One of America's richest self-made women is a Chinese immigrant who once worked as a flea market seller

Wang Shuo, a Chinese-born, San Francisco-based entrepreneur, is listed among the world’s richest self-made women this year.

Making it big: Wang stands out as one of the youngest and most accomplished in Forbes’ “America’s Richest Self-Made Women” list, published in May. With an estimated net worth of $850 million, the 35-year-old shared the 39th spot with pop icon Madonna, aged 65. More recently, Wang was listed in the Hurun China Rich List with a net worth of 8.5 billion yuan ($1.2 billion).
How she did it: Born in Shenyang in China’s Liaoning province, Wang moved with her mother to Baltimore at 16 to join her grandparents, who had already settled there. To help support her family financially, Wang sold scooters at flea markets on weekends through her mother’s motorcycle and scooter import-export business, telling Forbes in 2023 that it was her “first sales experience.” Her academic pursuits led her to MIT, where she earned her undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering, focusing on robotics. She then began a master’s program but left in 2015 to co-found Aeris Cleantec as chief technology officer with Pierre Bi, another MIT student. The company, which was based in Beijing, was eventually acquired by Massachusetts-based iRobot in 2021 for around $100 million. She also co-founded Deel, a human resources software company, in 2019 with Alex Bouaziz, whom she met at MIT. Deel reportedly reached a valuation of $12 billion in April 2022, with a recent Forbes estimate placing it at $7 billion.

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One of America’s richest self-made women is a Chinese immigrant who once worked as a flea market seller