Sara Jane Ho

“Everything is microculture. Whether it’s in high school or your family or at your work,” says internationally renowned etiquette guru, author and Emmy- nominated host of Netflix’s reality programme Mind Your Manners, Sara Jane Ho. Before becoming the modern- day godmother of etiquette, as she’s known to the world now, Ho, armed with a degree from Georgetown University, was a mergers and acquisitions analyst at Perella Weinberg Partners in New York. She then completed an MBA at Harvard Business School and attended the Institut Villa Pierrefeu finishing school in Glion, Switzerland before founding her own etiquette school, Institute Sarita, in Beijing in 2013. Then came the Netflix deal and the acclaimed series, which took Ho’s career to new heights. The programme earned her a Daytime Emmy nomination and praise for her unique approach to etiquette, which incorporates Eastern philosophies into the established Western canons. It’s no surprise Ho’s approach to success is also philosophical. “The ability to choose how you want to live, and the ability to choose how you want to be treated are the two things that give you more power than any material object ever will,” she says.