Winyu Wongsurawat, also known as John Winyu, is my role model. He could turn crisis into opportunity when he was heavily in debt. He is a singer, actor and TV host. He is creative, enthusiastic, and humorous.
John Winyu is an American Thai, so he has self-confidence more than children in general. He entered into the entertainment industry when he was 14 years old. He started with a product presenter, then a young actor, and an MC. He had diligence and patience with his job and began to be known. When he was 20, he could earn 100,000 baht per month! With a lot of income, he led an extremely luxurious lifestyle. One day, he received a notice from the Department of Revenue that he had to pay off his outstanding income tax of 1.3 million baht. It made him shocked! That day he decided to change his life, from luxury to simplicity. He started to work harder and harder to get enough money for paying the tax. He learnt a lesson. To solve his money problem, he set off his Internet TV business called SpokeDark.TV. Finally, with advertising revenues over 10 million baht a year he got from his business, he could clear up all his debt!
One more reason he is my role model is that he not only has a good and great idea, but he also wants to share it to the public especially the teenagers. According to his interview in the column “Next Generation Leaders” published in The New York Times Magazine, he talked about his successful TV program “Jor Khao Tuen” that he wanted to report the current political news in the way that it is easy to understand for general people, especially Thai youngsters. The style of his report is to satire Thai politics with humour. It influences teenagers to think and ask questions about the political situation in Thailand.
From John Winyu’s story, I learned: ‘Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.’ and ‘When we encounter an obstacle and we fight for it with great effort, we will be finally successful.’