Career Advice from Angie Lau, Lead Anchor at Bloomberg Television Asia

When we see a successful person, we often only see the public glory, and forget the sacrifices and hard-work behind the scenes. Today, Angie is the lead anchor for Bloomberg Television Asia’s award-winning daily morning business news programme, “First Up with Angie Lau”, and she too has worked incredibly hard for this coveted role.

Stepping into the Bloomberg’s office, our volunteers were met and greeted by Angie, who has generously offered her time to coach and share her career journey. As I listened to her story, I have come to respect her hard-working attitude, go-getter mindset, and self-confidence.

It was a morning filled with “A-ha” moments, mottos and advice that we tried to mentally take note. Here are some of our favourite and most memorable takeaways:

Why did you become a journalist?

“My job is to connect the dots. Journalism is a job that lets me to be a ferocious student for the rest of my life.”

The drive to give a voice to the voiceless and an insatiable desire to learn makes Angie an award-winning journalist. One of her most satisfying story was on a news story in early 2007 where she uncovered a mortgage broker trying to sell a re-mortgage to a blind and poor elderly lady in the US — real, citizen story which were the early signals of the Subprime Mortgage Crisis before it all unfolded.

How do you become so confident?

“You have to be confident in yourself, but not arrogant. I have always believed in myself and know I can be extraordinary. I just need to prove it and let other people catch up on this.”

“It’s important for us to pursue growth and ‘do our homework’ in preparation for the challenges ahead. Yet, when facing failure, it is essential that we do not beat ourselves up and not let another’s person’s decision to determine what we do.” recalls Crystal, Time Auction Ambassador.

The secret to do great on TV?

“Admit that you are not perfect, and that you WILL make mistakes. When you have a hiccup or trip over your lines, do you freeze in front of the camera, and let fear stand in the way of you showing your true self? Or do you brush yourself off and go on?”

What career advice do you have for us?

“To move forward in your career, sometimes you have to be willing to go backwards. Most people are just not interested in growing you, the responsibility ultimately lies with you. I knew where I would be, and I fought, I fought to get there.”

Her last piece of advice:

“Always be prepared. Luck is when opportunity comes, you are prepared and ready to fight for it.”

Thank you Angie for donating your precious morning to Time Auction Hong Kong, and the team at Bloomberg for the company tour which has contributed over 52 volunteer hours to Hong Kong Dog Rescue, JP Morgan & Youth Entrepreneurs Development Council, PathFinders Hong Kong, HandsOn Hong Kong and more.

For more auctions, visit Time Auction Hong Kong, a platform that connects you with inspiring mentors while encouraging volunteerism.

By Suetyi Wong, Co-founder of Time Auction and Crystal Leung, Time Auction Ambassador

P.S. Is there anyone you’d like to meet? Drop us a comment and we might just make it a reality for you!

Let’s hear it from the volunteers:

Emma Yu, Fresh-graduate, CUHK

“Thanks so much for the opportunity to meet Angie!!! And thanks Angie for her precious time and detailed arrangement. Like what I have mentioned, she is the one who impacted me a lot when I was a student, especially on how to be confident.

But actually meeting her yesterday inspired me way much more than that, and was in such a good timing for me, a new bee in labour force.

As I’m a person who cannot help thinking a lot, my takeaways grow because of the inspirations from Angie’s words with a deep impact, on how to be a hardworking, determined, confident yet down to earth, goal-focused, smart, and kind person, also about life choice, as Angie spoke in the first place, where we are are the choices we made. I hope I can make my life determined, and my life goal clear and work hard to achieve it.

Regretting that I haven’t recorded all the words Angie has shared with us. But I will try to remember and internalize as it is and will be very beneficial in my life.

Thanks again for the opportunity! I cannot love Time Auction more!”

Nicole Chan, Economic & Finance Student, HKU

“Stepping into the Bloomberg office, I was both overwhelmed and at the same time, incredibly amazed. When we got our mentoring session with Angie, it was great to hear her tell her story and it was nice to see this public figure that you watch on television being so candid about her life experiences. I felt that her sharing was not just inspiring but also relatable. Another thing that is great about Angie is that she always answered our questions thoughtfully regardless of how vague they were. She never failed to offer advice or life lessons even during the mini Q&A. The other Bloomberg staff such as Jeremy, Vivian, and Sara also treated us warmly even though we were probably interrupted their work schedule. They answered all our questions thoroughly and went above and beyond to make us feel welcomed.”

Tiffany Sia, Finance Professional

“Dear Angie, Thank you for making time to meet up with us via the Time Auction platform and for giving us the all-access backstage pass to Bloomberg. It takes my appreciation of the news you guys bring to the public every day to a whole new level — it comes from the hard work of hundreds of people just to get the truth out there. But most of all, thank you for sharing your personal story with us. Your passion for journalism is clear every time I watch you on TV, but knowing that you put a lot of effort and hard work to get to where you are today is especially inspiring to me. I recently made a move to a new role in banking, and although at times I feel like I am a fish out of water, your story has encouraged me not to be afraid of something new and to continuously learn.”

Crystal Leung, Time Auction Ambassador

“Upon meeting Angie, the Lead Anchor of Bloomberg Television’s award-winning program “First Up with Angie Lau”, you would see all these attributes you look for in a successful journalist, like confidence and articulacy. After talking to her, you would know she has a great personality that goes with these attributes.

Angie spoke of the responsibility she feels being a journalist. She vividly told us about this one news story for which she had to confront a mortgage broker who tried to sell a mortgage to a blind elderly lady. Not only was it a challenging and confrontational interview, it meant a lot to Angie personally for the story could reveal the problem to her audience before the Subprime Mortgage Crisis in the US.

As we got to talk more with Angie, she provided us with invaluable advice, which could be applied to all sorts of situations in life. “You are always your worst enemy” she stressed, “ Don’t be afraid to fail”. Angie encouraged us to be confident, fight for what we want and protect our dream. Like what she said, it is of course important for us to pursue growth and “do our homework” in preparation for the challenges ahead. Yet, when facing failure, it is essential that we do not beat ourselves up and not let another’s person’s decision to determine what we do.

This one-hour chat with Angie was filled with inspirations and words of wisdom. Personally, I had this “Ah-ha!” moment when Angie said “If you need to think if it’s good enough, it’s not.” This is particularly useful when facing dilemmas in life, be it about work or relationship. Thank you so much really, Angie! Of course, we would also like to thank Jeremy, Vivian and Sara for the comprehensive tour around the Bloomberg office. We had a wonderful morning there.”