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Cha Siu Yan
A respected commentator on air, Ms. Cha works diligently and without fear; here she reveals the secret of her success
By J. Chun
Inside
the lobby café of the Peninsula Siu Yan is elegantly eating pasta
for lunch. Her thin, small body does not perfectly fit the tough and
decisive character for which she is well known.
Ms. Cha’ s life is full of challenges.
Working at Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Co., she admits that she is unpleasant because she often criticizes people on her radio program.
“This is my character. I like speaking my mind right away,” said Ms. Cha.
As a commentator who is required to talk about things happening in showbiz, she is not worried about developing bad relationships with people.
She said that her comments focus on the problems, instead of the people who cause the problems.
Besides, Ms. Cha is not greedy for money.
“Twenty years ago, when I worked for Hong Kong Weekly, my boss persuaded me to take up the job of publication assistant, with my monthly salary raised from $1,000 to $1,600.
“However, the salary was not my concern. Instead, I was worried that I could not handle the job well.
“In order to ease the pressure, I suggested lowering the salary to $1,200,” said Ms. Cha.
Her boss was confused and did not understand her.
Ms. Cha says she will not violate principles for money.
Despite her strong self-confidence, it is surprising that she was not talkative during her childhood. She did not know how to communicate with her classmates.
“My primary school teachers thought that I was an autistic child because I always pouted my lips,” said she.
Sometimes she felt too nervous to ask the minibus driver to let her get off. She said that shouting in front of the other passengers would embarrass her.
The turning point of her life came when she joined the basketball, athletics and heavy gymnastic school teams in her secondary school, Munsang College.
With a
clear goal to achieve, her heartiness was aroused.
“I am eager to achieve goals.
“Once I set a goal, I put all the other things aside to achieve it,” said she.
That made the sports talent become very active at school.
As time goes by now, Ms. Cha is becoming an increasingly successful woman.
She is a highly respected journalist and anchor. Her radio programme is broadcast from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays on Commercial Broadcasting Co.
She attributes her success to her toughness and diligence.
“When my colleagues go to karaoke lounges and play mahjong, I am writing articles and talking on the phone with pop stars to build up relationships with them,” said she.
Ms. Cha is so dedicated to her career that she never complains about being assigned too much work.
“I can finish a job within a day whereas others need three days to finish it,” said she confidently.
Her vitality originates from the support of her family.
Her husband plays an important role in contributing to her success. He tolerates her cool attitude and her lack of time spent with him.
When dealing with her 9-year-old son, Ms. Cha does not have any principles to follow.
One time, her son said that he would rather not exist in the world because he was punished for not doing homework.
Under Ms. Cha’s influence, her son has developed the habit of thinking about the reasons for the actions to be taken.
Thus,
her son immediately thought of reasons to argue with her.
In responding to her son, she said, “Coping with questions is
a better way than escaping from them.”
Cha
Siu Yan says she is unpleasant because she often
criticizes people on her program. (J. Chun)