From a young journalist at the Shanghai French School student’s newspaper to covering billion-dollar deals at Bloomberg, Ilya’s journey is nothing short of inspiring. Passionate about writing and global affairs, he found his calling early on, nurturing his skills at LFS before making his mark in the world of journalism.
Hi Ilya! Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your time at LFS?
I’m 26 years old, originally from the Philippines, and I lived in Shanghai for about three and a half years. I started at LFS in 9th grade and graduated with a specialization in Economics. My time at LFS was academically rigorous, and it was exactly what I needed. I was also very involved in extracurricular activities. I participated in the Model United Nations (MUN) and worked on the school newspaper—where I first discovered my passion for journalism. That experience planted the seed for my career today.
That is amazing! What is it like to be a journalist at Bloomberg?
I cover breaking business news, mainly focusing on the U.S. and Canada, but sometimes on global markets as well. My work includes reporting on mergers and acquisitions, CEO appointments, financial markets, and anything that impacts billions of dollars in the economy. The news I cover is extremely varied— for example, just four years ago, I was reporting on Elon Musk’s $44 billion deal for Twitter.
How did your journey lead you to Toronto?
My journey really starts at LFS, this is where I really started doing all sorts of extra-curricular activities, where I got an international exposure and the confidence to talk about world issues. Working on the school newspaper helped shape me as a writer, and the support of my editors-in-chief was invaluable. At LFS I really worked hard on my writing and oral skills, it was incredibly helpful. You learn to be much more in-depth and to be more analytical, it truly is where everything began for me.
After LFS, I applied to the University of Toronto and got in. I studied international relations which was my major and I also minored in history and political science. The classes that I took were incredible. I continued my students’ newspaper journey at the University of Torontowith the newspaper The Varsity. I started writing event coverage news (on-campus protests, conferences), it really helped improve my writing skills. Writing is not something that you just learn, but that you develop over a long period of time.
How did you transition into professional journalism?
My experience at The Varsity helped me land an internship to Toronto Star, Canada’s largest daily newspaper, everyone reads it (laughs). That’s where I started covering breaking news, I was writing about crimes, housing, politics, and business stories.
It’s also where I had really seasoned editors take my work and walk me through how they edit it. I really learned journalism there, how to report stories, how to grab people’s attention, how to introduce sources. They really trusted me to write stories, even stories that made it to the homepage!
After 2 years working part-time at the Toronto Star, I applied for a summer internship at Bloomberg and got in the second time. It was a steep learning curve—I was immediately assigned to cover the U.S. and Canadian stock markets, something I had never done before (laughs). But the great thing about Bloomberg is that they gave me the training that I needed to take this assignment on, like everything I needed to learn about numbers, about these financial concepts and processes for mergers and acquisitions. Bloomberg has this fantastic rotational program, where summer interns can transition into full-time roles and rotate across different teams. I worked on credit markets, anti-trust regulations, and finally, breaking news—where I am today.
What does reporting breaking news at Bloomberg involve?
We monitor all types of publicly available sources—press releases, regulatory filings, company statements—and process them as quickly as possible. Bloomberg is a wire service, which means speed is critical. Our readers want to be the first to know, and we have to ensure that happens.
Why did you choose to study in Canada?
I lived in Canada for four years as a child, so it already felt familiar. When applying to universities, I kept my options open, considering schools in the UK, France, the U.S., and Canada. Ultimately, Toronto stood out for its high quality of life, cultural openness, and strong community, it has this kind of great community where you can find everything.
With your experience, what would you say make a great journalist?
First, curiosity. You need to be deeply interested in the world around you and willing to explore different career paths within journalism—whether it’s TV, radio, newspapers, or freelance writing. Journalism is just a medium, there are so many paths you can take. Second thing is that it’s a good idea to start working on your writing skills really early on. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t been challenged at LFS, especially by my history-geography teacher, M. Sneed. He was also our MUN director, and our annual conferences in Singapore were incredible experiences. It was the curiosity I had in his class that made me become the journalist I am today, I owe him so much.
Ilya’s journey from the Shanghai French School to Bloomberg is a testament to the power of strong academic foundations and extracurricular involvement. His early experiences in journalism at LFS, combined with the analytical and writing skills he honed there, set him on the path to success. Today, he covers some of the biggest financial stories in the world, proving that the skills learned at LFS can lead to remarkable careers across the globe!