Vivek Mahbubani

Comedian, KELY Ambassador

"You know how sometimes you feel there is something funny about you? Well, eventually you will be famous for that!"

Growing up, I often felt like an outsider. As a handful of Indian students at my local Chinese school, I got picked on for my ethnicity and I thought it was unfair that I had to learn Cantonese. Similar to many other ethnic minority youths, I really grappled with what it means to be a Hongkonger, especially when others chose to see me as a perpetual foreigner.

When I was in secondary school, I would often take the same route home as one of my English teachers. He would tell jokes on our way home and I remember this one time he told an adult joke. As a fifteen year old, I laughed along with the joke, but another classmate overheard us and told the teacher, "You shouldn't tell jokes like that - you're a teacher!" The teacher responded, "Yes, but I'm human, too."

That conversation has stuck with me to this day. My teacher's words, "I'm human, too," told me that no matter what anyone is able to achieve, they are human, too. When I look at super successful people or anyone that I admire, I know that they, too, are human. If they can do something, I can do it, too. As a kid, I used to look up to famous comedians and think how talented they were. But once I realised that they are human just like I am, I also realised that there's no reason I can't do that too.

Although it wasn't always this way, I now see my identity as an advantage - it's my identity that makes me stand out. I can choose to limit myself to opportunities that are designated for 'ethnic minorities', or I can open myself to the full breadth of opportunities available to Chinese- and English-speaking people. As a comedian, I can book shows in Chinese and English, which means double the opportunities. I hope that young people will see me and recognise that they, too, can think big and pursue their dreams. If an Indian guy in Hong Kong can successfully do Cantonese comedy, how crazy is your dream that you can't do it?

As KELY's ambassador, I'm passionate about providing a platform for young people to try things out and encourage them to realise the ideas that they have. When I was just starting out as a comedian, it was so valuable to be able to perform in front of a real audience to help me improve. I hope that together with KELY, we can create more of these opportunities for young people.