TAIWANESE Cheryl Yee was an accomplished and highly regarded television news personality in her country for more than 21 years and, yet, all throughout, she has always believed there was something missing in her life.
Her journey toward finding fulfillment started when she was a child growing up in Taiwan. It was a time when Yee’s family used to move to different addresses in Taiwan owing to her father’s work with the government.
During those formative years, even when they had lived in four different locations, Yee fondly remembers the artistic streak that she had growing up.
“I was already artistic as a child. I played the piano and guitar. I also loved doing paintings and sketches then,” Yee said.
She added: “My mother also used to play a lot vinyl. Even as my father was serious and traditional, my mother loved to dance. We danced to the music that was playing.”
Yee explained that delving to various art forms were, even then, for her, more enjoyable than doing school homework.
At the same time, even at a young age, Yee said she was also very much people friendly. It was a trait that has served her in good stead throughout her career and life.
“I was adaptive to different environments. I made lots of friends. I enjoyed having friends,” Yee said.
The media personality
Yee was educated in the United States after her family moved to San Francisco in California when she was 15 years old.
She earned her mass communication degree from California State Hayward and her master’s degree from the University of Dubuque in Iowa. Along the way, she also became fluent in Japanese and Spanish.
Her educational background and capacity to speak five different languages gave her a fast lane in the Taiwanese media, as she landed an internship with China Television Co. Ltd. It will be with the same media outfit where she would spend her entire career as a media personality.
“They offered me a job. I was surprised. They saw that I was educated in the United States and believed that I could help with the foreign news. They also thought that I could do interviews with expats and foreigners,” Yee said.
Highly educated and possessing beauty and charm, Yee’s initial assignment as part of the media was anything but glamorous.
She remembered that her first coverage as a television reporter was to report on a train accident.
“A train ran over a person. The site was not pretty. I was scared to take a closer look, but I had to be responsible for the news,” she said.
The next assignments that were given to her not only tested her mental capacity as a reporter, but also her physical limits.
According to Yee, she was asked to cover anything from airplane crashes to natural disasters.
Among the events that she covered include the tsunami in Indonesia and Thailand, along with mining accidents in her native country.
“You could say that I was doing the boys job,” Yee quipped with a smile.
But two of her most memorable experience on the field was her interview with then-Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and with a member of the Taiwan mafia who relocated to Cambodia.
Her interview with Arroyo marked her first time in the country and coincided with some of the more turbulent times in Philippine politics.
“Security was tight in Malacañang. The Philippines was pictured then as not a safe country,” she said.
Yee said they were advised back then not to go anywhere by themselves, and clearly remembered that when they went to the malls, she always saw security guards carrying metal detectors.
And when one of the malls had an explosion, her mother was frantically calling her and asking if she was safe.
“My mother knew I love going to the malls. That is why she was scared,” she said.
Meanwhile, Yee said proudly that she was the one responsible for breaking the news on the Taiwanese mafia head, which then resided in Cambodia. She had to go through a special channel to have the interview.
“He was a nice person and a good cook,” Yee said, while saying that during the beginning of the interview she was stretching out her hand that was holding the microphone for fear that something bad might happen to her.
After the interview, together with her crew, she immediately drove to the airport while advising their network that they want the news to be broadcast at 7 p.m., instead of the 12 noon news.
“We do not want the other reporters to find out,” Yee explained, of the decision to have it broadcast in the evening.
Because of the exclusive interview, the mafia head felt compelled to give interviews to other networks. The decision led to his arrest on charges of illegal possession of firearms.
According to Yee, the Taiwanese mafia is usually involved in money laundering and illegal gambling.
Yee’s work in the newsroom has taken her to numerous places worldwide, including Singapore, where she was the Southeast Asia bureau chief, along with various assignments in countries, like Belgium, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan and Malaysia.
For two years, she also hosted her own television show called Consumer Weekend, where she would discuss new brands and products that are available in the market, while providing insights on shopping.
A new beginning
As a young reporter, Yee recalled that she was dubbed as the “pearl reporter,” owing to her fondness for wearing pearl jewelries.
Today it is with those very same pearls where she has again found her zest and fulfillment in life.
Late last year, she established Zhen Pearl in Taiwan. It is a line of accessories with pearls as the center of its designs and matched with Swarovski crystal elements, gemstones and exotic materials.
Here in the Philippines, Yee has tied up with Discovery Primea in Makati City as the second outlet for her creations.
Currently, Yee is personally handcrafting the accessories where one piece could be completed anywhere between 20 minutes to half-a-day.
“I have 10 collections and 50 designs. All of them are unique. I am a perfectionist,” she said.
Yee said customers can also custom design her creations by having the option to choose the material, color and size of her designs.
Yee received no formal training in crafting and designing jewelries and accessories. However, she was trained on GIA Pearl Grading and Swarovski Create-your-style skills, while, at the same time, being a savvy entrepreneur.
Yee, who sources her pearls from various places in the Philippines, China, Tahiti and Japan, said she is starting her new business slow, but hopes to have her creations available worldwide.
“I want to start small and test the market. But eventually, I want different designs available in different locations,” Yee said, while adding that her creations are very much affordable.
After having outlets in Taiwan and the Philippines, she is looking to expand in the Asean region and in parts of South Asia.
But the Philippines is the country where Yee has grown to be the fondest. She has been staying in the country for the past three years.
One of her latest creations is called “Birds of Paradise”. It is a colorful bracelet collection, which she said was inspired by the warm, friendly, good-natured, fun-loving Filipino people and vibrancy of the Philippine culture.
She is also planning a fund-raising event in the country, where proceeds will be used to assist the lives of underprivileged Filipinos.
Yee said making a profit from her business is only secondary. What is important to her is to bring happiness to other people’s lives.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano