Fête Pulse with Tina Lee
Written by Tina Lee · Interviewed by Jennifer J. Lau
Photography Courtesy of the Author
Tina Lee at the Opening of the Edge in New York City.
Tina Lee in tokyo, 2019.
How did you become a content creator?
When I first started my blog I was a fashion designer and wanted to start a fashion brand. After about six months, I noticed that travel blogging was the niche that grew the fastest. Since I also love travel, I decided to focus on both fashion and travel.
After a couple years of chasing sunsets and sunrises in pursuit of "the most Instagrammable places," I found myself unable to travel internationally because I had to wait for my green card. So, I decided I would discover New York City (where I was living) and get more creative. I made up my mind to be stand out from the noise by incorporating more creative ideas and methods (like cinemagraphs, stopmotion videos, etc) into my posts. This was very well received and it also gave me so much more joy!
From there I really tried to always keep creativity in mind and no matter where I travelled to. It wasn't always possible to execute creative ideas while traveling on an intense schedule, but I wanted to make sure that my creativity helped differentiate myself from other travel content creators.
Where did you grow up and what are your biggest influences?
I grew up in Australia and returned to Taiwan after I completed high school. I went to college at National Taiwan University and majored in Information Management. Unfortunately coding was not my strong suit so I didn't do well. But I chose a graphic design course as an elective course. It made me realize how much I enjoyed design and art, so I decided to pursue a long-forgotten passion - fashion design. At first I was working in Taiwan, so I just took night and weekend classes. After a while I quit my job and headed to Paris for a year to pursue fashion design. Soon after, I knew I had to continue my education so I went to Parsons.
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Overall I would say I am Taiwanese at heart, but I live a more Western lifestyle. I regularly keep in touch with my family in Taiwan. They provide me with much guidance and their values stay with me always. My parents have had the biggest influence on me until I met my husband. I find myself translating and explaining a lot of Chinese idioms to my Vietnamese American husband because they often come in handy to describe situations in life.
Tell us more about your wedding and why you decided to showcase what a wedding day in Taiwan would look like!
Tina Lee in Taiwan, 2019.
When it came time for my wedding in Italy and Taiwan, I meticulously planned the type of content I wanted. I even went as far as making a PowerPoint presentation with a daily timetable and sample pictures (outfits and hairstyles included) for my entire Italy trip!
After our Italy wedding, we shared the images with our Taiwan wedding decor team (Tiger Wedding) and they were so inspired by the content that they asked to recreate the decor for our Taiwan wedding. The end results turned out beautifully – the burgundy and gold colors and luxurious vibes echoed the decor of the Italy wedding perfectly!
For my Taiwan wedding, I shared my vision of my wedding video with my videographer early on. I told him: “I don't want a typical stuffy wedding video. I want it to be fast-paced and unique with awesome transitions showing the day of a hectic Taiwanese wedding in one minute.”
The wedding itself did turn out to be quite hectic so we didn't manage to finish all of the footage, and the videographer came the morning after the wedding at 8am to film several clips we missed. (That's how dedicated I am to my content! Even the day after my wedding night, I will get up at 7 to make videos. Call me crazy but this is what I love to do – that is, create content!) The final video was shared and saved over 2000 times and my videographer even got a gig to do a wedding in NYC after someone saw my wedding video!
Tina Lee in a quarantine self-portrait, 2020.
“At the end of the day, I think I try to create differently because I’m just so passionate about what I do. Anything can be my inspiration and every time I create something new, I learn something and stay ahead of the game! ”
The quarantine has been a blessing in disguise for me. I used to think that I need to be on-the-go, traveling non-stop to make things work. But being forced to only create content from home has made me realize that nothing, not even travel, makes me happier than content creation.
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Ultimately, what shaped me the most is probably when I found my passion in content creation. It has really changed the way I approach life. With so much passion for what I do, it has driven me and given me purpose. With this in mind, I will continue to create, learn and improve, whether it's from home or abroad.
Finally, I really appreciate what Fete Chinoise is doing and really love how it helps to empower Asian immigrants to get more in touch with their roots. As an Asian immigrant myself this is so meaningful and important.
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About the writer, Tina Lee
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