At the tender age of 24, 987FM DJ Kimberly Wang has, in her own words, already been lucky enough to find something she really loves doing for a living.
“Every day is pretty fun and I enjoy my job a lot,” gushed the winner of 987FM’s So You Wanna Be A DJ talent search. The victory in 2011 scored her a contract with the station, and she came on as a full-time jockey in January last year.
But Kimberly’s duties extend far beyond the booth: last month, she took over Stephanie Carrington’s role as host for Channel 5’s National Science Challenge (NSC) 2015, a game show where local secondary school students compete in a series of scientific tasks. Despite admitting to feeling “a little bit unconfident” at times, she told us that the experience has been “more enjoyable than pressurising”.
It probably helps that she already has quite an illustrious hosting career history, starting with a children’s Chinese variety show called In Kids, which she was involved in from the age of nine to 13. She has also emceed for a couple of televised sports programmes such as the 2009 School Nationals.
NSC 2015, however, provided a completely new set of trials for the young veteran. “Standing in high heels for long hours,” Kimberly chuckled, when asked about one of the toughest parts of the gig. Also: “Some of the terms require very specific and accurate pronunciations, but it’s not so bad because I always clarify with the judges.”
As it turns out, Kimberly admitted to being rather fond of science – or rather, just biology – during her school days, although she wasn’t exactly a model student.
“I only studied for big tests and I wasn’t very good with homework,” she confessed. “At some point I realised that there is more to life than just my grades, but I don’t think my parents agreed because they were disappointed with my results most of the time, but I guess I turned out okay! (laughs)”
We think she turned out just fine too. In her line of work, Kimberly has had the opportunity to rub shoulders with some pretty big names in showbiz, including Kang Gary, Demi Lovato, Charli XCX, We The Kings, Fifth Harmony and, most notably (to her), Ed Sheeran, who was in town back in March for a sold-out gig.
Bringing up the redheaded British musician – one of her all-time favourite artistes at the moment – immediately sent Kimberly into an excited, fan-girling frenzy during our chat. “I don’t usually fan-girl like crazy, but I died when I found out I was going to interview him,” she recalled. “He’s one of those singers I really respect because he started right from the bottom and he is so talented.”
But when it came time to speak to him during her roundtable with other publications, Kimberly said she was so star-struck she just couldn’t open her mouth to ask one of her many questions. “I was going nuts and was close to tears!”
Thankfully, she managed to regain her composure enough to ask for a picture with the charming crooner, who obliged and took the lead in snapping their selfie (lucky Kimberly!).
Kimberly’s Ed-mania continued at his concert that evening, where she surprised fellow DJ, Class 95FM’s Yasminne Cheng, with her hysterical antics. “I was going crazy and was close to tears (again) because I was so emotional!” she said. “Yasminne, who was beside me, said, ‘I didn’t know you were such a big fan!’ No one else I’ve met has ever had that impact on me.”
Meeting her music crush is far from the last of exciting ventures in Kimberly’s ever-growing resume: at the end of the year, she begins shooting for an upcoming Channel 5 show – her first English drama after having acted in several Chinese productions in the past, most notably Channel 8’s Double Happiness (with former actors Xie Shao Guang and Ivy Lee) in 2004.
“All I can say is, it will be a pretty intensive project,” she divulged, before declining to reveal anything more details. “But I believe it’s a blessing to be busy – if you don’t chiong while you are still young, then when are you going to do it?”