JOEL KUAN is an emcee with a background in Digital Media Development. Staying at home has been really boring for him, but he occupies his time by creating content. During our phone interview, he shared that he was in the midst of editing a video meant to encourage people to stay at home during the Covid-19 pandemic. The 27-year-old has been paving a path in the emceeing industry for around a decade, once he discovered that he was good at the job.
“I stumbled upon my career when I was around 16 to 17 years old. I was in church and they wanted to host some event there. Then, they were asking around to get an emcee to conduct that particular event. One aunty encouraged me to emcee the event and I did it. I was complimented for the good job I did.
“After that, I found out more about emceeing before going to college. Then I continued to build my profile. When I finished college, I applied for a job at Hitz.fm which lasted for about six months, from there I learned more about the media industry and emceeing.”
Kuan not only finds happiness through his emceeing career, but also through his love for flying planes. He recently obtained his piloting licence.
“It’s been my childhood dream to fly a plane, actually. Since I am not that old yet, I thought of chasing my dreams.
“However, it is highly unlikely I would use the piloting licence for career purposes as I am in the media industry, and I have been in this industry for almost 10 years. I would not want to throw away this part of my life and rebuild something from the ground up again.
“Therefore, I would fly the plane for leisure purposes just to fulfil my childhood dream, and to tick it off my bucket list.”
As for obtaining the piloting licence, it was a challenging journey, but that did not stop him.
“It is very, very difficult, as there were a lot of technical aspects that I had to study, long flying hours, and the fact that the best time to fly is really early in the morning. So, during my training, I had to get up very early.”
Kuan also shared how he cultivated the confidence to emcee in front of large crowds.
“When I was in primary school, I was exposed to the stage already, for instance, through story-telling and other competitions. I used to have stage fright where my hands and legs would shake when I was on stage. My parents advised me to look straight at the back, and to not make eye contact with the audience.
“Then, as time went by, I found that looking at people’s forehead would not scare me as much as looking into their eyes. At one point, I was thinking to myself that I should try looking into people’s eyes, and I began to build my confidence from there.”
Before emceeing became a full-time job for him, he helped out with the family business, a travel agency.
“Three years into the business, I told myself that I’d had enough, as it was not my cup of tea. My dad was not around anymore, and I told my mum that I didn’t see the purpose of me doing this.
“Then, I took a leap of faith and focused one hundred percent on my emceeing career. Then, I joined the competition Call Me Handsome, and won the title. After that, opportunities came pouring in for me.”
For Kuan, the emceeing industry comes with its own fair share of struggles that he must deal with.
“In the emceeing industry, people say that we make a lot of money [or that] the working hours are short – yes, that is a fact – but they do not take into account the competition that emcees have to deal with.
“You have other emcees throwing prices, giving more benefits, and some even do it for free. Then potential clients come and tell me: ‘Hey Joel, I received this price from another emcee and they are able to do half your rate.’
“We want to maintain our profile and we can’t always drop our rate, but then we have to consider our survival as well. So, we have to give and take with clients, of course not going too low on our price.”
At the moment, Kuan does not have any intention to expand his career in other countries, as Malaysia will always have a special place in his heart.
“Malaysia offers the best. In terms of weather, you can just put on a t-shirt, shorts, and slippers and you are good to go. We are spoilt with choices of food, too. Even during the movement control order when I wanted to get food from delivery services, I have no idea what to eat.”
Kuan shares a single philosophy that encourages him to pursue paths that keep him on his toes.
“Everyone should challenge themselves to come out from their comfort zone, and see what they can do. You only live once. If you do not do it now, when you are older and you are no longer physically capable, that is when you will have the time, but you will not be able to do the things that you want to do.”
