I like like do it way more.

SPEAKER_01 26:05

Really with your family now?

SPEAKER_00 26:07

Yeah, the family. Um yeah, my um uh my last long-term girlfriend was actually uh my ex was um Chinese. And I actually think I my my speaking actually improved a lot actually around that time too, because we would only talk in um Mandarin uh uh unless we were with other people that were talking English.

SPEAKER_02 26:34

Okay, fun.

SPEAKER_00 26:36

Um but yeah, but I guess yeah, I never really learned it officially um uh but just from using it a lot, I guess that's most of my learning of Chinese.

SPEAKER_01 26:51

Okay. Yeah. Impressive. I'm super impressed by people who know more than one language.

SPEAKER_00 26:55

So do you know other languages any other language?

SPEAKER_01 26:57

I took six years of Spanish. Um I wouldn't say I'm fluent, but I went to Mexico City for five days with a friend, and Mexico City is, I think that's my favorite city on earth. Um, I had so much fun. But uh by the end of the five days, I was feeling very comfortable remembering a lot of words. Oh nice, yeah, ordering things like that. So immersion, I think, is helpful.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

Yeah. I I took six years of French in grade school.

SPEAKER_01 27:25

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

Um, but I've never been to France, I've never had a chance to practice it. I'm I've probably forgotten. Well, I not probably I have forgotten most of it, I think.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

Definitely just definitely feel like you know, use it or lose it type situations. That's why I asked you if you still spoke another language, though.

SPEAKER_00 27:43

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 27:44

Okay. Well, Mike, I've held you for a while. I'm just so glad that you agreed, I would say, after a lot of me requesting uh to be on the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 27:55

So yeah, you twisted my lung.

SPEAKER_01 27:57

So I I mean, I tend to do that. Uh, but fascinating. Like you went, I wasn't overstating it when I said that you are one of the most interesting people I've met in the last two years. So thank you.

SPEAKER_00 28:08

Okay, well, thank you. I again I think that's a compliment.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

It is, it totally is. It totally is. Um, okay, so the question I like to close out with um for all of my guests is Mike's name, who are you becoming?

SPEAKER_00 28:24

Who am I becoming? Um well, I think the the obvious slash cop out answer is like, you know, you know, as Christians, we'll all try to become more like Jesus. Uh, but I I don't know if that's what you're looking for. Um am I becoming other beyond that, I mean, um uh beyond someone who tries to um beyond someone who's uh focused on just my faith, um someone I think who um I don't know if I have a good answer for that beyond beyond um beyond being uh more focused about my faith. Uh I would say maybe just someone who's more um attuned and values his uh his friendships. Okay. Uh I think um, especially in this day and age, I feel like there's um uh I feel like really having like a strong friendship can be taken for granted sometimes. And uh I've definitely been uh a culprit of that, I would say, in the last several years or so. Um so I think that's something I've been trying to be better about the last year or two, but definitely something I can work on even more.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:00

Um is being um uh you know a better friend, better um more reliable, even um, you know, all those things. Um so yeah, I don't know if that's an answer you're looking for.

SPEAKER_01 30:17

No, that's no, that's interesting. You don't think you're a reliable person already?

SPEAKER_00 30:21

I think I could be more reliable. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

High standards for yourself.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

Um sure, yeah. I I I try to I try to pull myself to um a demanding standards, I guess. That's good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:38

That's good because I'll tell you, did you really want to do the podcast? I'm not sure, but you agreed to it. I didn't even check in with you. Okay, Cambria, are we still doing this time? I'm running a little behind. Here I come. I'm like reliable. Let's go.

SPEAKER_00 30:51

Well, I I I didn't want like to be making you wait or waste your time, you know. That's something I'm uh not a fan of like wasting people's time. So I like I wasn't gonna be like, oh yeah, I'm coming, Cambria, and then not show up. I feel like that's very disrespectful.

SPEAKER_01 31:07

I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Oh well, this has been delightful. Are you glad you did it? Yeah, it's good. Thank you, Magne.

SPEAKER_00 31:18

Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 31:20

All right, well, um really enjoyed that conversation, and I hope you all did too. And we will see you next time on Becoming Known. Oh okay, well, that wraps up season one. I hope you all enjoyed the conversation with Mike's. I had so much fun making all of these podcast episodes for the first season. I'm super excited for season two. And I hope and sincere desire about any of the podcast episodes in the past or whatever last might be a blessing to someone as they're on the board. I'm going to add this one of my favorite blessings in the Bible. May the Lord bless you and keep you off. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord go with favor to you and give you peace.