With a JOYful Smile She Stands on the Stage

You may have seen all the pretty ladies in pageants. You may have been astonished by their beauty and talents from time to time. You may have been amazed by their creative answers on the TV shows. These candidates from the pageants seem to be unrealistic in such a perfect way. There must be times when you grasp and wish you can meet any of them in person.

What you may have never known is the sacrifices they have made, the tears they have shed and their determination to present their best.
Joy Yang, the second place winner for Miss Chinese in Toronto 2012, had told me the stories beyond my expectation.

“I wanted to gain a different experience in life.”

Joy’s motivation was with a simple reason. Her friend recommended her to join the Miss Chinese Toronto Pageant. Joy thought she would challenge herself to take this opportunity to learn and explore the real world.

Miss Chinese Toronto Pageant is an annual beauty pageant organized by Fairchild TV. The purpose of the event is to select Toronto’s representative for the Miss Chinese International Pageant. The winner can sign a contract with Fairchild TV. Other contestants may also have the opportunity for entering the entertainment industry and sign contracts with Fairchild TV.

On the day of the final, Joy’s performance on the stage was fantastic and humorous. In one section of the pageant, she had to make a logical story in 30 seconds using durian, a camera and hedgehog. It was a great challenge to come up with a story in such a short time. Considering that in such pageants when stereotypical answers mostly relate to topics such as “world peace” Joy handled the situation differently and wisely.

“I was eating a durian under a tree. A hedgehog came and started eating my durian. So, I grabbed my camera and took a shot of that moment.”

The story was funny. It put smiles on people and attracted the audience to her. She had a unique charisma among the candidates. Perhaps, her humor was one of the reasons that made her stand out in the judges’ eyes. In a huge pageant event in the Toronto Chinese community, second place may be out of reach for a lot of girls. However, Joy did it.

“I did not expect myself to achieve this. A lot of the contestants were a lot more attractive than I am. I was shocked and my mind went blank when I heard my name.”

“I felt I was burning out” Joy reflected on her experience.

When Joy was in the Top Ten, it was mandatory for every candidate to participate in rehearsals and in filming promotion videos for the final day of the event. Joy lived in downtown Toronto, which was about two hours away to the rehearsing studio by public transit. She had to wake up at 5 a.m. to arrive on time at 8 a.m. and getting back home at 12 a.m. was considered early. During this intense situation, Joy was also a student at OCAD University. She had to balance school work and the pageant at the same time.

Also, for television screens always make people look bigger than their actual appearance, Joy was asked by one of the designers to lose weight while she was only 125 lbs. Joy was considered slim already. However, to achieve what the designer wanted, Joy started an unbelievable diet plan that dropped almost 18 lbs. of her weight in three months.

She stopped eating after 6 p.m. For dinner, she normally had a small bowl of broccoli. On top of that, she pushed herself to exercise almost every day to burn calories faster. Her self-discipline efforts on the challenges were for one purpose – to present herself at her best on the day of the final.

About one month before the day of the final, Joy heard a piece of shocking news from her mother. One day, Joy’s mother experienced an extreme ache in her belly and she was sent to the emergency room. Later on, she was diagnosed with a problem that may remain sealed from the public. Joy’s mother was in the hospital for recovery therefore she was not able to attain and see her little girl shine on the stage.

Joy has a very close relationship with her mother. There were times when they could barely make a living. There were times when they starved and wondered what would happen the next day. During those hardships, they had always held each other’s hand and gone through the difficulties. Furthermore, they are like best friends to each other. They would share and discuss about everything. Every time when Joy was depressed, her mother would cheer her up. Joy would do the same thing for her mother as well.

Joy wept many nights. After being notified as one of the top ten candidates, Joy immediately shared the great news with her mother. Also, her mother promised that she would come to Toronto and attain the event to cheer for her beloved daughter. Hence, after Joy found out what happened to her mother, she was extremely worried. Although Joy’s heart urged to instantly fly to her mother and see her, the amount of work from school and the pageant held her tight in Toronto.

“I did not know what to do anymore. Everything around me seemed to be collapsing.”

While looking back on the experience, Joy frowned and smiled. Instead of allowing the feelings to make her powerless, Joy turned it into one of the powerful motives to perform well on the stage. Her participation for the event became more than having fun. She wanted to comfort her mother with action by showing that she could take care of herself. So that her mother, while under recovery, would be happy for her achievement.

At the end, Joy’s achievement says it all.

This is a form of love from a daughter to a mother.

I have personally known Joy for years. By seeing her going through different phases during the pageant, she has grown and changed a lot since the first time we met. She now has the charisma that mature attractive ladies would have. Especially when she was notified that her mother could not attend on the day of the final for Joy, she seemed exhausted. Many of her friends had cheered for her and supported her, even took care of her dog when needed. Through her story, I learned that the pageant participants paid extremely high prices to stand on the stage. I truly respect their efforts. As a friend, I am sincerely happy for Joy.

On the day of the final, with a JOYful smile she was standing at the second place.

There He Stands, One of UofT’s Favorite Magicians

Before before introducing this person, watch this!

Translation:

Hi everyone, as you can see here are two jokers.
I am going to tell you a story about jokers.
First of all, pick any card.
Now, I do not need to know what your card is.
The jokers will find your card for you.
See the bikes? That make them faster than the rest of the cards.
By just placing them in the middle of the deck, with one snap.
The jokers will ride their bikes to find a card.
And this card, ladies and gentlemen!

Before introducing this person, first of all, you need to know who Jay Chou is.

Almost all Chinese speakers know Jay Chou. Especially for Chinese in this generation, we grew up with Jay Chow’s songs. Jay Chou has recently released his 12^th music album. In 2011, he had acted as Kato in The Green Hornet. In the same year as he portrayed Kato, TIME magazine nominated Jay Chou as one of the top 100 influential people in the world. He had acted and directed in movies. He had hosted a television show. Furthermore, his contribution in Chinese popular music is indescribable. Jay Chou had been a superstar to many young Chinese. In Jay Chou’s world tour 2010 to 2011, he came to Air Canada Centre, Toronto. The entire atrium was full. Everyone was crazy for him. During Jay Chou’s stay in Toronto, there was a piece of side news spreading around the Chinese students in University of Toronto.

“A friend of my friend’s friends has gone shopping with Jay Chou! Look, here is the picture!”

That lucky fellow sits in front of me in McDonald during the interview. His hands continuously cut a deck of cards with fancy methods. Sometimes, he vanishes a card and produces an entire deck. His voice is gentle and confident. His appearance is clean and neat. In some ways, he is unpredictable. The name is Chad, Chad Zhou.

“I was very nervous and my hands were shaking like crazy.”

Chad reflects the experience he had with Jay Chou.

“Jay Chou was friendlier than I expected. He was very considerate while we were discussing about magic on the bus to dinner.”

Chad is lucky to be so close to his star, but without magic as the common ground between Chad and Jay Chou, this experience may never occur.

Magic inspired Chad when Chad was a kid. He went to an amusement park with his family. A clown was showing magic to children. As a little boy, Chad was amazed by the wonder of the sponge balls in the clown’s hands. However, it was until middle school (grade seven to grade nine) when Chad met a magician friend whom had impacted Chad for life, Jay Guo (郭汛杰).

Jay Guo has very unique style in magic. In 2009, Guo won the first place in The China Magic Show. Liu Chien commented Guo as the most perceptive magician in the competition. Guo’s acts are funny and out of the ordinary.

As people might expect Chad to learn from Guo, interestingly, Guo did not teach Chad any trick. Instead, Guo introduced Chad a local magic store in Guangzhou. That was where Chad picked up his first book in magic.
“My first magic trick was a coin routine. I love it. I still perform it from time to time.”

As Chad plays his cards, he replies about his memory on his first trick.

“However, because I have a scar in my hand, I cannot perform coins well. So, I changed to cards.”

Coins and cards are the foundation in magic performances. Each category is almost entirely different from one another. For a lot of magicians, though, they practice each field to know more about magic. In case if there are no cards or coins when the performing chances occur, they can be prepared for most circumstances.

For many years, Chad studied the art of magic. He cherishes every audience’s expression of amazement. It is because of those moments, Chad continues his passion in magic. In one of the Christmas parties in Chad’s high school, he decided to do his first stage act in front of 2000 people.

“It was the most awkward moment in my life.”

Performers have one very important aspect to learn while standing on the stage – knowing how to handle pressure and tension while performing.

Liu Chien once said, “If 1.3 billion people watching you eating your food, can you not be nervous?” As for Chad, 2000 audiences stretched his nerves already. From this precious experience, Chad was exposed to an entirely different field in magic, stage performance.

Even after coming to University of Toronto to study, Chad has performed stage acts in many large Chinese events, such as Chinese New Year Eve, or Chinese Volunteer Association Charity Night. Chad’s presence has always brought the events to another climax.

Behind those fantastic astonishing moments, Chad, for a period of time, considered taking a break in magic.

“Magic, as a performing art, is funny. The secrets behind tricks connect audiences and magicians to interact. At the same time, magicians must not reveal the secrets to the audiences for their own good.”

For there was almost no one to share secrets and passion to, Chad felt very lonely in high school. At the same time, Chad also encountered a plateau in his skills. His thought on taking a break became stronger each day.

“My fans supported me going through that period.” Chad laughed.

Although such statement may seem funny, as Chad explains in-depth, as realistic the statement becomes.

There were not many people learning magic in Chad’s high school. Chad could only learn magic from books and DVD. His improvement started to slow down. He wanted to learn more, but he did not have any guidance or friends to discuss. Back then, Chad lost his passion. He performed less than he used to. In contrast, at Chad’s low point in his passion, Chad’s friends continuously asked Chad to perform more tricks. The audiences’ reaction and amazement motivated Chad the most.

“There are still some people who enjoy my performance.” Chad said.

With that thought in mind, Chad came to University of Toronto for further education. Throughout his entire university life, he continued to bring wonders and surprises to everyone around him. He regained his passion in magic back. Every laughter and wonder from the audiences became Chad’s motivation to dive in deeper to the realm of magic.

Especially for Chinese events, he had been invited over and over again, such as the Chinese New Year Eve event hosted by CUAUT annually. The more joy he brought to people the more he performs magic.

In spite of his opportunities to perform, Chad met a lot of great young magicians in Toronto, such as Ben Train, James Alan, Jeff Hinchliffe, Mahdi Gilbert and so many more. From interacting with other magicians, Chad’s learned to pay more attention on how to present a magic instead of technical skills.

“One of the greatest magicians once said, ‘do not limit yourself in magic only for it will get you so far. But, step out and experience life, feel the art works and be inspired at all times.’” Chad said.

Unfortunately, for Chad currently puts most of his energy on job hunting, he is not available to teach. Meanwhile, he is more than willing to share his experiences to those who also enjoy the art of mystery.

One of Chad’s dreams is to travel around the world while performing magic. This performing art has become a part of Chad’s life. By seeing the astonished smiles from the audiences, to Chad, every effort is worthy.

“I want to present a work that can reflect my soul to touch the audiences’ hearts.”

With passion burning in his eyes, Chad firmly states.

 

 

Chatime’s Owner

“I want some bubble tea.”

“Oh, I know a great place for that. It’s around Bay and Dundas.”

“Really? What’s it called?”

“I think it’s called Chatime. Want to check it out?”

If you are around Eaton Centre, Toronto, you may hear this conversation a lot on the street. In fact, Chatime isn’t a great place for bubble tea. It is the BEST!!!

Alright, I do need to admit I have strong bias towards the shop, but their bubble tea is actually really (X10) good.

Bubble tea originates in Taichung, Taiwan. The traditional way of making bubble tea is to mix the tea with syrup and ice cubes and shake them in a shaker. After the drink is mixed, bubbles will appear on top of the drink. That is how the drink gained its name. For Taiwanese love tea so much, bubble tea shops raised quickly over the past 20 or more years.

Excluding the intense bubble tea competition in Taiwan, even in Toronto, bubble tea is a hot sell business among the Chinese/Asian community. The stores mostly combine bubble tea with Taiwanese food. So, in Toronto, bubble tea shops are also known as bubble tea restaurants. There are Destiny, Go For Tea, 168 etc…

However, the Toronto bubble tea market does not have a brand leader. Every owner seems to have their own idea for presenting bubble tea. To be the brand leader is Kenton, Chatime Toronto’s owner’s dream.

Cha means tea in Chinese. So, combining Cha and Time together, we receive a meaning of a time for tea. This catchy name caught Kenton’s eyes during his honeymoon in Australia.

“I saw so people lining up for bubble tea. I thought might as well just give it a try. So that we could tell our friends that we had bubble tea in Australia. After all, we came from Toronto, where a lot of bubble tea shops were around.”

Honestly, before Chatime started, almost all the Taiwanese people would agree that bubble tea in Toronto is not as pleasing as Taiwan’s. Some of the products were made by powder. The actual tea absents from the drinks.

“The taste was totally different from what we had in Toronto! I could really taste the flavor of the tea in my drink!”

With that moment of thought, Kenton started thinking about starting a bubble tea business in Toronto. He gathered information about all the potential franchises.

“We had to choose from many different franchises. After all the options, we still chose Chatime. I love their catchy name, their logos and most importantly, their products.”

While talking to Kenton, he was holding brown rice green tea too. The following conversation shows this guy doesn’t only like bubble tea. He LOVES bubble tea. In fact, it is possible to say his life is strongly influenced by bubble tea.

It all goes back to ten years ago. Kenton was a freshman stepping out of post-secondary. He just began his first online business. Life was not easy back then. He was in with credit cards. (To be confirmed if this can be put) The online business was not stable yet. As he flashes back, he was at the valley bottom of his life. He appreciates the experiences, but never wants to re-experience the period.

It was one day. Kenton stepped into a bubble tea restaurant with his friends. He liked the drink.

“I wanted to have my own bubble tea store ever since then.”

Within ten years, this idea remained as a simple thought in Kenton’s mind.

Although Kenton did not know how he would approach to such goal, after ten years, he does feel fulfilled his dream.

A promise fulfilled for himself from ten years ago.

Furthermore, Kenton met his wife in a bubble tea restaurant.

“I went in with my friends. Then I saw this beautiful lady. I was really shy back then. I still am, but I mean I didn’t know how to talk to her.”

Kenton may seem shy, but he is definitely gentle and…. You can say he’s cute by how he first communicated with Mila, his wife.

“I wrote ‘can I have your phone number?’ on the back of the receipt and waited for her to come for collecting the tips.”

As a matter of fact, Mila did give Kenton her numbers. However, Kenton remained their romance sealed. Well, let the couple has their own memory, right?

As mentioned earlier, Kenton is ambitious. His goal for Chatime Toronto is to become the leader of the bubble tea industry in Toronto. However, while throwing compliments at him, he often smiles and humbly accepts them. A question was raised during the chat about his ambitious goal and humble heart. These two qualities are often difficult to discover at the same time in a person.

“Reality has its way to teach you humility.” Kenton responded with this answer.

Countless doubts, countless sleepless nights, countless pressures and countless challenges molded Kenton who he is.

There must be a lot more stories hidden behind his smiles as well as the reply. Regardless those untold stories, Kenton has made it. He is at the foundation to do greater things. His appreciative, humble and ambitious characters inspire me as an entrepreneur-want-to-be.

“Keep on trying out what you want to do and just do it. Do not let others discourage you as long as you know this will work out at the end. Also, study as much as you can. Education is very important. Bachelor degrees and diplomas are more than pieces of paper. The meanings lying behind them are far more important than the actual education achievement. However, they are still very important for having professional knowledge.” Kenton gives the advice to those who want to start business or trying to find out life direction.

In Midas Touch, by Kiyosaki and Trump, one of the five qualities that an entrepreneur requires is “the little thing that counts.” The little thing means the details that people want to improve for others benefits. In another word, it means the central goal or vision of the entrepreneur or a company. For example, the invention of the light bulb, fast food restaurant chain, and pizza delivery under 30 min are all little thing that can benefit the community. As for Kenton’s, I guess, is introducing decent bubble tea and share it with the community.

In Toronto, when you walk on Dundas St. around Bay St, you will often see a long line up and that line up is more than likely to be waiting for ordering at Chatime. If you see a six feet tall cool Asian without glass working inside the bar, whom will probably be Kenton. Feel free to say hi and give some encouragement to him and the staffs. They will truly appreciate your words!