We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kelly Wong. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kelly below.
Hi Kelly, thank you for being such a positive, uplifting person. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.
My optimism stems from everyone who doubted me in my past, my journey with mental health struggles, and not giving up when things got hard. Anytime someone told me “You are too skinny how are you still alive or you’re too dumb to be a scientist how can you do all of this you will die”. It fueled me to prove them wrong, despite taking things too far when I got myself into four jobs on top of four classes, I proved to myself that no matter what challenges come I can work through them. Optimism was something I struggled with as a child because I was a very shy person and I hated talking to others, in turn, I would get talked down for being shy, and everything that I couldn’t do I was getting talked down on. Eventually, I found myself I have always had more than one job because I always like trying new things and having fun creatively and I never stuck to just one job. I was raised in a family with the work mentality of never giving up and always persevering through thick and thin. Growing up in a family full of business majors, there was an outside pressure to also pursue business and go into banking. I was the only one in my family who wanted to pursue biology and become a scientist. This was unheard of in my family and everyone around me was either pursuing business, becoming a teacher, or a computer programmer. I was considered the “black sheep” in my family and my friend groups. When I was an undergraduate, I was a science teacher and a research intern, and I was taking nine classes at the time. The amount of pressure around me from my family and friends telling me I was doing too much and I would be failing classes if I didn’t drop something was overwhelming and there were times I did want to quit and again I was considered a “black sheep”. But I knew the only person who could stop my work ethic was me and I never stopped wanting to do more. It followed me for years and it was at one point when I was in graduate school I had one full-time job, three part-time jobs, and attending four classes. Being a research scientist, an adjunct college professor and a teacher for two different companies was intense pressure and I was also struggling with anxiety, pressure, and guilt because I was in the eyes of so many people and I was at the lowest of the low with my mental health. There were so many days I felt alone, unmotivated, and in tears every single night since I was only getting an average of three hours of sleep a night. But I also knew at the time that I needed to keep going no matter what challenges I faced. It was during that time that I realized I knew my limits, I knew what I was good at, and the challenges I faced were bridges to get me where I wanted to be at the end which was to be a research scientist and that is what I am today. Eventually, after I healed my inner wounds which took time, it gave me even more determination than I had because I saw if I could work through a period when I felt like the world was against me, I could work through everything and find my way even if things got tough. Today, I am a research scientist, I am a model under an agency, and I am a podcast host/ podcast producer there will never be someone like me to a tea and I have learned to embrace my differences and show others no matter what challenges that have to be faced, there is always a way no matter how hard things get. It was when I learned success comes from inner perseverance even if no one around you is supporting you, only you can persevere to get success and knowing you’re fully in power and no one has power over you. I took that lesson and I wanted to make an impact on others and continue putting myself out there. I knew I already made an impact being a research scientist and contributing my work to finding a non-chemotherapy cure for cancer. But I wanted to do more so that is when I decided to start my podcast Chill Time with Kelly to talk about my journey with mental health struggles when I was at the lowest of the low. Ever since then, I have gotten the most amazing responses from my audience who tell me that my show has helped them not feel alone in their mental health journey struggles and it shows me that my story can help others and inspire others to keep going despite the challenges.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I have had an expansive history in the science field, I went from researching neurobiology to microbiology to computational biology to plants to genetics to virology. In between those fields, I was also a teacher for six years, as well as an adjunct college professor. Along the journey there were of course challenges and the biggest challenge I faced in my career as a scientist was being told that I had to scrap my whole research topic and start all over again the night before I was supposed to give a talk. It was 9 pm and I got a call from my lab mate telling me to get on a meeting with him and fast, he told me what happened and I was flabbergasted and thinking to myself how am I going to redo a project that took me 6 months to do and condense a whole new one into 12 hours because I had to unsubmit my project and resubmit it by 9 am the next day since I was giving my talk as well. Since I was also teaching undergraduates, I also had grades to submit that night as well on top of not sleeping the night prior. It was a time I thought I wasn’t cut out to be a scientist since everything seemed like it was going wrong. It was a tough week because I had to take final exams myself, I had final exams to grade and submit, I was still teaching three times a week, and running on only naps during that week. Despite how exhausted and emotionally drained I was because I was going through a hard time in my personal life, I was I knew everything was going to work out for me no matter what and everything turned out the best since I passed all my final exams, all my undergraduates passed my class, and my research talk was a success after staying up all night redoing my research topic. That experience showed me that I could do anything no matter what hurdles were thrown at me as long as I knew I could do it. Currently what I do is I am a research scientist for cancer and I am looking for a non-chemotherapy way to treat cancer. I also am the creator, host, and producer of the podcast Chill Time with Kelly which can be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, and iHeartRadio. It is where I talk about all things mental health-related, as well as incorporating my journey with science and mental health. I am also a newly signed model with X-L-N-T and I am excited to experience a new chapter in the fashion and beauty world. I am in the best place mentally where I have put my health first and my happiness first to make sure I am at my prime and as a byproduct, I enjoy everything that I do no matter what challenges I face.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Three things that I have learned in my journey are: Why think the worst when you can always think the best, every challenge is a bridge to get to the end destination, and you only fail if you don’t try. These three things have made the biggest impact on me because it has taught me not to spiral if things go wrong and grounding myself knowing that working through this challenge changes me for the better.
My advice is instead of asking yourself “What if I fail it be the worst thing ever”, ask yourself “What if I pass and I get into my dream scenario which is success”. Start training your mind to stop thinking about the worst scenario and training your mind to thinking the best-case scenario. Growing up I was told, “Stop telling yourself you can get what you want what if you can’t get what you want”. Or “You are too small, too short, and too chatty no one is ever going to listen to you. I was thinking that until I was 20 years old and that was when I asked myself, if I could think the worst and it would come true, then why not think the best and have it come true? It is the mentality I had when starting my podcast because I was told “You would make a horrible host you are too chatty you will fail at being a podcast host”. It nearly stopped me from starting my podcast but I didn’t and I never regretted starting my podcast.
For those who are just starting, my suggestion is to work at your own pace, it took me a while for me to train my mind not to spiral. Take it one step at a time, don’t resent yourself if you are just starting, and if along the way, you hit road bumps, don’t take it as a reason to beat yourself up, take it as a bridge to show yourself that you are stronger than you think and getting through that spiral shows perseverance and there is no reason to resent yourself.
If you want to start something like a podcast, a blog, or a Youtube channel or anything and people aren’t supporting you. Don’t worry about it and just go for it and just go for it. When I started Chill Time with Kelly, the amount of backlash I got telling me to stop publicizing my story and making a profit off of it, I didn’t listen to any of them and I knew my intentions with publishing my podcast and that is to show other struggling with mental health they aren’t alone. Fast forward to today I have been streamed all over the world, if I hadn’t started I would be failing at being a podcaster because I didn’t try it and I wouldn’t have know the outcome I knew I would resent myself knowing I didn’t try.
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
My biggest growth in 2023 was healing the respect I lacked in myself choosing to leave a job that drained everything out of me and finding myself. It was an environment that was hostile, and belittling. It led me to resent science and question whether it was a path I wanted to continue despite being a research scientist for eight years. After I quit, I needed to heal my self-love first and figure out what I truly wanted, I first needed to heal my self-love and I found that through modeling. I did multiple photoshoots for different photographers and eventually, I signed with X-L-N-T and I am excited to see where that leads to. Having full respect for myself, making myself a priority, and setting boundaries with myself and other people have protected my inner peace, sanity, and happiness.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kellykwong.com/
- Instagram: @kellwo548
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kellywong5671
- Other: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chill-time-with-kelly/id1691422812 https://open.spotify.com/show/7MZhWyTYdBBYRTJrnFolzK?si=f9c5d3f563b44186
Image Credits
Winnie Uyen
