Early life
Originally born on a small island called Penang off the coast of the Malaysian Peninsula, I moved to the capital of Malaysia as a toddler and spent much of my influential years in the metropolis.
Most of my childhood friends, if you can find any, will be able to tell you that I didn’t enjoy school or education at all. My thoughts on the failure of the public education system – and the disdainful teachers I was unfortunate to have as a youngster – will have to wait for another day, but suffice to say I was nothing short of a dismal student and a disillusioned teenager by the time I left the Damansara Utama High School in 2006.
Graduating in December, I spent a good few months “slumming” by traveling back to my hometown. I had a planned trip to see my sister in the States in May and was working for my mother’s company and essentially just killing time until the trip came about.
As the departure date for the trip rolled around, I enrolled in a private institution of higher education (a.k.a college) called Inti. Following my sister’s footsteps, I signed up for the American University Program and went through the typical post-high school motions that society has instilled in me.
College years
Fast forward a good few years, and I found myself doing surprisingly well in college and actually stepping off an airplane in the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport a short few days before starting my first semester as an international transfer student at St. Cloud State University.
My two-and-a-half years at St. Cloud State was nothing short of spectacular. Classes were simply classes, I did generally well in them but they didn’t define my experience there, and parties were never my thing either – I had too much of a sense of responsibility to risk wasting my years drinking myself to oblivion – instead I found that my anchor to be the college paper: The University Chronicle
In the span of a few years, I went from writer to online editor, online editor to managing editor, and for the final year of college I earned my place as the Editor-in-Chief.
I met great friends that became my State-side family of sorts, I freelanced for Red Bull and Rooftop Comedy Club and the local newspaper and I met various professionals and high-profile reporters and editors in a crazy assortment of conferences; all thanks to the college paper.
Now
I went on a job-hunting spree even before graduation, as being an international student in the States puts me in a tricky situation visa-wise. Thankfully, my experience and skill in building websites and my knowledge of both social media and multimedia work in the mass communication world landed me a job with the local paper, The St. Cloud Times, a short month-and-a-half after I graduated.
Today, I’m the Digital Content Producer at the St. Cloud Times. It’s one of those titles that say a lot of things, but at the same time doesn’t really say anything either. I’m sent on photo assignments (which I love with every fiber of my being), I’m asked to create interactive graphics after our resident graphics guru Lisa Mueller has designed the print version, I’m asked to create alternative storytelling methods a.k.a. custom pages for our multi-story series and whatnot as well.
I troubleshoot the website. I push stories online. On my less intense days I work on different projects that I feel would benefit the paper, after my supervisor has “green-lighted” them of course.
St. Cloud’s a nice city. It’s smaller than what I’m used to, having grown up in Kuala Lumpur, but it’s of a decent size and the people are friendly. It’s got a nice assortment of outdoor things to do, and quite a number of art-related events going on year-round, not to mention I know a fair number of people around the city as well.