Five Generation T 2018 listers tell Hong Xinyi how they are blazing new trails for the causes and the communities they champion Coordination CHONG SEOW WEI Photography DARREN GABRIEL LEOW Fashion Direction DESMOND LIM FIGHTING SPIRIT Juste un Clou necklace in pink gold with diamonds, Love earrings and bracelet in Inspiring Female Athletes pink gold, Love bracelet in ANGELA LEE, MIXED MARTIAL ARTIST pink and white gold with diamonds, Juste un Clou ring in pink gold and Juste un Clou bracelet in white gold, all by Cartier; viscose-blend dress by Boss her sunny smile The family is obviously tight-knit. In mindset yet, I was still very emotional. and sun-kissed a video clip of her 2016 championship When I walked in and saw everyone, With tan, Angela Lee fight, both Christian and her father can I was trying to act like I was ok. That could be mistaken for any carefree be seen beaming proudly next to her as was kind of a tough moment. There was 21-year-old if you just glimpsed her she was announced the winner, while just a lot going on, I was still shaken up out and about in Singapore. Except, of her mother fixed her gaze on her from about the accident. I did the best I could course, this young woman already has just outside the cage. Everyone looked that night.” some formidable achievements under like they were on the verge of crying That title defence match, once again her belt—at age 19, she became the except Angela, who openly wiped against Yamaguchi, will finally take place world’s youngest mixed martial arts away tears even as she burst into an this month, and thanks to her family, (MMA) champion when she defeated elated smile. she is ready to re-enter the cage. “If it Japan’s Mei Yamaguchi to win the One “My mum and dad are my biggest was just me facing tough problems by Championship women’s atomweight heroes,” she tells us without hesitation. myself, I don’t know if I could do it. title, and subsequently defended that “They’re the ones who taught me how Because I can lean on my family and go title successfully twice. to them for support, love and advice, Born in Canada to a Singaporean they really helped me pull through. father and a Korean mother, she was “I want to give as much When that accident happened to me, it raised in Hawaii and “I’ve been in affected my whole family as well and we the gym environment since I could support as I can to young all really banded together. It took some crawl”, she says matter-of-factly. time, and it was definitely something we Both her parents, who were high girls and women who are overcame together.” school sweethearts, are highly skilled Being the youngest and first female martial artists who used to compete aspiring to not just pursue champion in One Championship is professionally; when they decided to obviously very meaningful to her. “It’s start a family, they launched their own MMA, but anything something that will go down in the gym. “The majority of my childhood history books. I can add that to my was spent in the gym. I don’t remember really. Achieving your legacy.” Even without seeing her in when I started, honestly. I could have dreams takes so much action, this unabashed, even-keeled been tumbling and rolling around on pride in her hard-won achievements the mats at two years old.” Her parents sacrifice, and a strong makes it clear that she is no ordinary never forced her or her three younger twenty-something. As a female Asian siblings to compete, but “we had to support system” athlete competing in a sport that is still learn how to defend ourselves. That gaining mainstream acceptance, the wasn’t an option. Like if there was a life easy confidence with which she owns or death scenario, my parents wanted to to dream, how to take risks, how to her excellence is refreshing, and Angela be able to pass down their knowledge of work hard and achieve the ultimate knows that young girls are watching. how to protect ourselves”. success, which is finding my passion “I want to encourage them to dream Angela took to the sport of her own and my purpose.” big and have the resilience to see those accord, and by her own admission was Her mettle was put to the test last dreams become a reality,” she says a very competitive child. By age six, November in Hawaii, when she fell firmly. “I want to give as much support she was entering children’s martial asleep at the wheel while driving to a as I can to young girls and women who arts competitions, “and I loved it”. training session in the wee hours of the are aspiring to not just pursue MMA, but Sometimes she would face off against morning, and her car hit a guardrail on anything really. Achieving your dreams her brother Christian, because there the highway and flipped several times. takes so much sacrifice, and a strong was no gender separation for divisions Angela emerged from the accident support system around you, be it your below a certain age. Today, he is a fellow with a slight concussion and minor family, mentors or good friends. I think One Championship fighter and still burns, and a few weeks later attended it’s really important to surround yourself one of her training partners, while her the One Championship event at the with good people.” parents help to coach her. Singapore Indoor Stadium where her third title defence match would have taken place if not for the crash. She had her championship belt on her shoulder, and the crowd greeted her with a roar, but it wasn’t an easy night, she remembers. “I wasn’t fully in the right THE STORYTELLER Santos de Cartier watch in yellow gold by Cartier; cotton sweater, wool jacket Connecting Asia through Content and wool trousers, all by Boss HO JIA JIAN, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO OF VIDDSEE “the only way to get your film seen was to get it into festivals”, he recalls. After stints at StarHub, where they worked in then-emerging fields such as digital advertising and internet art of the moving image TV, they decided to launch Viddsee has blossomed anew together in 2013. “We saw a lot of new The in this current age of opportunities for people like us, who disruption, with streaming platforms are engineers but are also creative. We now home to the kind of rich, diverse wanted to use our skills to empower content that blockbuster-saturated and help other film-makers get their cineplexes are declining to make room stories out there.” Specifically, they had for. In recent years, the likes of Netflix a hypothesis they wanted to test: if they have even been giving established could make more local content available studios a run for their money during film to people in Southeast Asia, would festivals and awards season, prompting viewers be interested? some grumbling from the industry’s In a region where neighbouring more traditional players. countries aren’t all that familiar with one Ho Jia Jian is no stranger to this another’s cultural output, this was by conversation, and as the co-founder of no means a fail-safe idea for a business. video entertainment platform Viddsee, But their leap of faith paid off. Today, along with Derek Tan, his convictions lie the Viddsee website and app hosts firmly in the merits of new, tech-enabled short films, mostly created by Asian possibilities. Jia Jian and Derek first met film-makers, which have generated over at the National University of Singapore, a billion views from a predominantly where they both were engineering Southeast Asian audience. students who shared a love of cinema. “Many start off by watching content announced its entry into producing They became film-makers at a time from their own country, but over original content, with the launch of when YouTube was in its infancy, and time, they actually start watching Viddsee Studios. stuff from other countries as well,” But while commissioned work will says the soft-spoken Jia Jian, whose become a significant part of Viddsee’s “More people will create favourite film-makers include the late offerings, Jia Jian also believes deeply Malaysian director Yasmin Ahmad. “We in the importance of continuing to content as film-making do see a lot of similarities between give new film-makers an avenue for these different markets, and it’s a pity submitting their works. “More people equipment becomes more that regional audiences don’t know will create content as film-making each other’s stories that well. But the equipment becomes more accessible, accessible, and I hope beauty of film when combined with and I hope they will be inspired not technology is that you don’t have to be just by Hollywood, but also by the local they will be inspired constrained by geographical boundaries content they watch. We already see and traditional distribution channels this new generation rising up, and that’s not just by Hollywood anymore. Anybody, anywhere, can really exciting for us.” but also by the local access these stories.” Audience development is also crucial. The content that thrives on Viddsee “We have people writing in to us to content they watch” tends to be authentic, relatable, and share how watching certain films on shareable, Jia Jian says.