2012 CWEA Finalist: Rain Emily (Shi Yu) Zhang

Rain Emily (Shi Yu) Zhang, Director, Willowest Enterprise Co.

Rain Emily (Shi Yu) Zhang was born in China in March, 1974. In September 2005, she moved to British Columbia from China with hopes and enthusiasm for future. Now She is a new Canadian, the founder and creator of Willowest enterprise Corp; She is a respectful businesswoman in the community, a great friend and a mentor to her employees. She is also a happy mother of two boys.

Before moving to Canada, Rain was an executive management of General Motor’s Joint Venture in China. In the first 2 years of living in Canada, Rain experienced the challenges and the frustration that most new immigrates had. With the urge of integrating to a new culture and desire of indentifying herself, she challenged herself about “ what can I do for the community?”. The challenges cemented a determination to build a business and connection between different cultures. With her design ability and strong access to the production resources, she started Willowest enterprise Ltd, specializing in customized furnishing products for high-end hotels.

After 5 years’ operation, Willowest has become a recognized supplier of comprehensive solutions for hospitality furnishing. Its product lines include case goods, upholstered seating, soft goods, such as linens, towels, bathrobes, and all type of duvets as well as the banquet linens.

Driven by the concept of creating a “ home away from home” experience, Willowest focuses on understanding what most appeals to hotel guests along with hotels’ needs for outstanding products and develops unique program for each property.

Based in Vancouver, with manufacturing operations in China, Willowest team devotes to build an unrivalled reputation for reliability, trust and connection with the clients – a connection they will steadfastly uphold, now and in the future.

Willowest’s clients include the River Rock Casino Resort, the Great Canadian Gaming Cooperation, the Sutton Hotel, the Sandman Hotel Group, the Opus Hotel, the Loden Hotel, the Fairmont Pacific Rim, the Wedgewood hotel and the Hyatt hotel etc.

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