One of the few Asian faces I saw on screen as a kid was Tia Carrere’s. She played Cassandra Wong, the female protagonist in 1992 comedy Wayne’s World—something rare now but virtually unheard of at the time.
Growing up, her character strongly resonated with me. That, combined with the fact that creator Mike Myers is a hometown hero (we’re both from Scarborough, a suburb of Toronto), inspired me to write my very first piece for New York Magazine‘s The Cut: an ode to Cassandra.
Given that objective truth is under siege in America and U.S. President Donald Trump has criticized media as the “opposition party,” I’ve been thinking a lot about the role storytellers — particularly journalists — play in today’s fraught political climate. Is our approach to…
In my new Policy Options magazine piece, I argue that since American news media is now under attack, Canada should fill this vacuum and aspire to be a global leader in journalism. Read on for an excerpt, and click here for the full article.…
Public Policy Forum included my thoughts about the future of media in its Canadian government-commissioned report. Download “Shattered Mirror,” here, and read pages 68-69 for my contributions.…
I recently wrote an op-ed for The Walrus about how Canadian media can learn from America when it comes to covering diversity. Read on for an excerpt, and click here to check out the full piece.…
In late May, I was privileged to have had the opportunity to speak at this year’s TEDxDistilleryDistrictWomen conference in Toronto, Canada. Video of my TEDxWomen talk, “The Power of Digital Journalism: Taking Risks and Telling Diverse Stories,” is now available, and I’m thrilled to…
Growing up in North America as a person of color, I rarely saw myself reflected on screen. The times I did manage to catch a glimpse of someone who looked like me, they were inevitably caricatures of human beings, full of stereotypes and devoid…