Four years ago, in Grade 12, Tobin Ng had to explore a career they were interested in for an assignment.
With a push from their father, Ng looked into journalism. Ng said their Hong-Kongese father understands the need for freedom of the press. Hong Kong ranks 148th in world press freedom rankings.
They interviewed several local reporters and even shadowed a CTV reporter working on a story on low-income housing in Vancouver.
Ng said this experience opened their eyes and allowed them to recognize the power of journalism in amplifying underrepresented voices.
In September 2018, they moved from Richmond, B.C. to Ottawa and enrolled in Carleton University’s School of Journalism.
Ng went on to win the Canadian Journalism Federation’s (CJF) inaugural bursary for BIPOC student journalists in May 2022.
How it started
In 2019, during Ng’s first months at university, the Montreal-based magazine Maisonneuve was hosting an event at Carleton and needed someone to film it.
Ng remembered thinking, ‘Why not?’ and volunteered to record the event. Next thing they knew, they were in Montreal during their winter reading week, learning the ins and outs of magazine writing and leaving a lasting impression on industry professionals.
Madi Haslam, an associate editor for Maisonneuve at the time, said Ng showed a serious interest in magazine journalism and their grasp of its importance was beyond their age. No one at Maisonneuve wanted them to leave, she added.
“I remember just being blown away that this, I think they were 17 or 18, […] first of all wanted to spend their reading week—their only time off of school—doing more work, and that they were so enthusiastic about learning about the industry in any way they could,” she said.
Last summer, Ng returned to Maisonneuve as a fact-checking intern. Haslam, now the editor-in-chief at Maisonneuve, got her wish.
“It was quite a full circle moment,” Ng said. “I kind of grew to find that a lot of the things that I was interested in showed up in fact-checking magazine work.”
In their four years at Carleton, Ng built a strong journalism resumé.
They have written, fact-checked and copy edited for The Walrus, Maclean’s magazine, CANADALAND and This Magazine, among others. Ng also previously worked for the Charlatan as interim arts editor.
The CJF inaugural bursary
Susan Harada, associate professor for Carleton’s School of Journalism and Communication and a CJF board member, said Ng’s application showed honesty, passion and authenticity.
“They were head and shoulders above all other applicants,” she said. “And there were some talented applicants.”
Harada added Ng wrote about their dreams of becoming a magazine writer and fact-checker.
“But they were already doing all of those things,” she said.
Ng said, while their ambition has served them well, there were times they felt they took on too much.
“There’s kind of this culture of like, ‘you need to grind and you need to pursue all the opportunities that are given to you to stand out,’” they said.
Ng said they came to realize the importance of taking a break from work to unwind.
In their free time, Ng likes to go for runs and watch movies at the Mayfair Theatre. They said music is a big part of their life as well, pointing to a poster of Frank Ocean’s Blonde in their room.
Working towards the future
Ng has also devoted their time to making journalism more equitable. In 2020, amid a racial reckoning in newsrooms across Canada, Ng was among 21 Carleton journalism students and alumni who signed a call to action, holding the School of Journalism and Communication accountable for failing to redress systemic racism and issues targeting BIPOC students.
Ng said publishing this letter was among the most defining moments in their career so far.
“I’m grateful for how that really connected me to a sense of community and also allowed me to be part of something that I felt really passionately about,” they said.
The following academic year, Ng co-founded the Association for Equity and Inclusion in Journalism, which they said connected them to other students and faculty members dedicated to making change.
This summer, Ng is completing an internship at Broadview Magazine. They hope to continue working in magazine journalism afterward.
“Beyond that, I think the dream is to be working at a magazine,” they said, citing working for The Walrus as a career goal.
To Ng’s friends, former mentors and the CJF especially, this dream is within reach.
“Knowing that the future of the industry is in the hands of people like Tobin is really exciting,” said Haslam. “I think it signals some really exciting shifts within the magazine world and in Canadian media.”
Featured image by Emmanuella Onyeme
