54 years old, Broadcasting legend

It’s no overstatement to say that Winnie Yu Tsang may be the most powerful person working in broadcasting in Hong Kong today. She is the deputy chairman of Commercial Radio, Hong Kong’s largest private radio company, and in her three-decade relationship with CR, she’s launched innumerable careers, including the hugely successful SoftHard. She’s probably made just as many enemies, such as with the contoversial departure of popular radio talk show host Albert Cheng King-hon. However Yu stoically held her ground. “Even my enemies have to admit that I am fair,” she says. “Everyone who works with me knows that I can be a demanding person, but I am harsher on myself than anyone else.”

Following two hiatuses from the company, where she worked in various entertainment fields (including a little known stint as coordinator of the sea lion show at Ocean Park, a job she accepted despite having little knowledge about marine animals) and later collaborated with PCCW, Yu was appointed Deputy Chairman of Commercial Radio in 2004, a position she continues to hold.

Remarkably, her work badge still has a picture of her in school uniform from 1971, the year when Yu was a student at St Stephen's Girls College, and had joined Commercial Radio as a part-time DJ.

Her latest project is Skyhigh (www.skyhigh.hk). Based in Tin Shui Wai, it aims to give troubled youths a head start in life. Taking Time Out through its quarters in a public housing estate, the sleek William Chang-designed office could easily be a jazzy multimedia agency, except it’s flooded with teens learning video recording, sound mixing, graphic design, animation and creative writing. “I don’t like to use the word charity to describe Sky High,” she says. “I want us to be self sufficient, we bid against the 4As for campaigns. I want the kids to not think this is a community youth centre, it’s a place where they can learn real skills.”

And they learn from the best in the business. Using her considerable influence, Yu has brought in entertainment heavyweight Eason Chen; Douglas Young; and Tom Group Chairman Selina Chow, to give talks at Skyhigh. “Some of these teenagers never leave Tin Shui Wai because the travel costs are so high, so we bring these people to them. These celebrities don’t do it for publicity, they do it to make a difference.”

But make no mistake – Skyhigh is not a charity case. It’s a serious, profit-making endeavour. The organisation actively pursues media contracts, such as the recent successful bid for the government’s anti-drug campaign. You’ve probably seen the stark red, white, and black advertisements around town. This commercial-mindedness is all part of Yu’s big plans for Skyhigh, and reflective of her overarching ambition and drive in everything she does. A role model for those around her, and for generations to come, she says it's her can-do spirit that got her where she is today. When asked to sum up her life philosophy, Yu says it is “Do good, do well” – a positively heroic phrase, which we would all do well to live by. Simon Ostheimer