Must everything always have a practical application?
About Me
Viola Lin Wang, a Documentary & Ethnomusicology Learner, an Award-Winning New Filmmaker
9 years of experience in branding. Brand Director/Senior Brand Manager @ Ogilvy, Tencent & Bosum
London School of Economics and Political Science (Media & Comm 2014, Distinction). University of Maryland, College Park (Comm 2012, Magna Cum Laude & Dept. Honors).
Fluent in English, Cantonese & Mandarin. Elementary proficiency in Korean, Spanish & French
Likes singing, playing the piano, dancing, painting, hiking, snowboarding & traveling to remote places
I’m always made fun of by my friends for breaking down my ideas into three supporting points. And here I am again, trying to introduce a bit about myself through three simple questions.
Why Documentary?
Why Music?
Why Now?
Looking back at the comm projects that I’ve supervised, it was always those documentary projects that made me the proudest. Being a former member of the WeChat brand team, it wasn’t until I was actually on set with the interviewees that I finally had a concrete idea about who they were, what they did, what they were like… I no longer saw them as our “users” but “people” with multifaceted stories.
Ling, an interviewee from my 2019 project with Discovery, whom I’m still in touch with till this day, always exudes positivity through her paintings despite her physical disabilities. Chen, a then 27-year-old mine worker, though feeling lonely in the dark sometimes, told us how passionate he was about mining and how WeCom made his work so much more productive when we were filming him 200m underground.
Music has always been an indispensable part of my life. According to my mom, I couldn’t help dancing to music before I even learned how to walk properly. Not to mention that singing has been bringing me immense pleasure for pretty much my whole life.
Yet my passion for music studies didn’t blossom until much later. I was introduced to the subject of ethnomusicology in my sophomore year in college, which sparked my research interest in the intersection of music and culture for my undergraduate and graduate studies. Influence of ethnicity and language on pop music preferences, assertion
Have you ever had that one pivotal moment in your life where a lot of past experiences suddenly fell into place and you were able to reach a new level of self-awareness? I have. It was back in late October 2023 that I had an epiphany of my purpose in life.
Again, it also consists of three parts:
One, indulge in learning about music and art as much as possible.
Two, travel to as many places as possible and learn about local cultures.
Three, have a collection of my own works based on One and Two that might be inspiring to some people.
It wasn’t completely out of thin air though.
It was those days when I was driving to work, on the same route, with the same long waits at traffic lights, at the same parking space…that I felt stagnant in life.
It was when I was talking to Allen, my snowboard coach who happens to be a former product manager back at Tencent, that it occurred to me, again, that one doesn’t just have one path to happiness or the so-called success.
It was when I was managing a team of 15, spending at least 60%-70% of my time on negotiating with other directors/GMs rather than participating in comm projects, that I felt increasingly further away from creating anything meaningful.
Mr. Chang, a then 68-year-old sticker designer, had never felt this close with his grandchildren until he started designing greeting GIFs that soon gained traction among the young. I wouldn’t have got the chance to learn from all these beautiful hearts and brilliant minds if not for these documentary projects.
The level of truthfulness and authenticity that I was able to witness and present through the lens of documentaries could by no means be achieved by making commercial videos. Just like how much I enjoy taking pictures of random strangers on the street, as unethical and intrusive as it might sound, it’s always those moments of candor that keep me coming back. And I know I can never get tired of capturing these moments, regardless of what the mediums are.
of power and masculinity in hip-hop music, gender representation in Korean pop music…the satisfaction and joy that I was able to gain from these research projects and lab experiments was immeasurable.
Now that I think about it, after all these years, it was not so much about me graduating with Distinction or Honors due to the originality of my approaches than the fact that I got to KNOW THE UNKNOWN in the music realm. And I believe that, beyond desk research and lab experiments, there’s a whole world of the unknown out there for me to explore.
It was when I was enjoying the performances by my uncle Samuel’s symphony orchestra, which was founded by him at the age of 61 and has risen to the top in the city in less than 6 years, that I came to the realization that it really was never too late to try something new.
It was all these tiny fragments, seemingly random at the time, that might have led me to that magical, life-changing epiphany.
I did make a checklist though in order to avoid making any irrational decisions. I read through it meticulously a couple of times before I finally made up my mind to resign from my last job.
Things I know for sure that I’m passionate about ☑️
Rough ideas about what to do next ☑️
The willingness to try ☑️
The willingness to fail after trying ☑️
Financial independence ☑️
And just like that, all these ☑️ have prompted me to embark on an exploratory journey in the belief that I’ll never get over the novelty of the present, the different, the unknown.
P.S. Well, it’s probably not me though. It’s just my adventurous Sagittarius Moon Sign that’s doing a monologue ♐️🤭
Contact Me
Email: violalinwang11@gmail.com
LinkedIn/Crunchbase: Viola Lin Wang