Yongxin (David) Gao is a first-year PhD student in the Department of Marketing at the Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business, University of Missouri. His research interests pertain to the intersection of language/multimodal discourse and sensory marketing in digital marketplaces, on social media influencer channels, and in traditional consumer-facing settings, aiming at policy and societal implications and applications.
Prior to joining the PhD program, Yongxin has taught International Business with an Imports and Exports marketing focus and other business-oriented courses since 2001 with excellent evaluations from student cohorts at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. He has acquired extensive industry experiences as well. He was a marketing analyst in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods sector at Guangzhou for a Paris-based world-renowned market research company, and co-founded a family business in designing and producing flavors and fragrances for FMCG companies that satisfy and enrich ever-changing consumer tastes.
Yongxin achieved his MA in TESOL at the University of Leeds in the UK and BA in International Business (English Immersion) at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in China. He has been to around 30 countries, with the other hobbies being hiking, tennis, fish-keeping, and paludaria.