From Gamer To Techpreneur - Sharon Yu Ong

Sharon Yu Ong started as a gamer.

- Jovi Figueroa

But unlike others who are content with just smashing their controllers and playing all day long, she brought the creativity and competitiveness that’s inherent to gamers into the work that she does, giving birth to a brand new tech marketing concept that’s now changing the landscape.

It all started with a handful of PlayStation and Nintendo classics. Sharon recalls: “I’m the youngest of six siblings, having two older brothers closest to my age. I join in whatever trend they’re into from WWE, Bomberman, and Crash Bandicoot to Final Fantasy and Heroes of Might and Magic. I guess you can say our gamer days have proven productive after all.”

Teeming with grand ideas that characterize many arcade games, she then put her love for gimmicks and tricks into work on her college thesis and created an experiential campaign for a local museum, way beyond the usual TV, radio, and print advertising. She proposed an interactive cinema advergaming component, which eventually was launched by SM Cinemas when she joined the company after school.

Game face on

When you start something this big, there are two ways to play it: either you pull the brake because you get scared of the possibilities, or you jump on the train and ride it to wherever it can take you. And for Sharon, she knew she had to jump on that train. And so Waveplay Interactive was born. She started her company in 2011 with her brother—the same one she would play with for hours on end when they were young.