Singapore’s most well-known TikToker and the creator of Boom Digital Media. At the age of 27, Ng Ming Wei has these titles under his belt. “Be water, my friend,” Bruce Lee once stated. Ng is the epitomization of that quote, adjusting to changing conditions, just like how water adapts to any vessel and flows through hard stones that stand in its path.
The Taekwondo Dream Ever since Ng was a youngster, he desired to represent Singapore in the Olympics. He joined the Taekwondo club in the Maris Stella High School student section. He worked hard for over 14 years to attain the top taekwondo performances in Singapore and even took an off from his university in preparation for the Olympics.
Ng’s parents, his most loyal supporters, were there for Ng throughout the process. The cost of training to become a professional athlete was not small, and they shelled more than $120,000 to fund the local and international training and equipment costs. It was apparent that, after all the years of training and sacrifices by both Ng and his parents, his dream of playing for Singapore would finally come true.
However, before his Olympic dream could be realized, the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
“My sporting dream was dashed. I was devastated, and I locked myself in my room,” Ng shares, talking about the low moments in his life. The Tokyo 2020 Olympics had to be delayed. There were talks of cancellation of the Olympics due to the escalating disease in the making. For an athlete like Ng, who had been working all his life to get this moment, it was a devastating blow.
TikTok Star and Branding Consultant
Instead of letting the disease take control of Ng, rather than allowing the pandemic takes over, Ng picked himself up and determined to make the most of it. He went back to school and stayed focused on his academics. While he was at it, he created more video clips on TikTok.
Ng initially began making videos for Instagram to share his passion for sports. The videos featured him using Taekwondo techniques to play other games like bowling and table tennis. As the disease spread, Ng turned to TikTok, similar to other people when lockdown measures prevented free movement and kept everyone to stay indoors.
At the house, Ng asked his father to help him make an entertaining video. Initially, the father was hesitant but was willing to accept Ng’s request. This was the beginning of his TikTok career. To date, Ng has over 20 million followers on his TikTok account (@mingweirocks), where he uploads funny footage of himself, his father (@DaddyMing), and himself.
He was inspired by the same determination that drove him to follow his taekwondo goals when Ng first began posting on TikTok and slept less than four hours daily while running the TikTok account. “I told myself I would keep doing it until I hit 10 million,” Ng said Ng when he spoke to AsiaOne. After achieving the 10 million mark, Ng realized he wanted more. Ng started to reconsider his method of operation and realized that instead of becoming famous and not focusing on figures, he wanted to aid others and use his fame to do good.
After that, Ng founded his own company, Boom Digital Media, to assist customers in optimizing their brands and their content on TikTok as well as other social media platforms.
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Their journey of Ng has been one that had seen ups and downs when the lows appeared impossible to overcome. “I’m sure I’m not going, to be honest. It wasn’t easy to pick myself up. It was exhausting trying to balance my study and work. I was ready to quit,” Ng admits.
But Ng did not give up. He is now proud of his accomplishments and is in a field he enjoys. He is responsible to the parents he grew up with and becomes closer to them through collaborating with them in his TikTok videos. He also helps others around him because he knows how hard the pandemic has made life for many.
“So, If you’re in the same situation as me, do not let it get you down. Up! It won’t be simple, but you have to get going because the only way to progress is to persevere and be patient,” Ng says to people experiencing the same uncertainty as him. The path to success can be complicated, but if we follow through, we will see hope at the end of the tunnel.
