Hongyan (Shannon) Zhang is a fourth-year PhD student at the University of Reading and a Chinese immigrant mother of two boys. Her research interests include early childhood education, wellbeing studies and inclusive education. She is an early years researcher and an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA). Prior to moving to the UK, she worked as a teacher and a director of language training centre in China for more than 10 years. Her motto is, ‘Where there is a will, there is a way.’