(pictures to come!)
The Beginning of It All:
Born on June 5th, 1988, I came into existence at Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital, as the child of Bill and Kathy Loong. I had a blessed start in Hong Kong, living in high-rises and being babysat my various maids and staff at HK Dynasty Club, and they all became my friends. With my parents being so busy with work, these friends were witnesses to my growth. I learned my first words in English – specifically duck – with a dear maid of our family, Alreen. As a student at both Victoria Nursery and St. Stephen’s Girls College Kindergarten, I was reckless at chatting away in class and being careless with schoolwork. Thankful to countless hours that my mother had spent, I was more fascinated with homeschooling content than mundane curriculums at school.
Learning the Ropes:
As I started to make sense of the world around me, I studied at the St. Paul’s Convent School and befriended a group of smart girls and wise teachers. It was at St. Paul’s that I first connected with God and Catholicism, and planted seeds for my baptism in later years. I actively competed in speech competitions, thrived in academics, and starting learning the piano and dancing ballet. Between rehearsals, I indulged in collecting various badges through the Girl Guides program, and humiliated myself in photo-shoots and TV appearances. Having grown up in a city with forests of buildings, I was inevitably a house-cat, and barely ever ventured in anything athletic or outdoors. Needless to say, I came with a few extra pounds of baby-fat.
My First Set of Transition Years
With the migration to Form 1 (or Grade 7 equivalent in the North American education system) in Hong Kong, the world appeared to be closer to my fingertips. I had the opportunities to represent Hong Kong at the esteemed 4th Annual Youth Leader Summit in Beijing in 1996, and served as one of 10 child-right ambassadors to the Model UN in Switzerland. Clueless at the time, I was sheltered by “conventional” ideals and enjoyed the experiences and attention along the way.
The North American Way
With looming uncertainy around the stability of Hong Kong after the historic handover in 1997 from England to China, my family fleeds to Vancouver, Canada to try a new way of life. While my dad was consistenly away striving for a living for the family, I was fortunate to be raised by my hardworking mother. Together with my brother and sister, I made the switch from a life of all-girls-catholic schools to a life of all-flexible-co-ed-public-school, and tried to make sense of it all. Unfortunately, during my time at the Prince of Wales Secondary, with my curiosity and immaturity, I quickly learned that my upbringing in Asia which was full of disciplines, was soon to be tested and challenged.
The Years I Thought I Knew Everything
After arriving at the York House School, I felt comfortable again since academic excellence and extracurricular pursuits were highly encouraged. It was there that I learned how to work with ambitious women, go after my dreams, and be smart with resources. I was taught by some of the most caring teachers who committed after-work hours to help me seek out my goals and support my personal development beyond class work. Like most teenage girls, I struggled with finding my identity and understanding my social position. Instead I found comfort in pursuing my dreams to become a CSA astronaut, and to become the first woman to travel further than the moon. To chase after this seemingly naïve dream, I was mentored by Dr. Chris Hadfield at CSA, and participated in wonderful programs like the Summer Science Program in Ojai California, U of Waterloo Seminar for Women in Computer Science, the International Summer School for Young Physicists. I even competed in the Canada-wide national science fair, and came second overall in the country in the Engineering division. As such, I became an honorary member of the Astronomical Society of Canada, and had the pleasure of working on the Chris Hadfield Telescopic Project. On the side, I attempted to give back to the community by being involved with the B.C. Youth Parilament, Vancouver Youth Parliament, and ran a full-day CAMP-AID benefit concert to raise money for a summer camp (Camp Phoenix) for troubled youth in Vancouver. On my down time, I continued my study of piano to Level 9, sang with a vocal jazz group Ragazza, and began my interests with graphic design and computers. I remember feeling on top of the world, and having have my life plans figured out; boy was I silly.
University: A Place for Revelations, and Re-Revelations
Having settled to attend the University of British Columbia, after a tough awakening from a reckless university admission process to American schools, I was more than ready for a new start. To do this, I moved out of my family home with their support, and tried my hands on independent life. Having found the perfect apartment on Allison Road (see this blog for my recent departure), I gave up my previous past-times to submerge in hourly-paid work, and finding incredible comfort in paycheques after paycheques. However, I was so buried in work and making bill payments, I had neglected my health eating fried foods every meal and partying to early hours of the morning. I started off in University with the Engineering department, and did not enjoy the course-work as I had previously intended. With an ambition to start and run an airline of my own, I knew I had to take a different approach. However, it was too late to transfer to the Commerce faculty, so I studied Economics, solely, for a full school-year, to wrap my head around basic fundamentals of money and business. Having had my eyes opened to a completely novel way of understanding the world (beyond formulaes and mindless numeric manipulation), I was determined to work as hard as I could to get into the Sauder School of Business. Along the way, I had some fantastic learning experiences with brilliant peers through the UBC REC program, the Student Leadership Program, Young Women in Business Network, Beyond Pink, and even started the After 8 Events Company with a group of eight friends. Since my time at Sauder, I have been fortunate to represent the school at events like JDC (coming second both years that I went in categories of NPO and Business Strategy) and ICBC (coming second in Business Policy). This was the playground where I shared entrepreneurial ideas with peers, and sharpened my toolbox in Finance and public speaking. My time of Sauder has been filled with humble learning and honest revelations, and the environment constantly challenged me to push the limits.
A Random Compilation of Other Things I Have Tried
- Trained and ran a triathlon
- Participation in a Guinness world record
- Worked 18-hour days all summer
- Travelled to Vegas in a splur of a moment
- Been on world’s tallest roller coaster ride
- Met Tung Chee Hwa, the Chief Executive of HKSAR
- Met Adrienne Clarkson, previous Governor General of Canada
- Met the Royal Highnesses Emperor and Empress of Japan
- Met Chris Patten, previous Governor and Commissioner-in-chief of HK
- Danced as a dramatic performer at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, and performed in front of 50M live audience with millions more around the world via TV
- Wrote a computer program that follows the orbits of near-earth asteroids
- Embarked on roadtrips like Vancouver to Los Angeles, and Vancouver to Nashville, Nashville to Edmonton
- Travelled to countries like U.S., France, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, China, Macau, Taiwan, Thailand, etc.
