Not everyone gets to study and pursue their passions. But for Trisha Wong, stepping through the doors of Simon Fraser University opened up new possibilities for her artistic talents.
From a young age, Wong has always held a strong interest in animation, cartoons and gaming. But like many with an artistic talent, she did not feel a career in the arts would be possible.
It was only when she visited SFU's School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT), in Surrey, that she realized her artistic passions could be central to her studies and a future career.
"I didn't want to be a so-called starving artist'. I thought I could do art as a hobby on the side. But my parents told me: you love art, you should pursue that,'" says Wong.
"I think the moment it clicked was when we visited SIAT and we walked in on some students in a studio working with cosplay props. Cosplay is one of my hobbies so I had to find out more."
Wong began studying Interactive Arts and Technology at SFU in the summer of 2020. Mid-way through her program, she and other SIAT students benefitted from the opening of the new StudioSIAT facility.
StudioSIAT is a hands-on experiential production studio with capabilities in video production, motion capture, visual effects, sound recording and post-production.
"When I started at SIAT that was it. The floodgates were opened. I couldn't believe that what I used to do for fun I was now doing for study. I thought art and school were separate things," says Wong, who received the Cody Sawatsky Memorial Award in Gaming last year.
Over the years, Wong has worked on a number of creative projects. Perhaps the most eye-catching production was the launch of SIAT's very own virtual ambassadors - believed to be the first in Canada affiliated to a university, if not in the world.
A virtual ambassador, also known as a VTuber, is an online content creator who adopts a virtual avatar as their fictional character, often using motion capture technology to animate their movements in real time.
The team at StudioSIAT has created two virtual ambassadors - Mo and Faye Ayato. As the story goes, they landed on earth (at SFU Surrey specifically) having stepped through a portal from their own magical world.
The concept came about after a conversation with the manager of StudioSIAT in the summer of 2024.
The project saw a team of SIAT students work with creative student minds from across Canada to bring the virtual ambassadors to life. Mo and Faye made their debut streams in March 2025.
While the virtual ambassadors are animated on-screen by two students using motion capture technology, there is a whole team behind their creation, encompassing character design, video production, 3D modelling, visual effects, sound recording and post production.
"SIAT is the perfect meeting ground for all these things to come together," says Wong, who took on the role of art director for the project.
"We built this whole thing from the ground up with our own student power. It has been an incredible experience and I don't think I could have got that anywhere else."
The virtual ambassadors project is just one example of how students at SIAT are pushing the boundaries of creativity and technology.
Wong also led several team projects to bring her favourite cartoon character, Karamatsu, to life, integrating illustration, 3D modelling, animation, virtual reality and artificial intelligence so people could engage with him.
As she looks beyond her convocation next week, where she will receive the Undergraduate Dean's Convocation Medal in recognition of her academic achievements, Wong says she hopes to work in the entertainment industry using the skills she's developed at SFU.
"It's a huge thing to say on my resumé that I was an art director," she says. "Managing a team, getting hands on experience, even just working in a motion capture studio, these are all rare skills for a new graduate to have.
"I couldn't have done it without SFU and it's only been possible because SFU has the facilities and programs that are perfectly suited to my kind of work."
