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Headphones wrapped around his ears, his toothy grin stretching from ear to ear, Fredrick Lai is a dead ringer for the cheshire cat in lewis carroll’s alice in wonderland - he always has a smile for you. A second-year Communications & Media Management student, Fredrick is the newly-crowned winner of the 2007 Radio 100.3FM fight club dj competition. t’s talks to the affable youth about his dreams and more.

It’s not everyday that you beat more than 200 people in a DJ competition and win yourself an invitation by a radio station to spend a month hosting shows on air. For Fredrick Lai, however, this is just the latest chapter in his long love affair with the arts.

“I’ve always been a very ‘stage’ kind of person.” says Fredrick. “From little musical plays in kindergarten, storytelling competitions, Chinese orchestra in secondary school to television hosting classes, I’ve participated in all of them - I like to express myself. I actually learnt about theatre from Hua Liang, a Chinese theatre veteran, in an enrichment class in kindergarten. The way he taught us was very interesting and it sparked off my interest in plays.”

Driven by his interest in the media industry, Fredrick signed up for TP’s Communications & Media Management diploma course after his O levels as it allowed him to pursue what he wanted to do. Things weren’t so clear-cut when he was younger though. Quizzed about his childhood ambitions, Fredrick laughs heartily. “My ambitions? There were so many! Ha...ha...I remember when I was 10, I wanted to be a lawyer. Then, I wanted to be an actor. I even thought of becoming a motivational speaker in secondary school! Ha…ha…actor, lawyer, teacher…all of them more or less have something to do with speaking.”

With his gift of the gab and his fluency in both English and Mandarin, it’s no surprise that Fredrick’s favourite pastime is – yes, you’ve guessed it – chatting with his friends. “My interest is actually talking. If I have free time, I’ll find some friends, gather at a café or something, just chill and chitchat.”

With all the excitement about his win in the DJ competition still very much in the air, Fredrick is level-headed when it comes to his future. “Currently, in the midst of all the excitement, I feel that you might lose sight of where you’re headed. In the months to come I will think about what I want to do. I’m trying to be as objective as possible, take it one step at a time. I hope slowly and steadily, I will find my course in due time.”