Growing Up in China
Joy Wu was raised for the most part of her childhood by her grandparents in the Zhe Jiang province of China. Her mom and dad left for the Philippines when she was two years old, to seek business opportunities in order to provide for her and her younger brother, Allen.
Joy recalls taking ownership of her role as an elder sister wholeheartedly. She was committed to doing her part in alleviating her parents’ burden by “being obedient and not causing trouble.” In fact, she was awarded the highest accolades throughout grade school, the honorable 三好学生 (Three-Good Award in English) which is given only by Mainland Chinese institutions to students who have excellent overall performance, in academics, moral values, and personality. She looks back to these moments with gratitude for the recognition of her school, but also wishing her parents were present to witness her scholastic achievements.
Joy made sure to do her part to make her parents proud, earning laurels and saving them as stories for her to tell them for when they finally meet. Since long distance international calls were a luxury her family could not afford. Because of the hardships she endured at a young age, she developed the values of frugality and selflessness, which continue to shape her work ethic as well as the way she takes care of her relationships today.
She finally moved to Davao, Philippines when she was 8 years old, where she eventually became fluent in Bisaya, Tagalog, and English, on top of her mother tongue, Mandarin as well as seven other Chinese dialects like Cantonese, Zhe Jiang, Yi Wu, Jin Hua, Shanghai, Fujian and Beijing.
Pageant Journey
By the time Joy went to college in Ateneo De Davao University, she was 5’9” tall and was scouted by local modeling agencies to join go-see’s and fashion shows, where she was discovered and invited to participate in Mr. & Ms. Chinatown Philippines (MMCP) 2017.
Joy shares that she never imagined she would ever be in a pageant, and was initially not interested until she learned that her batch would be the first time MMCP will be represented at a national scale. As MMCP had previously limited participation from only within Metro Manila. Joy says, “It became my advocacy to let more people know about Davao City,” which served as her motivation for finishing the competition until the end.
Being away from her parents was difficult for Joy, since the MMCP activities were held in Manila, and Joy’s parents had to stay behind in Davao for work. Thankfully, Joy’s brother Allen was also a pageant candidate, which helped Joy cope.
Throughout her MMCP journey, Joy received multiple special awards from various brand sponsors, as well as the sought-after Miss Darling of the Press award before snagging the Miss Chinatown 2017 title! However, an award that truly touched her heart was being voted Miss Congeniality by her batch-mates. “Honestly, it felt more precious than the Chinatown winning title itself,” says Joy, who adds that it was her co-candidates that gave her the courage and support to keeping pushing on. “At the end of the day, it’s not the crown that matters, but how much you have improved yourself and helped others in their personal growth.”
Joy later represented the Philippines in Miss Chinese International 2018, she landed on the Top 10. The coronation night was held in Hong Kong, where Joy said she was able to practice and better master the Cantonese language. She was inspired to do so in order to properly communicate her love for the Philippines, and all the beautiful things her country has to offer! Joy admits that she is not comfortable with the rationale behind beauty contests. Regardless, she is thankful for the platform and has since treated the experience as her way of creating a bridge between the Filipino and Chinese cultures, both of which she truly loves, and has helped mold her identity.
Hosting, Writing, and Modeling Career
After finishing the China International Pageant, Joy was invited by the organizers to stay in Hong Kong for good and work for TVB, a major media outlet (Philippine counterpart would be GMA 7 or ABS CBN). Joy was already homesick that time, missing her family and her home in the Philippines. Thus, decided to pass on the opportunity.
Joy would fly back and forth between Davao and Manila as she fulfilled her duties as the Chinatown pageant titleholder. She has hosted for the City of Manila’s Chinese New Year celebration in Binondo Plaza in February 2018, and was welcomed warmly by former Manila Mayor Joseph “ERAP” Estrada for her role. Joy has also emceed for a CrossFit competition on behalf of Vista Land, as well as for a documentary film launch event by Ateneo de Manila’s Confucius Institute.
Aside from hosting, Joy has done her part for the news industry as well, where she has acted as a news anchor, translator, voice talent, and copywriter for a the ChinoyTV news channel segment under ANC among many other projects. She has lent her voice and translating services to various airline brands, retail stores and mainstream malls too.
Joy also wrote for a local Chinese lifestyle magazine called Fei Fun, where she would often document her domestic travel experiences and highlight the beauty of the Philippine Islands. She even taught Mandarin on the side for Davao Christian High School and Joji Ilagan College of Business and Tourism in Davao.
Joy has also taken multiple modeling gigs, including runway shows in both Manila and Davao, served as muse for Blackwater basketball team during the PBA 45th Season Opening in March 2020, as well as became the face of local beauty brand Hello Glow, and starring in commercials for Korean skincare brand Ever Organics.
Amidst her colorful career so far, when asked what she liked doing most, Joy states “I love runway modeling a lot, I guess fashion and just walking to rhythm of runway music feels so natural for me.” She envisions eventually starting her own fashion line in the near future.
Business Ventures
The pandemic has put much of Joy’s face-to-face work in the events industry on hold, and she found herself pursuing her family business plus other entrepreneurship projects full time.
Joy leads sourcing and procurement for her parents’ company, and directly negotiates with suppliers as well as handle the logistics and freight for containers shipping out from different parts of China to Davao.
Her expertise in managing suppliers paved the way for her new baby, WXKGO (an acronym for World Xport Kraftmanship-GO) Trading, a furniture wholesale store that she runs with her brother, Allen and another partner, Stephanie. Joy and her partners have also recently opened The Pre-Game Bar, located at Tionko Avenue in Davao City, which has been reinvigorating the Davao party scene in its less than two months in operation.
“I was both pleasantly surprised and confident with the reception to WXKGO and Pre-Game.” Joy says, while reiterating, “that’s why in any business it is very important to study your market to mitigate risks and be able to forecast returns more accurately.”
Once protocols clear in China, Joy plans to visit her relatives’ textile plants to be able to move forward with her fashion business objectives.
Finding Christ and Self Love
Perhaps the biggest learning for Joy in her journey of discovering her skills and what she’s capable of is loving herself, and finding that she is enough. “Despite winning the pageant, I felt so empty and unfulfilled,” confides Joy.
It was not until her best friend and MMCP batch mate, Jesslyn, tagged her along to a CCF (Christ Commission Fellowship) Friends Retreat that she found peace and self confidence in Christ. “It was the first time I met God and literally felt my heart is finally full and secured,” narrates Joy. “I felt I am visible, I am present, I am happy and developed better appreciation for myself.”
Word for 2022
“Faith.”
“Always take the leap of faith,” says Joy who continues that “Life will give us clues for where it wants to take us. We have to be sensitive and take on the opportunities it presents to us.”
As she backtracks her journey to the several important moments in her life, she realizes that she would not be where she is today had she stayed in her comfort zone. Hence, Joy insists to just “have faith! Treat everyday like it’s your last!”
Learn more about Joy and her endeavors below:
Joy Wu Instagram: @joy_t._wu
WXKGO Facebook: WXKGO Trading
Facebook: The Pre-Game Bar
—alike.com.ph
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