About Me — Joanna Ng

Two years ago in a traditional dress photoshoot — As a Chinese, this has always been a huge part of my identity

As a child, I’ve always been petrified of these two words — ‘Introduce yourself’. The thought of having to be in the limelight, with all faces turned to me to hear what I have to say, was truly terrifying. Most of the time, I’ll try to get out of it, and my teacher’s feedback on the school report card was always, ‘Joanna is too quiet, she needs to speak up more.’

Coming from an Asian background, I was always taught that, ‘If you have nothing good to say, then just not say anything, because it doesn’t reflect well on you.’ I wouldn’t say the traditional upbringing was the exact cause of this behaviour because I was truly just a very shy kid, but I do admit that there was a constant need to be humble and demure.

A Passion in Radio changed me

I really loved the idea of being a presenter while growing up, but I didn’t want to be in the public eye. My parents were avid fans of a Chinese radio station, which I grew up listening to. When I was 15, I came to a realization that there was a way that I could speak without being seen in public, and that was through being a radio broadcaster since I could just hide behind the microphone.

However, I thought wrong, because there was a huge pivot to the radio industry, and radio broadcasters now have to be a social media influencer alike as well. Read my takeaways of working in…