Over the years, the NOW has profiled dozens of young Burnaby residents, from aspiring dancers to top-notch students, young inventors and star athletes.
One of those individuals is Trevor Lai, whose efforts in art, animation and publishing - not to mention academic success - had him making headlines before he was even out of high school. We decided it was time to check in on Lai, now 30, and we iscovered that he's built his homegrown chievements into global success.
IT ALL BEGAN IN BURNABY
Shanghai, China is a long way from the classrooms at Alpha Secondary in Burnaby, and for Trevor Lai, the road from here to there has been a nonstop adventure of creation, learning and success - and his path is about to get even more interesting.
Lai was featured in the NOW several times in 2003 and '04 for his series of children's book that featured a character named Ralphy the Rhino and focused on themes of acceptance, friendship and social responsibility. The popular Ralphy had been born as a doodle during a math class at the north Burnaby school and, after just five years, Lai had gone from self-publishing the first book by hand, to celebrating the launch of the fourth book at a gala party in Vancouver.
The character later became the face of the Richmond Public Library's youth program, with unique library cards featuring his image. That project helped boost youth memberships significantly and garnered Lai an award from the American Library Association - all while helping Lai learn how to multitask in promoting the campaign while also balancing other business commitments and new projects. But that, it turns out, was just the start.
A GLOBAL SUCCESS
Since then, Lai has travelled around the world, relocating to China and spending time all over for business. Ralphy is still going strong, but he's just one of many successes for the SFU grad whose accomplishments now include sitting as the vice-president for an international branding and marketing company, a book contract with one of China's largest literary agencies, a collaboration with Mercedes Benz in China, and creating a number of new characters that have proven to be big hits.
"I moved to Shanghai nearly five years ago, and have been working around China and internationally - including in Hawaii, Spain and Macau - ever since," he told the NOW.
Though he had started a pair of his own companies by the age of 20, his family encouraged him to gain more knowledge and experience in international business. He signed on with a multinational design-and-branding firm in an entry level position and worked his way up - three-and-a-half years later, he was promoted to vice-president overseeing the Asian arm of the business.
"I was incredibly blessed to come to China and witness the explosive growth in the country as both the (Beijing) Olympics and Expo (in 2010) catapulted the country onto the global stage," he said. "The amount of opportunity and pace of change is astounding and inspires me every day."
About two years ago, after doing research on local publishing and animation, he decided to bring Ralphy and his other children's book characters to China; he now has a contract for a book series to be published there.
Ralphy was also picked up as part of the 2010 Olympics here in B.C., with full-size Ralphy cut-outs featured at Richmond libraries for photo opportunities with kids.
In the meantime, he had also created a new character, by request of a major resort and property chain in Asia, and later helped design several exteriors for the Mercedez Benz SMART car division in Shanghai. The latter project was sparked by a chance meeting on an airplane with a seat mate who worked for the company - the two talked, and the collaboration grew from there.
"I ended up designing three cars and innovated something they had not done before - designing labels for the cars that kids could actually colour on," he said.
For Lai, the success isn't just about making a name for himself but about inspiring children, helping others and constantly learning, growing and taking on new challenges.
His advice for youngsters is to be the best they can in whatever they're passionate about - learn from others, take feedback and criticism and grow from it, and know that setbacks can be overcome.
"I have learned to see obstacles as great blessings in disguise that tell me 'climbing over this barrier will get you one step closer to your dream,' and that positive attitude has been an essential component of my success," he said.
LOOKING FOR FELLOW ARTISTS
Having worked in every type of job from a fast-food drive-thru restaurant chain up to an international corporation, Lai has built a portfolio of skills that has carried him a long way - and, he hopes, will bloom into something brand new.
Though he's keeping the specifics under wraps for now, he says he's hoping that this new project will help others get the chance to fulfill some of their own dreams. To that end, he's hoping to recruit people from right here at home.
He's on the hunt for artists, game programmers and website design engineers, both full time and intern, for a venture that he's planning to announce in the coming weeks.
"Having been afforded the incredible opportunity to work in China, I'd love to do the same for other talented folks in Burnaby and B.C.," he said.
His new project, he said, will help him achieve the goal of inspiring and reaching out to kids, and combines his two sides - the artist and the entrepreneur.
He's scheduled to be travelling here in early November and has told the NOW he'll be spilling more news of his upcoming projects then. He's launching www. trevorlai.com next month; in the meantime, fans can catch up with him at www. ralphy.ca, or on Weibo, a Chinese Internet site that is similar to Twitter.
