Young entreprenuer. Photojournalist. Humanitarian.

In spite of his namesake, Yong Joe Kit (a.k.a. Joe) is No Average Joe.

Before turning the ripe old age of 18, Joe has worn many hats, won many hearts, and wormed out of many sticky situations. Here at Coffeeticks, we’ve come up with this special dedication to our favorite list-maker—with a “badass” post of his own!

1. He started from the bottom, and now he’s here.

If you’ve ever spoken to Joe, the first thing you’d notice isn’t his raucous laugh or the way his eyes can never seem to meet yours. Rather, you’d feel the charisma that oozes out of every pore of his body.

What you don’t realize is this—all of that is engineered.

Joe is the proud owner of Asperger’s Syndrome, a high-functioning type of autism that limits his ability to socialize and communicate. Thankfully, Aspies like him are also characterized by another trait—their extraordinary capacity for learning.

From watching movies on loop to memorizing pick-up lines from books, Joe had to work his ass off to speak like the average 21st century teen.

Look where he is now. (Refer to Point #11.)

2. There was never a time where he wasn’t founding his own thing.

When he was 13, Joe grew a student union to an international level in two years. When he was 14, he launched a multinational online Christian sharing group. When he was 15, he designed a homeschooling syllabus for English pedagogy from scratch. When he was 16, he became the co-founder of several projects which eventually won several startup competitions. When he was 17, he launched Faces of KL. (Refer to Point #4.)

Need we go on?

3. He’s thick-faced enough to brag 99.99% of the time.

And because we’re thick-faced too, we’re going to help him out:

Before he turned 18, Joe has led teams for TEDxKL and TEDxYouth KL, represented Malaysia at countless of international events, and started the heartwarming Faces of KL.

He’s done all that while still in homeschool. So, he definitely has the rights to brag.

The only thing he hasn’t done? Meeting the President of the United States—Mr. Brobama—when he came to Malaysia.

Because he was underage at that time. #ProblemsOfAYoungOverAchiever

4. He started the so-viral-it-broke-the-Internet Facebook Page of the Year—Faces of KL

Fun fact: Brandon Stanton is Joe’s man crush.

When Humans of New York rose to online fame, it got Joe thinking,

What can I do to tell the stories of the people on Kuala Lumpur’s bustling streets?

Armed with a DSLR and no photography skills, Joe valiantly set off to find out. His weekend routines are standard: While other kids his age (again, he’s only 18 today) are chilling out at the mall, he is on the streets hunting for his next story.

Today, at 8,496 Likes, we can safely say Faces of KL paid off pretty well so far.

(Never heard of it? Blasphemy! Better pay your respects and go Like the Page now.)

It is so good that ~~we plagiarised~~ his idea inspired our very own series of Stories of KL before he joined our team!

5. He cares about the homeless.

Joe’s photographic escapades has opened his eyes to the reality of KL streets—we actually have a serious homelessness problem.

So, instead of just taking pictures and leaving, Joe goes the extra mile, sitting down to meals with them and taking their conversations to the next level.

Where else can you find a heart like that? (Again, refer to Point #11.)

6. Sarcasm is one of the services he offers. Whether you ask for it or not.

“Hey, you there! Yeah, you know I’m talking about you!”

Joe’s wit is second to none. His pièce de résistance? Hashtags.

Some of our favorites:

#DatoJoe
#JanganlahDato
#OperationHBG
#SayNoToJoe
#NoAverageJoe
#YaHor
#FlappyJoe
#MojoJoeJoe
#ButTonsOfEditing
#IGGY
#WhoDatWhoDat

And his ultimate quote of all time:

#word

But, hey, all in good spirit.

7. He has amazing people as mentors.

If you’ve ever doubted the fact that an 18-year-old could have world-class mentors as friends, consider what Joe did in October 2013:

When he was 16 (and entirely underage), he found out about Global Startup Youth—a satellite event for the 4th Global Entrepreneurship Summit that was being held in Kuala Lumpur. It would gather a record-breaking 500 young entrepreneurs and mentors from all corners of the globe.

What did Joe do? He wrote to the organizers, every single day, to secure a spot.

The moment he did, Joe single-handedly organized a welcoming dinner for all the international delegates and mentors from UP Global. To this date, he still keeps in touch with them.

And that, kids (and everyone else), is the power of networking.