Darren:
Hello everyone,my name is Darren Jiang.
Every individual has different sides or dimensions given the environment.
Those dimensions are not always transparent to their external world.
For each person there are sides or dimensions that we know,of couse there are sides and parts that hidden or unknown to us.
These are the images of the famous international actor and model Godfrey Gao.
He was the first ever asian male model to be featured in of Louis Vuitton campaign.
He is also been ranked as number seven on the world’s top 100 sexiest men alive.
Oh I hear was the wows from the crowd.
So everything does seem very perfect about Godfrey Gao,doesn’t it?
From his chiseled face with flawless features to his tall toned athletic body,right?
However,he may also give of the vibe and impression of being distant,or sometime stuck up giving this image portrait by media.
I’ve had the good fortune of getting to know Godfrey both as a person,but more improtantly as a very close friend for many years.
And I’m here to tell you he has different dimensions that he doesn’t reveal to the public.
When the camera stop rolling,Godfrey or G as I would like to call him,is actually very easygoing,caring,kind,generous,but most importantly, down-to-earth.
He’s just a boy next door who could throw on some shorts a baseball cap,and have the audacity to break into my brand-new Jordans,as he was riding around town and goofing around with me on a rickshaw.
He’s also that one friend will reach out to you frist if he sees that you’re going through a down time your life.
For everything he is and all he’s not,Godfrey is that one loyal friend I’ve had for many years,and with whom I can trust my life.
I know this is atarting to sound like a little bit of a love confession I have for Godfrey.
I get it,I get it.
And I know he’s rolling his eyes to the back of his head as we speak.
Godfrey:
Hey guys.
Yeah.I’ve never heard another man describe me like that. So...
Darren:
I’m that man.
Godfrey:
Thank you Darren.Thank you everyone for coming today.
I’m very excited to be here.Here at TEDxBangsar.
Darren:
So for celebrities or KOLs like Godfrey,what you guys see in media or social media is actually a very very small fraction, a very small glimpse of who he actually is.
Godfrey:
Exactly.
Darren:
Right?
Godfrey:
As you can see this handsome face,that is only one side of me.OK.
That’s what you see on social media in TVs,movies,and talk shows.
But here standing on the stage talking to you is another side of me.
That many of you don’t get to see very often.
And like millions of people across the world,today,are always asking the same questions.
Who am I?
Who are we as individuals?
What do we represent and who do we look up to?
This is a big topic because there’s a lot of confusion nowadays with the generation and the rise of the KOL phenomenon.
Obviously everyone knows what KOL means:key opinion leaders or you know the mass influencers.
And these influencers make impact in the world today.
Though social media,they could be experts like myself on fashion.
They could be experts like DJ in basketball.
They could be,you know, experts in diet routines or a workout routines.
But you don’t know what these KOLs go though behind the scenes.
Like myself and like many of you,we go though struggles in life.
We have to get though obstacles and in order to do that, we need to be very strong and confident.
Darren:
You guys see is that picture perfect Godfrey on media.
But let me tell you I’m here to spill secrets ain’t that perfect.
Godfrey:
Exactly.
Darren:
Right?
Godfrey:
Well,no one’s perfect.
Okay,even though I like to be a perfectionist,there are still struggles in life which Darren has seen many of times.
Darren:
Oh yeah.
Godfrey:
He’s seen the angry side of me,he’s seen the happy side,he’s seen a lot of sides of me.
But he knows deep down inside I’m a very very genuine and good person.
Darren:
As a result of Godfrey’s profession,so many people automatically assume and associate him with this luxurious glamorous lifestyle,and all the perks that come with it.
And trust me they do exist.
Godfrey:
Yes.
Darren:
He’s led a very privileged lifestyle.
And media or social media is really good at amplifying that misconception,and leaving us with impression of his picture-perfect life.
However,as many of us as know,no one is perfect.
In reality for people like Godfrey,being in the eyes of the public has become such a huge part of hi job.
And it will continue to be a huge part of his life.
His brand has been turning to commodity sold for a price by the industry.
However,for many of us whether or not,it’s generating income.
It has become something so much bigger than you actually is.
Something that dictates our identity.
Or worse yet something that affects other people’s identity.
Godfrey:
Exactly.
Yong people nowadays, teenagers,are follwing these KOLs on a daily basis.
And not all KOLs are good.
Some are bad,some are good.
Some share positive images,some shared...
Darren:
I don’t know what they share online nowadays.
I don’t even want to look.
Godfrey:
But yes,you gotta follow the right kind of KOLs who makes a positive impact in the world,and those good causes.
Darren:
Our millennials have become so overly obsessed about the latest trend of clean eating,healthy dieting.
And don’t get us wrong.
It all comes from a good place.
It comes from the harmless approach of wanting to lead a healthy lifestyle.
There’s nothing wrong with that.
But what gets dangerous though is when they let these beliefs alter their own perception of what being health really is.
Case in point,this is a teenager who is trying to look like her KOL Angelina Jolie.
She did ironically,she did become a social media senation because she’s been maked has been the zombie version of Angelina Jolie.
So this is a very extreme case.
Other case studies have also shown that teenagers are mindlessly following their KOL’s lifestyle and appearances even if it means for them to go to extreme measures.
This was well documented by 60 minutes Australia.
In this clip,a teenage girl was mindlessly following her KOL’s looks.
As a joke is here,our social media page everything looks picture-perfect,but the result’s,she ended up suffering a mental disease called orthorexia,which is the eating disorder combined with an anxiety disorder.
Now she as some serious anger issues towards everything.
She can hardly intake any food or drinks.
It’s seriously hurting her health.
Godfrey:
I know that feeling being hungry.
Darren:
So,all these cases have shown us that teenagers are actually on the receiving end from the detrimental damage of mindless pursuit of KOL’s lifestyle.
So,what can wu do to fix it?
Godfrey:
Well,one way is,we must redefine the relationships with KOLs instead of mindlessly pursuing these KOLs and copying them.
In addition we need to find positive influencers in the world that makes an impact in society.
Well,besides myself.
Darren has a great example that is just gonna tell you about.
Darren:
So,another case study on the positice side is Lebron James,the superstar athlete from the NBA.
In 2018, he working with his family foundation opened up the I Promise school in Akron Ohio,his hometown,which is aimed at helping at risk students providing free education free lunch and a whole bunch of benefits.
Basically paving a way for the younger generation to succeed in life.
Or,
Godfrey:
Like the real Angelina Jolie,
Darren:
The real one
Godfrey:
The real version.
She’s ambassador for UNICEF.
She’s an activitst and she has helped out a lot of the refugee camps.
And the list goes on.
And she’s the perfect example for a female role model.
Darren:
So,based on these case studies what we’ve learned is that we’re nat asking you guys not to follow KOLs.
You can definitely use them for goal setting or benchmarking.
Godfrey:
And following the right KOLs.
Darren:
Absolutely.
So,in 2012,since then,Godfrey and I have been braintroming about starting up a project that truly drives positive change in youth movement.
At that time I had been working for one of the world’s leading sports brand companies.
Well, Godfrey being one of the brand’s KOLs witnessed firsthand with me,how big of an impact our sigature atheles made on the youth.
However,we realize that you’ll be equally important for us to truly inspire the youth while paving a way that would become better version themselves.
So in 2014,I resigned from my company.
We put our heads together and created this platform called the PB System,with a very purpose of driving positive change in youth movement.
PB stands for personal best.
What we’re saying is becoming the best sometimes can be of subjective and unattainable.
Especially in asian cultures,within which a lot of us grew up in,parents tend to exert their so much invisible pressure on their kids to become the best at everything.
In the classrooms,on a sports field, when they take piano lessons.
What we’re saying is at PB,we should focus more on developing these kids as individuals,and motivating them to become the best version of themselves.
These are just some of the activations that we do thoughtout the year.
We do college campuses,cities,hosting basketball events though basketball, our common passion,being able to the kids to explore other dimensions of our KOLs to set good examples for them,so that it can be inspired to achieve better life path.
A picture is worth a thousand words.
These images were taken from our events all over China.
But of course, at PB camp which is something that we run every summer,something magical happens too.
Godfrey:
Well,the magcal thing is we have Ray Allen here.
He was our special guest,the very famous NBA superstar Ray Allen was at our first basketball camp in Beijing back in 2014 when we started this.
He was here for 12days.
Now think about it,a superstar athlete is hands-on on and off the court for 12 days.
On the court he was helping kids to be better at themselves,on shooting dribbling all those skills sets.
But off the court,he was teaching kids and telling stories about his experience in his lifetime for these campers volunteers and workers,and this picture obviously made this girl cry because she shared the same story that he was telling everybody that was at the cafeteria.
Darren:
Obviously it looked like she’s crying,but she was very touched by Ray Allen’s personal stories wih happy tears.
Godfrey:
Yes,happy tears.
Darren:
Also in addition,Godfrey,whenever we host events in the summertime,he’s actually becoming one of us,one of the campers.
He really gets closer with the audience which are our campers,even goes so far to the point where he goes into dormitories casually dressed up,wearing a wife-beater with a baseball cap.
He’s actually doing team building exercises with the kids,inspiring them.
So this is where the magic hapens,the kids not only walk away with our camp with smiles on their faces,but they also walk away with a positive influence from their idols,from their KOLs,and something inspirational which served them better for the rest of their lives.
So by creating these unprecedented access and opportunities for the KOLs to get to know our campers,our kids have shifted the perspective,from mindlessly following teir KOL’s appearance and lifestyle to proactively practicing their work ethic the persistence,and everything that comes along with it.
And more importantly,
Godfrey:
We want these kids to feel like they can relate to us ,that they’re not afraid to talk to us,and share stories with us.
Because once they do that, we get to hear them and hear their voices,and we can share our opinions or our experience in life,and they love the experiences that they had in our PB System camps.
So to wrap things up,everyone’s gonna go home and we’re gonna go back to our little boxes or bubbles.
And everyone’s gonna see us on TVs or movies or on social media platforms.
But here at TEDx,
Darren:
Here we’re at TEDx today and all the future PB activations,we could also be youth movement leaders,entrepreneurs,but most importantly,your friends who are going to hold your hands and change the world together with you.
So with that,let’s redefine our relationship with KOLs,
Godfrey:
And strive to achieve your personal best.
