Episode 2: Asian A.V. Club: The art of entertainment journalism with Stevie Wong

In this episode, Pebble Presents Stevie Wong, an award-winning journalist and founder of Asian A.V. Club. Emelia and Stevie discuss how his career evolved from advertising student to an internationally recognized entertainment journalist of 30+ years. They dive into Stevie’s specialized approach to interviewing as a self-proclaimed conversationalist, including his uncanny ability to build rapid rapport with celebrities for interviews. Emelia unearths similarities between Stevie's interviewing approach and qualitative research methods, which they dig into.Emelia Rallapalli is the founder of Pebble Strategy - a brand strategy and marketing research consultancy. Pebble provides custom-made research programs, marketing strategy consulting, and account planning services. Stevie Wong is an internationally recognized journalist who has worked for Sky News, Star Movies Asia, Deadline, HBO Asia, just to name a few. He recently launched Asian A.V. Club — celebrating Asian creatives working in film/tv behind the scenes, and also in front of the camera.Welcome to Pebble Presents.- - - - - - - - -If you liked this episode of Pebble Presents, please share it with colleagues and friends! Find us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to rate/review/subscribe to the show.Want more? Visit PebbleStrategy.com. You can also find us on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/company/pebble-strategy/) and Instagram(instagram.com/pebblestrategy/). Thanks for listening and joining the conversation!Resources and References Asian A.V. Club - https://asianavclub.substack.comAsian A.V. Club on Instagram - https://instagram.com/asianavclubStevie Wong on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevie-wong-2331a3/Show Notes 0:23 - Emelia introduces today’s topic: the art of entertainment journalism1:24 - Emelia introduces today’s special guest: Stevie Wong2:44 - Stevie shares a short history of how he got to where he is today, professionally11:56 - Emelia and Stevie discuss their professional AND personal fulfillment in their chosen areas of work15:28 - Stevie shares how he learned the art of working a room for the best interview possible18:14 - Stevie and Emelia discuss a dependent interview model vs a psychodynamic model, and Stevie describes how there is only room for ONE in his work23:06 - Emelia and Stevie discuss how they handle vulnerability and emotion in professional interview setting28:31 - Stevie chronicles some of the seismic shifts he’s witnessed in the journalism and media industries with technological advances32:49 - Stevie addresses his need to pivot in his career35:09 - Stevie shares some of the ways he’s taken initiative over the years to become an effective correspondent with deep enjoyment of film (industry and art)41:33 - Stevie chronicles what prompted him to launch his recent undertaking: Asian A.V. Club46:03 - Stevie explains his curiosity-based approach to conversational interviewing48:23 - Stevie shares some of his ideas and plans for the Asian A.V. Club50:06 - Emelia and Stevie divulge more about their shared background as…choir nerds51:32 - Episode wrap upEpisode CreditsExecutive Produced by Emelia RallapalliProduced by Stephanie Watanabe Editing and Post Production by Erin ZimmermanArtwork and Design by Liisa Turan-Walters