Career Change Advice with Dr. Jon Tam

In this episode, I interview assistant director Ambrose Wong who has worked on major films (e.g. Shape of Water, Suicide Squad, Pacific Rim, Shazam, and Robocop) and TV series (e.g. Suits, Murdoch Mysteries, Strain, and Kim's Convenience). We discuss the challenges he has to overcome as an assistant director, the soft skills needed to be successful in the film industry, and how he handles the grin...

I interview Blandon Leung, founder of iRefi, a top 10 firm in the mortgage financing industry in New Zealand. We discuss the importance of building systems for business success and the soft skills and stories behind his success as a young entrepreneur, including leadership and developing financial literacy. 0:00 - Introducing Blandon Leung   7:30 - What were some of the financial problems Bla...

In this podcast, I interview artist Ryan Kim who recently graduated from the New York School of Visual Arts. As a previous student of mine at an international school in Korea, he lets passion drive his career and we discuss the common problems many high school students face, how to balance between finding your own passion and listening to advice from your seniors, how to be motivated to work hard,...

There are many challenges in modern education in helping students develop to their full potential. In this podcast episode, I chat with the highly experienced principal John Petrey about the current problems educators, parents, and students face such as tech trends, parenting on technology, success in education, and educational leadership. John has a wealth of experience from teaching and being an...

In this podcast, I interview licensed professional counselor Chuhua Sally Wang who specializes in working with youth. We discuss a range of topics from motivation, bullying, anxiety, stress, depression, parenting, and how to help young people develop resilience. We analyze the problems at the societal, community, familial, and individual levels and discuss what parents and youth can do about the p...

In this podcast episode, I chat with Dr. Wai Kit Ming (Ph. D. University of Hong Kong, M.M.S. Harvard University) about bridging academia and entrepreneurship in China by bringing his research findings to the market. In our conversation, we discuss various topics around international student life, culture, education, entrepreneurship in China, and much more. He is currently the Assistant Dean of t...

In this podcast interview, I interview Hilda Gan on her story on how she went from being a nurse to a business owner. She explains the importance of people skills and what Millennials and Gen Zs can do to prepare themselves for the workplace. Hilda built an award-winning, multi-million-dollar company with her husband and grew it from 2 to 125 people in 13 years with seven offices across Canada. Sh...

Having common sense at work is essential to the success of any individual. Common sense at work is what guides behaviors because the law cannot govern everything. In this podcast, I interview Alex Ma, a Senior Associate at SF Lawyers in association with KPMG in Hong Kong. He shares his story of how he came to study and become a lawyer, and share his expert knowledge in employment law. We discuss a...

Stretching is one of the critical pillars of healthy, yet it is often underused and misunderstood. In this podcast, I interview Douglas Ho, stretch therapist and business owner from Kinetic Stretch Hong Kong. Over the decade of being in business, he has an in-depth understanding of how stretching is critical to health and has helped many of his clients, which include top celebrities and tycoons. H...

The challenges overseas students encounter are many. This is especially the case for elite Asian overseas students. In this podcast, I interview Dr. Yang Peidong from the National Institute of Education in Singapore for his expert knowledge in the integration of international Chinese students and the difficulties they face while studying abroad. Once a Chinese international student himself who has...

Did you know soft skills account for the majority of one's success in the workplace? In fact, it could cost you up to 25% of your income and any chances for advancement. In this fascinating podcast, I interview my good friend Professor Reza Hasmath from the University of Alberta. We cover a span of important topics, ranging from the importance of soft skills, the most critical ages for a child's d...

This podcast episode started out as a working session with Karen Lai from Mentorhood. As we started chatting about education, I recommended us to film our conversation because there were so many things that I came away impressed with her approach to teaching children math - especially in Hong Kong. We discuss her story on how she got started on her business, the problems she's out to solve, how ga...

Are you curious whether machines will replace humans in the near future? In this podcast, I interview Dr. Alistair Johnson from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a member of the Forbes 30 under 30 healthcare category. We discuss his story, covering topics such as life in high school at age 11, pursuing his doctorate at the University of Oxford, and how he got his Forbes 30 under...

I interview Mason Tse, creator of the blog Self Made Athletes ( https://selfmadeathletes.com ) from Toronto and Hong Kong. We cover a range of topics, including what got him started, tips on fixing posture, the importance of working ergonomically, nutrition and tracking caloric intake, and the benefits of the many intangibles from hitting the gym. Mason drops nuggets of wisdom for those who want t...