A Conversation with Incoming Minerva Graduate Student Na Li

This is part of a series of profiles introducing students from Minerva’s incoming Fall 2025 graduate class. If you would like to learn more about our programs, please visit our website.

Born and raised in China, Na Li has spent the last 10 years working in individual development and career consulting, mainly focusing on community building and product management. In 2021, Na Li started a reading club called The Personal Development Reading Club, which now has nearly 30,000 members, offering courses based on classic personal development books. With a new book explored each month, topics that the club covers include career, business, relationships, wealth, mental and physical well-being, as well as tips for enhancing reading and writing abilities. Na Li’s current primary responsibilities lie in increasing user engagement and empowering more people to achieve personal growth through reading, writing, and community building. As she puts it, she cares most about how ordinary people can find happiness through simple practices: reading, writing, and being part of a supportive community.

Improving the effectiveness of the operations and impact of the Personal Development Reading Club was largely what brought Na Li to discover Minerva’s Master of Science in Decision Making and Applied Analytics (MDA) program:

“As someone who has dedicated years of her life to helping people achieve personal growth, I have always wondered: if our goal is to help people grow, what steps can we take to improve our real impact? I realized that even my reading club relied mostly on passive learning methods, such as small group discussions or simple assignments. Since people were already spending their time and energy improving their lives, I wanted to make their learning more effective. With this question in mind, I started searching for institutions that have proven truly effective in education.”

Another key factor that motivated Na Li to pursue a master's degree was her experience as a mother:

“As the mother of an 8-year-old daughter, I often ask myself: ‘What are the critical skills in today’s fast-changing world?’ and ‘What kind of university would I recommend to my own daughter?’” During this thinking process, I found Minerva University—and to my surprise, the design of HCs and the real active learning model sounded fantastic! I thought to myself: ‘This is truly effective learning. And someone has already created it!’”

Na Li believes in Minerva’s educational model and is confident it will help her gain the ability to face complex situations and help even more people:

“I truly believe this approach is suitable for various levels within a hierarchical employee structure—managers, team leaders, and more. If we build higher standards of thinking, better community structures, and stronger analytical abilities, we will make better decisions. That means less waste, more free time, and better outcomes for adults who want to improve their lives. It is time to start thinking about big questions in a smarter way.”