Chao-Yi Yao was born in Jingzhou, Hubei, 1993. She received her Bachelor degree from East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST). She spent her fourth undergraduate year as an exchange student in Queen's University Belfast (QUB) under supervised of Prof. A. Prasanna de Silva with whom she grew the interest for supramolecular chemistry especially in molecular sensing and switchable cyclophanes. Thus, she spent another 7 years in AP's lab including 5 years of PhD and 2 years of postdoc. On Jan 4th 2023, Chao-Yi Yao joined the Department of Organic and Polymer Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University as a Lecturer. She has achieved many academic results including co-authors for 16 papers (J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., Chem. Sci.,  et al.) and 1 book. Her research has been highlighted by many media including Nature Chemistry.