So This Is My Why: Recent Episodes

Ling Yah

A podcast featuring inspiring people about their journey to discovering and living their "WHY" or purpose in life. With your host & producer, Ling Yah, we deep dive into everything from finances to dealing with doubts and setbacks, and how to forge an unconventional career from ground zero! Expect to hear from entrepreneurs, artists, journalists, musicians, Hollywood actresses, VC founders and more. Visit www.sothisismywhy.com for more details!

We're back with Part 2 with Ken Perenyi, arguably one of the art world's greatest and most successful conman?!

In Part 1 of Ken's STIMY interview (do check it out if you haven't already done so), we covered his journey including how he first launched his art forgery 'career' (hint: it involves a broken bathroom that crashed through the ceiling to the restaurant below!).

In Part 2, Ken discusses his motivations, the thrill of creating and selling fake art, and how he managed to avoid capture by both the mafia and the FBI.

Highlights include a $750,000 art piece he painted, adopting his daughter due to a CNN documentary by Christiane Amanpour, and the psychological tactics he employed to fool art experts.

Despite the rather questionable nature of his work, Ken views his career with a mix of pride and reflection, acknowledging missed opportunities and his philosophical outlook on life.

He also recounts his controversial friendships with high-profile figures like Roy Cohn (the notorious lawyer/fixer who helped Donald Trump gain a footing in New York) and his thoughts on the challenges for contemporary artists breaking into the industry.

Highlights:

01:44 Ken's Artistic Journey and Motivations
05:46 The Art of Deception: Techniques and Challenges
10:53 Close Calls with the Mafia and FBI
16:04 The Investigation and Its Aftermath
33:32 Reflections on Life Choices and Missed Opportunities
38:23 Rescuing a Daughter from Sex Slavery
39:47 A Life Transformed by Art
40:04 The Rescue Mission in Ghana
43:52 Adopting Bridget and Her Journey
46:02 Reflections on Life Choices
01:04:28 The Art World and Its Challenges
01:15:22 Final Thoughts and Legacy

🙊 Want to support STIMY for as little as $0.10/day? https://www.sothisismywhy.com/support-stimy/

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/MoZ5YOdHyJ4

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/152

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/profile

Would you break the law if it made you a multimillionaire?

That’s what happened with Ken Perenyi - one of the most “successful” art forgers in the world.

His works have been sold all over the world, including in Christie’s and Sotheby’s, with one painting going for as high as $717,000!

He was also close friends with Roy Cohn - the notorious lawyer who helped Trump enter the New York market. The Independent called him the evil master architect who mentored Donald Trump (to Ken, he was just a great friend and protector).

Was hunted for decades by the Mafia and the FBI.

And got away with it all without even a slap on the wrist.

When the statute of limitation passed for his “crimes”, Ken then published a book telling everyone exactly how he did it. 😂

(Talk about giving everyone the finger!!)

And lest you wonder whether that’s all there is to Ken’s story, believe me.

It is not.

Ken’s childhood was spent hanging out with Tony, an influential Mafia member, who introduced him to the world of fine art.

He was so enamoured with art that he taught himself to paint. To crack the paintings and mimic the black spots that flies would leave on very, very old paintings.

He was also neighbours with Andy Warhol.

One memorable incident: He was sharing a flat with Tony who found an abandoned bathtub in the streets.

They didn’t have a bathtub so they decided to steal one (in a stolen car) and install it themselves in their flat.

The installation wasn’t done well.

Water leaked.

The flooring cracked.

And one evening, everything - the ceiling, bathtub and all - crashed from the first floor down to the ground floor, on top of a bustling Jewish restaurant.

Needless to say, Ken and Tony were kicked out of said flat.

And he spent a miserable 2 weeks wandering around New York before eventually finding a new place that would lead him to Roy Cohen’s doors.

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This is just the tiniest glimpse of Ken’s life and it’s so epic - we ended up having a 3 hour conversation! - that I had to split his story into 2 parts.

Are you ready to get started?

Highlights:

3:36 An Unlikely Artist growing up in the summer of love
5:51 Life changed forever when…
6:36 Hanging out with the real New Yorkers
8:12 Being introduced to fine art world
9:23 Being friends with a Mafia associate
12:06 Trying out art forgery
16:53 Imposter syndrome when calling himself an ‘artist’
19:10 Self-validation?
21:53 Andy Warhol - his neighbour
23:53 The bathtub
26:59 His biggest regret with Andy Warhol
31:15 Making fake art to survive
32:46 Finding his niche in life
35:24 Being evicted - another great turning point in life
37:35 The notorious Mafia fixer & lawyer, Roy Cohn
41:49 Donald Trump’s mentor
51:20 The greatest validation of his work
56:15 “I had a fantastic career…”
59:43 Entering the elite art world
1:03:04 How much art isn’t genuine in art galleries?
1:08:05 Is it harder to sell fake art today?

🙊 Want to support STIMY for as little as $0.10/day? https://www.sothisismywhy.com/support-stimy/

🧠 Build Your Why course: https://ling-yah-wong.mykajabi.com/joinus

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/152

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/QmsqswrOCN4

💌 Subscribe to the weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/profile

Imagine growing up in a hair salon.

Being thrown out of the house and sleeping in an abandoned cupboard.

Being bullied in school and almost failing SPM.

But knowing deep down inside that you love storytelling.

You just… don’t know what that means.

And how to make that dream a reality.

That was Jared Lee - one of Malaysia’s most famous YouTubers and the founder of the award-winning production house, Grim Film.

Jared started his journey in an event company, while also freelancing as a storyboard artist and production assistant.

Being passionate about storytelling, he decided to create a short film called The Long Distance Relationship. A film that, for him, he had to make happen, no matter what.

And it blew up.

✨ Within a day, it hit 10k views.

✨ Within a week, it hit 70k views

✨ Within a month, it hit 1 million views

This short film opened doors and led to the creation of his production house, The Grim Film.

Which has since bagged multiple awards, including Best Drama at America’s Soul 4 Reel International Film Festival 2013 for The Long Distance Relationship and Best Pilot and Best Special Effects at the 2018 Vancouver WebFest in Canada for The Last 7.

His most recent piece of work, Horologist, even won Best Animation at the San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) Film Festival 2023 and USA Film Festival! It was also a finalist for Poland's Animator Film Festival (Best Animation & Audience Choice Award) and nominated for the 2024 Eisner Award in the Best Single Issue/One-Shot category.

Proving how Jared’s wild gamble has paid off.

Although… life wasn’t easy.

In 2018, Jared was diagnosed with stage 1 testicular cancer. And he later found out that he could not have children.

But in spite of these challenges, Jared is someone who has always believed in pursuing his dreams and hustling against the odds.

Which is why I’m so thrilled to share his story as the latest guest on STIMY!

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to triumph against all odds and pursue your passion, what it takes to go from being a YouTuber to a legitimate film producer, and the personal struggles with cancer and childlessness, then this episode is for you.

So are you ready?

Let’s go.

Highlights:

2:02: Growing up in a single mum household
3:45 Finding escape in storytelling
5:18 Liking things that other boys don’t like
7:40 Worst year of my life
8:52 Getting kicked out
9:40 Finding his calling
11:13 A Kingdom of Paos
11:55 The Long Distance
13:42 YouTube
14:37 Going viral
17:19 There was no money!
20:16 Burning bridges
21:10 What it’s like to run a production company
24:54 Second-guessing himself
27:02 There is no joy in production?!
29:34 Making the switch & losing fans
32:58 The most successful work Jared’s done
34:30 Diagnosed with cancer
41:34 Do awards matter?
44:34 Any regrets?
45:07 Is your work acknowledged more overseas?
47:20 What kind of work has influenced your style?
50:39 What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?
51:07 What are the most important qualities of a successful person?
51:28 Sharing your private life in public

🧠 Join the Build Your Why course: https://ling-yah-wong.mykajabi.com/joinus

🙊 Want to support STIMY for as little as $0.10/day? https://www.sothisismywhy.com/support-stimy/

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/151

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/jsbc2xuaj0I

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/profile

Jonathan Mildenhall is the former Managing Director of TBWA, SVP of the Coca-Cola Company, first CMO at Airbnb and Independent Board Member at Peloton Interactive, Co-Founder of TwentyFirstCenturyBrand and current Chief Marketing Officer at Rocket Companies.

And we are back this week with Part 2 of our interview with Jonathan.

Last week, we dove deep into his childhood growing up & how everything was stacked against him: he was the only black person in his family and community, was working class and grew up in a housing estate, attended a polytechnic, experienced blatant racism and physical abuse and also had zero connections in advertising

The very industry that he rose to the very top in.

In Part 2, we delve deep into his career.

What it means to join Coca-Cola when it was creatively bankrupt, the stories behind some of his biggest and most successful advertising campaigns including have two ads being featured at the same Superbowl, why he gave it all up for a then unknown startup called Airbnb, what it takes to ‘make it’ in his team and so much more.

And in case you didn’t know, this interview is also available on Youtube. Check it out via the links below.

Now are you ready?

Let’s go!

Highlights:

2:17 Coca-Cola was creatively bankrupt?!
7:31 Being Coca-Cola's poster child for diversity - 2014 Super Bowl [America the Beautiful]
15:35 The only CMO to have 2 Super Bowl ads play at the same time
16:14 How Brian Chesky convinced Jonathan to commit career suicide
22:10 Building an Olympic marketing team
26:08 Why 25% of people don't make it in Jonathan's team
27:17 Who is Jonathan Mildenhall the leader?
29:25 Launching his own company
37:12 A Colourful View from the Top
41:52 Advice to any aspiring CMO before they take the seat?
44:20 Brand marketing or customer marketing?

🙊 Want to support STIMY for as little as $0.10/day? https://www.sothisismywhy.com/support-stimy/

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/150

🍿 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cumagnVOlRQ&t=1s&list=UULFSZlcS5ooyCjj_MkrmH_WhQ

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/profile

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Jonathan Mildenhall is the former Managing Director of TBWA, Senior Vice President of the Coca-Cola Company, first CMO at Airbnb and Independent Board Member at Peloton Interactive, Co-Founder of TwentyFirstCenturyBrand and current Chief Marketing Officer at Rocket Companies.

In other words, someone at the very top of the marketing industry.

Who was once treated as an experiment.

Growing up in Leed, Jonathan faced tremendous physical and racial abuse. It got so bad that he once ran to his mum, telling her that he didn’t want to be black!

But his mum responded by saying, “Unfortunately, there are ignorant people who will always be frightened because you look different. And they're going to say hurtful things and sometimes they will do hurtful things.

You can't change your packaging but they can never ever damage what's inside of your packaging.”

Eventually, Jonathan found his calling - in marketing!

Even though the odds were stacked against him: he was from a polytechnic, grew up in a council estate, was black and had no family name to fall back on.

But as it turns out, he had a spark.

And that spark was what drew people to him.

Allowed him to rise to the top of the London marketing scene and dominate the global scene later as he became a Senior Vice President at the Coca-Cola Company and the first CMO at Airbnb.

If ever there was a story of someone who has triumphed against all odds, it would be Jonathan.

So are you ready to learn how he did it?

Let’s go.

Highlights

3:23 The 8-year-old Jonathan
8:08 Keeping a childlike wonder
12:01 Show a bit of leg!
15:51 Protecting his mum’s independence
19:12 Advertising is NOT for you?!
22:03 The awkward “oh my goodness, you’re a black guy”
24:22 The energy of the 80s advertising industry
26:17 You’re an experiment
30:43 Meeting John Hegarty of BBH (Bartle Bogle Hegarty)
35:35 Cindy Gallup dragged him out of the closet!
43:47 Living authentically
45:10 I was shit scared
50:10 Phil Mooney - Director of Heritage Communications for 40+ years at the Coca-Cola Company

🙊 Want to support STIMY for as little as $0.10/day? https://www.sothisismywhy.com/support-stimy/

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/150

🍿 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cumagnVOlRQ&t=1s&list=UULFSZlcS5ooyCjj_MkrmH_WhQ

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/profile

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Rodney Wong is the CEO of Munchy's, one of the largest Malaysia-based snack food manufacturer with presence in over 60 countries globally.

Which makes him the Willy Wonka of Malaysia!

And he's had quite the varied career.

From tobacco to Coca-Cola, Petronas and now the world of snacks and sweets, Rodney is testimony to the fact that we all need to take charge of our own career and personal development to get to where we want.

The question is... how?

While everyone's path is different, Rodney's shared his personal journey, highlighting the people who were significant in his journey, why paying forward is so important him, what it's like working with founders on their 'baby' and his vision for the future.

Want to hear what one of Malaysia's top entrepreneurs has to say about building success career?

Stick around and you'll find out!

Highlights

2:41 Rooted in family
3:18 Being an archaeologist
6:21 Structured way of working
7:23 Connecting the dots
8:45 Take charge of your own development
11:41 What success looks like
13:43 I have a hard rule
15:05 Paying it forward
16:28 Major learnings
18:35 Gen Z
23:31 Being in Shanghai
25:11 KOLs
27:07 Do you want to expand the market or improve the bottom line?
29:03 The challenge of working with founders
31:58 We're going to sell...
34:50 Progression & growth
36:38 Personal growth
42:35 Soka Gakkai
44:38 How can people help you?
48:53 Do you feel like you've found your why?
48:54 What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?
50:47 What do you think are the most important qualities of a successful person?

🙊 Want to support STIMY for as little as $0.10/day? https://www.sothisismywhy.com/support-stimy/

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/dx_ePevgoRU&list=UULFSZlcS5ooyCjj_MkrmH_WhQ

🎙️Show notes/transcript for this episode: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/149

💌 Subscribe to the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

We're back with Part 2 with Dato' Sri Idris Jala - the former CEO of Malaysia Airlines, Managing Director of Shell Sri Lanka and Senator & Minister in the Malaysian Prime Minister’s Office, and current Chairman of PEMANDU.

In Part 1 of this So This Is My Why feature, we delved into his tribal origins, how becoming top of his class was a matter of life and death, and his journey to becoming the Managing Director in Shell Sri Lanka - still his toughest gig to date. Listen here: https://youtu.be/KekuCGZJYlk

In Part 2, we go even deeper, exploring things like:

🔸 If Dato' Sri Idris would act the same way if he had a chance to redo everything?

🔸 How Shell moved Idris out of Sri Lanka because he was taking huge risks and they thought, “We should take you out before you kill yourself!”

🔸 What he learned from Michael Black

🔸 How he put Eddy Leong as the first CEO of Firefly because “he’s a bit crazy but he has the tenacity to push it”

🔸 Why he gave up the job he really wanted - to be the Chairman of Shell - to become the CEO of Malaysia Airlines

🔸 The advice he has for his sons

Want to learn more?

You’ll just have to tune in.

Highlights:

0:00 Introduction
1:30 If you had a chance, would you redo anything?
6:01 Shell was a fantastic school of management
6:43 Why Michael Black left such an impact on him
10:52 If you really want to do the real impossible stuff, you must put everything on the line
12:06 The line between the impossible goal v being foolhardy
14:54 The best way to tell you what you don't want to hear?
15:39 Why did you reject your dream job?!
16:46 Huge leap of faith - MNC to GLC
18:46 Launching a budget airline, Firefly
23:36 Common values of incredible people
24:43 Making it sustainable
29:07 Common issues
35:27 Lessons from PEMANDU operating in other countries
37:23 Check into Hotel California
39:14 Having a soulmate
44:16 SOW Club - Scared of Wife Club
48:58 Advice to sons
53:46 Legacy you want to leave behind?
54:03 What do you think are the most important qualities of a successful person?

🙊 Want to support STIMY for as little as $0.10/day? https://www.sothisismywhy.com/support-stimy/

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/lhIUOf7jSKs

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/148

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/profile

When Dato Sri Idris Jala became the Managing Director of Shell Sri Lanka, he wasn’t expecting to hold the country on ransom.

The Sri Lanka unit had already experienced 27 years of continuous losses when he took over. And on Day 1, what Idris had to handle was: bombs strapped to his depot, the kidnapping of his transport manager, a major labour strike and…

Threatening letters sent by a professional sniper who knew where he lived, where he worked, when he left each place and the exact route he took each other.

Tough doesn’t even begin to cover it.

But Idris turned it around.

And in the latest STIMY episode, he shares how, why he took on such a tough gig and what continues to drive him.

There were so many gems in his 2-hour interview that it’s only right to have split it into two parts.

This is Part 1.

Which opens up with his childhood in the Borneo Highlands - where his dad would throw him into the pigsty when he misbehaved.

And also insisted that they sleep on the floor of the stinky fish market - because they were travelling with neighbouring tribes who couldn’t afford a tribe and “they shouldn’t act different from others”.

Education, for him back then, was a matter of life and death.

His North Star then was to be the top of his class.

So he asked his dad, a teacher, for advice.

He was told, “Very simple, son. Find out who’s currently No. 1, be his or her best friend, and do exactly what he does but put it to the power of 10.”

And so Idris just did. 😂

Others highlights:

🔸 Surviving ghostly encounters & treacherous rapids in the Borneo Highlands

🔸 His spiritual awakening as part of the Bario Revival

🔸 The concept of “ketuit” (which is kelabit for ‘kiasu’ or being very competitive)

🔸 Why his cocky job application letters were successful - he began his letters with the words, “Dear Sir, I’m the man you’re looking for”!

🔸 Why ‘the graveyard is full of indispensable people’

🔸 The impossible game

Highlights:

3:15 Storytelling culture
4:33 Thrown into the pigsty!
7:06 Ketuit
7:40 What does winning mean?
8:26 My true north then & the trick to achieving it
10:05 Becoming a lawyer
15:48 Walking through the cemetery
17:19 The Bario spiritual revival
21:50 Not quite from God? The Gestapo inquiry
25:03 Post-Revival
29:08 Not able to go to New Zealand
31:55 The ‘magic’ in his cocky letters
34:01 Wanting a free flight home
42:28 Sense of curiosity
47:02 Becoming Managing Director of Shell Sri Lanka & the game of the impossible
51:49 He makes every big decision with his wife
54:03 Never make the position become you
55:22 Fear & holding the country at ransom?

🙊 Support STIMY for as little as $0.10/day! - https://www.sothisismywhy.com/support-stimy/

🎙️Show notes/transcript: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/148

💌 Subscribe to weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

When Arthur Kiong, CEO of Far East Hospitality, failed his A Levels, he thought his life was pretty much over.

His dad even told him, "I’m sorry, you had your shot but you missed it" and in Arthur's own words, "I was lost and I was discouraged and I was in a great deal of pain and despair."

Arthur ended up selling slimming products on the streets because it was the only job he could find before applying to Mediocorp to become a stage technician.

Things took a turn when he was asked to take a voice test and he ended up with a celebrity radio DJ because he could pronounce "Thursday the Thirteenth”!

Overnight, Arthur found himself rubbing shoulders with the who's who and celebrities of the world and you would’ve thought that this was where Arthur’s career was on a rapid trajectory upwards save that he gave it all up to work to become a greeter at Prego.

People were astonished.

Why would he take on such a 'demeaning' job?!

But Arthur was adamant.

And Prego signalled the first step that Arthur took into the world of hospitality, where you'll find that he's had more than his share of incredible luck, ingenuity and adventures.

Including:

Being 'saved' by a war and lauded as a genius
Landing his dream job (at Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong) because his dog, Silky, fell sick!
Launching a successful marketing campaign straight after 9/11 (despite being in the thick of a fight between the head office & owner!)

To find out more, you’ll just have to listen to this STIMY Ep 147 with Arthur Kiong. 😏

Highlights:

2:49 Adrian Tan
3:52 You have to be on the right escalator
6:18 Being in despair
6:53 Selling Japanese slimming starch
7:04 Becoming a celebrity radio DJ because he could pronounce ‘Thursday the Thirteenth’
9:01 Giving it all up
10:36 No future?
12:17 Becoming a waiter at Prego
12:55 Oh Lord, what have I done?!
15:00 Sales wasn’t easy!
15:26 First big breakthrough in hospitality
16:33 Interesting initiatives
19:39 Being saved by a war
22:35 I found nothing!
23:58 That scares me… I like being in control!
25:21 The difference between knowing and knowing
26:35 Landing the dream job at The Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong because of my sick dog!
28:09 It was a spooky experience
30:42 Returning to Singapore
31:18 The significant career break that allowed him to get into the Ritz
33:42 Superman in New York
36:21 When the cucumber turns green, it means the time is ripe
37:43 If things go south, will the corporate body defend me?
39:37 I wanted to architect my resume
41:10 Why Singapore?
42:11 Building a Singaporean Hotel Brand
45:18 Living by Christian Values
49:05 Challenges of a CEO (that most don’t see)
50:23 Do you believe in God?
51:32 The Second Act in your career?
53:00 Biggest career advice
54:23 Do you feel like you’ve found your why?
55:18 What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?
55:37 What are the most important qualities of a successful person?

Special thanks to Limpeh Studios for making this in-person interview possible!

🙊 Want to support STIMY for as little as $0.10/day? https://www.sothisismywhy.com/support-stimy/

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/147

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/lJkY_8igcxQ

📚 Download 5 Stones & a Sling: https://www.fareasthospitality.com/-/media/StayFarEast/Five-Stones-and-a-Sling

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

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Official Biography

Arthur Kiong is the Chief Executive Officer of Far East Hospitality, which is part of Far East Orchard Limited, a listed company under Far East Organization.

Since Arthur joined the organisation in July 2012, he has been instrumental in growing the company’s hospitality management business through joint-ventures and acquisitions. Over the last nine years, Far East Hospitality's portfolio grew from 18 properties in Singapore to 105 hotels and serviced residences in nine countries – Austria, Australia, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Singapore, with more in its development pipeline.

In more than 35 years of his career in the hospitality industry, Arthur has worked at prominent international hospitality brands including Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts, The Ritz-Carlton (Singapore and New York), Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group (Hong Kong), Hyatt Hotels Corporation and Westin Hotels & Resort.

Arthur also plays an active role in championing change in the hospitality industry, and currently serves as First Vice President of the Singapore Hotel Association. In 2020, he was appointed as the hospitality representative in the National Jobs Council – a task force set up to establish jobs and upskilling opportunities during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In Nov 2022, Arthur received the Executive of the Year – Hospitality & Leisure award from the Singapore Business Review Management Excellence Awards for initiating transformative changes to FEH’s operations and steered the group’s expansion in recent years despite the pandemic.

Arthur was a recipient of the Special Recognition Award from Singapore Tourism Board in 2016 for having played a key role in rallying support for driving productivity and manpower development initiatives in the hotel industry.

“When people say it’s ok, I don’t need a family, I don’t need a partner, I say bullshit.”

Woon Tai Ho is most known for being the founder of Channel News Asia & author of prolific books like the trilogy by George Yeo (Singapore’s former foreign minister).

But has the success been worth it?

What are some of his biggest regrets in life?

In Part 1 (which you should listen to if you haven’t), we explored all of his big career achievements and the challenges that came with it, including being summoned by China to answer for their coverage of Falun Gong.

But today, we cover something very different.

Deeper.

More personal.

Starting with Tai Ho’s major pivot from broadcasting to author.

Because nowadays, it’s common to make career pivots. It’s hard enough when it’s just jumping from one company to the next in the same industry, but Tai Ho has made that huge jump so…

❓ How did he do it?

❓ How does he think about the ‘Second Act’ of his career?

❓ How should people plan for their own Second, Third or even Fourth Act, especially when it comes to retirement?

And is there such a thing as living for too long and just ‘waiting to die’?

We also talk about some of his deepest regrets, his relationship with success and thoughts on relationships.

His advice to people: Go marry, have kids, then go back to your career.

We don’t have to be that woke. 😅

Do you agree?

Time to hear from Tai Ho again in the latest episode from STIMY!

Highlights:

3:14 Becoming a biographer by accident
5:28 What makes George Yeo (Singapore’s ex-foreign minister) so special?
7:52 Transparency & Lee Kuan Yew
8:48 Is living to age 102 a blessing or a curse?
11:38 “If I don’t have my second act, I don’t know what to do with my time”
13:30 Is all of Tai Ho’s success worth it?
16:33 Tai Ho’s biggest regret
20:26 His biggest advice for people
23:56 Why does Tai Ho collect bunnies?

🙊 Want to support STIMY for $0.10/day? https://www.sothisismywhy.com/support-stimy/

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/146

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/U0_pVl_RsGM

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Growing up, Woon Tai Ho - author & founder of Channel News Asia - didn’t know he was poor.

Until he invited his friends over and was asked questions like:

❓ Where’s your phone?

❓ Where’s your sofa?

None of which he had.

Which made him realise that actually, he was pretty poor. 😅

But he was never ashamed of it.

When his sister invited him to stay at the house she was working at as a domestic helper, that changed his world.

“I couldn’t believe it, the way they stayed… these people had a dimension of luxury that I didn’t know about. So I told myself, I need to work very hard.”

And work very hard he did.

We know Channel News Asia as one of the preeminent TV news channels in Asia, but that wasn’t always the case. As Tai Ho shares, the earliest days of CNA was very much a ‘wait and see’ game.

It was hardly easy too.

“Television is a very, very hungry animal. A news channel is a very, very hungry animal. Every hour, every minute, every second needs content. Otherwise it's black.”

❓So how did Tai Ho build CNA from the ground up?

❓Position CNA amidst other giants like CNN & the BBC?

❓ Gain support from the likes of former Singapore foreign minister, George Yeo?

❓Handle challenges like when he was summoned to China for their coverage of Falun Gong?

You’ll have to listen to Part 1 of this STIMY episode to find out. 😉

Part 2 will come out next Sunday!

Highlights:

3:00 Would you consider yourself successful?
6:34 Family
8:27 Becoming a chef?
11:00 Singapore is a pretty good place!
13:29 “I never thought about being the best”
14:20 “When I was a kid, I didn’t know I was poor”
15:50 Mediacorp
16:53 Founding Channel News Asia
20:48 The reality of founding a news channel (that most people don’t know)
23:09 How do you define “quality content”?
24:28 Establishing the boundaries for quality
26:01 Looking at competitors to figure out CNA’s value proposition
28:33 No government support?!
31:14 Pushing the Singapore government’s perspective?
34:32 Getting into trouble with the Chinese government
37:56 Knowing which stories and perspective to put forward
40:51 Time to move on?

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/146

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

“Are you a masochist?”

“Do you love books that much?”

If you want to be a bookseller, than those are the questions you need to ask yourself - according to Kenny Chan, the former Senior Director at Kinokuniya Book Stores (Asia Pacific) - he spent ~20 years of his career there prior to his retirement!

But prior to bookseller, Kenny was a foreign diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singapore, where he was posted to London as their Trade and Culture Attache.

He then switched to bookselling, first at Popular Holdings Limited, then MPH Bookstores Sdn Bhd, and back again at Popular when they launched their IPO!

And finally interviewed for a position at Kinokuniya.

The President & Chairman of Kinokuniya flew from Japan to Singapore to conduct the interview and asked Kenny just one question:

“Do you love books?”

As it turns out, Kenny gave me the exact answer he was looking for!

And even after retirement, Kenny remains deep in the bookselling world.

If you haven’t already guessed it, Kenny is the latest guest on STIMY!

And we dive deep into all things books & the art of evangelising.

❓Why does Kenny not judge people by their educational level?

❓Why did he initially become a foreign diplomat?

❓What was it like opening bookstores throughout Asia Pacific, Dubai and New York?

❓What was it like working at his dream company?

❓What is the secret to buying books & why is bookselling a spiritual experience?

❓How can aspiring authors can get Kenny’s attention?

Are you intrigued yet?

The YouTube version is out now too. 😎

Highlights:

1:01 The Punisher
1:50 Don’t judge people by their level of education
2:59 Do your best in everything that you touch
3:58 My education was a roller-coaster
5:31 Didn't want to be a bookseller!
7:56 Getting into foreign affairs
9:51 Hunted down a book for Lee Kuan Yew & the power of connections
11:35 Lee Kuan Yew was a hard task master
14:54 Life isn't fair
18:32 How to get rid of inventory/books for bookstores
20:21 Leaving Popular for MPH
21:00 Introducing comics & Sanrio (Hello Popular) to Singapore
22:12 How Kenny knew it was time to bring Hello Kitty in
24:07 Memorable stories
26:43 What was it like working in his dream company?
27:46 Becoming store manager of the MPH Stamford Bookstore
28:22 You need to be a dictator
32:22 A great success
36:23 The IPO
37:11 The secret behind buying books & working at Popular
41:29 Moving to Kinokuniya
43:03 Meeting
43:30 The 1 question asked by the President & Chairman of Kinokuniya from Japan
44:44 Working with someone who doesn’t understand English
46:09 The spiritual aspect of book selling
47:01 Opening a store in Dubai
48:16 Love of books
49:13 The Kinovirus & training to become a great bookseller
50:45 The Speech
52:05 Biggest achievements while at Kinokuniya
54:44 Kinokuniya isn’t a bookstore. It’s a lifestyle choice
56:15 The importance of building a brand
58:51 The Twin Lemons Act
59:50 Getting Kenny’s attention
1:00:25 Ask a bookseller, what questions should you ask yourself?

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/1uCeI8LOI5Y

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/145

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Gero DiMaria knows what it means to go truly viral.

He's an Italian chef & owner of Kucina - Singapore's first authentic halal food restaurant.

But he's also a bona fide Italian culinary superstar with over 500k followers on social media - 256k on Instagram & 252.6k on TikTok!

He took the world by storm with his recent series of viral reels on choosing the best pasta/cheeses in grocery stores, and that had a real trickle down effect on his business.

So we dig into all the juicy stuff, including:

❓ What does it mean to actually go ‘viral’?

❓ What kind of measurable impact has social media had on his business?

❓ What is his advice for leveraging social media for businesses?

❓ What have his toughest moments been?

❓ And who exactly is Gero?!

The goal: To understand the role of social media today, what it really means to go viral & how one can leverage on that social media reach to build your own business.

Highlights:

1:55 Italian childhood
4:11 What do Italians eat every day?
5:38 People in Asia aren’t taught to think?!
10:58 Entering the food industry
12:13 Work hard to earn your money
13:33 Your first job sets the bar
14:49 That English breakfast shift
16:52 Knowing that the F&B world was for him
17:33 How to cook the perfect pasta
20:04 Moving from London to Singapore
21:58 First job at Pasta Fresca
23:19 What’s an authentic halal Italian restaurant?
25:59 Chefs can only be chefs, they can’t run a business
29:43 Going into marketing & the lost $3000
31:22 The turning point
32:39 Content strategy
35:14 Going truly viral
36:18 Acting debut
37:58 Why accept collaborations?
40:00 Separating his personal brand from his Kucina restaurant
41:24 The content creation team
42:48 Advice for entrepreneurs
44:06 Do you feel like you’ve found your why?
45:25 What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?
46:15 What do you think are the most important qualities of a successful person?

📍Show notes:https://www.sothisismywhy.com/144

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Would you die for your passion?

Most wouldn’t but for 58-year-old Swee Chiow, Singapore’s first professional adventurer, it’s a question he must face every day.

And it all began when he caught a glimpse of Mount Everest from a plane.

He was working in IT (Singapore Airlines) then, but he decided from that one glimpse that he wanted to climb Mount Everest - a dream that took him a mere 10 years to achieve!

The journey was hard.

He knew nothing. So he read many books & even went on a 10-day mountaineering course at Mt Cook that he flunked because he wasn’t fit enough!

In 1998, he joined Singapore’s first Mount Everest expedition. It was a disaster at first because:

❌ Their tent collapsed during a freak storm

❌ Their first attempt at the South Pole failed as they didn’t have enough rope - the Singapore media hounded them & issued headlines declaring that the expedition had failed

But they didn’t give up.

Their second attempt was a success!

But an exhausting one.

In the midst of the media glory, Swee Chiow knew he had to take advantage of it so he immediately launched Singapore's first Antarctic expedition.

Since then, he has:

Climbed Everest x3 and K2
8,000km cycle from SG → Beijing (China) = 2003
Swam 40 km across Malacca Straits
Kayaked 3,000km across Philippines
Broke his first Guinness World Records for the longest scuba submergence (220 hours)
Rollerbladed 6,000km from Hanoi SG in 94 days (and broke the Guinness World Records in 2008)

Highlights:

3:34 Why Why Why?!
4:12 Fear of heights
5:00 Computer science in Kansas
6:11 Saw Mount Everest from a plane
6:51 Not giving up after 10 years
7:24 The mountain is magical & spiritual?!
9:06 Lessons learned
10:27 Altitude sickness / AMS
12:04 Pulling Singapore’s first Everest expedition together
13:25 You can’t fail!
14:19 What should people know about Everest?
16:45 Quitting his day job
17:45 Antarctica
19:38 Commercialising his adventure business
20:32 Swee Chiow’s value proposition?
22:02 How he builds trust with his clients
24:11 Risks & death
25:11 Any trick to staying calm?
25:24 Drifting to Taiwan & near certain death
27:37 Never let your ego take over
29:28 Dealing with the media
30:55 Never doing K2 again
32:19 The ghosts at Tibet’s Xishapengma
36:12 Adventurers hogging the limelight
37:04 Collaborating with AirAsia X
40:16 How Swee Chiow decides on his adventures
41:43 Advice for those in their 30s
45:28 What’s next?
46:26 The second act of his career?
47:36 Leadership principles to be an effective guide for his team
49:15 What drives you to push yourself to the extreme each time?
50:23 Do you feel like you’ve found your why?
51:06 What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?
51:27 What are the most important qualities of a successful person?

Special thanks to Limpeh Studios (Hepmil Media) for the studio!

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

📍Show notes:https://www.sothisismywhy.com/143

💌 STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Meet Lucas Lu - Head of Zoom Asia.

And also a fellow Sarawakian!

Lucas has had an illustrious career going from GM of Systems Technology Group at IBM Malaysia where they closed large deals within the first 6 months, leading to Lucas winning ASEAN Rookie of the Year - his first big recognition.

He ended up staying at IBM for 10 years and won 2 Global Golden Circle Award before moving on to become:

General Manager, Astro
GM (Tech Sales Malaysia), Oracle
Senior Director (APAC Enterprise Commercial Sales & Industry), Microsoft

Prior to his current role heading the Asian arm of Zoom, covering ASEAN, South Korea, Hong Kong SAR and Taiwan.

While at first glance, Lucas appears to have had a very varied career, he has also been very intentional about every career move he’s made.

And has had no zero regrets with how it has turned out.

So we dive deep into this episode into all things career development:

❓ How has Lucas chosen the roles that he has?

❓ What is his secret sauce to climbing the corporate ladder?

❓ How should one find mentors/career sponsors?

❓ How does he plan his career & life (he has a plan for everything, including for his family members!!)?

Please do listen & leave a rating & review!

Highlights:

1:50 My first 15 years
2:27 Shell City
4:22 No one leaves Shell, but I did…
5:26 Getting the call from IBM
6:05 Switching to tech
6:59 Lucas’ unfair advantage over other people
7:50 Lots of planning & reflections
11:55 What should you do when you first take on a regional role?
14:06 Career sponsors
14:41 Secret to landing career sponsors
15:22 The first time doors opened for Lucas?
16:15 Moving on after 10 years
17:14 Bringing a corporate mindset to the startup world?
19:09 Measuring returns for media projects
19:41 Moving to Oracle
21:01 Kilimanjaro
22:55 Element of luck
24:16 Dealing with failure
25:55 No regrets?
27:37 Moving to Microsoft
29:14 Takeaways from being fully immersed in a country
32:00 Did hiking change how he approaches sales and work?
32:25 Why Zoom?
33:43 Checklist for Lucas’ next career move (no compromise)
34:24 How to determine if someone is the right person to work for?
35:33 Most influential person in Lucas’ career
37:28 Managing the strawberry generation
39:15 What Lucas hopes to achieve at Zoom
43:58 The second act in Lucas’ career
46:45 What STIMY listeners can help Lucas with

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/142

💌 STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

This episode is a compilation of 6 of the most powerful women featured on the So This Is My Why podcast, discussing the milestones that led them on their journey to success

Ep 124: Jacqueline Novogratz

Jacqueline is the founder & CEO of Acumen - a non-profit global venture capital fund that aims to use entrepreneurial approaches to address global poverty. As the OG of impact investing, she shares her experience in Rwanda and learning that the most important thing is to build something where you leave no footprint behind.

And how there is no such thing as black & white. Everyone has an angel and demon within them that comes out at different times.

📍 Listen to Jacqueline's full episode: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/124

Ep 115: Lydia Fenet

Lydia is the former Executive Director of Christie's New York and for 10 years, she thought it was a privilege to be working at Christie's. She never asked for more.

Until she realised that you are just a number in the P&L, and you have to fight for what your worth. In one conversation, she managed to x3 her salary, obtain an international director designation and start a new department on strategic partnerships.

📍 Listen to Lydia's full episode: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/115

Ep 125: Tanya Zakowich

Tanya has worked at NASA, Boeing and Hyperloop and shares her journey in making big career pivots which led to the creation of Pink Pencil Math with 2 million TikTok followers, 507k Instagram Followers & 99k YouTube followers.

📍 Listen to Tanya's full episode: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/125

Ep 79: Nicole Quinn

Nicole is a General Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. She's known as the celebrity whisperer who's worked with the likes of Lady Gaga, Tom Brady, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jessica Alba.

📍 Listen to Nicole's full episode: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/79

Ep 77: Lily Wu

Lily is a two-time 7 figure business founder who shares how she got started on her entrepreneurial journey in Australia as a teenager

📍 Listen to Lily's full episode: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/77

Ep 56: Lauren Hom

Lauren is a California-born designer, illustrator & hand lettering artist with a 250k strong following on Instagram. She is known for her use of bright colour palettes & playful letterings and has worked for clients such as Starbucks, YouTube, TIME Magazine, Google and AT&T. She has also been recognised by Communications Arts, the Art Directors Club, the One Club, the Type Directors Club and the Webby Awards

She shares how she's built her enviable artistic career including with Daily Dishonesty.

📍 Listen to Lauren's full episode: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/56

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🙊 Like STIMY? Buy me a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/ncLfbdQ7XQA

🌍 Website: https://www.sothisismywhy.com

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Sponsor: Descript - an AI-enabled software that makes it possible to edit weekly videos efficiently because it transcribes a 1.5 hour interview in 1 minute - and allows all editing to be done via the transcript! To find out more: https://www.descript.com/?lmref=sjT9JA

It’s not every day that you get to inherit a 100-year-old family business, but that’s exactly what Fong Wai Kheng has done.

Fong is the fourth generation of his family to run Tong Heng - Singapore’s top confectionary shop most known for its trademark 💎 diamond-shaped egg tarts.

Ask pretty much any Singaporean (I did), and it feels like 99% of them will have heard, eaten and love those egg tarts!

So of course, I got curious.

And asked Fong if he’d be up for a STIMY interview!

After all, family businesses are tricky.

There is:

🍿 The legacy you’ve inherited & must now maintain

🍿 The relationships you need to navigate (you can’t split family/work)

🍿 The challenge of keeping your brand relevant (a huge issue for Tong Heng at one point until they went through a massive rebranding exercise)

🍿 All the ups and downs of keeping a business alive.

A business that first came about because of Fong’s great-grandfather who fled China in 1901 (end of Qing Dynasty) to work as a coolie in Singapore.

His great-grandfather eventually earned enough to start his own pushcart coffee business but… the local “gangs” came around for protection money.

The great-grandfather had none, but promised to have the money ready next time.

Unfortunately, the gangsters won’t hear of it.

And proceeded to beat him up.

Or at least, they tried too.

Because what they didn’t know was that Fong’s great-grandfather had been trained in martial arts by the soldiers in the Qing Court (+ he was also 1.87m tall!).

So Fong’s great-grandfather beat up those gangsters instead. 🤣

News spread.

The community gathered and gifted him with a pistol before appointing him as its protector!!

Want to know what happened thereafter? 😏

You’ll just have to listen to this STIMY episode with Fong to find out.

Highlights:

2:54 Childhood
5:00 Expectations in joining the family business?
6:32 Have you had enough fun?
10:26 100-year-old confectionary shop - the origins of Tong Heng
12:22 Tong Heng’s trademark egg tarts
14:22 Gangs & protection money
14:44 Martial arts
16:50 After the war
17:55 His two aunts
20:24 Pulling a surprise
25:06 A new shop
27:38 Cracking thousands of eggs?!
29:40 Massive rebranding exercise to appeal to the Gen Zs & Gen Alphas
33:23 Tension in the family?
34:41 Going viral
35:00 Branding decisions behind Tong Heng’s trademark yellow packaging
36:15 Tong Heng’s faithful customers - the grandmother & her grandson
37:30 The future & staying in their own lane
39:35 Advice for other family business owners?

🌟 Special thanks to Limpeh Studios for making this recording possible! If you want to do any studio recordings while in Singapore, be sure to check out: https://www.hepmil.com/limpehstudios

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/141

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/kSXxRHrWWas

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Hey STIMIES!

Welcome back to Part 2 of the So This Is My Why Podcast with Loh Lik Peng - CEO & Founder of Unlisted Collection.

In Part 1, we covered Lik Peng’s journey from wanting to become a doctor (just like his parents) to becoming a commercial litigator and purchasing his first hotel property: Hotel 1929.

The property that kickstarted his crazy career pivot.

But the F&B industry is a tough place to be. You need a good dose of hard work, luck and… a talent for spotting F&B talent (which Lik Peng has!).

In this episode, we dive into the intricacies of his international hospitality business, tackling questions like:

Why does he give equity to his chefs?
How does he identify and convince culinary talents like Rishi Naleendra to come on board?
How does he work together with the chefs to ensure that they have everything they need to build a thriving business?
How attaining a Michelin star flipped a switch within the chefs he works with
What are his thoughts on brand building?
When is it time to pull the plug? (His most painful failure was with One Leicester Square in London)
His big passion with museums; and
So much more

If you haven’t heard Lik Peng’s origin story, listen to the previous STIMY Ep 140 Part 1 episode first.

And if you have, then stick around for Part 2!

Are you ready?

Let’s go.

Highlights:

2:52 Lik Peng’s hands off approach
4:20 Discovering Rishi Naleendra & being a good spotter of F&B talent
5:51 Did Lik Peng conduct any due diligence on his potential talents?
6:56 Building the infrastructure for an F&B business
8:20 “I didn’t understand what P&L was before. If I knew, I would’ve never said yes.”
9:06 Keep an eye on the numbers!
10:12 Winning a Michelin star flipped a star switch…
11:18 When are chefs ready to strike out on their own?
12:05 Brand building
13:30 Overcoming moments of blind panic
14:46 When do you let go?
15:33 Biggest failure
17:57 Passion for museums
21:30 Do you still identify as a lawyer?
21:43 Which pivot was the easiest and why?
24:01 Finding your second & third act in your career
25:14 What book are you reading now?
25:14 Art of finding the right talent
27:00 Any non-compete clause?
27:38 Three key things that you’d attribute your success to
30:14 One COVID casualty
31:23 Luck

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/140

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/w22CAJupO48

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Want to know how a lawyer became a successful hotelier with 40 hotels & 9 Michelin-starred restaurants in Singapore, London, Ireland, Shanghai & Sydney?!

Look no further than today’s STIMY guest: Loh Lik Peng, the founder of Unlisted Collection.

Lik Peng grew up expecting to be a doctor, like his parents.

But ended up practising as a commercial litigator for 3 years.

During that time, the world was hit with the Asian Financial Crisis and a rundown property called Hotel 1929 came onto the Singapore property market.

Hotel 1929 was located in Singapore’s red light district and Lik Peng saw potential in it, so he took a year off from law to develop the hotel with the full intention of going back to being a lawyer thereafter.

But life didn’t turn out that way.

He ended up opening his first restaurant at Hotel 1929, then another hotel and restaurant, and another and…

In fact, he bought so many properties in the area that his friend once remarked that the street should be renamed “Peng Road”! 🤣

Lik Peng has now become one of Singapore’s most established hoteliers (he struggled with imposter syndrome for a long time when people called him a hotelier!) despite starting out by taking projects “by the seat of his pants”.

And his Michelin-starred restaurants include:

⭐️: Burnt Ends, Marguerite, Nouri

⭐️⭐️: Cloudstreet, Da Terre

⭐️⭐️⭐️: Zen

So do you want to know how he did it?

Let’s go!

P/S: This is Part 1 out of 2 of Lik Peng’s episode (Part 2 is coming out this Weds).

Highlights:

2:32 Dad as the Chief Glutton
3:24 Boarding school were the best years of the life
4:42 Being a lousy doctor
5:32 Learning important lessons from the Asian Financial Crisis
7:14 Hotel 1929
8:24 The “Peng” Road?!
9:15 Worried about being in the red light district?
10:41 Family thought he was insane?!
11:30 Turning the corner
12:43 Being hit with SARS
13:55 What crisis management looks like in a hotel
14:52 Expanding to London
17:54 Romanticism overruled my logic…
20:57 The secret to getting things done
22:35 Managing risks
24:11 When Lik Peng thought he could call himself a “hotelier”
25:43 The magic behind what he does (while being pragmatic?!)
26:48 What properties interest him now
30:24 Any regrets investing in Old Clare, Sydney?
34:41 Navigating unsexy regulations & red tape
35:46 Surprising things about the Australian hospitality market?
36:45 Dr Stanley Quek
40:37 Family friend to business partner?

Special thanks to Limpeh Studios (Hepmil Media) for the studio!

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/140

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/w22CAJupO48

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

It’s finally happening!

The launch of STIMY’s special Singapore subseries.

Where you’ll be hearing from a range of fascinating Singaporeans/Singapore-based tech leaders, entrepreneurs, and daredevil adventurers on how they’ve built their careers, their journey in finding their why and the legacy that they want to leave behind (if any!).

We ran the whole gamut: the media broadcasting space, F&B (what it takes to build an empire of nine 1 - 3 Michelin Starred restaurants + inheriting a 100+ year confectionary brand), hospitality, tech and so much more.

To whet your appetite, you’re getting snippets from some of the guests that you’ll be meeting over the next few weeks.

Are you excited?

I know I am! 😉

*

Also a special shoutout to Karl Mak (STIMY Ep 55) & his team at Hepmil.

They’re the ones who made this subseries possible and generously allowed me to record all my interviews over a span of 4 days while in Singapore.

I definitely couldn’t do it without them - thank you Hepmil!

P/S: Let me know if you’re interested in doing a studio recording in Singapore! There’s plenty of space to do so at Hepmil’s Limpeh studios. 😉

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/139

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Steve Chao was just a kid from Toronto who loved reading encyclopaedias. Who later chose a career that would lead him to the middle of opium fields during harvest time surrounded by hundreds of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

Just another “day in the life” of his career as a x2 Emmy-nominated and multiple award-winning investigative journalist and filmmaker who’s led programming for the likes of CNN, Al Jazeera, VICE, CTV (Canadian Television), CBC, ABC News, Tencent & Channel 4.

Steve has also spent decades covering conflicts, including America’s longest war in Afghanistan, and produced programs and feature docs like HBO’s Traffickers, Netflix’s Midnight Asia, and Discovery Channels’ World’s Biggest Druglord.

In STIMY Ep 138 - which was recorded in front of a live audience at KL Podfest last weekend! - we uncovered his journey as a war correspondent. Some things we talked about:

✅ Going undercover to report on the Honduran drug cartel, human trafficking rings, selling of Nepali ancient artefacts & a Chinese spy

✅ Being nearly crushed in Egypt during the Arab Spring

✅ Uncovering the UNCHR “mafia” & notorious wildlife traffickers in Malaysia (his feet was stuck in a fire ant hill for 5 minutes!!)

✅ The sacrifices he’s made & friends he’s lost

✅ Why Steve doesn’t believe in Prince & Princess journalists

✅ Why journalism is dying & the impact of cancel culture

✅ How he wants to raise the next generation of journalists and the vision behind his new production house, Signal Flare

It’s an exciting episode so get ready for a wild 1 hour ride with Steve Chao!

Highlight:

2:10 Surrounded by Taliban fights in an Afghan opium field during harvesting season
4:19 Suicide Alley
8:49 Just a kid from Toronto
10:33 His first big break uncovering a drug cartel from Honduras
12:40 Gaining a global perspective
14:56 Going undercover as a refugee trafficked by the Snakeheads in Vancouver
15:55 You have to learn on the job
18:03 The unsung heroes or ‘fixers’ like JoJo
21:25 Broken trust
23:24 PTSD
25:13 How does Steve ensure he isn’t crippled by what he’s seen?
26:44 Mentors like Ted Huang
29:42 Has Steve ever regretted any sacrifices made to cover a story?
32:29 Do these stories have an actual impact? The Chinese spy
35:08 Malaysian reporting on the UNHCR Mafia & Anson Wong - the notorious wildlife poacher from Penang
39:56 Identifying the stories he wants to work on
42:11 The next step to crafting the story
43:34 The keyword in reporter is ‘porter’
44:26 The state of journalism today
47:27 Cancel culture & its impact on Steve’s work
50:11 What makes a great investigative journalist?
51:48 Have you done enough?
54:26 What does Steve need help with?
55:35 Do you feel like you’ve found your why?
56:15 What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?
57:11 What are the most important qualities of a successful person?

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/138

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/KnoMe-pTbJc

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Simon Alexander Ong grew up often feeling like he didn’t fit in.

Which is weird when you look at his CV: He graduated from LSE before going to work at Lehman Brothers (until it fell into administration) then a hedge fund as a junior trader.

Along the way, he attended a 2-day coaching seminar that transformed the way he saw coaching and kickstarted his journey into becoming a bestselling author, international keynote speaker and business strategist.

His work has seen him invited onto Sky News and BBC to be interviewed, while he has been featured in the likes of Forbes and Harvard Business Review. He has also spoken at some of the planet's most successful organisations such as Barclays, Salesforces, Adobe, EY and Microsoft. And his debut book Energize, published by Penguin in 2022 became an instant bestseller, receiving endorsements from the likes of New York Times bestselling authors Simon Sinek, Marie Forleo and Marshall Goldsmith. In 2023, Energize was also awarded Book of the Year within the Wellness & Wellbeing category at The Business Book Awards!

But… how did it all begin?

❓ Why does Simon believe that the best leaders are great coaches?

❓ How did he get big names like Simon Sinek and Marie Forleo to endorse his debut book?

❓ How has he built his coaching business?

❓ What gave him the confidence to take The Leap?

❓ What’s been the real game changer for his business?

❓ And why does he advise people to not wait because life has already begun?

To find out, you’ll just have to listen to Simon’s episode on the So This Is My Why podcast. 😎

And to all those celebrating - Happy Chinese New Year!

Highlights:

4:47 Not fitting in
6:40 What am I going to do with my life?!
8:18 Impact of mum passing away
9:46 The toxic environment at Lehman Brothers
11:36 Not stick to the same path?
12:38 The exploration journey
16:47 2 days to 2 years?!
18:07 Landing clients
19:41 Where Simon found the courage & confidence to take the leap
25:09 The game changer
26:46 How to decide on the right mastermind to join
28:34 The importance of building a personal brand
29:52 Defining good content
31:36 Saying yes to every interview?!
33:35 It was stupid to introduce myself as a coach!
38:28 Storytelling frameworks
43:04 Being open but not to open - how do you find the line?!
44:38 Google says that the best leaders are great coaches?!
48:40 The first session
51:11 How to decide on the right coach
52:17 Energy is everything
53:39 Multiplying energy
55:32 What is something that Simon wishes made it into the final edition of his book but didn’t?!
57:14 The last time Simon faced coach
58:46 The measured way to handle chaos
1:00:26 The strategy behind launching his bestselling book, Energize
1:03:03 How he convinced Simon Sinek & Marie Forleo to give him raving endorsements
1:04:36 Has a Penguin published book opened doors for Simon?
1:04:55 Do epic stuff that will make your Netflix documentary compulsive viewing

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/137

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Prestine Davekhaw knows how much you earn.

Thanks to a viral IG platform she launched called MalaysianPAYGAP, where she has Malaysians anonymously submit [payslip verified] details about their job, including:

Their salary + benefits (if any)
How they landed that job
The realities of doing their job
Advice for those wanting to do the same

So you can see why people are obsessed with MPG. 😉

But what about the person behind MPG?

Well, Prestine grew up in a drug-infested home with her grandmother, who was her best friend.

She was told that her father was a dangerous man and that it was good that he wasn’t in her life.

When she moved to the US for studies, she found herself homeless for a period.

She ended up doing all kinds of insane jobs to make ends meet, including grilling 100 chicken wings in the Chicago South Side where she was at risk of being shot at at any moment!

She also spent her last $900 on a camera out of desperation - she only had 2.5 weeks to make rent!

But as it turns out, it was the start of good things in her life.

Clients came knocking & she was doing well but... something wasn’t quite right.

In 2020, she had her first taste of going viral when she published an article sharing why she was unfollowing famous influencers on Instagram - many of her clients then were famous influencers and they were, as you can imagine, not happy.

Prestine shares her life journey with remarkable candidness. Not just the highs but also the lows like how she bombed her Bvlgari campaign because she was “a cocky photographer”.

And how MPG came to be.

Want to learn more?

Highlights:

3:13 Grandmother as her best friend
8:42 Life is a work of art - Wilde
12:24 I can only learn by asking questions
14:36 Being homeless
19:44 Spending $900 to buy a camera off Amazon
21:57 9 hours of sense
22:38 Photography came out of desperation
24:15 Going back
25:49 Quitting without a plan
26:40 Landing international clients - including in Shanghai!
27:19 Going viral in 2020 through an article, “Why I Unfollow Famous Influencers on Instagram”
29:24 The Bvlgari campaign
32:48 The genesis behind MPG
35:10 The launch
37:16 Surprising submissions
41:31 Information is power
42:25 Becoming jobless
46:11 Community building lessons
49:21 Helpful advice
52:45 MPG Summit 2024
54:28 Disappearing Jobs
56:54 The controversy with the Side Hustlers IG page
59:56 Hustling to meet the CEO of AirAsia
1:01:33 Advice to others wanting to start side hustles

P/S: Don’t forget to subscribe to the STIMY newsletter!

I share the behind-the-scenes of running STIMY, personal branding, storytelling marketing and news on a personal branding course that I’m building so that others can also their own brands on their own terms.

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/136

💌 Subscribe to STIMY Newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

It's the final day of 2023!

So I'm doing a solo episode where I answer questions that you've sent in.

I hope you enjoy this episode and find it helpful.

Also, if you've been following STIMY and would like to support what's happening here, please do leave a rating and review.

It truly makes a difference in spreading the word about this podcast!

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Welcome to STIMY Ep 134!

Today, you have the pleasure of hanging out with me. 😉

What we'll cover today:

What I've been up to in October (8 STIMY in-person interviews in Singapore), November (first conference panel & personal branding client wins) and December (6 STIMY interviews)

I'm also in the midst of prepping for a new course!

Tentatively titled "Build Your Why".

It's based off my learnings from working with my existing 1:1 personal branding clients, where I noticed that people often struggle with:

People often think they're boring (when they're not)
They're too shy to share their story
They can't remember the interesting things that have happened to them (and don't know how to ask themselves the right questions to extract those stories from memory)
They don't know how to angle those interesting stories once they have them, so that they align with their goals - e.g. gain new clients, new job opportunities or offers to sit on non-profit boards.

The course aims to help professionals build their unofficial collection of stories aka autobiography, so that you can pick and choose the stories to tell in whatever situation you're in.

Apart from the course, I also highlight some of my favourite moments in recent STIMY episodes!

STIMY Ep 122: Peter Yong aka Mr Money - on launching a YouTube personal finance business, hiring and potentially publishing his revenue numbers on YouTube?!
STIMY Ep 129: Fabien Riggall, founder of Secret Cinema - on how he went from running a £5 underground skate park event to epic Disney collaborations to bring Star Wars to life
STIMY Ep 131: Charlie Todd, founder of Improv Everywhere - on what it takes to run a prank collective & the principle of asking for forgiveness rather than permission
STIMY 132: Terence Lee, Editor-in-Chief of Tech in Asia (just sold for $30 million) - on his takeaways from going through 2 layoffs
STIMY 133: Adlin Yusman (Managing Director, Endeavor Malaysia) - on rapid scaling & raising USD 500k in 2 days, the walk of shame and being open about sharing his failures, and why his investors don't regret a day of giving him money to work on his startup.

To subscribe to the STIMY Newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

P/S: I'll be doing a mini beta launch of the Build Your Why Course and the special offer will be available only to newsletter subscribers. So keep your eyes peeled!

Adlin Yusman, Managing Director of Endeavor Malaysia, will work for anyone he’s hired.

A huge contrast to when he began his entrepreneurial journey with the mentality of, “I pay you a salary, you work for me and you do as I say.”

Which, as you can imagine, created quite a lot of issues.

That said, Adlin has had an eventful life. One that’s sprinkled with a generous serving of failures and spooky occurrences (e.g. receiving a 3am call from a female ghost?!).

He’s founded several startups that failed, but managed to stay friends with his former employees and investors, who don’t regret a single day of giving money to him.

And has held past positions as:

Director (Travel) of Groupon
Principal at Digi Telecommunications
SAVP at Astro
COO at MaxMoney.com
CEO at Payfo.

So how did Adlin go from featuring a Maybach in the first edition of his luxury automobile publication to:

➡️ Making major hiring mistakes (e.g. hiring a wimp)

➡️ Hunting for 100 cockroaches

➡️ Raising USD 500k in 2 days

➡️ Working at Endeavor Malaysia, where he helps the likes of Bryan Loo of Loob Holdings in the startup ecosystem?!

You’ll have to listen to the latest STIMY episode to find out!

Highlights:

2:04 A 3am call from a female ghost?!
4:59 What “real success” has Adlin even gotten to be featured in the media?! 🤣
6:41 Studying economics
8:14 A fork in the road
11:48 Launching his first luxury automobile publication
14:45 How Adlin sold himself
21:01 Being a good leader means learning to follow
22:51 The saddest moment of his life
25:21 Terrible hiring decision - by hiring a wimp
27:09 Why his startup collapsed
27:49 Working at Groupon & 8am meetings
31:07 Launching another startup
33:46 If it’s easy, it must be a scam?!
40:05 Hitting RM15k revenue & 1,800 requests in 2 weeks
40:45 Finding 100 cockroaches
44:45 Big mistake
48:03 Deciding when to quit
49:20 Failure isn’t a big thing, but…
52:53 Do you still struggle with sharing your failures?
53:43 Why Adlin’s investors don’t regret a single day of giving money to him
56:53 The best way to handle mass resignations and retrenchments
57:55 Endeavor’s Local Selection Panels (LSPs)
1:00:18 What founders always fail at
1:02:09 You need a Big Vision
1:06:39 Helping Bryan Loo of Loob Holding (Tealive etc.)
1:09:05 You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take
1:10:35 Advice for building your community
1:14:02 Who would Adlin work for?
1:15:42 Questions to ask to determine if someone has a shitty attitude!

Fun Fact: Adlin has said that this interview contains quite a few stories that he’s never shared elsewhere before! 😏

P/S: Does anyone know where I can find Adlin’s blog?! Please send help. 😫

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/133

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/MX3BTIhi1Xg

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Who's got the juiciest gossip on startups these days?

Well.

The journalists, of course!

And today, we have Terence Lee - Editor-in-Chief at Tech in Asia - to share the inside scoop on their organisation (TIA just sold for a reported $30 Million to Singapore Press Holdings!).

Fun Fact: Terence Lee really didn't want his position. He's an introvert & does not consider himself a natural leader.

❓So what changed?

❓How has he adapted to his leadership role & navigated through 2 brutal layoffs at Tech in Asia?

❓How does journalism work for them, e.g. determining the stories to cover, the verification process required and also balancing objective reporting with friendships with the people in the space?

So are you ready?

Let's go!

Highlights:

2:38 Writing as a career?!
5:14 Working at many different media publications
6:58 Joining Tech in Asia in 2013 as its Managing Director
8:26 Being pushed out of his comfort zone
11:11 Relationship between Editor/Journalist v Startup Founders
12:14 What people tend to not understand about what they're doing
15:03 Perceived biases?
16:11 The due diligence process
18:05 Defamation law
21:26 Monetisation tactics
21:42 Going through TIA's first layoff
25:19 Internal transparency in (almost) everything?!
29:18 2nd round of layoffs & the best way to conduct retrenchment
33:05 How did TIA rebuild the shattered morale of its staff & pivot to its subscription model?
35:45 Big events in Indonesia
37:25 The future
39:02 Journalists are mini media empires?
40:36 Peter Cowan - If you were to launch your own non-media startup, what would it be?

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/132

🌟 Special discount for STIMY listeners to TIA: techin.asia/sothisismywhy

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Meet Charlie Todd - a professional prankster & also the founder of Improv Everywhere (a New York City-based prank collective with a twist!).

Rather than pranks that embarrass people, Improv Everywhere organises large-scale pranks that create chaos & lots of joy in public.

The kind of thing that’d make you go, “You’ll never believe what just happened!”

E.g.

✨ A bunch of strangers ride the subway - without pants!

✨ 200 people freezing in place for 5 minutes in NYC’s Grand Central Terminal - with 37 million views on YouTube!

✨ A man going to work in his socially distanced office - located in the middle of the East River in NYC!

✨ Thousands of people putting on headphones and following the narrator’s every word: Walking backwards, freezing, slow dancing, wrapping themselves in toilet paper etc.

✨ Turning the NYC subway into a spa, complete with complimentary water, sauna station, hot stone massage & a steam room misting station...

You get the picture 🤣

The key to these “pranks” is that there is no official ending to the performance. Once done, the performers just disappear.

And leave everyone else behind, baffled!

To date, these pranks have hit a collective view of 487+ million times on YouTube.

So the obvious questions are:

❓ How did Charlie turn pranks into a career?

❓ How does he pull these crazy stunts off?

❓ What does it take to go viral?

❓ What's next?

Highlights:

3:20 Family of pranksters
5:26 Interest in theatre
7:09 Building a new life in New York City
8:59 Pretending to be a celebrity!
19:20 Straddling the legal/illegal grey area for their pranks
21:48 Pretending to be U2 the band & the police dropping by!
29:03 Organising the MP3 Experiment for thousands of people
34:03 Measuring impact
37:54 The person behind the social media algorithms?!
40:43 Identity crisis
45:39 Tours + Monetising Pranks
48:18 When Charlie realised he was ready to quit to go full-time in on Improv Everywhere
51:11 Disney+'s Pixar in Real Life - being its executive producer & director
55:50 Socially distanced office on the river
57:27 The future?
59:19 Going viral over a fake meme?!

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/131

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/hv7v_qIio78

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Meet Alvin Wee: Grammy, CAS & Golden Horse Award winning music mixer from Kuching (now based in LA)!

You might've heard some of his work:

🔸 Disney's Encanto - it won the Grammy!

🔸 "Loyal, Brave & True" - sung by Christina Aguilera in Mulan

🔸 Top Gun: Maverick - with Hans Zimmer

🔸 Kung Fu Panda 3

🔸 Kingsman Series

🔸 "Arena Cahaya" - sung by Zee Avi

🔸 Video games like Final Fantasy XIII, Kingdom Hearts 2.5, Resident Evil XII, PUBG Mobile x Arcane Collaboration & Kena: Bridge of Spirits

As you might have guessed it, all these achievements didn't come overnight.

It took a lot of effort, grit and good luck to get to where Alvin now is.

And we're diving deep into all of them.

Including:

❓ What kept him going as he studied music & waited for hours at the RTM studio for gigs to come?

❓ Was Berklee instrumental to his career?

❓ How did he "break" into Hollywood & get to collaborate with the likes of Han Zimmer, Harry Gregson-Williams, Pharrell, Jay Chou & Yuna?

❓ What was it like performing (+ winning Best Original Song!) at the 53rd Annual Golden Horse Film Awards 2016?

❓ His advice for other Asians who want to "make it" in Hollywood?

Highlights:

3:03 Wanting to be called Donald Duck?!
6:19 Learning 7 instruments in high school
11:41 The vision
18:37 Was Berkeley instrumental to Alvin's career?
20:53 IMDB
22:06 Networking the right way
27:10 Being nice in a cutthroat industry?!
29:42 Harry Gregson-Williams wrote a letter supporting his US visa application!
33:26 Landing his first gig - Final Fantasy 13
35:43 Finding the next projects
37:27 Working with Harry Gregson-Williams & Hans Zimmer
43:19 What's the Hans Zimmer Camp?
45:28 Disney's Encanto
47:10 Do awards actually impact your career?
48:22 Not being pigeon-holed
49:56 It's a marathon, not a sprint
51:06 Hollywood Writers' Strike
53:05 Jared Lee: Is Hollywood really that glamorous?!

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/130

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

What does it take to bring a movie to life & have the general public participant as actual characters in said movie?!

You need only ask Fabien Riggall - founder of Future Shots and Secret Cinema.

Fabien has always loved films and began his career working as a runner before becoming an assistant producer of short films.

In 2003, he set up Future Shorts: A series of mini pop-up film festivals that took off in 2003.

That eventually evolved into the creation of a skate park under London Bridge, where around 400 strangers showed up to become part of the skating community & be part of the murder mystery story!

Secret Cinema is premised on the idea that films can be turned into large-scale real life, cultural experiences in abandoned spaces.

The location and details of each World are never reveled and the film title is often kept secret (the reason for this was that it was entirely by accident!).

Secret Cinema grew into such a phenomenon that it eventually sold to TodayTix in 2022 for £89 million!

And some of its most famous works include: The Great Gatsby, Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back, Blade Runner and Moulin Rouge.

If you're curious in learning what it takes to build a whole movement & transform the way people see and use abandoned spaces while bring film to life on an epic scale, then this is certainly the episode for you!

Highlights:

4:31 Morocco
6:41 Becoming a farmer and an actor?!
7:43 I don't want permission!
11:23 Running festivals
12:13 Soul-destroying work
15:45 Leveraging the internet
16:57 Selling out a murder mystery event at a secret skate park under London Bridge
19:47 Finding the right people
23:45 Pushing the boundaries
30:14 Building trust via newsletters?!
32:59 A limit to provocation
36:54 Maintaining your voice
39:28 Biggest battles waged & won
43:32 Stepping away from Secret Cinema?!
47:01 Achieving everything that Fabien wanted?

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/129

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

Imagine spending 30 years working as an architect.

Then deciding to uproot your entire life from the UK to move to Bali to work in a new field of architecture - bamboo!

Because that's exactly what Ewe Jin Low.

When he made the big move to Bali, he worked as Lead architect at IBUKU covering buildings like the Green School and in 2018, began his own bamboo journey by founding his own bamboo architecture firm TENTEN and Better Bamboo Buildings in 2020 - a platform that shares information and insights on bamboo design.

Ewe Jin’s bamboo journey to date has included designing and building more than 80 bamboo buildings in many different regions.

In 2022 he published a bamboo architecture book titled ‘Bamboo Ark 1’. He continues the journey to give talks, run courses and workshops and to create more buildings and installations in bamboo.

So if you're like to learn more about this relatively new form of architecture, this is the episode for you!

Highlights:

2:23 Bamboo groves
4:24 Architectural practice
7:15 The only Asian guy in the room
8:41 Battles fought
10:32 Prejudice against colour of skin
12:01 Moving to Bali
15:02 How bamboo has transformed his life & attitude
16:31 Letting go of everything
18:45 Assimilating into the real Bali culture
22:20 Learning about bamboo as a material
33:48 Common questions
36:30 Maintenance
43:36 Bamboo pioneers
46:09 Green School Bali
52:05 The SWAT Team of Bamboo Workers
56:50 Is it actually green architecture?
1:00:49 Is bamboo cheaper?
1:05:00 Construction bamboo forests?

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/128

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Whoops. We've been gone for the past few weeks.

It's been hectic here at STIMY - securing new guests in Singapore while prepping for 2 exciting guests that we'll be recording in person this week.

So rather than a new episode, I'm experimenting with this new, short solo episode where you'll get updates from me on what it's like running STIMY the podcast & STIMY the personal branding company, as well as takeaways from some conversations that take place off air.

In today's mini episode, I provide 4 main learnings from my recent Singapore trip (+ 40 appointments altogether!). They include:

Hard work
Luck
Importance of Reinvention
Always stay Curious
Don't view your relationships as replaceable.

Two upcoming STIMY guests that we'll be recording with:

Prestine Davekhaw: Founder of MalaysianPAYGAP & Disappearing Jobs
Dominic Puthucheary: Founding member of Singapore's PAP turned lawyer who grew up as a family friend of Lee Kuan Yew's family before later being detained, shuffled between multiple prisons in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur and ultimately banished from Singapore by... Lee Kuan Yew himself.

If you'd like to submit your question for either Prestine or Dominic, or just want to drop a note to let me know what you think of this episode & whether you'd like me to continue doing them (+ topics to cover), just email me at sothisismywhy (at) gmail (dot) com.

Have a great week!

P/S: Dominic was the subject of my first viral LinkedIn post, which you can read here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/lingyah_reflection-activity-6972349532596576256-pD-N

Alejandro Navia is the co-founder and President of nft now, the premier source of NFT content and analysis. As an advisor, coach, and early supporter of web3 and the creator economy, Alejandro has helped numerous founders and creators scale their communities and raise over $92MM in funding.

Prior to NFT Now, he held leadership positions at startups and enterprises in AI, aerospace, and media, including Verizon, where I led Strategy and Acquisitions, and Elite Daily, which I helped lead to a $50MM acquisition.

This is a story where Alejandro transparently shares some of his lowest moments, e.g.:

being suicidal at age 16;
being kicked out of Harvard; and
scoring a $4.5 million deal only to lose $125k two days later due to a huge mistake!

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/127

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

How do you:

😳 Reject a $200k/year paycheck?

😳 Blow your life up in a systematic way?

😳 And build a pathless path for yourself?

Paul Millerd - former McKinsey consultant (aka the Lean Guy) turned solopreneur, author and podcaster - would know, because he did just that.

And along the way, wrote a book called the Pathless Path, which has since sold over 20k!

At the time of our recording, I was just about to embark on my own Great Leap from the world of corporate law so as you can imagine, I slipped in a couple of personal questions of my own on what to expect!

So if you are interested in learning what alternative career paths and lives exist, then this is the episode for you. 😉

Highlights:

2:43 The American Dream
4:55 Paul Says It Well
9:15 You Just Don’t Have Ambition!
11:22 The success ethic
14:59 Being McKinsey’s Lean Guy
16:06 Quitting McKinsey
18:46 Constantly searching
20:00 How do you quit & walk away from $54k?
23:21 Ready to be your own boss?
24:54 Reconnecting with himself
26:41 An exercise to remove regret
28:18 How to evaluate opportunities
36:31 The Pathless Path
41:27 Why 2022 was the best year
43:55 Curiosity Conversations
45:53 Blowing up your life in a systematic way
46:50 Saying YES to a full-time role?
47:25 Knowing when to say YES / NO
48:17 Someone who’s redesigned their life in a great way

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/126

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/FHcKezbyv78

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

It takes guts to quit your job.

But what if it was NASA? BOEING? Or Elon Musk’s Hyperloop One?!

Because that’s exactly what Tanya Zakowich did.

Tanya grew up with a fascination for space & like most kids, she wanted to be an astronaut.

But unlike many, that fascination held even when she grew up, which is why she ended up studying mechanical engineering at Columbia.

An internship in India helped her land a job at NASA, but she soon left for BOEING! Only to realise that at BOEING, she was just a cog in the wheel. She wasn’t being challenged.

Hence her third role at Elon Musk’s Hyperloop One, where she lived the ultimate startup life.

That is, until she realised that what she truly loved & cared about was her family and home in Singapore.

So she gave it all up to return home.

Now if you listen to this STIMY interview, you’ll soon realise that Tanya is quite the go-getter!

During the pandemic, she strategically launched a new TikTok channel where she teaches maths in a fun and interesting way. Within 6 months, she hit 1 million followers!

Then quit for 2 months because of the toll it took on her mental health.

She now stands at 1.9 million followers. 🤯

That said, Tanya doesn’t have everything figured out.

She’s constantly experimenting, learning to give up on things that don’t work to try something else again. And if there’s one takeaway I hope you’ll receive from this episode, it’s this: Failures make us stronger. Don’t let it hold you back.

Now are you ready to listen to Tanya’s episode?

Let’s go. 😉

Highlights:

2:13 Interest in space
5:37 Engineering at Columbia University
7:22 How an internship in India helped Tanya get into NASA
9:42 NASA’s interview process
12:57 Quitting NASA
14:32 Quitting is easy?!
15:41 Deal breakers
18;11 Elon Musk’s Hyperloop One
21:54 Singapore’s startup scene
22:35 US v Singapore startups
26:50 Dating app
29:10 Getting into TikTok
29:52 Personal branding
34:03 TikTok trends
36:21 Secret to going viral
36:42 Hooks
38:21 Drafting scripts
40:30 Tanya’s unique selling point
46:54 Not moving to the US for content creation?
49:27 Goal of 1 million followers
54:04 Going on a break
56:29 Change in frequency
57:11 Putting her name out in public

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/125

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/wclFmzVbMmw

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

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Jacqueline Novogratz is the founder & CEO of Acumen - a non-profit global venture capital fund that aims to use entrepreneurial approaches to address global poverty.

She was also born for crisis.

As the OG of impact investing, her impressive list of accolades include:

One of the World’s 100 Greatest Living Business Minds 2017 by Forbes
Forbes 400 Lifetime Achievement Award for Social Entrepreneurship, 2016
The Resolution Project Champions Circle Award, 2016
Bloomberg Markets 50 Most Influential in Global Finance, 2014
Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2008

She also sits on the board of:

Aspen Institute board of trustees
Pakistan Business Council Centre of Excellence in Responsible Business (CERB)]
Advisory Councils of the Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Initiative, the Oxford Saïd Global Leadership Council and UNICEF.

At its core, Jacqueline is a woman who has always know that she wanted to do good in this world.

When she graduated from the University of Virginia, she described herself as someone who was "excited, idealistic & had dreams in your head of changing the world and didn’t have a clue how to start”.

That start ended up being at Chase Manhattan Bank - despite telling the interviewer that she had no interest in banking & was only there because her parents told her to!

She did so well, the then COO, Tony Triciano, wanted to fast track her career and have her be his right hand person.

She said NO. She wanted to change the world.

And left for Africa.

There, she suffered failure after failure after failure.

She learned that while she had gone to try & save the African continent, Africa neither wanted nor needed saving.

But those lessons were invaluable and led her down the path of founding Acumen.

When she left her job at Chase, her father said that she was giving up the career of a lifetime & her mother was sure that she would never marry.

Even Jacqueline thought so too.

Because her sense of purpose was so strong, she was afraid that any partner she had would hold her back.

That is, until Chris came into the picture.

But you'll just have to listen to this episode to learn more. 😉

Highlights:

2:57 The Novogratz clan (like the Kennedys?!)
4:22 Orphanage
8:36 A Little Boy
9:46 Saying NO to Tony Triciano, the then COO of Chase Manhattan Bank?!
11:24 Leaving the job of a lifetime
12:33 Africa doesn't need saving!
13:40 Being Born for Crisis
15:16 The secret sauce to establishing Duterimbere - Rwanda's first Microfinance bank
16:21 Being maniacal
18:30 Agnes & the Rwandan genocide
20:48 Building on the 4th floor with no safety net underneath with Dan Toole?!
22:34 When the tides started to change
24:59 Mike, the Forrest Gump of Bitcoin
26:56 Acumen in Southeast Asia
32:11 Won't social entrepreneurs succeed without Acumen?
34:55 Jacqueline's personal KPIs
37:29 Listening with her whole body
42:19 Marriage
45:20 Advice for finding the right partner!

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/124

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/Fzi9iVKCo_4

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work:https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY:https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Dr. Giovanna Graziosi Casimiro has had a unique career. She is the current Head of Production at Phygicode and former Metaverse Producer at Decentraland Foundation and Head of Metaverse Fashion Week.

She has more than a decade of experience in digital design and the XR industry and also serves as a mentor at MIT during their Hacking Arts 2016-2018, and as a Senior Professor at SENAC University Centre, a renowned public federal University in Brazil.

For Giovanna, she believes that life is a short experience.

She wants to have a portfolio of experiences that really enriches her soul and mind and would rather regret what she's tried, then over what she's given up on.

It's ok to fail. Just don't give up.

Bearing in mind this principle, this episode digs into Gigi has led her life and the career choices she's made to date.

Maybe it'll inspire you to take the unconventional step too? 😉

Highlights:

2:02 Being an actress?
3:47 Japanese culture in Latin America
4:31 Bossing her dad at age 4
6:06 Doing a PhD in architecture and urbanism
7:23 Survivor option
10:38 Residencies & digital nomad life
17:26 A portfolio of experiences
25:00 Randi Zuckerberg
25:30 Web3
28:33 Working in a VR studio in Finland
32:35 Working at Decentraland Foundation
35:56 Effective work flow
37:53 Voting power favours the rich?
44:43 Hosting fashion week in the metaverse
48:17 Convincing major brands to come on board e.g. Dolce & Gabbana and Estee Lauder
55:25 What success looks like

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/123

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

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Yesterday, we lost the King of Singapore.

I never had the privilege of meeting him, but a year ago, I sent a cheeky email to Adrian Tan asking if he’d share his life story on the So This Is My Why podcast.

In a true spirit of generosity, he said yes.

And we spoke for over 2 hours! 🤯

Podcast hosts shouldn’t have favourites but… Adrian was one of my favourites. It is true.

Today, Adrian’s episode has been rereleased as a tribute to him. It is the almost 💯unedited version (minus the umm & ahhs), so you’ll hear some of the parts that didn’t make the cut the first time around in 1 full episode.

I hope this interview did justice in showcasing the kind of person that he was.

If you don’t know Adrian’s backstory, here are some highlights (found in the episode too):

🔥 Adrian grew up in a HDB flat that had zero concept of privacy. His neighbours crowded outside his flat every day to watch their TV & would get mad if it wasn’t available! 🤣

🔥 He was the subject of maternal gaslighting 🤣 which helped him become very, very good at English

🔥 His English was so good, he was refused a scholarship to do law and told to do English instead!

🔥Adrian ended up writing multiple bestsellers - The Teenage Textbook & The Teenage Workbook (they’ve been turned into a play, TV series & movie!)

🔥 Ironically, Adrian was very embarrassed with the success of his novels. Because he was a tough, hardened litigator but his clients just wanted to talk about his silly teenage romance novels?! 😫

🔥Despite being a lawyer, he found it impossible to stand up for himself in real life.

🔥 But he realised that he needed to start speaking up. On LinkedIn.

Because it was time to strip away the “mystic” around the legal profession & that begins with lawyers becoming legal influencers.

🔥 Finally, his vow as the President of the Singapore Law Society to “ “fight cancer, fight my cases in court & fight for lawyers as their President, until the clock runs out” “

I hope you enjoy this re-released, unedited episode with the King of Singapore.

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/101

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/QOEeOIiQvyk

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

Welcome to a special Questions from the Audience episode with Peter Yong aka Mr Money TV - one of the top personal finance YouTubers in the region.

In this episode, we feature questions that came from you! Which include Peter's own co-founders & staff.

If you haven't done so already, do check out Episode 122 Parts 1 & 2 to learn more about Peter's journey from being a replacement child to abandoning his lucrative career (+ selling his BMW!) to go in to his YouTube business and all things entrepreneurship.

Highlights:

1:21 What should my net worth be if I want to retire ASAP?
2:47 What was it like giving up everything to start your own business?
3:51 Advice for young entrepreneurs in a similar position
5:10 Ever received any extreme threats?
6:18 Peter's many tattoos
9:10 How do you see yourself in 5 years?
10:13 Will MrMoney become an MNC?
10:24 Coughing?!

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/122

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/saQkikbcwaY

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

What does it take to build a 7-figure YouTube business on personal finance?

Peter Yong aka Mr Money TV spills the tea on STIMY Episode 122 Part 2.

That includes telling us:

Why he tells all his staff, "I am not your father!"
Why he hires 5, works 10 & pays 8;
How he creates a moat around himself;
How he's built his personal brand;
Why his staff actively tell him to NOT hire more staff!
Why his entire team knows the financials behind Mr Money TV;
Working for free & getting equity?!
His dream of building a Hershey town.

And that's just some of juicier takes. 😎

Highlights:

3:05 Being taken advantage of
5:22 Having partners work for free until 2 - 4am?!
10:33 Prototyping the life you want
12:37 Matt the Ultimate Gen Z
15:59 Hire 5, work 10, pay 8
17:52 I am not your father!
18:32 Hiring process
21:57 Becoming a business
22:56 Getting the staff involved in the hiring process
23:56 How does Mr Money make money?!
26:32 Evaluating priorities
31:55 Creating a moat
40:22 The Personal
41:01 Mr Money TV almost shut down?!
42:28 Becoming more cynical
44:56 Can a boss ever be friends with his employees?
47:43 You're going to shut down. Do you tell your employees?
51:05 Hershey's World (P/S: Thanks, CK!!)
53:48 The legacy for Peter's 2 sons

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/122

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/saQkikbcwaY

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

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Hey STIMIES!

It’s time to meet the Replacement Son who refuses to drive a Porsche: Peter Yong aka Mr Money TV.

One of Malaysia’s most beloved personal finance YouTubers with 153k subscribers!

It’s one thing to start another YouTube channel; quite another to turn it into a thriving 7-figure business in Southeast Asia, but Peter has done just that. And today, we dive deep & personal, touching on things like how:

🔥 Peter was born to be a replacement son, which severely affected his confidence & self-esteem

🔥 His father was a gangster!! Who taught Peter to clean his gun when he was just 5 years old?!

🔥 He thought money was evil. Until he realised it wasn’t

🔥 He was thriving in his RM 250,000/year insurance job then gave it all up & sold his BMW, to go all-in with his YouTube channel.

Just when his son was born.

Peter has so many gems to share that I had to cut this interview into 2 parts!

This is Part 1.

I hope you enjoy it!

Highlights:

3:43 Running away from death
5:48 Money isn’t important
6:25 The replacement son
10:15 Cleaning a gun at age 5?!
12:27 Surviving bullies?!
16:44 What do I do with my life?
18:21 Money isn’t evil?
24:59 Planning to x6 his income in 6 years
27:57 Being in control of money
30:45 Admitted to the hospital
31:39 Sales is the most humiliating job in the world
33:02 Making RM 250,000/year
36:09 The secret to convincing
37:11 Starting his own agency
42:18 What can make money?
46:16 Odd jobs
47:31 Drowning
52:03 The vision
55:42 Going full-time
57:36 The Porsche life?!
1:00:33 The girl & the train

📍Show notes:https://www.sothisismywhy.com/122

🍿 YouTube:https://youtu.be/saQkikbcwaY

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work:https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY:https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

❓What is it like becoming a Deputy Minister in a government that’s never been in power before?

❓What was the relationship really like between Malaysia’s then Prime Minister & Deputy Prime Minister, Mahathir & Anuar?

❓How does one pick a constituency and why even politics in the first place when you can make good money as a BCG consultant?

If you haven’t already guessed it, today’s STIMY guest is Dr Ong Kian Ming aka imokman.

He went from being a BCG consultant to a lecturer and policy analyst at UCSI University and director of the Malaysian Electoral Roll Analysis Project (MERAP). He then entered politics and eventually became the Deputy Minister, Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Malaysia in July 2018!

If you don’t know anything about Malaysian politics, here’s a heads up: Kian Ming (legitimately) thought he would always be in the opposition. The then incumbent government had been in power since Independence Day for the past 60+ years!

So as you can imagine, today’s conversation focuses on politics. A lot.

Touching on things like why Kian Ming chose to enter politics, what it was like becoming a Deputy Minister, what went so wrong (e.g. the Sheraton Move!), why he’s setting up a PPE course and so much more.

Highlights:

2:07 imokman
3:32 Wanting to be rich
4:22 Being an ASEAN scholar
6:44 Seeking a “higher purpose” in BCG?!
9:14 Make your boss look good (not your client!)
10:29 Public policy
15:06 How his PhD in political science helped his career
19:24 Meeting Tony Pua & blogging
20:50 Sacrifices we don’t know?
22:32 “The Talk” with the wife
24:18 Only 2 terms?!
26:21 Preparing for his first election
29:51 Deciding who to help
32:40 Managing expectations from his constituents
33:32 Giving safe financial support
34:49 I’ll be in opposition forever?!
37:06 The manifesto
38:29 Managing the euphoria
40:34 Building trust
41:47 The legacy he inherited at MITI from Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz
44:56 Industry 4.0
47:23 That $70 billion investment from China
49:24 The realities of running trade investment missions
50:50 How does China see Malaysia?
53:36 The Sheraton Move - what really happened?
55:49 What could’ve been done differently?
57:05 The relationship between Mahathir & Anuar
58:56 No reelection
1:00:17 How do we know if constituents are actually doing the work?
1:01:11 Wishing he’d worked better with his minister
1:03:31 Who’s a lifelong politician?
1:04:43 When is it time to leave?
1:05:26 Building Malaysia’s first PPE Course (and future Malaysian Prime Ministers?!)

📍Show notes:https://www.sothisismywhy.com/121

😮 Interested in building your personal brand on LinkedIn? Just shoot me an email at sothisismywhy@gmail.com & we’ll get started!

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Apolo Ohno has won 8 Olympic medals & 21 World Championship medals, which makes him the most decorated US Winter Olympian in history!

He was the state champion swimmer at age 13 & national speed skating champion at age 14, but it was short track speed skating that really caught his eye.

Because to him, they were like Superman!

After 6 months of training, Apolo won the 1997 US Championships. He was a shoo-in for the 1998 Winter Olympics but then...

Apolo grew complacent.

He self-sabotaged & threw away his training, finishing last in the Olympics trials.

His father was so upset, he sent Apolo to an isolated cabin at Copalis Beach and said: "You'll stay here for as long as it takes for you to figure out what you want to do with your life!"

That was traumatic.

Apolo decided he would give this sport a real shot & that's when everything changed.

But there was a price to pay for such "psychotic obsession".

He was ruthless to everyone, including himself.

In this STIMY Episode, we talked about how he finds FLOW, sports psychology, self-sabotage, the importance of recovery, and being obsessive without being "mindlessly handcuffed to it".

So if you want to your life to the fullest the way an Olympic champion does, then this is the episode for you!

Highlights:

3:27 Survival
7:23 Why did this happen?
10:35 Blowing up toilets?!
12:25 Joining the Superman sports
15:33 Sleeping with his skates
16:48 Sacrifice
22:01 Not being handcuffed to failure
24:39 Self-sabotage
30:57 The darker side to obsession
39:31 Finding the FLOW state
42:50 The power of introspection
45:25 The controversial Salt Lake City Olympics win
49:20 Turin Olympics
50:46 Why Apolo turned away from Hollywood
52:30 A lion is most dangerous when it knows it's near its end
56:11 Psychotic obsession outside of sports
57:31 Not returning to sports + Michael Phelps
58:51 The Great Divorce
1:02:37 What do you say yes to?
1:05:07 Building his personal board of directors
1:08:31 Who are you? Who are you? Who are you?

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/120

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Entrepreneurs must be ruthless, obsessive and willing to cut corners.

Something that Justin Byam Shaw, Chairman of ESI Media, would know.

He co-owns (alongside Evgeny Lebedev) the Evening Standard & the Independent, and also co-founded the Felix Project - one of the biggest food redistribution charities in the UK!

If you've ever been in London, you'll notice the Evening Standard lying around Tube stations. It's a 100% free quality newspaper and I'd always wondered - what does it take to run it? How do you manage to keep a newspaper free on such a scale?

Well today, Justin shares it all.

He takes us through his decision to:

🔥 Study classics at Oxford University - even when everyone told him it was good for nothing!

🔥 Pivot from advertising - when he realised he was terrible at it

🔥 Drop out of British Telecom within 1 week of finding a market gap to launch his own startup - at a time when it wasn't the "cool thing" to be a founder

🔥 Buy both the Evening Standard & the Independent (alongside the Lebedevs)

And also his thoughts on:

🤔 How George Osborne faired as Editor of the Evening Standard

🤔 How to turn around failing media companies

🤔 Launching the The i newspaper (within 7 months of acquiring the Independent!)

🤔 The rise of superstar journalists turned media personalities

🤔 The media publication he'd be most interested in taking over & what he'd do differently!

Highlights:

4.44 Studying "good for nothing" Classics at Oxford?!
7:18 Being bad at advertising
9:27 Moving to British Telecom when it'd just privatised
11:34 The talent show that kickstarted Justin's entrepreneurial journey
12:38 Remortgaging his apartment?!
15:32 Expanding to 12+ countries
19:39 The tipping point
20:54 Life after acquisition
22:34 Arrogance
26:59 Being ruthless
29:00 Buying the Evening Standard
33:41 Launching The i in 7 months?!
36:38 Not going digital with the Evening Standard
38:58 Internal resistance
40:27 Appointing George Osborne as editor
45:14 What do media owners expect from their editors?
49:23 Journalists become media superstar personalities
51:59 Buzzfeed
53:05 If Justin could buy any newspaper publication, it'd be...
55:14 The Felix Project

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/119

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

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Not everyone has to be a Steve Jobs.

The charismatic, big picture, visionary leader that everyone gravitates towards.

We also have (and need) those who execute.

Who double down on the nitty gritty and ensure that things actually get done. And well

Which brings me to today's STIMY guest: Chen Chow Yeoh.

Speak to anyone in the Southeast Asian startup scene and they'll likely have heard of Chen Chow and have a tremendous amount of respect for him.

He's an OG in the space:

Co-Founder of Fave - one of the fastest growing fintech platform in Southeast Asia
Co-Founder of KFit.com - which revolutionised how people approached fitness in Asia Pacific
Regional Operations Director in APAC & COO (Malaysia) for Groupon

But he never had a plan. 😅

Chen Chow:

❌ Was one of the top 8 people who scored the worst in his English exams at Cornell University;

❌ Didn't get a promotion at Accenture (and cried about it ☹️)

❌ Landed his role at Jobstreet by chance

❌ Was rendered obsolete in Groupon when he joined - he was hired for a sales role but by the time he finished serving notice at his previous company, that role was obsolete!

But:

🔥 At Accenture, he did eventually get that promotion. By buckling down & putting in the work.

🔥 He did odd jobs at Groupon & within 3 weeks of joining, was promoted to COO!

🔥 He worked with Joel Neoh to turn Groupon Taiwan from a $1 million loss making monster to $8k in profits in 8 months!

🔥 He has never formally applied for any jobs - people always go to him

But he is not like his charismatic, visionary counterpart.

He just does the work.

Great work, in fact.

And this, is his story.

So are you ready?

Let's go 😎

Highlights:

2:04 Catching the 5am bus
2:56 Going to Cornell University
6:59 Failing to get a job promotion
8:13 A coincidental offer from Jobstreet
12:16 Joel Neoh
13:47 Why take the leap to Groupon
15:38 Never formally applied for a job!
17:36 From random jobs to COO?!
21:57 Inferiority or imposter syndrome?
24:54 Don't ask for more?!
27:29 How to turn a $1 million loss making business into $8k profit in 8 months in Taiwan
35:29 Co-Founding KFit
39:35 Raising $1 million from friends & family?!
41:11 Landing Pieter Kemps from Sequoia as an investor!
50:47 Turning KFit into Fave
54:05 Laying off 50% of staff but still being good friends with them
59:30 How to bring 2 company cultures together during an acquisition
1:01:36 China
1:11:55 What are Chen Chow's strongest features?
1:12:33 Will Chen Chow stay even though Joel has left?
1:14:04 A competitor Chen Chow really admires

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/118

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Former US Congressman Barney Frank has been described by the New York Times as "one of the people most responsible for overhauling financial regulation after the 2008 economic crisis".

Little surprise, given that this acerbic politician was:

🔥 Member of the US House of Representatives (1981 - 2013)

🔥 Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee (2007 - 2011); and

🔥 Lead co-sponsor of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act - which introduced the greatest Wall Street reform in history.

He hit the headlines again given the Silicon Valley Bank meltdown & ironically, his role as director at the now defunct Signature Bank.

❓ But how did Barney end up in the top echelons of politics?

❓ Why did the Pope have to intervene with his appointment to the US House of Representatives?

❓ How did staying silent about being gay impact him, and why did he decide to out himself in a Boston Globe article?

❓ How does he get along with his peers?

Specifically, in his own words, "You learn how to ingratiate yourself with them and how you can help them and make them value your friendship. And that becomes particularly important when you move up."

❓And what does he think of Trump (p/s Trumplestilskin) & the upcoming US Presidential Elections?

This episode is full of gems that we can apply to our own lives (even outside of politics).

So do give it a listen, and let us know what you think!

Highlights:

7:39 Obsession with politics
14:27 Anne Frank
15:50 Politics in the blood?
19:58 Campaigning in a Republican state
23:07 Enjoying the things he's very good at
24:20 1980 campaign was the toughest race
26:31 Intervention from the Pope?!
29:24 Congress is like "high school as a freshman"
30:53 Do the job well, but not TOO well
31:51 How do you become/stay popular?
35:34 How do you know what's happening on the ground?
38:20 The Boston Globe article
40:43 Being willing to sacrifice his political career
41:52 Why did Barney keep winning by wide margins?
44:34 Having empathy due to being closeted for so long
45:33 The average American isn't homophobic?!
47:44 Dodd-Frank Act
53:28 Could the Dodd-Frank Act have done more to prevent the SVB meltdown?
56:01 Challenges in raising the deposit insurance cap
58:01 Disagreeing with Señor Elizabeth Warrant that the Dodd-Frank Act is to blame
59:46 Crypto
1:00:57 Where's the banking crisis headed?
1:02:36 The 2024 US Presidential Elections, Trumplestilkin as the most self-destructive politician he's seen in awhile
1:05:13 How governments can encourage crypto innovation
1:06:19 A mistake to be the director of Signature Bank?
1:10:56 Was it a mistake to partially repeal the Dodd-Frank Act?

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/117

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

John-Son Oei’s EPIC social enterprise was born out of guilt.

This former Rain oppa lookalike (time to check out his photos! 😏) knew the importance of giving back. Wanted to give back.

But never did.

And it wasn’t as though he hadn’t dabbled many things in his life prior to graduation:

He’d worked retail with Polo Ralph Lauren, did video production, was a fitness instructor & a Marshall at Camp 5 (rock climbing) and even modeled (yes, you really want to see his photo now, don’t you? 😉).

Yet despite all that, John-Son wanted to become a jet ski operator. A bona-fide “beach bum”, as his mother declared!

Until a toilet came along.

Because you see, he’d been told that while it was great to want to give back, he couldn’t stay idealistic for too long.

“The moment you go into the real world, it’s a dog eat dog world.”

And that troubled John-Son:

“It’s not that I couldn’t be a dog. To eat other dogs. But I said, is that really what life is about?”

*

The opportunity to explore this ideal came when he visited an orang asli community & discovered their need for a functionable toilet.

He set up a Facebook group, and 64 strangers came.

Not his friends or the ones who said they were into charities, but complete & utter strangers.

And that sent John-Son down a rabbit hole.

He realised that we all need a purpose beyond ourselves.

It wasn’t as though he, and many others, didn’t care about giving back - but that we all felt alone. And honestly, “What impact can one person have?”

As it turns out?

An EPIC amount.

*

But this won’t be a STIMY interview if we didn’t talk about the “darker sides”.

The difficulties in running EPIC as a social enterprise, figuring out their business model, convincing companies that they weren’t a “con job”, the pandemic and also, how John-Son would even question his own purpose.

This, despite the numerous international awards and recognition showered upon him, e.g. being accepted into the Ashoka Fellowship; Forbes 30 under 30 2016; The Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award for Dedication 2017; SME Malaysian Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2017; Tatler Malaysia—Force for Good Award; The Edge Inspiring Young Leaders Award; the Iclif Leadership Energy Award 2015; and Microsoft’s Global YouthSpark Star award. He was also Malaysia’s official flag bearer for Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee and 2012 Commonwealth Day.

So if you want to know the realities of giving back to the community, why it’s important to have a purpose beyond ourselves and how you can do so too?

Then this is the episode for you.

Highlights:

3:03 Having a gentle giant for a father
3:52 Does God exist?
10:58 I had two As & failed everything else 😳
15:58 Aspiring to be a beach bum
20:30 Giving back to the community
22:47 Becoming Rain the KPop Superstar
23:46 Building a toilet
25:17 From toilet to a house for Pak Cihong?!
32:42 The realities of running a social enterprise
37:33 This is a con job!
43:33 Why is this team building?
46:40 Why 2012 was a really difficult year
51:38 The personal significance behind winning the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award for Dedication 2017
53:21 Is there something more?

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/116

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

Lydia Fenet is the most powerful woman in the room.

She has sold over $1 billion dollars for nonprofits globally alongside Elton John, Jason Bourne (aka Matt Bourne), Bruce Springsteen & every other big-name superstar you can think of.

In 2018, she became Christie's Global Managing Director of Strategic Partnerships and has also:

Been named one of New York’s most influential women by Gotham magazine;
Appeared in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair and Town & Country;
Published 2 books (her first book was optioned by Netflix in Feb 2022!); and
Runs the Claim Your Confidence podcast featuring Glenn Close, Candace Nelson, Stephanie Horton, and Courtney Dauwalter.

All while leading multiple benefit auctions for the biggest names in the industry. Including Elton John's 2023 AIDS Foundation Oscar Party!

Lydia is now living the life she has always wanted.

But it wasn't.

When young, she wanted to be a lawyer just like her father. Unlike she came across a Vanity Fair article & discovered the exclusive world of Christie's.

She convinced the Matriarch of Christie's to let her join Christie's internship program.

But for the first 10 years, was told (and believed!) to not talk about money. And that "she was lucky to work there".

If you want to learn how Lydia later managed to triple her salary + gain a global title + lead a new department at Christie's, you'll have to listen to the episode!

Highlights:

2:47 Why Lydia is a "life in motion"
3:32 Network or die
5:30 Learning about Christie's
7:13 Not Sotheby's?
8:01 Convincing the Matriarch of Christie's, Mary Libby, to let her join the internship program
12:51 How Lauren Short influenced her
14:33 How Lydia became Christie's benefit auctioneer
16:27 Why Lydia did 500 mediocre auctions but never wanted to quit
18:20 The breakthrough
22:31 Leading the auction at Elton John's 2023 AIDS Foundation Oscar Party
25:58 Where Lydia gets her energy from
30:01 When Lehman Brothers collapsed but Lydia managed to save her colleague
34:49 Ask for what you're worth, because you're just a number on a P&L
41:44 How being a published author has opened doors

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/115

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Alvin Chiong's father was an opium addict.

And as for Alvin:

Age 7: Alvin's mother abandoned the family
Age 9: Started sniffing glue & joined the secret society to avoid being bullied
Age 14: Left school to follow his leader
Age 18: Became hooked on heroin & couldn't hold down a job.

Things came to a head in Thailand, where Alvin realised he needed to change his life around.

But opium addiction, while a choice, is not so easy to kick.

And it took many, many halfway houses & attempts before Alvin came clean, turned his life around (after prison!!) and became the person he is today: giving back to society, helping his former brothers find their feet & holding down jobs as a chef as tour guide at Triad Trails.

Alvin's story, like Notle Chew's story in STIMY Episode 102, is an unusual STIMY story, but one that I really want to have shared.

Because there is a lesson to be learned from everyone's life journey.

And the biggest takeaway is this: It's all about mindset & attitude.

If we insist on blaming the world & everyone else in it for our troubles, no matter how 'justified', then you will continue to be held back.

Now Alvin tells his story best, so are you ready?

Let's go!

Highlights:

2:53 Dysfunctional family
4:54 Joining the secret society
10:34 Fighting
12:57 Thailand
14:56 The "price" for leaving the secret society gang
19:04 Being friends with brothers
20:35 Being in prison
23:51 Safeguards to avoid temptation
26:17 Going back to prison to help
30:24 God
31:56 Common misconceptions about drug addicts
32:49 The secret to change
35:13 Knowing when a convict is telling you the truth
38:55 Are Singaporean laws too harsh?
41:41 Common struggles for members of the secret society
43:02 Spiritual journey & finding God
46:43 What Alvin is grateful for this year

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/114

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

Everyone wants to start a community while Bryan Pham (with his co-founder, Maggie Chui) has grown a global community from 0 to 200,000+ in 3 years! 😱

#casual

Best of all?

It started as a “screw you” moment. 😅

In all seriousness, Bryan is the founder of Asian Hustle Network (“AHN”), AHNF & AHN Ventures.

And has had quite the unconventional journey:

😮Bryan’s parents fled the Vietnam War & taught him that investments and business were taboo

😮He worked as a software engineer & realised that companies didn’t have his back; you’d be fired even if you’d been working there for 20 years!

😮He tried an Amazon selling side hustle - and lost $22k

Although:

🔥His roommate got him into property investment - and he made $200k+ from his first sale!

🔥He built a real estate investment community of 2,000 in 2 years in the Bay Area.

But for 4 years, Bryan had been thinking about his why. And found himself wanting to build something for the Asian community.

A trip to the Meiji Shrine gave his idea the spark, a rejection gave it the light (you’ll have to listen to find out what! 😏), and within 3 days of AHN being born, the Asian Hustle Network had 1,000 members.

👀 In 11 months: 60k members

👀In 1.5 years: 100k+ members

👀In 2 years: 120k+ members

Talk about fulfilling a need! 😱

But things weren’t easy:

☹️Bryan was receiving hate messages (and wanted to quit after 8 months)

☹️ AHN wasn’t profitable for years.

Things have since turned around

🔥AHN is incorporated in the USA, Singapore & Australia;

🔥Has its own venture fund;

🔥Also runs a non-profit fund; and

🔥Has expanded into Southeast Asia!

To learn the details of this transformation, how AHN grew from a Facebook group to a massive global super connector platform & Bryan’s lesson from launching the Hate Is A Movement, just listen to the latest episode 113 on the So This Is My Why podcast!

And do let us know what you think. 😊

Highlights:

2:17 Growing up with $25
4:02 Investments & business were taboo at home!
5:31 Why computer science?
6:45 Companies aren’t loyal 😕
9:43 Starting his side hustle & losing $22,000 😫
12:01 Getting into real estate investment
18:04 When you’re less reliant on your job, you start seeing what’s wrong with it
20:17 I don’t need to be an employee!
22:47 Depressed over finding the meaning of life
27:03 The Asian community is divided
31:04 Asian Hustle Network’s mission
32:35 Being inspired by the Meiji Shrine
34:33 Going viral (thanks, Subtle Asian Traits!)
39:14 How do you make everyone feel like they belong?
41:11 Wanting to quit after 8 months
41:43 Hate Is A Virus movement
45:44 Running successful events
48:51 The trick to networking
50:09 Constantly innovating
51:18 Becoming profitable
53:04 Sponsorships
55:00 Moving to Southeast Asia
57:57 Difference to EST Media
58:46 The Vietnamese Way
1:03:11 Bing Chen of Gold House

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/113

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

🥳STIMY episodes are now open to sponsorship! Just email sothisismywhy@gmail.com to find out more.

We've heard from Eric Sim all week.

In Part 1, we learned about his journey from working at his father's prawn noodle hawker stall to becoming the Managing Director at UBS Investment Bank.

In Part 2, Eric explains why he left it all behind, the importance of building a portfolio career, why LinkedIn & his secret to building a 2.9 million following on LinkedIn!

In today's special episode, we asked Eric questions that came from YOU, the STIMY listeners!

YOUR Questions to Eric:

1:10 Framework to evaluate opportunities [Lily Wu]
4:10 What is Eric Sim's life purpose? [Sam Huen]
5:12 What does the creator economy look like in 3 years & what's 1 action that people can take to best position themselves for it? [Lester Chng]
8:36 Lessons learned after writing his book, Small Actions Leading Your Career to Big Success [Craig Davis]

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/112-questions

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

Eric had the world at his feet.

He had gone from selling prawn noodles at his father's hawker stall in Singapore to becoming the Managing Director of UBS Investment Bank.

So why did he throw it all away? 😱

What comes after all that?

For Eric, a lot more.

He was constantly learning skills & combining them in unique ways. From learning to sail to video editing and becoming LinkedIn's top influencer in both Singapore and China thanks to his 2.9 MILLION followers.

In this Part 2, we dive into Eric's life after banking.

How we can & should all be building a portfolio career. Why LinkedIn. His book writing journey & the crazy way he sells his books in China.

If you feel stuck in your career, or don't know how to stand out from your peers, then this is the roadmap to adopt. 😉

Highlights:

2:39 Why stop being the Managing Director?
3:53 Pursuing a portfolio career
5:57 The start of Eric’s LinkedIn journey in Hong Kong
7:45 Content pillars
9:13 How do you gain 2.9 million LinkedIn followers?!
10:01 Why LinkedIn?
13:59 Where’s the line?
16:13 Building community
22:16 Small Actions
25:20 Should I write a book?
26:44 Self-publication & Kinokuniya’s Kenny Chan
28:42 Marketing
30:29 What’s the China market like?

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/112-2

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

How does a shy boy with no social skills, who failed his mathematics & went to school smelling of prawns every day... become the Managing Director of UBS?

Just ask Eric Sim.

The truth is:

❌ Eric didn't just fail his maths.

He also failed his English Literature & History papers and had to work at his father's prawn noodle shop before going to school.

❌ He bombed his first job in FX Sales role at DBS Bank.

❌ He failed all his job interviews in London (which he attended wearing a chicken suit!).

But Eric's story doesn't end there.

He:

✅ Figured out how to leverage on his unique background, i.e. as the son of a hawker & bartender, to build a unique personal brand & score his first job;

✅ Found an amazing boss, Prasanna Thombre, who believed in him & gave him all the international opportunities he needed; and

✅ Built relationships that meant that his future jobs were all referred to him.

Eric learned very quickly that you need to do more than just your job to thrive.

And we talked about the cultural nuances of working in different Asian cities (including Ulaanbaatar!), what it meant to be the Managing Director, why he would go to the same restaurant x4 a week!! & how he networks to build the relationships he needs.

Highlights:

2.52: Forced to drink oat milk & selling prawn noodles
5:27 Carving potatoes was a lie!
6:43 Developing an inferiority complex (+ learning everything!)
9:16 Sending an unsolicited application to DBS Bank
12:35 Restarting his career at Lancaster University
14:36 Wearing a chicken suit for interviews at London's financial banks
16:15 The Asian Financial Crisis & Prasanna Thombre
20:53 Moving to Citi
23:41 Working in Shanghai & witnessing the liberalisation of China's financial sector
24:52 Chinese business culture
25:55 Cigarettes
28:09 The importance of being friends with all the chefs
30:31 Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
31:38 Why Eric keeps getting referrals for jobs
32:33 Why Citi was Eric's dream job
35:09 Did the wealthy look down at Eric?
37:11 Why being a hawker's son helped Eric as a banker
40:14 Meeting Hawker Chan
42:53 Becoming Managing Director at UBS (investment banking)
44:30 Was Eric a successful MD?

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/112

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

P/S: Part 2 of Eric's episode comes out this WEDNESDAY! And we talked about why Eric left his high-flying role as Managing Director, how he built a 2.9 million LinkedIn follower count, the importance of personal branding & building a second career, and his journey as a published author in Asia and specifically, China.

Amanda Cua is the founder of Backscoop: the hottest newsletter covering all things in the Southeast Asian startup industry.

She’s only 20 years old but:

Backscoop has already crossed 15,000 subscribers;
Has attracted funding from Buko Ventures;
Been featured on CNN; and
Has moderated a Wild Digital firechat with Jaeson Ma of 88Rising & OP3N.

All this - with no college degree.

Who said COVID-19 pandemic projects can’t go far? 😉

But if you listen to this STIMY episode, you’ll soon realise that Backscoop is so much more than a mere side project.

Amanda envisions it to be a regional media company for the people in Southeast Asian tech.

So if you’re interested in what drives Amanda, what it takes to run a weekly newsletter (it now has a podcast!) & also what’s happening in the Southeast Asian startup space, then this is the episode for you.

Highlights:

7:00 Deciding to not go to university
10:11 Maximising her gap year
15:53 Cold outreach tactics
17:38 Launching her own startup, Backscoop
20:36 Why Southeast Asia (and not APAC)?
26:59 Researching other newsletters
29:58 The different iterations of Backscoop
31:24 Dropping Soft Serve
32:44 Most effective growth strategy
34:34 Getting over stagnant growth
35:56 Building a regional media company
37:26 Trends in the Southeast Asian tech scene
39:36 Accepting investment from Buko Ventures
43:39 Launching a new product, One More Scoop
44:55 What’s the value proposition?
47:02 Serendipity
49:37 Personal branding
53:42 Competitor that Amanda admires & why

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/111

🍦Subscribe to Backscoop: https://sparklp.co/p/9c1a338c2c

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you can find success & build a portfolio career on your own terms: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Welcome to Part 2 of Ian Lee's episode.

In Part 2, we talked all about how we should measure our lives. How Ian Lee pivoted from art to design then investment banking and consulting. How cancer changed his life. Why we shouldn’t make 10 year long-term plans and instead, pursue the things that interest us most in 12-18 month increments & so much more!

This episode, deals with all things web3.

From going into banking to being tasked with finding out about bitcoin, how he ended up being the Head of Crypto & Blockchain, all things decentralised social networks and what he's now trying to achieve at Syndicate.

Highlights:

2:26 Being ridiculed by bankers
4:56 Learning about Bitcoin
11:37 Attending Bitcoin conferences as a "suspicious" person
13:38 Forking the Bitcoin network with Citi coin
17:43 Leaving Citi
18:45 Being crushed by... Ethereum?!
24:40 Joining IDEO
27:15 Meeting his co-founder, Will
32:33 Creating the YouTube of web3 investment
40:15 Collectives
42:32 Working towards Balaji's vision of a network stake?
44:08 Singapore rice dishes
47:44 Does everyone have just 1 calling?

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/110

💌 Weekly Newsletter that deconstructs how you can find success & purpose on your own terms: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

P/S: Did you know that STIMY is on YouTube?! Please do subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/c/SoThisIsMyWhy

Ian Lee is the co-founder of Syndicate: a decentralised investing protocol & social network by the likes of A16Z, IDEO, Kleiner Perkins, Uniswap, Coinbase, Opensea, circle & Ledger. He is also the former founding member of IDEO Colab and Head of crypto & blockchain at Citi.

But before all that, he was an artist.

Then a designer. Before pivoting into marketing & advertising, investment banking and finally, consulting.

Where he ended up being diagnosed with cancer.

His world shrunk into 3 month timeframes, because he just didn’t know if he would live beyond each three month period.

Ian’s worldview changed. He was and remains afraid to try new things.

In Part 1 of Episode 110, our discussion centres around the fundamental question of: How do we measure our life?

Opening with a viral Tweet that Ian wrote, inspired by a Harvard Professor called Clayton Christensen where he learned that:

The best strategy in life is an emergent one.

Don’t plan life in 5-10 year spans. Instead go all-in on what you have the most conviction, passion & excitement for in 12-18 month increments.

You’ll learn more, grow faster & outperform others not as into it as you.

You’ll learn how and why in this episode, and so very much more in this episode with Ian Lee.

Highlights:

2:41 Don’t plan your life in 5 to 10 year spans
3:49 Going to art school instead of science?!
6:07 Being diagnosed with cancer
7:43 Living in 2 to 3 month increments
9:26 Exploring rabbit holes
19:10 Life isn’t a linear progression
20:36 Letting go of his need for obsessive planning
22:15 Is there a place for long term vision and planning?
24:38 Would Ian really do anything differently?
27:59 Knowing when to quit
30:44 How to plan for a pivot
35:39 Juggling art and business in his CV
42:45 Mentors
48:53 Fostering relationships with mentors

P/S: Part 1 of the interview with Ian Lee comes out this Wednesday! Where we talk all about Ian’s deep dive into the world of investment banking & web3.

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/110

💌 Weekly Newsletter that deconstructs how you can find success & purpose on your own terms: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

Don't be arrogant. Every beginning is small.

And if you can accept that, and are willing to take any opportunity that comes, then you can build a unique life & career the way that Enara Nazarova has!

Today, Enara Nazarova is/was many things:

Voted as one of the Top 30 Voices in the Metaverse by ReadWrite
VP of Metaverse at Hype
Founder of ARMOAR
Educator & Managing Director at Third Academy
Host of the leading digital fashion community DIFA Club
Co-Founder of North Florida's 1st coding bootcamp
Special Projects Marketing at Tech Open Air - Europe's leading tech festival

But before that, she worked in theatre. Going from assistant set designer to costume designer, assistant director, assistant stage manager then assistant director. All in the span of 3 years.

So.

❓What drives Enara?

❓How did she end up speaking with the likes of Sara Maino (Vogue Italia), Pauline Brown (LVMH Chairwoman) & Matthieu Lorrain (Head of Creative, Google AR)?!

❓Why will you fail without self-belief?

❓And why did her mum always ask her: Are you disciplined enough to be a free spirit?

We talk about all that & more in STIMY's Episode 11.

Highlights:

3:18 Conflicting passions
5:08 Getting into tech
7:40 My CV is a lab - full of experimentation
10:12 Accept that every beginning is gonna look small [how to hack your way into festivals!]
11:36 Tips to running great festivals
12:45 How to maximise your time at festivals
15:45 Getting into AR/VR
19:03 Launching a school during a hurricane
20:14 Ending up in New York City
21:33 Chance encounter with the founders of Lukso
24:28 Feeling ignited
26:34 Clubhouse
30:20 Getting Sara Maino (Vogue Italia) & Pauline Brown (Chairwoman of LVMH) on board
37:39 ARMOAR
41:28 Becoming VP of Metaverse at Hype
50:12 Are you disciplined enough to be a free spirit?
53:23 Web3 is more than an ENS domain. It's a mindset.
55:28 Enara's lowest points
57:41 Is Enara happy?
59:03 How do you quit?

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/11 0

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

💌 Weekly Newsletter on upcoming STIMY guests/interesting reads to make you smarter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

If you want to hear from someone who:

❓Helped purchase Lehman Brothers (US) for £1.75 billion;

❓Built out the equity practice in Europe for Barclays Capital;

❓Worked for Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister of the UK; and

❓Now works as the General Counsel in a web3 company that builds core blockchain infrastructure?

Then STIMY’s latest episode with Chrissy Hill, General Counsel at Parity Technologies, is not one you want to miss!

Chrissy shares her journey from South Carolina into the web3 space, and some of the milestones in her career, including:

2:33 Being the baby of the family
5:23 A legacy of lawyers
7:26 Working at Linklaters’ London office
8:49 Becoming the Director of Compliance at Barclays Capital
13:38 Purchasing Lehman Brothers (US) for £1.75 billion
15:24 Working for Tony Blair at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change
18:22 Working at a mission-driven organisation
21:21 Entering the web3 space
23:16 The concept of privacy
27:02 Working at Parity Technologies
31:34 What does a web3 lawyer do?
34:59 Regulations coming in

So if you want to know what it’s like to be a top notch lawyer in the web3 space, this episode is for you!

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/109

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

💌 Weekly Newsletter on upcoming STIMY guests/interesting reads to make you smarter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

It’s cool to be a YouTuber these days.

But how do you go pro?

What’s your life like?

And how much do you earn?!

To answer this over the Chinese New Year (hope everyone is feasting well!), we’ve got Gerald Sebastian - co-founder of Kok Bisa, which with 4.4 million subscribers makes them one of the biggest YouTubers in Asia!

In this episode, we learn how Gerald ended up being a full-time YouTuber, how they’ve built Kok Bisa, the kind of content that goes viral, their monetisation strategy & so much more.

So if you wanna be a YouTuber, or just want to understand what it takes to produce the videos we binge on (don’t lie, I know you use YouTube 😝), then this is the STIMY episode for you!

Highlights:

2:30 Being a superhero
5:00 Asking questions nonstop
7:54 Finding his YouTube co-founder, Ketut Yoga Yudistira
9:54 Creating a different kind of content
11:19 What it takes to produce YouTube content
12:25 Going from 14 to 25,000 subscribers with 1 video!
13:35 Making videos to answer questions from the Kok Bisa audience
18:18 The reiteration process
19:21 The secret to going viral on YouTube
21:00 Humour
21:42 Indonesian meatballs
24:24 The importance of YouTube Shorts
25:25 How do you grab attention?
29:20 Becoming a full-time YouTuber
31:48 Deciding on the equity split
32:42 Questions to ask a potential co-founder
33:51 Navigating burnout & mental health issues
34:55 The different monetary streams they’ve created
36:23 How do you get sponsorship?
43:20 What’s next?
48:16 When do you use the “talking head”?

Descript: https://www.descript.com/?lmref=sjT9JA

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/108

💌 Weekly Newsletter that deconstructs how you can find success & purpose on your own terms: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Michelle Toh is every Asian parents' dream child.

She's ambitious.
Has a strong sense of self.
And will do whatever it takes to succeed - including cold pitching South China Morning Post & landing an internship in her teens!

Her initial dream was to be in fashion (she's worked at/for Elite Model Management, Hearst Magazines & HuffPost too).

Then she pivoted and ended up becoming:

😮 the Hong Kong Editor of Fortune; and

😮 writer & reporter at CNN Business

Where she has:

🔥 hunted down super yachts belonging to Russian oligarchs

🔥 covered some of the world's biggest IPOs - e.g. Grab, DiDi, Coupang & Kuaishou Technology

🔥 conducted interviews with:

Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel
Netflix COO Greg Peters
Grab Co-Founder Hooi Ling Tan
A16Z partner Connie Chan
Impossible Foods President Dennis Woodside

And did I mention that Michelle is a Malaysian too?!

So:

How did Michelle go from studying with royalty (she saw her classmate being fetched by helicopter to attend state events!) to working with the top journalists in the world?
What is it like, really, to work at CNN?
How does CNN handle "fake news"?
How does she gain trust?
And how important is personal branding (+ LinkedIn) for a journalist like Michelle?

You'll have to listen to Episode 107 of the So This Is My Why Podcast to find out. 😉

Highlights:

2:36 Having a strong sense of self
4:52 Where Michelle’s drive came from
7:04 Sense of inferiority
7:56 Working at South China Morning Post, Elite Model & a law firm
9:23 Cold emailing for internships!
9:54 The secret to cold emails
10:50 “I hope this finds you well”
12:38 Going from Harper’s Bazaar to boring old news?!
17:24 Going from Fortune to CNN
19:09 The Morning Show
20:32 The behind-the-scenes of working at CNN
23:49 Asian discrimination
27:11 Deciding on which stories get shared
28:40 Fake news! How did you spot them?
32:23 Hunting down a superyacht worth USD 500 million!
36:21 Public image
38:24 Building a personal brand
41:30 Why LinkedIn
42:30 How do you craft a story?
44:21 Mentors
46:20 Do you need a journalism degree?
38:23 Hallmarks of star journalists
50:42 How Michelle gains trust
52:07 How listeners can help Michelle

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/107

💌 Weekly Newsletter that deconstructs how you can find success & purpose on your own terms: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Official Bio

Michelle Toh is an award-winning writer and reporter for CNN Business, based at the network's Asia Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong. She covers business and tech across APAC, writing breaking news, features and analysis about companies, startups and banks in the region.

Toh has covered some of the top stories in global business, including the disruption and inequality caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the corporate response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the crackdown in China on private enterprise, the Evergrande crisis, the US-China trade war, the fallout from the Hong Kong protests, and Huawei's battle in the United States. She has also covered the recent historic market turbulence and some of the world's biggest public offerings, including those of Grab, Didi, Kuaishou, and Coupang.

Toh has interviewed leaders of some of the world's top companies, including Tiffany CEO Alessandro Bogliolo, Galaxy Entertainment's billionaire Chairman Lui Che Woo, Netflix COO Greg Peters, Grab Co-Founder Tan Hooi Ling, Tinder CEO Elie Seidman, Yum China CEO Joey Wat, ex-Reddit CEO Ellen Pao, and Impossible Foods President Dennis Woodside. Her reporting frequently appears across CNN's digital and television platforms, and she often contributes to the network's "Meanwhile in China" newsletter.

In 2021, she led a team across six CNN bureaus on an interactive project about workplace discrimination of Asians around the world, which won an Award of Excellence from the Society of News Design.

Prior to joining CNN, Toh was the Hong Kong editor of Fortune Magazine, where she led a breaking news team, reported on business trends, and researched fundraising deals for its "Term Sheet" newsletter. Her work has also featured in publications including TIME, USA Today, the South China Morning Post and HuffPost. She has moderated and covered panels at major international conferences, such as CES in Las Vegas and Shanghai, Most Powerful Women in Laguna Niguel, California, and RISE in Hong Kong.

ICYMI (in case you missed it) features some of my favourite moments from earlier STIMY episodes.

Back in Episode 85, Dr Robin Dunbar (Emeritus Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford) shares how the way boys & girls handle relationships are completely different.

The relationships that boys have is a lot more casual and club-based. If we belong to the same club, then we're friends.

Whereas for girls? Well, girls need to be interacting with each other. Sharing secrets. And if they don't, then the relationship weakens.

What do you think? 🤔

Listen to the full episode here:

🎙️Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442?i=1000566279914

🎙️Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4VuxAs76IE0wJgItPzoZHe?si=m1NsNAl6QgCk4n4sY3TTow

🎙️Watch episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSZlcS5ooyCjj\_MkrmH\_WhQ

Other Links:

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/85

💌 Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

🪙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sothisismywhy

Please leave a review & rating here! - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Xavier Desmet is the Head of Digital Natives, Startups and Unicorns for Asia at Zoom.

And in this episode, we talk about all:

Tiger Mums (or for the French, “Jewish Mums”);
Xav’s “WTF” moment when he realised that management consultancy wasn’t what he wanted to do with his life;
His journey in the startup world and why he decided to leave Paris;
Whether your life ends when you have kids;
How words can change your brain;
How Xav’s initial months at Microsoft were “absolute hell” and how that changed;
The cultural differences working in the startup world in France, Australia and Southeast Asia; and
So much more.

Want the details?

You’ll have to listen to Xav Desmet’s episode. 😉

Highlights:

2:50 We are all grown up children
5:35 Having a “Jewish Mum”
7:07 The French education system is violent & elitist
12:08 How entrepreneurs are viewed in France
13:47 Why leave management consultancy to run a startup?
15:38 Breakthrough moments
18:34 Finding like minded partners
21:56 The average lifespan of a startup is…?
28:57 Going on a 11 month sabbatical
34:51 How you can find the values in your life
37:25 The first 6 months at Microsoft were “absolute hell”
40:18 Four reasons Microsoft became great
43:26 Shutting down his startup
43:36 You’re a failure
49:33 Moving to a startup called Zoom
52:31 Delivering happiness
54:12 The difference in startup culture in France, Australia & Southeast Asia
58:16 Startups that Xav wants to help with
59:48 Mentors

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/106

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you can find success on your own terms: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

Sponsored by Descript: https://www.descript.com/?lmref=sjT9JA

Official Bio

After graduating as a Computer Science Engineer in France and completing a Postgraduate Master of Technology Management at UNSW, Xav quickly realised that his passion wasn’t in coding in C but in people, technology and entrepreneurship.

He started his career as Management Consultant in the UK but in 2005, his entrepreneurial nature led him to co-found and develop, Mome Sweet Mome, the master Franchise of Les Petits Bilingues, the first and leading network of immersive English learning centres for children from a very young age. He sold his shares in 2011 and today, Les Petits Bilingues are still the leader in France with more than 10,000 children enrolled each year.

The same year he decided it was time to discover new horizons and moved with his wife and two new born children from Paris to Sydney, becoming also Australian in the process.

Down under, he joined Microsoft in Enterprise Strategic roles while also experimenting with ventures on the side (Perenne Investments and Solana) and becoming a sport addict through triathlons and long distance trail running.

He relocated to Singapore with his family in December 2020 during the pandemic and recently joined Zoom where he now leads the Digital Natives sales activities for Asia.

In his free time, you will find Xav influencing his family and friends to adopt a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle such as adopting a plant based diet."

Welcome to the first STIMY episode of 2023!

For the 105th episode, we're doing a little sneak peek into some of the upcoming episodes and as always, they're varied, but interesting.

With tons of insights to apply into our own lives.

We've got:

Xav Desmet: Head of Digital Natives, Startups & Unicorn for Asia at Zoom
Fabien Riggall: Co-founder of Secret Cinema (one of the most mind-blowing experiential cinema experiences in the world)
Gerald Sebastian: One of the biggest Indonesian YouTubers with over 4.23 million subscribers
Michelle Toh: Writer/Report at CNN
Ian Lee: co-founder of Syndicate & the former Head of Crypto at Citibank
Alvin Chiong: Former secret society member & heroin addict
Enara Nazarova: VP of Metaverse at Hype
Dr Giovanna Graziosi Casimiro: Head of Metaverse Fashion Week at Decentraland

And so much more.

I hope this gets you excited for what we have in store for 2023!

And if you've been enjoying So This Is My Why, please do leave a review. It really helps the podcast reach more people. 😍

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/105

💌 Weekly Newsletter on upcoming STIMY guests/interesting reads to make you smarter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Welcome to Ep 104 of the So This Is My Why Podcast and this is... Goodbye! 😱

At least to 2022.

This will be the last episode of 2022 because it's time for a break :)

That said, I didn't want to sign off without sharing a little something about what STIMY has achieved, and also highlight some special moments from STIMY episodes this year.

Featured STIMY guests include:

Ep 103: Nicole Levinson - Former VP of Marketing North America, LVMH
Ep 102: Notle - the ex-convict who once ran Singapore's first and largest social escort businesses
Ep 101: Adrian Tan - the King of Singapore
Ep 99: Davy Liu - the first Chinese Disney animator, who worked on classics like the Lion King, Aladdin, Beauty & the Beast, Star Wars & the Atlantis
Ep 95: Marja Konttinen - Marketing Director at Decentraland
Ep 96: Aaron Tang - Country Manager of Luno
Ep 93: Geoffrey See - founder of Poko & Choson Exchange, the largest social enterprise in North Korea
Ep 92: General Tan Sri Borhan - retired 4 star General & former Chief of Defence Forces
Ep 87: Phil Libin - co-founder of Evernote & mmhmm

Highlights:

0:00 Goodbye?!
3:18 Biggest advice to all young working professionals: Don't be a substitute
4:30 Biggest lesson from prison
6:29 Prison culture is a death sentence
8:18 Dumber than Forrest Gump
10:14 The biggest lesson Disney taught Davy wasn't how to draw cartoons, but to...
11:21 The secret sauce behind LVMH's success
13:23 What must all founders do all the time?!
14:37 Build your career like an adventure
16:08 The House of YES
17:32 Hustling for your first writing gig
18:30 How do you become a Huffington Post writer?
19:27 The challenges of building a social enterprise in North Korea
21:16 Feeling left behind (despite the public accolades)
23:13 Building Evernote felt like cheating?!
24:39 Anyone can love durians
25:40 Be cruel in order to be kind
26:41 The leadership style of a 4 star General

See you back on 1 January 2023!

Where I'll be sharing a sneak peek into upcoming episodes on STIMY. We’ve got YouTubers, Olympians, celebrity founders, a CNN correspondent, the CEO of one of the biggest confectioneries in town, a giant in the real estate development world, prominent politicians and so much more. 😎

It's gonna be great!

P/S: If you'd like to support what STIMY is doing, would you consider being a Patreon supporter? You can find the link here: https://www.patreon.com/sothisismywhy

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/10 4

💌 Weekly Newsletter on upcoming STIMY guests/interesting reads to make you smarter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

Nicole Levinson is the House of Yes.

And unafraid of forging her own path, which includes being:

🔥 Chief Marketing Officer, audo

🔥 Senior Vice President of Brand Marketing and Partnerships for Playboy Club, New York

🔥 Vice President of Marketing, North America for LVMH

But who is Nicole Levinson?

Nicole is the child of Holocaust grandparent survivors.

She began her career in Christie's, then Sotheby's, before pivoting into the world of PR with Elizabeth Harrison of H&S, who told her, “Take your panty hose off!” 🤣

They were hustlers.

And Elizabeth was the House of Yes.

Because as Nicole learned: Most people in the room don’t know either. So you’ve just gotta figure it out!

But Nicole’s journey didn’t end there.

She later became the VP of Marketing North America, LVMH, where she oversaw marketing & merchandising for MAKE UP FOREVER.

And also the Senior VP Brand Marketing & Partnerships, Playboy Club New York during the #metoo movement. Which definitely raised some eyebrows.

Along the way, she’s also worked in the hospitality, fashion, spirits, arts and automotive industries.

And that variety is something Nicole considers to be her strength.

So.

🤔 What drives Nicole?

🤔 What is LVMH’s secret sauce?

🤔 How can founders remain “authentic”?

🤔 And what impact did Playboy’s collaboration with Jeremy Scott & his MET Gala appearance have on the brand?

We deal with all that and more in STIMY’s episode 103.

Highlights:

2:48 The child of Holocaust grandparent survivors & the link to Steven Spielberg
7:49 Betty Boop to Christie’s
11:43 Death, divorce or debt
13:40 Why is Christie’s better than Sotheby’s? 😏
15:52 The profile of the top 1% clientele
19:28 Feeling lost & changing industries
20:31 Meeting Elizabeth Harrison & “take your panty hose off!”
23:47 Celebrity wrangling
26:09 Moving to LVMH
29:00 LVMH’s secret sauce
31:41 How do you ensure the founder story is front & centre?
33:06 What does “authenticity” look like?
35:28 The secret to staying humble
36:30 What drives Nicole
41:05 How Nicole ended up at Playboy New York during the #metoo movement
49:18 Finding editors to champion the brand
51:01 Fashion Week with Jeremy Scott of Moschino
52:02 The impact of the MET Gala on Playboy
57:05 What is audo?

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/103

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

💌 Weekly Newsletter on upcoming STIMY guests/interesting reads to make you smarter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

✨ Sponsored by Descript: https://www.descript.com/?lmref=sjT9JA

Notle Chew grew up a Crazy Rich Asian.

Who later ended up joining the Secret Society & running one of Singapore’s first social escort businesses (and a successful one at that!) for almost 7 years before he ended up in prison.

Which, as you can tell, is not a story you’d normally find on STIMY. But also a story I’ve really wanted to have told.

Because I believe that we can learn so much from people from all different parts of society.

And Notle’s life story is a cautionary tale, while also giving us a glimpse into a part of society that isn’t often heard of.

There is a price to be paid for our actions and in Notle’s case, a hefty one.

Some things we talked about:

What it means be a member of the secret society;
The concept of trust and brotherhood, the initiation process is like and how he ended up leaving the secret society;
The 8 o’clock rule;
Why he started a social escort business, and grew it to be one of the top businesses around;
How he ended up being caught;
What it was like being in prison;
How he shook off his depression and suicidal thoughts; and
Why he believes 80% of ex-convicts can't be helped.

As we cover a lot of heavy topics, please consider this a trigger warning.

Highlights:

3:19 The name “Notle”
4:01 Life of a Crazy Rich Asian
6:49 Recruited to join the secret society in school
11:56 The 8 o’clock sharp rule
19:15 Paying the price to leave the secret society
22:08 Initiation process for secret society members
24:56 The secret society mindset
26:10 How trust operates in a secret society
27:01 What does “justice” mean?
27:30 Brotherhood
30:50 Starting a social escort business
33:44 Advertising for female workers
39:25 Staying competitive
41:08 The business model
44:40 Business expansion
46:48 Being caught by the police
47:47 Life in prison
49:18 Finding God
49:18 Not regretting prison
54:36 Healing broken relationships
59:57 Triad Trails & the girl
1:04:54 Best way for society to support ex-convicts
1:05:47 80% of ex-convicts will never change
1:07:40 Identifying the 20% that can be helped

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/102

💌 Weekly Newsletter on upcoming STIMY guests/interesting reads to make you the most interesting person in the room: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Welcome to a special Questions from the Audience episode with Adrian Tan!

Adrian Tan is STIMY's latest Ep 101 guest, i.e.

the King of Singapore
President of Singapore's Law Society
Partner at TSMP Law Corporation
Prolific LinkedIn writer

And several weeks ago, I asked on LinkedIn & Instagram whether any of you had questions for Adrian.

Turns out, 5 of you did!

And here, Adrian answers them all.

Highlights:

1:01 Aaron Lim - Cancer treatment & mortality
2:04 Jeff Ong - How cancer affected Adrian's work performance
3:43 Adrian's many, many, many hats!
4:00 Jeff Ong - The tipping point that changed Adrian's perspective on serving others
5:46 Kris Ang - Advice for son who wants to become a lawyer! 🤩
7:29 Jade Tan - What keeps Adrian motivated even after being diagnosed with cancer
8:57 Dave Nathar - Singapore's death penalty on drug trafficking
11:19 Dave Nathar - What's behind Singapore/Malaysia's cultural divide? (because obviously won the food debate, obviously 😝)

Special Thanks

To Aaron Lim, Jeff Ong, Kris Ang, Jade Tan and Dave Nathan for submitting your questions.

And being part of STIMY!

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/101

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

💌 Weekly Newsletter on upcoming STIMY guests/interesting reads to make you the most interesting person in the room: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

Adrian Tan, the King of Singapore & ultimate Linkedin Influencer, is back with Part 2 (check out Part 1 in the previous episode)!

Here, Adrian shares how his career developed as a lawyer, why he hated his time as a General Counsel, thinks that lawyers should be legal influencers, how his LinkedIn posts go so viral and more.

Highlights:

1:58 Embarrassed by his bestselling books
5:59 The non-confrontational litigator?
10:01 Working with Davinder Singh, one of Singapore’s top litigators
12:50 How to be a good legal associate
14:16 The art of persuasion
15:28 Secret to good writing
17:25 Becoming the General Counsel of Crimson Logic
20:18 It was awful
21:26 Being involved in the Singapore Law Society
24:05 Lawyers need to be legal influencers
26:55 Writing bland posts to…?
32:10 Advice for young lawyers writing online
33:20 The secret to viral posts
34:48 Fighting cancer, cases & for lawyers
37:41 The 3 friends we have

P/S: A special ‘Questions from the Audience’ with Adrian Tan will be released this Wednesday!

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/101

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

💌 Weekly Newsletter on upcoming STIMY guests/interesting reads to make you the most interesting person in the room: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

Bio

Adrian Tan is a litigator specialising in technology, intellectual property, collective sales and shareholder disputes. He is the President of the Law Society of Singapore.

Adrian was the former general counsel of CrimsonLogic and holds a degree in computer science and psychology which gives him the foundation to address technology-related disputes. His degree in computer science and psychology gives him the foundation to address technology-related disputes. He has represented clients in a wide range of technology and intellectual property disputes, ranging from data centre construction, social media defamation, copyright infringement and passing-off in relation to consumer electronics, and patent infringement of vaccines.

The King of Singapore has spoken… to me! 😮

His accolades are every Asian parent’s wet dream:

👉🏻 President of Singapore’s Law Society;

👉🏻 Partner at TSMP;

👉🏻 Bestselling author of The Teenage Textbook & The Teenage Workbook, which were turned into a play, movie and TV series etc.; and

👉🏻 LinkedIn writing extraordinaire (all his posts go viral & even hit the mainstream media headlines!)

But who is Adrian Tan, really?

How did Adrian Tan end up where he is?

What was it like growing up in a CBD community that didn’t understand the concept of “privacy”?

E.g. Everyone treated Adrian’s family TV as their own, and crowded outside to watch together. 🤣

How did he end up writing bestselling fiction novels (whose royalties put him through university)?

Why is he the King of Singapore?

And how has cancer ☹️ impacted him?

🔥 So much to cover in STIMY’s spanking new Episode 101 Part 1.

You’ll just have to listen to find out more! 😏

Highlights:

2:23 Singapore’s immigrant story
10:33 Getting into Anglo Chinese Primary School through ballot
15:54 Maternal gaslighting
19:20 The TV belongs to everyone! 😫
21:59 Top grades doesn’t guarantee success in life
24:59 Chinese people can be very racist
30:02 Failing to get a scholarship to study law because Adrian’s English was too good
33:10 Why law?
34:31 Writing for magazines & getting a book offer
36:31 Getting a book deal to write The Teenage Textbook & The Teenage Workbook
38:38 How much royalties do authors get?
40:56 Why did a subversive book become a bestseller?

Part 2 of Adrian Tan’s interview is coming out this coming Sunday (27 Nov)!

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/101

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?:https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

💌 Weekly Newsletter on upcoming STIMY guests/interesting reads to make you the most interesting person in the room:https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

Welcome to STIMY’s 100th episode!

In this landmark episode, Red Hong Yi (former STIMY Ep 2 guest) is back as the guest HOST!

She brings the 🔥 & asks about my entire journey because since June 2020, STIMY has grown to:

12k+ followers
31k+ downloads
35+ countries;
A book offer; and
1 STIMY physical hangout.

All in the span of 2+ years!!

WOW.

If you’ve ever been curious as to who I am, why I started STIMY, lessons learned, my 200k word novel and what’ll happen moving forward… then this is the episode for you.

Please leave a review/tag us if you listen to this! I’d love to hear from you.

Highlights:

4:04 Kathmandu & a pet podcast project
5:02 My MBTI
7:38 ISTP
10:01 How Red Hong Yi & I met
12:02 How serious was I about STIMY?
12:27 The milestone age of 30 & Daniel Pink
16:23 Juggling work & everything else
20:21 Podcast setup
21:28 Everything is figureoutable
23:22 Creating my 1st website at the age of 10
24:31 Being strategic about my travel blog (www.vidadeliya.com)
25:81 My secret aim with every STIMY interview
28:57 Why do I enjoy stories so much?
30:17 The most emotional story - Notle
35:07 The dream of being a novelist
37:44 Going viral on LinkedIn
45:03 Keep going with no engagement
45:38 Gaining access to extraordinary people
46:16: Being intimidated?
53:07 The secret to success
55:51 Joe, Bumble & Dating
57:37 Web3, NFTs and Memebank
1:00:38 How I pick STIMY guests
1:01:22 Drag Queens
1:02:02 Faith & Davy Liu
1:04:41 STIMY Hangouts in person
1:10:18 LinkedIn writing is like reading a personal diary
1:11:14 Writer’s block
1:14:47 What’s after STIMY’s 100th episode?
1:17:24 Street art & Lawyah
1:18:43 Has my why changed?
1:19:28 Getting a book offer
1:20:20 Serendipity & Cesar Kuriyama
1:24:12 Have you questioned your own why?

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/100

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

💌 Weekly Newsletter on upcoming STIMY guests/interesting reads to make you smarter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

P/S: Descript is the life-changing video/audio editing app I mentioned, that you can find here: https://www.descript.com/?lmref=sjT9JA

Welcome to STIMY's special Questions from the Audience episode!

Remember Davy Liu, the former Disney animator from STIMY Ep 99?

We collected some questions from you, dear listeners of STIMY, and had Davy answer them!

To Nathan, Wei Choon & Josh Wong - thank you for being part of STIMY. :)

0:24 At what point did Davy's parents change their mind about his profession as an artist?

4:02 Thoughts on merging or converting Asian stories in a Western or global audience

9:39 Challenges in creating wholesome content when the media is full of NSFW content

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/99

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

💌 Weekly Newsletter on upcoming STIMY guests/interesting reads to make you smarter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

Davy Liu is a Chinese Forrest Gump.

He’s also a former Disney animator who’s worked on Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Aladdin, Mulan, Atlantis and Star Wars, and is the founder of Kendu Films.

Fun Fact: General Shang in Mulan was drawn based off Davy! There's an uncanny likeness between both fo them.

Now. Given Davy’s illustrious career, you would’ve thought that he’s had a smooth career trajectory but that’s hardly the case.

He struggled while growing up in Taiwan, where everyone was expected to score straight As but he just couldn’t.

Instead, he had the gift of drawing straight lines. And being an artist was not on the cards.

When he later moved to the US, he was placed in an all-black school (everyone thought he was Bruce Lee!).

While there, Poppy Kincaid, his 8th grade art teacher, transformed his life. Telling him that “he could do it”.

He ended up going to art school (then dropping out when he realised fine arts wasn’t for him), and had to apply 4 times to get into Disney!!

Davy intended only to be in Disney for 3 months but that turned into 5 years, and in this STIMY episode, Davy shares what it was like working on some of the most iconic Disney animation films to date, as well as what it takes to craft a great story.

We also talked about his faith, why he quit his cushy 6-figure Disney job, the terrible period straight after quitting where he lost everything (his marriage, finances etc.) and how he built himself back up.

Davy’s story is one of passion and having the gumption and determination to go after what you want.

And also the stark difference between Asia and the West.

Highlights:

2:34 Being “dead” in his mother’s womb for 10 days
5:03 Being dumber than Forrest Gump
6:37 Moving to an all-black school in Florida
8:22 How Poppy Kincaid, his 8th grade art teacher, changed his life
13:17 Dropping out of fine arts
16:02 Seeing himself as an artist
17:21 Nearly drowning
21:58 Applying to Disney
23:22 Working at Disney
26:07 Disney animation films take 4 years to complete - here’s why
29:53 Pushing boundaries v generating revenue
32:59 What makes a good story?
34:11 No one wanted to work on The Lion King!
35:27 Disney doesn’t teach you to draw cartoon characters; it teaches you to make the best commercials
39:31 Working on Mulan
41:05 The backstory to Mushu the Dragon
42:20 How to make Asians more creative?
46:15 Entering a dark period after quitting Disney
49:16 Feeling that God had abandoned him
50:49 Vision behind Kendu Films
51:25 Power of telling stories from an animal’s perspective
55:28 What’s next?

P/S: There’s a special episode focused on Questions from STIMY Audience Segment where Davy answers questions submitted by you! The episode will be released this Wednesday.

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/99

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?:https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

💌 Get the latest STIMY updates/learn how to be the most interesting person in the room:https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

Devil Wears Prada is the closest thing I have to the world of high fashion.

When I asked Francine Ballard how closely it mimicked reality, she said, “There is some truth to that.”

And she should know.

Francine Ballard has worked in the fashion industry for a while.

She was the American Fashion Director at Time Inc (InStyle), Conde Nast (Lucky magazine), and PaperCity Magazine as Style Editor at Large, working with fashion and jewelry brands Hermès, Gucci, Fendi, Dolce & Gabbana, Cartier among others before transitioning to the technology space.

Francine is also a founding member of BFF, along with Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Hudson, Paris Hilton and founders Brit Morin and Jaime Schmidt, and co-founder of several startups including Metagolden - a web3 emporium selling luxury phygitals.

In this episode, we tackle how Francine went from a small island in Hawaii to the world of high fashion publication, what it takes to rise to the top, how she got into the web3 space, how the fashion industry is shifting, why phygitals and more.

Highlights:

2:52 Growing up in Hawaii
4:24 Speed until you get a ticket
6:26 Devil Wears Prada in real life?
8:10 Climbing to the top of US high fashion publication
9:40 Founding a registered resale startup
13:09 Testing an idea
15:04 Fashion Industry x Web3
17:11 Origins of Metagolden
20:35 Phygitals
21:54 Traditional fashion house v fashion house of the future
24:51 Building community
38:06 Are brands afraid of web3?
30:09 Interesting use cases
32:07 Launching Francine’s 1st collection
37:07 How to decide on pricing
40:38 Where community comes from
43:31 Building partnerships
45:00 Dream partner
46:51 How to create a sense of belonging
47:55 Being a founding member of BFF

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/98

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?:https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

💌 Weekly Newsletter on upcoming STIMY guests/interesting reads to make you smarter:https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

Jeremy Au is the Chief of Staff and Head of Strategic Projects at Monk’s Hill Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in early-stage tech companies, primarily Series A, in Southeast Asia. And is also the host of the BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast!

Prior to Monk’s Hill Ventures, Jeremy was CEO & Co-Founder of CozyKin, a VC-backed edtech startup, which was acquired by Higher Ground Education and scaled across multiple cities in North America.

He was a Bain & Company consultant and has been recognized with Forbes “30 Under 30” and Prestige “40 Under 40.”

If you’re interested in startups, VCs and podcasting, then this is the STIMY episode for you!

Highlights:

3:42 Helping others
5:11 Wanting to be a vaccine researcher
7:00 Losing his first love
11:23 How the army helped him cope with grief
14:25 Life at Berkeley
18:44 Founding his first startup
20:43 Overcoming scepticism
22:57 Finding people who believe in the same cause
26:07 Completing his MBA at Harvard University
32:31 Co-founding his 2nd startup in mental health
39:26 Returning to Singapore & becoming a VC at Monk’s Hill Ventures
44:30 Being the Head of Strategic Projects
47:03 Founders that have stood out
49:03 The current Southeast Asian startup scene

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/97

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

💌 Get the latest STIMY alpha/exclusive updates: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

ICYMI: Zeneca 33, prolific NFT investor & thought leader (he has 300k Twitter followers!) was on STIMY.

If you've ever seen some of Zeneca 33's works/writings, you'll know that he's very bullish about generative art: a type of NFT where the art is generated entirely from code.

A particular generative art project that he loves?

Art Blocks.

We unpacked all that in Zeneca 33's Part 1 STIMY interview & this ICYMI provides a glimpse of that conversation.

If you want to listen to the full Part 1 STIMY interview with Zeneca 33, here are the links:

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/86-1

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

💌 Get the latest STIMY alpha/exclusive updates: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

🎙️Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442?i=1000566279914

🎙️Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/037BVfsIJzU25wIkauefnw?si=PiwfYfD3TqyTbNHNWBDHfA

Aaron Tang is a popular Malaysian blogger known as Mr Stingy (on personal finance & career), and the Country Manager of Luno - Malaysia’s first regulated cryptocurrency exchange.

In many ways, Aaron’s career has been dictated by his “maximizer personality” & desire to make the greatest use of the resources he had.

This has resulted in some pretty ingenious moves, including a use of multiple credit card schemes to pay off his RM58k student debt at the start of his career!

In this episode, we explore Aaron’s journey from a high flying oil & gas career to the world of social entrepreneurship (he took a 50% pay cut!), why he started the Mr Stingy blog and how that landed him a job in the crypto world as the current Country Manager of Luno.

And of course, all things crypto/NFTs/DAOs!

Highlights:

3:06 Maximiser personality
6:51 Being a Petronas scholar & breaking his bond
9:18 Paying off his remaining RM58k student debt with credit cards (p/s: not financial advice!)
12:46 Making a contrarian move in his career
17:15 Tendering at a bad time
19:04 Taking a 50% pay cut
24:21 Maximising profits v helping the greatest number of people
25:20 Feedback loops
25:50 Starting the Mr Stingy blog
34:46 How Aaron started writing for the Huffington Post
35:46 How blogging got Aaron a job in the crypto space
36:54 Discovering bitcoin
38:05 Putting skin in the game
41:47 HODL & toxic positivity
42:43 Going through a baptism of fire as Employee #1
43:44 Becoming the Country Manager of Luno
45:06 Being a regulated digital asset exchange
47:35 What regulators are most concerned about
48:55 El Salvador
49:42 Anti-money laundering concerns
53:50 Algorithmic stablecoins
54:35 Why Luna crashed
58:31 Are play-to-earn games all about insider trading?
1:00:14 Eating humble pie
1:01:44 Big idea that Aaron has changed his mind on
1:05:34 Underdogs
1:06:48 DAOs

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/96

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?:https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

💌 Weekly Newsletter on upcoming STIMY guests/interesting reads to make you smarter:https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

It’s not normal to make yourself redundant, right? 😳

It’s hard enough applying for a job 😩, going through 5-8 rounds of interview 🤢before settling into your new role & figuring out how everything works.

And what it takes to reach the top. 🧐

It’s also not normal to work with NASA to launch a new product (Angry Birds Space🐦 !!) & have an astronaut 👨‍🚀 talk about it live from the International Space Station 🌚.

🎉And yet, that’s exactly what Marja Konttinen has been up to.

Marja Konttinen is the current Marketing Director at Decentraland - yes, the place that hosts all those fancy avatar-attending Metaverse Fashion & Art Festivals 🎊 . Where virtual plots (pixels, really) have sold for millions 💸.

So what’s Marja’s story?

Well for starters, Marja has had a very varied career. Which is explained by her approach to work:

“My whole career has been this fun adventure where I like saying yes to opportunities and when that opportunity comes, I will definitely go for it.”

Her first job in the games industry = beta test Hitman Bloodmoney.

Aka playing games all day to uncover bugs & determine the functioning of the gameplay.

Aka literally playing to earn money! 👾

That kickstarted her 15-year journey in the games industry.

A particular highlight we touched on was her stint as Marketing Director at Rovio Entertainment.

Her first job?

Call NASA. 😍

Because Rovio was about to launch Angry Birds Space. It was going to be HUGE, everyone wanted a slice of it, and Marja was at the eye of the storm🌪.

Now Marja’s at Decentraland. She’s spearheading its marketing efforts but is quick to say that her ultimate goal is to make herself redundant. Which ties back to the ethos of decentralisation (weird as it sounds!).

Her dream: that the Decentraland DAO runs the entire operations by themselves as a collective.

So we of course talk about that.

What are those challenges? What is the true value of virtual land? And what does it really take to throw a great virtual party?

✨Welcome to STIMY Ep 95!✨

Highlights:

2.56 Being artistic
4:47 Saying yes to opportunities
7:36 Lessons learned from the gaming industry
9:24 Working with gaming developers
10:51 Becoming the Marketing Director at Rovio Entertainment
12:12 Good partnerships are a gut feeling
13:23 Spearheading the launch of Angry Birds Space & NASA Collaboration
17:17 Planning the launch
17:56 Biggest challenge in the gaming industry
18:44 How do you build community?
20:34 Making herself redundant as the marketing director at Decentraland
23:34 How Decentraland’s DAO works
27:30 Challenges in removing herself as a marketing director
28:51 Why pick Decentraland over everyone else?
32:16 What is the true value of virtual land?
35:23 How companies can fully utilise virtual land
40:04 Renting, not buying
41:44 Behind-the-scenes of throwing a virtual party
43:26 What do people always forget to do when planning a virtual party?
44:32 Web3 metrics of success
46:05 How companies can get started in web3

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/95

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

💌 Get the latest STIMY updates & learn about other curious things to become the most interesting person in the room: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

🥺Please leave review for STIMY? -https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

This is an interview where Freda Liu (former STIMY Ep 27 guest!), BFM 89.9 radio TV host turned the tables and interviewed.. me!

About my personal journey, particularly with starting this So This Is My Why Podcast.

It's still strange to hear myself speak even after publishing 94 episodes, but I do hope you find something interesting out of this interview!

E.g. how I went from discovering what a podcast was to deciding to launch one, some of the highlights including interviewing James Corden's Big Boss & being featured multiple times on the Late Late Show with James Corden and my epic 40-day journey in the Himalayas, where my Everest Base Camp hike coincided with the start of the global pandemic. 😅

I'd love to know what you think of this episode!

So feel free to tag me with a review on any of the platforms you favour, e.g. LinkedIn, Instagram or Twitter.

Highlights:

2:11 My background
3:38 Discovering the world of podcasts
5:05 Learning about how to run a podcast
6:03 Why "So This Is My Why"?
7:08 Main learnings from interviewing almost 100 podcast guests
9:08 Interviewing James Corden's Big Boss
12:56 How difficult is it to get STIMY's podcast guests?
20:07 Faith
21:33 Hiking to Everest Base Camp during the global pandemic
25:07 Why I wish I'd started the STIMY podcast earlier
26:18 Podcast guests that changed the way I think
28:41 Interviewing Guy Kawasaki & the "secret" to getting him on

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/94

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

💌 Weekly Newsletter on upcoming STIMY guests/interesting reads to make you smarter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

ICYMI (in case you missed it) features some of my favourite moments from earlier STIMY episodes.

Back in Episode 85, Dr Robin Dunbar (Emeritus Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford) is most known for formulating Dunbar's Number = the cognitive limit of a person in terms of the number of relationships they can handle at any one time.

That number if 150.

Lots of people disagree, particularly that one person can only have around 150.

So what does Dr Robin Dunbar think? 🤔

Listen to the full episode here:

🎙️Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442?i=1000566279914

🎙️Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4VuxAs76IE0wJgItPzoZHe?si=m1NsNAl6QgCk4n4sY3TTow

🎙️Watch episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSZlcS5ooyCjj_MkrmH_WhQ

Other Links:

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/85

💌 Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

🪙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sothisismywhy

Please leave a review & rating here! - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

What does it mean to be the underdogs? One of the economically marginalised? Unable to open a bank account, cash a cheque… all the things that most of us would take for granted?

Geoffrey See - World Economic Forum Young Global Leader & serial entrepreneur - knows this well, because of his extensive work as a social entrepreneur in North Korea via Choson Exchange.

But after 11 years, Geoffrey knew that it was time to move on.

And in this episode (Part 2), we cover Geoffrey’s journey into the Web3 space. Why his experiences working in North Korea and Vietnam opened his eyes to the potential of blockchain, what he’s aiming to achieve with his new Y Combinator-backed startup, Poko, and his collaboration with the Kazakhstan government to provide the legal wrapper that many DAOs need but struggle to implement.

Highlights:

3:46 Introduction to Web3
6:33 Being economically marginalised
10:05 Is the ethos behind blockchain flawed?
12:18 What are DAOs?
14:24 Investment DAOs versus a Traditional VC
15:39 Reward mechanism
18:19 Proposals
20:22 Hallmarks of a successful DAO
22:02 Working with the Kazakhstan government
27:20 Why pick the Astana International Financial Centre?

If you’d like to learn about Geoffrey’s childhood and his experiences working in North Korea via Choson Exchange (it was turned into a Harvard Business School case study!), do head over to STIMY 93 Part 1 for a listen!

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/93

💌 Weekly Newsletter on upcoming STIMY guests/interesting things to make you a more interesting people: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?:https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

North Korean women are entrepreneurs.

Not the first thing you might think of, but a reality that STIMY’s latest guest - Geoffrey See - knows very well.

So who is Geoffrey See?

Here’s a quick run down 👇🏻

Graduated from Yale University & the Wharton Business School;
Worked as a Bain consultant;
Co-founded Choson Exchange: a social enterprise that created the largest training program for female entrepreneurs in North Korea - which ended up being profiled in a Harvard Business School case study;
Helped launch a blockchain protocol that had a $2B coin cap at its cap;
Is a digital currency taskforce member and consumer protection report author at the World Economic Forum Global Council for Digital Currency Governance;
Is a Ethereum Foundation fellow and a Kauffman Fellow; and
Is now the CEO of Poko: a Y-Combinator backed startup focused on building DAOs to empower the next generation of investors, entrepreneurs and creators

In Part 1, we cover his childhood & experience building Choson Exchange.

Highlights:

3:22 A strange relationship with authority
5:28 Wharton Business School
8:15 First brush with North Korea
10:31 North Korean men in politics, women in business
11:17 What does “business” mean in North Korea?
14:51 Building partnerships with North Korean Universities
16:34 Overcoming paranoia
20:16 How to find champions
21:48 Doing due diligence on potential partners
23:48 What North Koreans thought of the “rule of law”
28:26 Choson Exchange’s financing model
30:06 Measuring impact
31:15 Keeping the faith
33:58 The people that helped Geoffrey the most (i.e. a former Foreign Minister, National Security Advisor to multiple South Korean Presidents & ex-Global Managing Director of McKinsey & Company)
37:05 Deciding to leave Choson Exchange
38:56 The difficulties of letting go

Once you’ve listened to Part 1, head over to Part 2 to learn about how Geoffrey entered the web3 space and what he’s doing with Poko!

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/93

💌 Weekly Newsletter on upcoming STIMY guests/interesting things to make you a more interesting people: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?:https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

How do you get a Deputy Prime Minister* to give you RM 500 million (USD 105M)?

By having the guts & conviction of a Tiger General. 👇🏻

Several months ago, I interviewed General Tan Sri (Dr)’ Borhan bin Ahmad (Retired): a retired 4 star General & former Chief of Defence Forces in Malaysia - the highest military rank that one can attain.

⚔️ This was the 82-year-old man who had:

Established Malaysia’s special forces in the mid-1960s;
Fought in the Congos, the Vietnam War (escaping days before the fall of Saigon) & Malaysia’s Undeclared War;
Swam from Singapore to Johor because the British said that Malaysians could never become Commandos.

And we’re just getting started.

I don’t want to spoil his epic story, so you’ll just have to listen to it yourself!

Highlights:

1:43 Growing up under Japanese occupation
3:54 Pretending he had died
5:29 Running away to military school
6:27 Military life
7:41 Swimming through shark-infested waters from Pangkor Laut to Pulau Pangkor
8:56 Swimming from Singapore to Johor to prove that the Malaysians could be Commandos too (to the British)
9:51 Almost studying medicine
11:59 Being transformed into a professional soldier
12:49 Military strategies he learned
15:40 What’s it like to kill someone?
16:12 Was the General ever afraid of death?
17:40 Be cruel in order to be kind
18:28 What makes a good officer?
19:51 Fighting in the Congos
23:18 Fighting in Malaysia’s Undeclared War
27:08 Founding the Malaysian Special Forces
26:43 What makes a Commando?
27:52 The General’s toughest operation
30:49 A father + 3 sons
32:36 Fighting in the Vietnam War
38:43 Giving up the Green Beret
41:05 What is your leadership style?
41:58 The greatest leader he ever met
44:44 Just join the system?
45:56 His greatest achievement as the Chief of Defence Forces
47:00 Finding a treasure trove of oysters + getting Anuar to give him RM 500 million!
49:02 Being threatened with court-martial
50:26 What he thinks of the Malaysian special forces today
54:29 The General’s greatest regret
55:35 Advice for those who want to be Commandos

Special thanks to Lt Col Assoc Prof Dr. Ananthan (Retired), National Defence University of Malaysia, for making this interview possible.

P/S: The General has his own book out. DM me if you’d like to get a copy!

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/92

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Welcome to a very special STIMY Episode 91 & I'm delighted to see all the new STIMY followers this week!

Instead of the normal guest format, this episode will highlight:

The reasons behind why I started So This Is My Why;
The kind of guests you’ll find featured;
A very shocking incident last summer involving the Late Late Show with James Corden; and
4 lessons learned from past STIMY guests.

The short clips from 10 of STIMY’s past 90 guests will hopefully give you a feel for their episode, and whether it’s the one for you.

The guests you’ll hear on this podcast include:

Ep 1: Chloe Buiting - Wildlife conservationist & vet
Ep 2: Red Hong Yi - Renowned architect turned artist who’s worked with the likes of Google, Nespresso & Jackie Chan
Ep 3: Dr Julian Tan - BCG Consultant turned then Head of Digital Business Initiatives & Esports at Formula 1, London
Ep 30: Dr Finian Tan - Chairman, Vickers Venture Partners
Ep 51: Nick Bernstein (Part 1, Part 2), - Senior VP of Late Night Programming (West Coast) & James Corden’s Big Boss
Ep 55: Karl Mak - Co-founder & CEO of HEPMIL Media Group (SGAG, MGAG, PGAG, SGEEK)
Ep 60: David Grief - Former Senior Clerk at Essex Court Chambers who nurtured the careers of barristers & judges including the former Chief Justice of England and Wales
Ep 79: Nicole Quinn - General Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners (investor/board member of HAUS (Lady Gaga), The Honest Company (Jessica Alba), Goop (Gwyneth Paltrow), Girlboss (Sophia Amoruso) etc.)
Ep 84: Eric Toda - Global Head of Social Marketing, Meta
Ep 87: Phil Libin - Co-founder of Evernote & mmhmm

To see a YouTube compilation of STIMY’s appearance on ViacomCBS’ The Late Late Show with James Corden, follow this link.

And please feel free to take a screenshot & tag me on LinkedIn/Twitter (or whichever platform you’re most comfortable with) & let me know what you thought of this episode, how you think it can be improved & future STIMY guests to consider.

See you next Sunday!

P/S: You’ll have to stick to the end of the episode to understand the weird sounds in the initial 6 seconds. 😅😉

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/91

💌 I share my latest learnings/exclusive updates on STIMY’s weekly newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

TM Lee is the co-founder & CEO at Coingecko - one of the world’s largest crypto data aggregators with over 150 million users in 2021 alone!

But before becoming a founder, TM was first influenced by his brother to become a coder. He learned about Reddit and Digg, and even ended up studying computer science at Purdue University, where he was exposed to the likes of Jason Fried (Basecamp) - a huge proponent of the bootstrap mentality.

TM tried many things. He wrote an aggregator in college until things went south, and eventually worked at a Big 4 audit firm but at the back of his mind was the thought that he wanted to start a business.

Then in April 2014, he co-founded Coingecko with Bobby Ong. It began as a side project with a starting capital of $100, launched soon after the collapse of Mt Gox. And as you’ll see from our interview, they went through lots of ups & downs to get to where they are today.

Highlights:

3:52 How his brother exposed TM to coding
5:01 Influenced by Kevin Rose (Digg)
5:44 Jason Fried of Basecamp
9:17 Evaluating business partners
10:35 Returning to Malaysia
11:47 Side projects
14:56 Building Coingecko
17:05 Meeting his co-founder, Bobby Ong
18:30 The early days of Coingecko
20:00 The significance behind the crash of Mt Gox
21:30 Why launch Coingecko right after the Mt Gox crash?
22:40 Building trust
22:40 Bootstrapping with $100
25:31 Building collaborations with universities
26:40 Scaling via organic marketing
27:47 Getting Coingecko translated into 15 languages
30:19 Was TM worried about sharing his code to the public?
31:10 Getting investors on board
24:12 Why the banking/fintech industry is so different from the crypto industry
35:51 Why maintain Coingecko’s API for free forever?
37:05 How Coingecko ensures that they have accurate price data feeds
38:25 Deciding on the tokens to list
39:09 Sifting out the scams & rug pulls
40:53 Will Coingecko ever delist a token?
42:21 Main milestones behind Coingecko
43:31 How the crypto space is impacted by banks (e.g. DBS) launching their own crypto trading services
44:14 Impact of Binance’s purchase of Coinmarketcap on Coingecko
45:07 Is TM now more important to investors to remain competitive?
50:38 NFTs
52:00 The secret behind Coingecko’s rocket growth in 2021: From 50 million to 150 million in 11 months
53:03 Thoughts on the current bear market
55:34 Crash of the Luna token
56:54 Coinzilla’s malicious app script
1:02:52 What to expect from Coingecko moving forward
1:03:42 Things to expect if the metaverse takes off
1:05:37 How much of your success is due to hard work v luck?

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/90

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

💌 Get the latest STIMY alpha/exclusive updates: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

Tibor Mérey is a Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), global co-lead on the metaverse, and a core member of Boston Consulting Group's Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT); and Marketing, Sales & Pricing (MSP) practices. He leads the TMT practice in Austria, where he focuses on digital transformation and technology-enabled growth strategies. Prior to joining BCG, Tibor co-founded a freestyle fashion startup in Switzerland.

In this STIMY episode, we dive into all things metaverse/web3:

3:32 Co-founding a Swiss freestyle label with CHF 100
4:11 Milestone achievements
5:28 Working at BCG
6:37 How Tibor first got into web3
7:46 How BCG internally prepared to offer web3 consulting services to clients
9:44 Key components of a “metaverse”
13:03 How do you create a metaverse strategy?
14:26 Should all companies have a metaverse strategy?
15:43 Mitigating risks when companies enter the web3 space
17:32 How companies can get buy-in from existing customers & employees
19:58 How did Nike do?
22:20 What is “cultural relevance”?
24:05 Companies that haven’t done a good job?
25:30 Can companies regain the trust of customers?
27:05 Defining “authenticity”
29:23 How should you measure web3 success?
31:08 How can companies share ownership with their customers?
33:58 Interesting DAO use cases
35:24 Future trends
36:59 How BCG has incorporate web3/metaverse strategies into their own operations
38:06 Advice for people entering the web3 space for the first time
39:54 Lowest risk ways for companies to dabble in web3/metaverse

if you’re a brand interested in developing a web3 space, or just want to know what a consultant thinks about companies who are entering the metaverse, then this is the episode for you.

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/89

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

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What do you think of STIMY? -https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

ICYMI: Zeneca 33, prolific NFT investor & thought leader (he has 300k Twitter followers!) was on STIMY.

He's a part of some of the most influential NFT projects around, including Bored Apes Yacht Club (BAYC), Cryptopunks, Goblintown, Art Blocks and more.

We've all heard of BAYC/Jimmy Fallon.

We hear (seemingly) everyone talk about being part of the Bored Apes community.

But... what is it really like?

What true value does it give Bored Apes holders?

Are BAYC overvalued?

Could BAYC's valuation crash?

We unpacked all that in Zeneca 33's Part 1 STIMY interview & this ICYMI provides a glimpse of that conversation.

If you want to listen to the full Part 1 STIMY interview with Zeneca 33, here are the links:

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/86-1

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

💌 Get the latest STIMY alpha/exclusive updates: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

🎙️Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442?i=1000566279914

🎙️Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/037BVfsIJzU25wIkauefnw?si=PiwfYfD3TqyTbNHNWBDHfA

Diego Borgo is a metaverse & Web3 strategic advisor to Fortune 500 brands like Adidas, Salesforce, Unilever, Boson Protocol and more.

Having featured a number of NFT founders & artists, this STIMY episode showcases how brands have and can enter the metaverse with Diego, who’s been in many Fortune 500 boardrooms & has his finger on the latest alpha: who’s done well, who hasn’t, how important “sustainability” is and ways to ensure that both employees and existing customers are onboard when a brand is launching a new metaverse initiative.

If you’ve ever wondered what a company/brand should look out for when taking the leap into the Web 3.0 space, then this is the episode for you.

Highlights:

3:11 How Diego entered the Web3 space
8:21 Why Diego took the leap
18:50 Brands driven by FOMO
24:31 What other brands can learn from Nike
29:26 Incorporating DAOs & shared ownership into brand strategies
34:48 Creating products with large communities
37:23 Mitigating risks
41:16 Bringing existing clients from Web2 to Web3
43:31 G-Star RAW Denim - why it’s an interesting use case
48:10 How important is climate change?
49:30 How brands can mitigate against environmental harm arising from use of blockchain
53:33 What happens when your own employees riot and go against your metaverse initiative?
56:37 The secret to the success behind Adidas’ Into the Metaverse, which generated USD 22 million within hours!
1:01:03 Diego’s favourite NFT project
1:02:59 What is big tech doing?
1:07:39 What Diego would love to see done, but hasn’t happened yet

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/89

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?:https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

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ICYMI (in case you missed it) features some of my favourite moments from earlier STIMY episodes.

Back in Episode 85, Dr Robin Dunbar (Emeritus Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford) shares why he thinks that the only way we can make REAL friends is through physical IRL interactions.

Virtual friends?

Meh, they're fake.

But do you agree? 🤔

Listen to the full episode here:

🎙️Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442?i=1000566279914

🎙️Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4VuxAs76IE0wJgItPzoZHe?si=m1NsNAl6QgCk4n4sY3TTow

🎙️Watch episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSZlcS5ooyCjj_MkrmH_WhQ

Other Links:

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/85

💌 Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

🪙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sothisismywhy

Please leave a review & rating here! - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

STIMY 87 features Phil Libin. Some things he’s most known for:

Co-founder and CEO of Evernote, which he grew to become a beloved product for hundreds of millions of users
Managing Director at General Catalyst
Co-founder and CEO of All Turtles, a globally distributed product studio
Co-founder of mmhmm, an all-in-one platform for making, watching, and talking on videos

This is an episode that’s all about startups, growth, regret and why Phil hates the metaverse & thinks blockchain is bullshit and “communist propaganda”.

Here’s a little background:

Phil Libin was 8 years old when he moved from Leningrad (now St Petersburg) to Parkchester, New York as a refugee. His parents were both classical musicians and he lived in a fairly dangerous neighbourhood in the Bronx.

Despite being a self-described “punchable” kid (he was poor, very physically uncoordinated and didn’t speak English well), he did well in school, earned good money doing repair work and freelance programming and sold his first company, Perseus Data systems, for $500.

But at the same time, he also got fired from his job selling ice-cream and took 30 years to get his Bachelors degree!

Why?

How?

What?

Here are the highlights:

3:43 Moving to New York as Russian immigrants
4:52 Being fired from his job selling ice-cream
6:11 Taking 30 years to complete his degree?!
8:15 Working with essentially the same core group of friends to build 5 startups
11:13 Selling Engine5 for $26 million, Hollywood-style
15:52 Building something for himself (Evernote)
18:19 Startup failure is brutal; startup success is much worse & much harder
20:57 Three types of regret
22:48 Maintaining his principles & ethics
24:53 Metrics used to measure impact
26:30 3-year game plan for mmhmm
28:13 How mmhmm improves lives
31:07 Why Phil hates the metaverse
32:27 Crypto blockchain is bullsh*t
33:45 The promise of blockchain is just communist propaganda?
37:14 Training himself to like what he hates, including durians!
39:57 How listeners can help Phil Libin

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/87

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We’re back with Part 2 of STIMY’s interview with Zeneca 33!

ICYMI: Zeneca is a former professional poker player (15 years!) turned NFT founder, investor and educator. He has nearly 300k followers on Twitter, founder of ZenAcademy, an NFT community that aims to create a safe learning environment for people discovering their place in web3, has a newsletter, YouTube channel and 2 podcasts!

If you want to listen to Part 1, head over to https://www.sothisismywhy.com/86-1

Things get juicy in this episode as we dive further into the world of NFT investments starting with… how did Zeneca x100 his net worth via NFT investments in 1 year? What’s the secret?!

Highlights:

2:25 How Zeneca x100 his NFT investment net worth
3:44 Moonbirds & Kevin Rose
4:56 Why did Moonbirds succeed?
7:26 Is Kevin Rose too… establishment?
10:14 Why haven’t women-led projects taken off?
12:57 How men can help Web3 women founders
13:36 Is it better to help women in Web3 by letting their projects fail fast, rather than investing and prolonging their hope?
15:12 Are “women in web3” events more divisive than helpful?
18:52 How Zeneca began his content creation journey
23:57 Zenacademy
30:40 Why 7,484 Genesis NFTs?
31:50 Isn’t it… unethical to claim to want to educate the general public about Web3.0, but keep exclusive access/opportunities to ask Web3.0 questions only to NFT holders?
36:01 What success looks like for Zenacademy
37:49 Building virtual relationships
40:59 How to build relationships on Twitter
42:15 What does mainstream adoption of NFTs look like?
43:41 Bear market
44:49 What Zeneca’s crypto portfolio look like during this bear market
45:54 Does Zeneca hesitate to share his investments because so many people would blindly follow his suggestions? What does he do?
50:29 With all his successes, is Zeneca… happy?

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/86-1

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?:https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

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ICYMI (in case you missed it) features some of our favourite moments from earlier STIMY episodes.

Back in Episode 79, we met Nicole Quinn: General Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners aka the "Celebrity Whisperer".

Nicole led the Series A in Cameo and Lady Gaga's Haus Labs and seed rounds in Girlboss, Illumix and Sagely. She also invested in the Series B in Calm and Series C in Goop and sourced Rothy's and Zola.

Here, Nicole Quinn shares how she did her due diligence on Lady Gaga as a potential investor by measuring her "engaged followship" & what it's like working with her, as well as how one separates the "celebrity" from the company.

If you've enjoyed this ICYMI, you can listen to Nicole's full episode here:

🎙️Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442?i=1000557140887

🎙️Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5QkxgQyRfgQ9bg53TwGyqI?si=zyrHVkeSRc-QuCySTV_DZA

🎙️Watch episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSZlcS5ooyCjj_MkrmH_WhQ

Other Links:

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/79

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

💌 Get the latest STIMY alpha/exclusive event updates here: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

Please leave a review & rating here! - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

ICYMI (in case you missed it) features some of my favourite moments from earlier STIMY episodes.

Back in Episode 85, Dr Robin Dunbar (Emeritus Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford) shares why we fall for romantic scams against our better judgment (even when everyone around us is warning us against it!!).

Listen to the full episode here:

🎙️Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442?i=1000566279914

🎙️Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4VuxAs76IE0wJgItPzoZHe?si=m1NsNAl6QgCk4n4sY3TTow

🎙️Watch episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSZlcS5ooyCjj_MkrmH_WhQ

Other Links:

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/85

💌 Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

🪙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sothisismywhy

Please leave a review & rating here! - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

If you’ve been following STIMY recently, you’ll have noticed our recent Web 3.0 trend.

Yes, the market is bearish. Crypto is crashing. But more companies & individuals than ever are entering the space. NFT NYC just ended. Soul tokens are coming…

To make, hopefully, some sense of it all, STIMY is proud to present its latest guest - one of the most prolific NFT content creators & thought leaders around - to provide his take on all things NFTs:

Zeneca → a former professional poker player (15 years!) turned NFT founder, investor and educator. He has nearly 300k followers on Twitter that follow him for his opinions and analysis in the space. He is also the founder of ZenAcademy, an NFT community that aims to create a safe learning environment for people discovering their place in web3, has a newsletter, YouTube channel and 2 podcasts!

We had such a wide-ranging conversation that the episode has been split into 2.

This is Part 1.

Highlights:

4:22 Becoming a professional poker player
6:27 Money is a tool
10:24 What success means for a poker player
13:58 Going back to crypto in 2020
16:35 When everything “clicked” for Zeneca about the NFT space
21:57 Best NFT learning resources
24:13 The “infinite regret” behind Zeneca’s 1st NFT purchase
25:20 FOMO
30:42 Deciding on an NFT investment in 10-15 seconds based on gut instinct
31:44 Goblintown.wtf
33:56 Why no roadmap?
36:42 CC0 NFTs have no copyright?
39:37 Why Cryptopunks got so huge
41:52 Cryptopunks v Bored Apes Yacht Club
45:27 What it’s actually like being part of the BAYC community
48:14 Is BAYC overhyped?
50:49 What would it take for BAYC’s valuation to crash?
53:28 Buy a Punk, Sell an Ape?
55:04 What is generative art & why is Zeneca so bullish about it?
58:05 No copyright for generative art like Artblock?

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/86-1

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

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ICYMI

Back in STIMY Ep 30, we met Dr Finian Tan - Chairman & Co-Founder of Vickers Venture Partners - a $3 billion deep tech venture capital fund based out of Singapore. Some things he’s done:

founder of J.Aron (APAC trading arm of Goldman Sachs)
Deputy Secretary of Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, where he was tasked with creating
Chairman of Singapore’s $1 billion TIF Fund, to create the Silicon Valley of the East in Singapore
Executive deputy chairman of A*Star
Founding partner of Draper Fisher Jurvetson Eplanet, a Silicon Valley VC that invested in Skype & Hotmail.

While at DFJ, Dr Finian Tan made his first & most well-known investment in a little-known startup called Baidu.

This is a ICYMI snippet that I felt really illustrates Dr Finian’s character & it happened all the way back when he was still a student.

He swept ALL the book prizes, and got perfect scores while at university.

How did he do it?

By planning it like a WAR.

🎙️Listen to the rest of Dr Finian's episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJELxqip89M

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/30

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How many friends do you have?

50?

100?

Now how about close friends?

If you’ll recall back in the early days of Facebook, everyone was busy adding every single friend, casual acquaintance and stranger that they came across as a “friend” until it became too much and a “purge” took place. A purging that was partly influenced by a burger chain and this thing called Dunbar’s number: which concerns the maximum number of friends that one person can have at any one time.

The person who formulated it?

Professor Robin Dunbar: Emeritus Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford, who was awarded the Huxley Memorial Medal for services to anthropology by the Council of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, the highest honour at the disposal of the RAI.

Fun fact: Robin was a featured character in the adaptation of Yuval Noah Harari’s book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind into a graphic novel in 2020!

In this episode you’ll learn about who Robin is, how he went from philosophy to tracking primates in Africa to formulating Dunbar’s Number, why we can only have 150 friends, the psychology behind romantic scams and what he thinks of the Web 3.0 space.

Do you agree that one person can only have 150 friends?

Highlights:

2:56 How Robin got hooked onto human evolution
7:18 Why Robin wanted to do philosophy
8:50 Tracking monkeys & antelopes in Africa in the early 1970s
24:50 The 7 pillars of friendship
30:35 Do opposites attract?
35:47 Where Dunbar’s Number came from
40:11 Why 150?
45:06 Even dogs can be part of your 150
51:54 Can you guard yourself against romantic scammers?
55:05 The problem with Web 3.0
1:02:21 How do you build a strong virtual community?
1:10:58 Common misconception with Dunbar’s Number
1:13:18 Challenging 150
1:16:34 How listeners can help Robin

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/85

💌 Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

🪙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sothisismywhy

Please leave a review & rating here! - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Eric Toda has built the American Dream.

He’s the Global Head of Social Marketing & Head of Meta Prosper at Meta as well as an advisory board member of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center. Prior to Meta, Eric was the CMO at Gap Inc, Global Head of Social Marketing and Editorial Content at Airbnb and Global Digital Brand Marketing Director at Nike.

But Eric’s path has hardly been an easy one.

He’s had to deal with racism his entire life, despite being a fourth generation American and having a World War II veteran as his grandfather.

When he landed his first job at Facebook, he was told that the key to succeeding was to never look a white executive in the eye.

And even when he reached the pinnacle of his career - becoming CMO at Gap Inc - he was eventually fired.

But Eric Toda has also had tremendous successes and his work was awarded by Cannes Lions, Webbys, Clios, Effie, Adweek ARC Awards, Brand Innovators amongst others for combining purpose, creativity, and business results. You might’ve seen some of them - Airbnb’s #LiveInTheMovies and the launch of Gap Inc’s Hill City brand.

So how has racism and failure moulded Eric into becoming a greater leader?

How do you become best friends with your executives?

And who is… Jonathan Mildenhall?

If you want to learn how to be a great leader and triumph over adversity and discrimination, then this is the episode for you.

And if you liked this episode, do share this episode and leave a review!

Highlights:

2:38 How Eric’s grandfather fought for him before he was born
10:05 Why Eric wanted to become a lawyer
12:08 Joining a little startup called… Facebook
15:59 Don’t look a white executive in the eye
20:42 Getting credit for your work
23:21 Being fired from Gap Inc as Chief Marketing Officer
25:09 Why Eric failed to challenge the status quo
28:19 Becoming friends with executives
30:35 Being an approachable leader
32:25 Jonathan Mildenhall
34:48 “Oi, you coming?”
36:28 Airbnb’s successful 2016 campaign during the Oscars
40:24 #WeAccept
44:54 You can’t teach ambition & fire
46:22 Launching the hardest, but right thing in Eric’s career - Meta Prosper
51:01 My people are dying in silence & I’m here with a megaphone
53:31 Why Eric doesn’t want his children to remember him only as a businessman or marketer
56:01 Not being allowed to go to the Smithsonian
57:38 The challenges of Web 3.0 today
1:01:48 Why is Eric Toda so easy to contact?! (p/s: his mobile number is available😅)

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/84

💌 Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

🪙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sothisismywhy

It’s always exciting for me to introduce another podcaster on STIMY, and today’s guest has not 1, but 2 highly successful podcasts:

Creator Lab: an entrepreneurship podcast & growth marketing consultancy
Not Investment Advice: a weekly business podcast covering the latest in business, tech & web 3

Bilal Zaidi has interviewed some of the world's best, including people like Jim Mckelvey, the billionaire co-founder of Square, Tim Urban from Wait But Why, Kat Cole, president of Athletic Greens, Daymond John from Shark Tank & Gary Vee.

Beyond entrepreneurship - he's interviewed a wide range of creators ranging from Hollywood actors, Emmy-winning performers, leading writers, billionaire investors & non-profit founders.

He started his first company, an e-commence business, aged 16yrs old after selling sim cards, CDs & clothes at school & also an Arsenal Review blog that racked over 500,000 views.

He later spent 7.5yrs working at Google managing a $100mil+ business. After meeting the founder of leading social enterprise, charity: water, Bilal left his job to join their leadership team full time as their first ever Director of Brand Partnerships, partnering with brands like Saint Laurent, J Crew, Amazon & 100+ others to raise money & awareness for clean water. To date, charity: water has helped almost 15mil+ people get access to clean drinking water in 29 countries.

Bilal is now a full time entrepreneur & creator, working on several ventures as a podcaster, consultant & investor.

Highlights:

3:40 Growing up in East London as a Pakistani British
6:52 Being a fan of Nars the rapper
7:42 Taking money seriously
9:47 Starting his first company, Street Vibes, as a student
12:49 Learning the art of selling from the vendors at London street markets
15:24 Running an Arsenal Review website with over 500,000 readers
18:44 Being headhunted by Google on LinkedIn
22:14 Almost turning down the opportunity to work at Google
23:25 Being seen as a drug dealer?!
25:37 Spending 7.5 years at Google
27:19 Shutting down a $300M company within Google
29:19 Getting out of his low period
32:16 Starting the Creator Lab podcast
36:43 How Bilal lands amazing guests
43:49 Focus on one platform
48:26 Landing podcast sponsorship deals
53:05 Milestones in Bilal’s podcasting journey
55:30 Meeting the Winklevoss twins
58:40 Interviewing Gary Vee
1:05:39 Jack Butcher - going from cold DMs to close friends
1:14:40 How much personality should you show?

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/83

💌 Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

🪙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sothisismywhy

Jamilia Grier is a privacy and regulatory attorney with over fifteen years of experience. She is licensed in New York and Connecticut and has worked in a wide range of industries including financial services, technology, hospitality, and manufacturing. She is also experienced in working with different countries and cultures and has significant expertise in cross-border transactions. She handles matters concerning corporate law and contracts and is well-versed in data privacy and protection.

She currently serves as CEO & managing partner of ByteBao. Her experience includes leading Data & Privacy Operations at Standard Chartered Bank and the Legal Compliance team for Marriott International based out of China and Singapore.

Ever wanted to know more about the laws surrounding NFTs and DAOs?

Then this is the episode for you.

Highlights:

6:55 What are NFTs?
8:26 IPRs in NFTs
9:44 Where does copyright subsist?
11:32 Copyright in a high drop NFT project?
13:58 What happens if there is no licensing agreement?
15:16 Any legal recourse for NFT holders?
16:44 Effectiveness of DMCAs
18:44 How can you mitigate the scope of your liabilities?
19:41 Liability for copyright infringement if your NFT infringes the original owner’s IP rights?
20:45 Are NFTs a type of security?
25:45 Would you face greater regulation from the SEC if your NFT has a social purpose?
27:55 Hearing about WOW Pixies
28:37 The role of a lawyer in a DAO
29:35 What is a DAO?
30:53 Why DAOs aren’t a decentralised VC
32:58 Incorporating Web2 legal structures for a DAO
37:51 Legal documentations for a DAO
41:27 Giveaways
44:14 Airdrop issues

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/82

💌 Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

🪙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sothisismywhy

It’s time to meet our 5th #Web3 #NFT guest on STIMY!

Mai Akiyoshi is a Silicon Valley engineer from Japan who has had a rather unconventional route littered with what one might conventionally consider to be “failures”.

And it all began… with Mai applying for a sales position at a Japanese company.

The company decided unilaterally that they would train her up as a software engineer instead and it proved to be really difficult. She was consistently at the bottom of her cohort, but still made it through the training and… got into the most technically demanding department of the company, where she was treated like an alien!

Mai then got into a startup by accident - applying for a position she had no prior qualifications in, and even tried to rescind her application! That position eventually led her to the States, where she met Ben Yu (her co-founder & partner) through Nuseir of Nasdaily/Nas Academy and where her Web3 journey began.

Now, Mai is the CEO and co-founder of Curious Addys, a Web3 startup building the best educational platform and community for newcomers to Web3 while celebrating ADHD. She is building ember.help, a platform where anyone can ask questions on Web3 and get guaranteed answers from experts.

If you’re interested in all things Web3/thriving despite all the difficulties that life throws at you, then this is definitely the episode for you.

Highlights:

2:32 Growing up in Japan
4:35 Being diagnosed with ADHD
5:55 Being influenced by her grandparents, who founded their own company after World War II
7:02 Wanting to go to the US
8:27 Applying for a sales position & becoming a software engineer
10:02 Japan’s shaming culture
11:29 Feeling like she’d landed on an alien planet
12:24 Moving to a new startup, Logbar
14:18 Moving to the US
15:03 How Nuseir of Nas Academy introduced her to Ben Yu & is the “mother” of Curious Addys
16:56 Studying at App Academy
19:19 Becoming the senior software engineer at Gusto
21:55 How Mai first entered the Web3 space
22:51 Why Ethereum is so interesting
23:37 Meeting Zeneca & helping him with his smart contract
24:47 Starting a Tamagochi education platform?
26:54 Why NFTs are here to stay
28:23 NFTs are the best way to bootstrap a community
29:32 The vision behind Curious Addys’ Trading Club: Education, Cute, NFTs
32:07 Why an octopus for a mascot?
33:56 The early days of building Curious Addys
36:01 Finding her founding team members
37:24 Maintaining the right values as the community grows
39:28 100% refund policy
40:15 Why release only 5,000 in the initial launch
40:51 How they promoted Curious Addys’ Trading Club
42:02 Building partnerships
42:59 The type of products under Curious Addys’ Trading Club
44:39 What is Ember?
47:03 NFT portfolio tracker
50:12 Reading smart contracts
52:35 Mai’s favourite NFT
53:53 What Mai believes in that most people don’t in the crypto space
54:15 Biggest mistake Mai has done in the Web3 space
55:03 How to spot NFT/crypto scams

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/81

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Ee Ling Lim leads the Global Programs team at 500 Global, overseeing the strategic development and implementation of programs for 500's network of startups all over the world. In her role, she also advises governments, corporations, and foundations in designing and developing startup ecosystems and innovation programs. Prior to 500 Global, Ee Ling was an Investment Banker with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and CIMB Investment Bank, executing M&A, equity and debt capital market transactions in Southeast Asia.

Ee Ling is also the Co-Founder and CEO of Smarter Me, a K-12 edutech startup headquartered in Singapore, that equips primary and secondary school students with the skillset, mindset, and heartset to define their own success and happiness in the future. Through digital technology and entrepreneurship education, students develop mastery in problem-solving, critical-thinking, collaboration, and creativity. She also hosts Young Founders Summit Asia, a leading startup program in Asia that provides aspiring teenage founders with workshops and mentorship to launch impact-based startups.

In this episode, we discussed Ee Ling’s journey as an entrepreneur - including why for the longest time, she never considered herself an entrepreneur and how that perception changed, and how she shares her struggles with her own daughters, including having to fire people. We also delved into the topic of youth entrepreneurship: whether children are too young to learn about entrepreneurship, what they care about, and setting up a DAO.

Highlights:

3:13 Setting up her own preschool
4:43 Founding her first startup
7:49 The problem that Smarter Me is trying to solve
10:23 Determining the curriculum
12:08 Are children too young to learn about entrepreneurship?
14:49 Why Ee Ling wasn’t comfortable with calling herself an entrepreneur
17:10 Sharing her struggles with her girls
18:43 Young Founders Summit Asia
19:56 Organising the inaugural summit
28:53 What the youth care about most
30:30 Launching an NFT project with a DAO element
33:22 Managing the community
35:09 How funds in a DAO are managed
36:14 Biggest challenges
37:39 Why kids were writing off NFTs/DAOs
39:29 How to bring people from the Web 2.0 to Web 3.0 world
40:51 Great DAOs to look at
42:23 Being the Executive Directorof Global Programs at 500 Global
44:17 Main elements of a successful accelerator
45:23 How founders can make full use of accelerators
46:46 Going virtual
49:17 Having “People & Intention” as her 2022 driving words
52:40 How to be a good leader & lead others

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/80

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Nicole Quinn is a General Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, where she focuses on consumer and FinTech investing. Consumer behaviour, founder insights, and company brand are core in Nicole’s mind. Nicknamed the “Celebrity Whisperer”, she has led the Series A in Cameo and Lady Gaga's Haus Labs and seed rounds in Girlboss, Illumix and Sagely. She also invested in the Series B in Calm and Series C in Goop and sourced Rothy's and Zola.

In this episode, we learn how Nicole went from helping her dad run his online pharmacy chain as a child to spending around 8 years at Morgan Stanley to finally entering the VC space.

Nicole shares what a true brand is, how she measures an engaged followship, what it’s like working with celebrity-led companies, how to separate the celebrity from the company, the due diligence she did prior to investing in Lady Gaga’s company, what make founders like Sophia Amoruso of Girlboss stand out and why she produced a sizable term sheet to Lunchclub in less than 7 days.

If you’ve been interested in consumer products and wondering what it’s like to spot & invest in future trends, then this is the episode for you.

Highlights:

2:56 Learning the value of money
4:04 Working at Morgan Stanley for 8 years
5:06 Angel Investing
6:04 Joining an European fintech startup
7:40 Focus on your strengths & make them stronger (in Stanford)
9:46 Meeting members of Lightspeed Venture Partners, including Jeremy Liew
12:22 How founders find the thing they were born to do
14:40 Working with Lady Gaga to build Haus Laboratories
16:13 Doing due diligence on Lady Gaga to measure engagement
17:42 Separating the celebrity from the company
19:26 Leading indicators of a true brand being built
20:23 Why Nicole invests in early stage founders (e.g. Girlboss & Rothy’s)
22:03 How Lightspeed spots new trends
22:47 Being wrong about future trends
24:42 Why Nicole offered Lunchclub a sizable term sheet in less than 7 days
26:58 The ICE Influencer policy at Calm
29:50 Companies incorporating NFTs well into their business

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/79

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Debbie Soon is the co-founder of HUG alongside Randi Zuckerberg - a Web3 platform that supports creators and collectors through: HUGhub (curate-to-earn discovery platform for NFTs), groupHUG (NFT growth accelerator), and hedgeHUG (early stage pre-mint program).

Prior to Web3, Debbie was an equity investor where she managed over $1 billion of global consumer sector investments for one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world, GIC. She then pivoted into the world of startups where she founded Singapore and Southeast Asia's first boutique indoor cycling studio before going on to build three businesses from scratch for one of the most successful unicorns in Southeast Asia, Sequoia Capital-backed ONE Championship.

While there, she was Chief of Staff to the CEO, Chatri Sityodtong - yes, she was the OG Chief of Staff. Her colleagues joked that when she was promoted to VP, Head of Consumer Products, Chatri had to launch an entire reality show just to find her replacement! While at ONE Championship, Debbie spearheaded ONE Championship’s expansion into Japan, launched ONE Esports and ONE Shop, amongst many other things.

As for how Debbie got into the Web3 world?

Well, it all began with her making a wish at the Wishing Well.

You’ll have to listen to find out more. 😉

Highlights:

4:20 “Accept the changeable, change the unacceptable”
6:00 Launching 7Cycle Pte - Southeast Asia’s first boutique indoor cycling studio
8:26 Joining ONE Championship
10:36 Being the OG (“The Apprentice”) Chief of Staff to CEO, Chatri Sityodtong
12:49 Establishing ONE Esports
15:50 Launching ONE Shop as VP, Head of Consumer Products
17:42 Moving to LA
19:52 Nearly stealing the furniture of a homeless person in LA
21:20 Launching her second startup
26:23 Meta Angels NFT & the Wishing Well
31:43 Getting on a Zoom call with Randi Zuckerberg
33:16 Getting a Web3 job without any relevant Web3 experience
35:25 The problem that HUG is trying to solve - discovery for creatives
38:48 Scaling HUG’s Curator Club from 300 to 3,000?
41:17 Making HUG’s Discord channel the go-to channel for people
42:03 Hosting weekly Twitter Spaces with Randi Zuckerberg
43:10 Analysing 3,000 reviews of NFT projects
44:46 Is art an important factor?
45:36 Analysing roadmaps for NFT projects
46:55 HUGhub - the curate-to-earn discovery platform for NFTs
49:00 How to make HUG unique from other NFT accelerators/platforms
51:04 Sharing of confidential information?
52:32 How groupHUG is different from a typical Web2 startup accelerator
53:39 How the groupHUG cohorts are curated
55:12 Biggest needs of NFT founders
56:03 Raising USD $5 million in VC funding for NFT projects in 1 month
57:32 When is a NFT project ready to pitch for VC funding?
58:51 Web 2.5
1:01:03 How NFT Collection founders can pitch for partnerships
1:04:13 Web3 influencers that Debbie recommends following
1:05:22 What a Web3 dating app might look like

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/78

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Welcome to the 3rd guest in STIMY’s NFT/Web3 series!

Lily Wu is currently the Startup Partner Lead, SEA at Stripe and co-founder of WOW Pixies, the first DAO to invest in the women-led web3 ecosystem. DAO stands for decentralised autonomous organisation where rather than decision making being centred at the very top, that decision making power is given away to everyone (aka all WOW Pixies NFT holders). Which is something that is being made possible in the Web3 world.

But how did Lily get into the world of NFTs and DAOs?

Well, Lily has her grounding in the startup world.

When she was 16, she founded her first startup - and ended up making half a million dollars selling shoes.

At age 19, she started her second business in the education space, Austern International, which ended up generating over 7-figures in revenue with over 1,000 students attending physical Career Bootcamps in New York, Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Sydney and Melbourne.

Thereafter, she became the Head of Programs for NewCampus, a Series A edutech startup based in Singapore before joining Stripe as the Startup Partner Lead. She is the founding ambassador of Future Females Singapore, a global organisation dedicated to helping female entrepreneurs get the resources and connections.

To learn about all things startups, growth hacking, NFTs, DAOs and what it means to be part of groupHUG - an NFT accelerator co-founded by Randi Zuckerberg & Debbie Soon, then listen on!

Highlights:

3:56 Being taught by her parents to not ask for permission, ask for forgiveness
6:15 How being left with $100, led to Lily starting her first startup at the age of 16
8:19 Adidas Jeremy Scott wing shoes and the power of arbitrage
12:00 Spreading by word of mouth
15:43 Accounting
20:27 Finding her own internship in China (and getting 20 friends to do the same for $2000!)
25:06 Having the police called on her
28:47 Starting Austern International
30:11 Building the curriculum at Austern International
34:42 Helping Uber launch Uber Eats
36:50 Marketing Austern International
42:39 Working at New Campus
47:48 Becoming Startup Partner Lead at Stripe
50:44 What is an NFT?
55:04 WOW Pixies as a Venture DAO
56:55 Investing in women-led NFT projects
1:03:12 Decision-making process at WOW Pixies
1:06:29 Marketing efforts for WOW Pixies, which sold out in 5 days
1:08:37 The “thunderclap”
1:11:26 Roadmap for WOW Pixies
1:21:25 Metrics of success
1:23:41 How to invest in NFT projects

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/77

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Nicole Yap, co-founder of the 8SIAN NFT Collection, began her cryptocurrency journey back in 2013 when she stumbled across an article on digital currency and its future implications while she was in high school. Despite its challenges & the dodgy sites available then, she figured out a way to purchase Bitcoin (it was being sold for $60!!) and soon after, managed to buy a Chanel bag from her crypto investments!

She joined the world of NFTs in early 2021 after noticing the serious lack of representation of Asians and Women in the space.

Together with 2 other co-founders, she launched 8SIAN: 8,888 NFTs of beautiful, Asian women painstakingly-crafted where even the most intricate details are steeped in historical significance. 8SIAN became the number 1 project ranked on OpenSea in 24hours based on percentage increase of traded volume with over 3k+ Eth!

If you’ve ever been curious about what it’s like to launch an NFT collection, from hustling in the lead up to the launch to building a team (reputable, experienced web3 developers aren’t exactly easy to find!), building a community on Discord with 15k members, and continuing to bring value by purchasing virtual land, building collaborations, setting up a legal entity and more… then this is the episode for you!

Highlights:

3:29 Getting into crypto/Bitcoin in 2013 & buying her first Chanel bag
6:48 Discovering NFTs
8:17 What is an NFT?
9:10 Not a scam?
10:30 Being told she didn’t belong in the NFT/crypto space because she was a female
12:49 How Nicole figured out the way to create and launch an NFT collection
14:43 Finding a Web3 developer (that doesn’t rug pull!)
16:42 Why NFTs?
17:57 The roadmap for 8SIAN
19:31 The launch of Genesis and Goddess collection before the main 8SIAN collection was dropped
22:24 Marketing 8SIAN & the hustle you don’t see
24:14 Launching the main collection & getting Steve Aoki as an 8SIAN NFT holder
25:09 What’s next for 8SIAN?
26:33 Why companies in Asia haven’t jumped into the NFT space yet
27:36 The plans for building Chinatown in the metaverse
29:37 Managing a 15k strong Discord community
30:59 Creating value while still generating revenue from royalties
32:56 How the 8SIAN 8% royalties are split
35:02 Why 8SIAN is setting up a legal entity
35:49 Are we in an NFT bubble?
36:29 Advice to females looking to get into tech

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/76

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Welcome to the start of STIMY’s mini NFT sub-series.

Our first NFT guest is Mumu the Stan, aka MOON HMZ. She’s a young Muslim mother from Malaysia who’s an artist, poet, and published author and illustrator, while also being an advocate for diversity, inclusion, mental health and environmental awareness in the NFT space. She is the founder of MalaysiaNFT and a member of the local art collective, NFXT.io, and her work has been exhibited at Art Basel Miami 2021!

Moon shares how she first got into the world of NFTs - because the lead singer for Linkin Park, Mike Shinoda, encouraged her to do so and promised to buy her first NFT!! Her thoughts on why it’s exciting for artists, the reality of being a female in the crypto space, how the Malaysian NFT space is evolving, how to spot scams in the NFT space and how you can get involved/learn more about NFTs (if you aren’t already down the rabbit hole!).

P/S: This interview starts off with Moon battle with depression so please take note if that is of concern!

Highlights:

4:34 Battling depression
7:10 Spending 7 years feeling lost & how Moon got out of it
9:01 Creating a stan account
9:57 Mike Shinoda takes notice of Moon’s art
11:40 What are NFTs?
13:09 How to create an NFT
16:08 Environmental impact is linked to minority representation
18:28 Finding her NFT community
18:55 What the Malaysian NFT space is like
22:53 Getting Malaysian artists onto the international NFT scene
25:14 Being blacklisted
25:55 NFTs v traditional digital art collection
28:07 Has NFTs enhanced Moon’s art?
28:52 Do artists need to know the tech to get into NFTs?
29:23 Identifying the scams in the NFT space (aka the rug pulls)
31:52 Identifying when an artwork has been copied

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/75

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Michael Lints is currently a Partner at the Singapore-based venture capital firm Golden Gate Ventures. He joined the firm in 2013 and is currently leading growth venture efforts, which include LP fundraising and portfolio management for Golden Gate Venture's investments at Series B and beyond. He has helped to raise over USD $60M for Golden Gate Ventures and its portfolio companies, including helping to raise later stage rounds from external investors as well as leading two early strategic acquisitions.

In this episode, we uncover what Michael was like as a child (he took apart the first computer he received), how he convinced his dean to let him skip a year at university, before selling his house and car to start his first IT managed services startup.

That startup was acquired by a large data and telecom company six years later.

In 2007, Michael founded a venture fund focused on Dutch small- and medium-sized enterprises to help them with capital financing, business development, and strategy. During the same period, he was invited to join the Economic Development Board Rotterdam as Vice Chairman. In that role, he launched the Young Economic Development Board where he brought together a highly influential Dutch network to develop a sustainable framework for public-private relationships that increased local business investment while leveraging the public infrastructure.

In this episode, we cover all things startup, investments and also his recent documentary, Broken Chains - mending the missing links in the racial wealth gap.

Highlights:

2:53 Taking apart his first computer
3:59 Being on the Dutch National Karate Team
5:00 Skipping a year at university
6:20 Getting into insurance & realising he never wanted to work for another corporation again
8:14 Selling his car & house to co-founder his first IT startup
9:40 Pivoting from being a comparison site to a data center
10:51 Being on the same board as the CEO of ING & Unilever, Prime Minister of New Zealand & Head of the UN
15:53 Obsession with focus
17:00 Studying at Harvard
17:53 Discovering the venture scene in Singapore/Southeast Asia
19:38 How can I be helpful?
21:29 Raising over USD 60 million
22:54 Getting a foot in the door
24:46 Experience fundraising in the Middle East & Europe
26:20 How the Southeast Asia startup scene has evolved
29:39 What Michael looks for in a founder
31:54 Importance of local knowledge
34:32 Getting deal flow
35:46 Investment mistakes made
36:59 Investment thesis
37:49 Areas of interest to Michael
40:17 How the pandemic has impacted Michael’s portfolio companies
41:37 Fundraising in the pandemic/post-pandemic era
43:44 Framework for maintaining focus
45:36 How to find good mentors for yourself
47:06 Broken Chains

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/74

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Lee Williamson is the Regional Editorial Director of Generation T, Tatler Asia Group and currently oversees three of Tatler’s flagship brands: Gen.T, Front & Female and Asia’s Most Influential. He was previously the Editor at Time Out Beijing and Editor-in-Chief at That’s China and was selected as a WAN-IFRA Young Media Leaders Fellow 2020.

If you’ve ever wanted to know what it’s like to work as a foreign journalist in China, dealing with state censorship, producing “controversial” editorials and also producing media products like the Generation T list, then this is the episode for you!

Highlights:

6:48 Moving to China
8:58 Working as a journalist at That’s China
11:33 “You’ll Never Be Chinese”
15:19 Censorship in China
17:26 Relaunching
18:21 Being Editor at Time Out Beijing
21:12 Publishing Ai Wei Wei’s first interview following his detainment in China
23:14 Working at Tatler
25:05 Why Gen.T?
26:21 Defining success, influence and power
27:17 What’s the point of another “list”?
29:42 Building the Gen.T community
34:48 Gaining trust
35:52 Getting people to share what they really want even after they say “I don’t really need anything”
39:05 Seeing Gen.T’s brand value increase
43:11 Deciding who gets on Gen.T
45:08 Tribes
47:21 Safeguards
48:57 Trends among Gen.T honourees
50:22 What’s in it for Gen.T?
51:09 The Crazy Smart Asia podcast
56:21 Planning for the future of Gen.T

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/73

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Vincent Wei is the Head of Growth (Product & growth) at VEED.IO, one of the fastest growing startups by revenue in the world.

He was first introduced to the world of startups when he began CodeCreate, one of Australia’s first coding school for kids, while still at university. The school generated 6-figure revenue but his next startup unfortunately didn’t do so well.

Burnt out, Vincent decided to take a break and travel the world before returning as Employee #3 on the growth team at AirTasker - which later became one of Australia’s largest marketplace for services. That was no mean feat, given that the startup was burning $35 million annually and on the verge on collapse then!

They managed to turn the startup around but Vincent left before AirTasker IPOed in 2021 (and we discuss why in this episode!) to join VEED.io - the Canva of video editing - as Head of Growth. VEED recently raised $35M from Sequoia and is currently going through an exciting growth phase, so this is definitely a startup to keep an eye on!

Highlights:

3:32 How Harry Potter helped Vincent learn English
5:20 Being driven to succeed
8:41 Not wanting to be a dropkick
13:51 Founding CodeCreate to teach kids how to build Minecraft
18:48 How CodeCreate’s cohort went from 3 to 86 kids
23:00 Getting a contract role at Suncorp
29:29 Founding his 2nd startup
32:37 How Lambda School inspired them
35:48 Why Cody failed
38:16 Travelling the world
42:35 The power of LinkedIn outreach & chatting with James Clear
47:26 Joining AirTasker when it was burning $30 million annually
49:27 How they turned AirTasker around
54:51 Why Vincent left AirTasker
56:25 How Vincent’s role at VEED has evolved over time
59:09 What Vincent looks for when he hires
1:01:08 Influencing others virtually

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/72

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P/S: "Dropkick" is an Australian slang that refers to someone who isn't very smart & hasn't made it very far in life.

WARNING: This episode may have some trigger points as we talk about things like depression, suicide and death.

Sabrina Ooi is the co-founder and CEO of Calm Collective Asia - a community that was established during Singapore’s first circuit breaker to talk about all things mental health in Asia.

To understand how Sabrina ended up establishing Calm Collective Asia, it’s necessary to dive into her story. She shares why she felt like an imposter while studying at Raffles Girls’ School (Singapore’s top school), how she started DJing for the likes of Dior & Rolls Royce, getting through debilitating depressive episodes since the age of 11, how she was initially misdiagnosed as being depressive only to discover that she was bipolar, being “arrested” for attempting to end her life and her journey to recovery.

This is STIMY’s first mental health episode and I felt that Sabrina’s story is so incredibly powerful and important. It is time to destigmatise discussions around mental health and I hope that this episode contributes a little to that ongoing conversation, particularly in Asia.

Highlights:

3:41 Being told by her mum to be “average”
5:23 Having her first depressive episode at age 11
12:33 How her DJ career began
17:35 Triggers for her depressive episodes
21:59 Going for therapy
23:55 Not going for private practice
25:05 Having suicidal thoughts
27:36 Taking antidepressants
29:52 Depression v Bipolar
31:49 Survive, Live and Thrive
35:11 Journey to recovery
36:52 “How I went from Leaving to Living”
42:36 Starting Calm Collective Asia
47:24 The vision
51:13 Symptoms to look out for
52:31 How to find the right therapist

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/71

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Please leave a review & rating here! -https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

London has plenty of incredible food. Italian, Greek, Middle Eastern.. And the bakeries are something to behold too. So it makes sense when you’re in town to try some of its best offerings and Beigel Bake should certainly be at the top of your list!

Which brings me to today’s guest: Daniel Cohen, Managing Director of Beigel Bake Limited - one of London’s most iconic Jewish beigel shops, located along Brick Lane (also an iconic location in the City).

Beigel (or bagel, depending on where you’re from) is a second-generation family Jewish bakery that Daniel’s father began with two uncles back in 1974. Serving 7,000 dense and chewy Jewish beigels daily, 24/7, it has since been rated 3 stars by Time Out London in 2010 (4 stars by its online users) and featured by the photographic pictorial Life in the East End by London-based cabaret duo, EastEnd Cabaret.

In this episode, Daniel shares how Beigel Bake first came to be, what his father was like, how he got involved in the family business, the story behind its “rivalry” with a neighbouring Jewish beigel shop, how it fared during the pandemic and so much more.

If you’re ever in London, I’d recommend a visit to Beigel Bake!

Highlights:

4:10 Growing up with Beigel Bake as a prominent part of his life
5:01 The Jewish history of beigels (or bagels)
7:02 Brick Lane history
8:57 How Beigel Bake began & its ongoing “rivalry” with a neighbouring Jewish beigel shop
10:34 How Beigel Bake went from being a wholesaler to serving the public
12:37 Growing by word of mouth (no advertising!)
14:24 Most popular fillings
14:43 The story behind the salt beef/pastrami filling served at Beigel Bake
16:26 What was Daniel’s dad like?
20:28 Did Daniel feel obliged to join the family business?
21:55 Why Beigel Bake started serving sandwiches 24/7
24:14 Realities of running a family business
25:54 Becoming managing director
28:58 Why Daniel released the recipe for their Jewish beigel
29:49 Will Beigel Bake ever open a branch?
30:53 Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic
34:34 Launching their own delivery app (and some mishaps!)
38:38 Working with charities
40:12 Having the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge come to visit
42:23 How the business is currently faring

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/70

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P/S: For recommendations, try Beigel Bake’s hot salt beef with mustard and gherkins, and/or cream cheese and salmon flavours!

Nnenna Nwakanma is the Chief Web Advocate at the World Wide Web Foundation.

She is also a Nigerian FOSS activist, community organiser, co-founder of the Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa. In 2018, she was chosen as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in the field of digital government and has over 15 years of experience working with the UN in areas such as the information society, gender and digital equality.

In this episode, we learn about what it was like growing up in Nigeria - and why she wasn’t even given a name for the first 3 months of her life because of her gender! - how she became one of the very first to use the internet in Africa, why she views the internet as a tool for social justice, how she has learned to walk with her adversaries (as Mandela used to say), and what drives her to create an internet that is free and open to all.

Highlights:

2:40 Why Nnenna was born & not given a name for the first 3 months of her life
4:43 Being human is enough
7:21 “Nnenna from the Internet”
8:57 Being one of the first Africans to be exposed to the internet
12:08 Use of the internet in African villages
16:44 Being a FOSS activist & walking with your adversaries
18:31 Attitudes are like ass holes
22:39 The mission of the World Wide Web Foundation
25:01 Running the global coalition, the Web We Want
28:39 Backstory to Brazil’s Internet Bill of Rights (first in the world)
32:56 How close are we to an open and free internet for all?

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/69

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🪙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sothisismywhy

Neal Freyman is the Managing Editor at Morning Brew, a new media company that provides informative and digestive business news to over 3 million subscribers. He oversees Morning Brew’s flagship product - a daily newsletter, as well as the weekend light Roast edition and native advertisements.

The Morning Brew happens to be one of my favourite newsletters so I was excited to dive into the behind-the-scenes with Neal!

Highlights:

4:43 Studying at the University of Maryland College Park
7:16 Teaching geography and urban studies
8:07 Applying to work at Morning Brew as a writer (and being rejected!)
9:00 Sending a nice rejection letter
10:05 The newsletter industry in 2017
13:05 Working as a young newsletter startup out of a room in NYU
14:41 Morning Brew’s ideal customer and how that definition has evolved over time
18:12 Having readers get super pi**ed at them
18:45 Creating a political newsletter
20:18 “Write, grow and sell” as the tactic for Morning Brew’s explosive growth from 2016-2019
22:51 Writing continuously for 5 years
24:24 Milestones that contributed to Morning Brew’s growth
26:19 Main reasons for Morning Brew’s subscriber count going from 100k to 1.5 million in the 2018/19 period
27:01 The importance of Morning Brew having its own in-house referral system
29:40 How Morning Brew manages to get 25% of its signups from its referral program
32:29 Capitalising on momentum, as Alex Lieberman discussed
34:24 How Morning Brew launched the Emerging Tech newsletter
37:18 The importance of having a strong online following like Alex Lieberman & Austin Rief
41:44 Checks & balances
42:49 Becoming Managing Editor of Morning Brew
44:23 Maintaining a close knit working culture
45:43 When Neal felt that they had created a great product with the newsletter
47:59 Staying relevant
49:35 Retaining talent staff
51:40 Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
53:01 The Essentials
54:02 Impact of Morning Brew’s reported $75 million acquisition by Business Insider
54:35 Creating the podcast arm of Morning Brew: Business Casual & Founder’s Journal
56:23 Building in public
59:39 Entering the education space with the MBA Accelerator

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/68

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Daniel Flynn, co-founder of Thankyou, is one of Australia’s most recognisable & successful social entrepreneurs. He is the recipient of EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award (Southern Region) and Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneurs.

Thankyou was conceived while Daniel was still in college and he learned, to his horror, that there were 900 million people who didn’t have access to clean water. 4500 kids were dying every day from water-borne disease and the women needed to trek 20km by foot to obtain clean water (they even risked being raped along that trecherous journey!).

Determined to make a difference, Daniel, his girlfriend (now wife) Justine and friend, Jared Burns, got together as first-year university students to launch the consumer brand now known as Thankyou.

Since 2008, Thankyou has raised over $17 million and impacted the lives of people across 22 countries. Thankyou’s products can be found in major retailers across Australia & 100% of its profits go towards ending extreme global poverty.

Thankyou has run many viral campaigns. To get 7-Eleven to stock Thankyou Water, they produced a youTube video that asked their followers to visit the 7-Eleven Australia Facebook page to promise to buy Thankyou water if it was stocked. Within two weeks, they had fans singing, dancing and rapping, and it was covered all over the media. 7-Eleven said yes & Thankyou became the third best selling brand (they were also top at certain points in time).

A similar viral campaign happened when they tried to get Coles and Woolworths, which controlled over 70% of Australia’s grocery market share, to stock Thankyou products. This time, they launched a video called the Coles and Woolworths campaign and also had two helicopters flown over Coles and Woolworths’ respective headquarters in Melbourne and Sydney. Unsurprisingly, both said yes!

And again in 2015, Daniel wrote a bestselling book, Chapter One, which generated over $1.4 million in sales & sold over 55,000 copies in its first month using an unorthodox ‘pay-what-you-want’ model.

However, these viral successes came after Daniel and his team experienced a great deal of setbacks.

We explore all that and more in this episode.

Highlights:

4:00 Selling helicopters, yabbies & gobstoppers as a child
5:15 Wanting to enter property development
6:14 Learning about how 900 million people don’t have access to clean water (the genesis of Thankyou)
10:17 Whether Daniel knew what a “social enterprise” was in the early days
11:21 Figuring out how to enter the water industry as 19-year-olds
13:39 Getting his business coach to donate $20,000
17:57 Experiencing huge setbacks
21:39 Deciding to not pivot
22:54 The idea behind the viral 7-Eleven campaign to stock Thankyou water
24:54 Running the viral Coles & Woolworths campaign
27:37 Building a core base of fans
29:46 Managing the risks behind each campaign
33:22 The “uncomfortable middle”
34:46 Being almost crushed by the pressure
42:19 Deciding to leave the water industry
44:16 How Daniel & the Thankyou team celebrate their wins
45:27 Any big idea Daniel has changed his mind on recently

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/67

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Lauren Hom is a California-born designer, illustrator & hand lettering artist with a 250k strong following on Instagram. She is known for her use of bright colour palettes & playful letterings and has worked for clients such as Starbucks, YouTube, TIME Magazine, Google and AT&T. She has also been recognised by Communications Arts, the Art Directors Club, the One Club, the Type Directors Club and the Webby Awards.

But how did it all start?

As with all STIMY episodes, we start from the very beginning: with Lauren’s childhood & how she ended up studying at the School of Visual Arts for, of all courses, advertising! While there, she met influential figures who had a deep influence on her decision to become a freelance artist. Turns out, being the junior director of a big ad agency in New York wasn’t the dream job she’d thought it would be!

Lauren also peels back the layers on some of her most popular passion projects, beginning with Daily Dishonesty - which landed her a book deal upon graduation! That proved pivotal, as it gave her a financial cushion to launch a freelance career.

Three things stood out with Lauren’s life story:

her talent in lettering;
her ability to use passion projects to change the trajectory of her freelance career, repeatedly; and
her willingness to be open about how she executes her projects, markets them and what she earns! And finally, why she is now going on a sabbatical and entering culinary school.

If you’ve ever been curious about the business side of an artist’s career, then this is the episode for you.

Highlights

4:58 Work hard, snack hard
5:38 Doing advertising
11:40 Becoming a Junior Art Director in a big New York city ad firm
13:36 Daily Dishonesty
16:52 Seeing Daily Dishonesty go viral
18:51 Getting an illustration agent
20:14 Knowing when to say no to a client
22:59 Planning to go freelance
24:17 Earning $100,000 by Year 3 of freelancing
25:12 Growing an audience on Instagram
28:27 “Will Letter for Lunch” side project
31:28 Getting clients like Microsoft & LinkedIn in less than 1 year
34:12 Flour Crown & Peen Cuisine
39:30 Traveling 1.5 years around the world
40:47 Being inspired more by every day life
44:35 Taking Back Sunday
46:36 Taking a creative sabbatical to go to culinary school
54:48 Would Lauren ever do street art?

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/66

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🪙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sothisismywhy

Ansgar Koene is the Global AI Ethics & Regulatory Leader at EY, Senior Research Fellow at Horizon Digital Economy Research Institute at the University of Nottingham, a Trustee at 5Rights and chair of the IEEE Working Group P7003 Standard for Algorithm Bias Considerations.

Today with Ansgar, we’ll be talking about all things artificial intelligence.

AI is an inescapable part of life. Whether it's the songs that Spotify recommends to us or the similar videos that pop up on our YouTube feed after watching one cat video, AI is monitoring & downloading data about us which is used to enhance our experiences on these social platforms. But there are darker elements to this, where it ends up manipulating our behaviour without us even realising it.

So how can and should AI be regulated? What are the issues surrounding algorithm bias? Have recent legislations like the GDPR helped to better define the boundaries surrounding the use of AI? And what does Ansgar think about some of the current developments e.g. Facebook choosing to stop the use of its facial recognition software?

If you want to learn more about the current state of AI, and the ethical and regulatory concerns surrounding its use, then this is the episode for you.

Highlights:

8:50 Every model is wrong, but some models are useful
16:49 Ethical concerns around use of Twitter
18:12 Issue of consent & privacy
20:56 Types of recommender systems used by online platforms
26:07 Using youth juries in the Unbias Project
27:25 A series of “nudges” that manipulate our behaviour
29:59: An oversight committee
31:52 Who should bear editorial responsibility?
36:25 Inherent algorithm bias
40:30 Opening & streamlining access to platforms also restricts your freedom of expression
44:19 How effective current regulation is
49:23 Ansgar’s thoughts on Facebook stopping use of its facial recognition technology
51:31 How effective is the #deleteFacebook movement?
55:22 Why young people feel “disempowered” when using social media
1:00:50 YouTube Kids versus Instagram Kids

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/65

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🪙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sothisismywhy

Esther Hochman Wojcicki is an author, journalist, educator, vice-chair of the Creative Commons Advisory Council and founder of the highly regarded Palo Alto High School Media Arts program (the largest journalism program in the States).

She is also known as the “Godmother of Silicon Valley”. And has raised 3 daughters, regarded as some of the most successful women in Silicon Valley.

There’s Susan Wojcicki, the oldest, who is the CEO of YouTube; Janet Wojcicki, a Fulbright-winning anthropologist & professor of pediatrics at the University of California, and Anne Wojcicki - co-founder of 23andme: a genomics company that lets you test for ancestry and health risks. Anne was most recently listed as number 93 in Forbes List of World’s 100 Most Powerful Women in 2020!

But what does it take to raise successful people?

What is Esther Wojcicki’s famed T.R.I.C.K. methodology & how do those principles translate into the classroom?

What was Steve Jobs like in person?

Is it good to be a tiger mum sometimes?

And what has she been up to during the COVID-19 pandemic and what advice does she have for parents raising children during this strange period in time?

All that and more in this episode.

Highlights:

3:54: Growing up as a Russian Jewish immigrant
7:02 Why Esther thought education was necessary for her survival
10:41 Being disowned for pursuing a university degree
13:59 Becoming a mother
16:51 Figuring out how to be a parent
19:41: The lemon girls
20:59: Swimming at 12 months old!
23:05: Table manners
27:38: Teaching at Palo Alto High School
33:09: Steve Jobs & 7 free Macintosh
36:54: “How to Raise Successful People”
38:34: Defining “success”
40:09: What the T.R.I.C.K. methodology
48:58: How tiger mums can help kids become more independent
49:45: Are there instances when you need to be a tiger mum?
50:43: Founding the Tract with Ari Memar
56:41: The 20% rule

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/64

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🪙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sothisismywhy

Have you ever thought about taking a sabbatical? Or have taken one yourself?

If so, then this week’s STIMY guest will be of interest to you.

DJ DiDonna is the founder of the Sabbatical Project, which is the first-of-its kind research into when and why sabbaticals are being taken by professionals, and how they lead to positive outcomes and an opportunity to tap into their inner self.

DJ shares his personal story of first completing his MBA at Harvard Business School before spending the next 7 years of his life building Entrepreneurial Finance Lab: a microfinance startup he founded because was deeply passionate about pursuing access to finance and credit. It was a highly successful startup and they succeeded in unlocking over $1 billion for entrepreneurs and individuals that would otherwise not have access to such funding.

However, no one told him that you could burn out from doing the job you loved.

And that’s exactly what happened.

In this episode, we dive deep into DJ’s experiences being burnt out, what he did during his sabbaticals as well as the findings that the Sabbatical Project has produced to date.

Highlights:

4:08 Doing an MBA at Harvard Business School
6:37 Launching a microfinance startup that would unlock over $1 billion for entrepreneurs & be featured in the New York Times
8:58 Burning out from doing a job you love
10:01 Burning out versus just needing a vacation
12:13 Guilt
12:49 Maximising productivity during his sabbatical as a Type A
15:10 Completing the 900 mile (1200 km) Shikoku Pilgrimage in Japan
16:13 “Ossentai”
22:51 Collaborating with Professor Matt Bloom
24:00 Founding the Sabbatical Project
26:26 Defining what a “sabbatical” is
27:33 Is there such a thing as a sabbatical that’s gone on for “too long”?
30:06 Travel doesn’t guarantee disconnection
33:11 Getting in touch with your inner self
34:20 Testing your assumptions with others
35:52 Has anyone ever regretted taking a sabbatical?
37:19 Sabbaticals help to fight FOMO
38:03 How to structure a sabbatical
40:08 Designing a system to capture your learnings from your sabbatical
43:16 Employers who want to implement sabbatical policies in their companies
45:24 Forced sabbaticals
46:56 When people should think about taking sabbaticals (without waiting for burnouts or something bad to happen in life)
48:13 Best way to ask employers for sabbaticals
50:42 Functional workaholism

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/63

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🪙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sothisismywhy

Hawker Chef Chan Hon Meng is a Malaysian-born, Michelin-starred chef who is best known for serving the world’s least expensive Michelin-starred meal.

He won his first Michelin star back in 2016 for his $2.50 soy sauce chicken noodle dish, and proceeded to do so for the next four consecutive years. Since then, his chicken rice store has exploded from one store in Chinatown to a franchise restaurants in 7 countries & 17 outlets within 2 years. In Singapore alone, there are 6,000 stalls in over 100 hawker stalls.

In this episode, Hawker Chan shares:

what it was like growing up in Ipoh, Malaysia;
how he obtained his apprenticeship under a Hong Kong chef, where he learned and perfected his famed soya sauce chicken recipe;
starting his Liao Fan Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle in Chinatown Complex Food Centre in 2019;
what it was like first obtaining a Michelin star in 2016;
how his business developed as a franchise;
the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on his business; and
advice for others seeking to follow in his footsteps.

Note: This interview was conducted entirely in Mandarin!

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/62

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Austen Allred is the co-founder & CEO of Lambda School: a virtual coding school that is completely free to attend, until its graduates earn at least $50,000/year. Lambda School is betting on its student’s success as its success, and has seen its graduates go on to work as developers in Fortune 100 companies and prominent startups including Google, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs and more.

But even prior to founding Lambda School & being accepted into Y Combinator, Austen has had a wealth of interesting experiences. From working for two years as a Mormon missionary in Eastern Ukraine - where every foreigner was viewed as a spy - to dropping out of college, vagabonding around China, blogging while being homeless in Silicon Valley (which eventually led to him securing his first funding & job in the Valley!) & going through 5 rounds of interviews before being accepted onto Y Combinator.

We explore all that, including his viral & controversially titled article in 2012, “Successful Entrepreneurs Are Usually Liars” in this STIMY episode.

Highlights:

3:17 Growing up in a Mormon family
6:12 Learning HTML at age of 11
10:06 Going on a mission trip in Donetsk, Eastern Ukraine
15:18 Founding Stubtopia
25:27 Dropping out of college
29:44 Vagabonding around China
31:22 Writing the viral 2012 article, “Successful Entrepreneurs Are Usually Liars”
33:49 Blogging while homeless in Silicon Valley (which led to his first job in Silicon Valley & investment for his own startup!)
38:24 Noticing the discrepancy between Utah & Silicon Valley in terms of opportunities & pay
39:31 How the concept of Lambda School came about
51:21 The right time to raise VC money
54:58 Getting into Y Combinator
59:13 Biggest takeaway from working with Geoff Rolston (now President of Y Combinator) & Daniel Gross
1:03:54 Issues surrounding the Income Sharing Agreements (ISA)
1:06:47 How COVID-19 has impacted Lambda School

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/61

💌 Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

🪙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sothisismywhy

David Grief is the CEO of David Grief International Consultancy Pte & former Senior Clerk at Essex Court Chambers - known as one of the UK's most prominent commercial sets with a multimillion-pound turnover.

Described in a recent TIMES article as a “giant among clerks”, David has spent over 40 plus years managing barristers’ chambers including at Gray’s Inn Chambers, 17 Old Buildings, Lincoln’s Inn and finally, as Senior Clerk and Head of Administration at Essex Court Chambers.

But what does a barristers’ clerk actually do?

This might be a bit of a struggle to understand if you’re unfamiliar with how the UK legal system works and indeed even for practicing lawyers. Unless you’ve worked in chambers in London before, it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what they do!

But the short of it is this: barristers’ clerks are traditionally referred to as “the Law’s Middleman” and are known to “make or break” a barrister’s career. They manage the diaries of their barristers in chambers, the client relationships, the negotiations and collecting of fees and general running of chambers. They are also a barrister’s therapist, marriage counsellor, discipline master, agent, debt collector and some might even say, ‘pimp’!

Much has been written about the clerking world but less so in the modern day and in this episode, David peels back the layers.

He shares how he first got into the world of clerking, his love of flying, how he manages and grows his relationships with instructing solicitors and barristers, and how he has moulded the careers of his barristers, helping them become silks and even getting onto the bench.

Some of the barristers he used to clerk for include the former Chief Justice of England & Wales and other barristers who have gone on to sit at the UK Supreme Court, International Court of Justice and Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

David also shares his plans in helping to develop the legal industry in Singapore and his plans moving forward with the establishment of his new consultancy - David Grief International Consultancy Pte.

Highlights:

4:46 Being passionate about flying
8:30 His interviews to become a junior clerk
9:45 Clerking before the age of the Internet
11:46 What a barristers’ clerk actually does
17:19 Knowing the breaking points of a barrister
19:40 Collection of fees
22:49 Going through the 1974 UK Miners’ Strike & 3-Day Work Week
24:47 Building relationships with instructing solicitors
30:02 Being the only clerk with a license to fly
35:18 Working with barristers
37:06 Direct access
38:53 Managing situations when a barrister cops out
43:09 Identifying barristers with star quality & when they’re ready to take the silk
48:17 People who have most influenced David’s career
50:47 Joining Essex Court Chambers
57:05 Why David moved to Singapore
1:01:32 Challenges in establishing Singapore’s first pure chambers practice
1:04:41 Innovations that David anticipates happening in the legal sector
1:06:26 “Don’t ask, don’t get”

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/60

🪙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sothisismywhy

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Ooi Boon Hoe is the current Director and Chief Executive Officer of Jurong Port Pte Ltd, which is one of Singapore’s two main commercial terminal operators.

In this episode, we explore how Boon Hoe went from working in the military, where he obtained a 1st Class Pass from Britannia Royal Naval College, was a recipient of the Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Training Award, and a Singapore Armed Forces Merit Scholarship.

Boon Hoe later worked in corporate finance in DBS Bank before moving into the port and shipping industry first with Portek International in 2002 (where he discovered his faith!), then Jurong Port Pte Ltd in 2014.

Highlights:

3:30 Growing up in Singapore in 1960s
4:28 Having a flourishing military career
7:27 Working in corporate finance at DBS Bank
9:21 Becoming COO of Portek International
10:46 Why Boon Hoe transitioned into the port & shipping business
12:04 Discovering God
14:46 Reading the Gospels
18:29 Making Portek’s maiden investment in Algeria
26:30 Creating the world’s largest port based facility
27:33 Creating an ecosystem centered around LNG
31:31 Maintaining safety during the global pandemic

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/59

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Nigel Stanislaus is a highly celebrated makeup artist who’s been a part of international television shows like Project Runway, X-Factor, Make Me A Supermodel and also a judge on Australia’s Next Top Model and Asia’s Next Top Model.

His editorial works span the likes of Harper's Bazaar, Cosmopolitan L’Officiel, Elle, Marie Claire, GQ, and Esquire and he has worked with celebrities like John Legend, Suki Waterhouse, Kelly Osborne, Gigi & Bella Hadid, Scary Spice - Melanie Brown, and most recently, Jenna Dewan and Tina Arena.

But what is it really like being such a celebrated makeup artist who was known for almost a decade as “Mr Maybelline”? What did it take to get to where he is today?

In this episode, we dive into what it was like growing up in Singapore, how he almost became a professional sniper, discovering the world of fashion and makeup as well as the realities of living the jet-setting life, and what he is now up to since leaving his position as Makeup Director at Maybelline, where he had represented Singapore in NYFW.

Highlights:

1:59 The story behind the name “Stanislaus”
2:44 Being influenced by the feminine energy around him
4:59 Discovering his “front of house”
7:22 Being different from other guys
8:27 Studying apparel design & merchandising at Temasek Polytechnic
11:19 Obtaining an internship in New York & attending his first catwalk (which included meeting Kate Moss!)
17:45 Completing national service in Singapore & discovering a talent for being a sniper
20:20 Excelling at Monash University
22:41 Doing freelance makeup on the side
23:40 Being told he would never make it as he “didn’t fit the profile”
25:39 Getting over his rejections
27:20 Getting his first agent
28:53 The importance of social media
30:52 Nigel’s wildest briefs
32:51 How Nigel constantly upskills
34:32 Admiring “stalker-ish” persistence in his assistants
37:39 The reality of living a jet-setting life
44:14 Appearing on television
47:21 How Nigel decided to stop being the Makeup Director of Maybelline aka Mr Maybelline
54:33 How Nigel overcomes loneliness

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/58

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Robert James Ashe is a 4-time Emmy nominated editor and title designer, best known for being the Head of Post Production on Conan for nearly 8 years. He has also worked for Conan O'Brien on the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, The Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour, The 2014 MTV Movie Awards, and his show CONAN on TBS. Rob also served as the announcer, title designer, and lead editor for The Pete Holmes Show on TBS.

Here, Robert shares how he went from being an army brat and Disney kid, to life in musical theatre and how he ended up working in post production in Hollywood. As well as what it’s like being a parent to three young children with physical challenges.

Highlights:

2:43 Being a Disney kid
4:40 The realities of being in musical theatre
8:45 How Robert first got into production in Hollywood
15:51 Designing the original Conan logo & incorporating his daughter’s silhouette into it
17:40 Delivering a 42 minute show in 19 minutes
20:06 Knowing what to cut
22:59 The most time-consuming parts of travel segments
25:27 Why editing is like speed chess
27:09 Finding a rhythm to editing
29:47 Cutting for the Notebook 2 with Ryan Reynolds & Conan O’Brien
38:09 Most memorable parts of working on Conan
38:09 How Robert first heard that the Conan show would be ending
41:05 Advice for people who want to make it
44:31 Figuring out how to ace interviews in Hollywood
45:48 Caring for children with physical challenges
51:14 Advice for parents looking to adopt children with physical challenges
55:06 Breaking into Hollywood through charities

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/57

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Amra Naidoo is the co-founder of Accelerating Asia, an early stage venture capital fund that runs programs for startups and investors, and General Partner at Accelerating Asia Ventures. Prior to that, she was the Head of Corporate Partnerships at UN Women, including Project Inspire (a UN Women global social entrepreneurship program) and a part of muru-D’s, which was one of the top startup accelerators in Asia.

She is also the APAC Regional Lead for Shaper Impact Capital and Outgoing Curator for the Global Shapers Singapore Hub, an initiative of the World Economic Forum and is the host and creator of the Doing Good Podcast. She has been interviewed and featured as a guest author on industry blogs, including The Straits Times, Techcrunch, Reuters and named as one of Harper's Bazaar’s Women Who Inspire Others.

Highlights

1:56 Growing up in Zimbabwee

3:14 Moving to Australia

5:23 Why Amra started dreaming of working at the UN

7:26 Selling SKII & Shiseido

13:53 Deciding on how to change her life

16:18 Getting a UN internship

20:03 Becoming Head of Corporate Partnerships at UN Women

21:00 Running Project Inspire

25:50 How startups can run successful crowdfunding campaigns

27:28 The struggle with marketing

31:35 Why Amra ended up leaving the UN

34:17 Obtaining a marketing degree from the University of Newcastle

36:30 Meeting Craig, her current co-founder, at muru-D

37:19 How the idea of Accelerating Asia began

39:20 The “missing middle”

41:26 The biggest challenges in setting up an independent accelerator

43:21 Bootstrapping to set up a consultancy program

44:16 Running the 100 days accelerator program

47:22 The regulatory challenges behind running a venture fund

48:24 Fundraising for their venture fund

50:37 Why selling a fund is similar to selling Chanel

56:25 Why Accelerating Asia focuses on pre-Series A companies

58:48 Whether Amra looks for social impact in their startups

1:04:00 Starting the Doing Good podcast

1:05:44 What Amra thinks about the creator economy & how VCs/startup founders should get into the space

1:07:31 How Amra ended up joining the Payment’s Race - MoneyAsia 2020

📍Show notes:www.sothisismywhy.com/56

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Karl Mak is a Singaporean entrepreneur and co-founder and CEO of HEPMIL Media Group: a holding company that owns SGAG, MGAG, PGAG, SGEEK and HEPMIL Creators’ Network.

If you’re a fan of memes, then you’re in for a treat because that is precisely what HEPMIL specialises in!

Karl shares how he almost became a professional swimmer, how he built a flourishing real estate career while in school, his experiences (and failure) with his first startup & how he ended up co-founding SGAG with Adrian Ang, whom he had first met back in 2005 in junior college.

Highlights:

3:32 Swimming competitively
9:53 Entering the real estate business
13:28 The gift of the gab
20:26 Learning from Professor Soon Loo
22:23 Attending a coding bootcamp to find a co-founder
26:26 “Crazy” things Karl did to get enterprise clients
28:22 Why Televate, Karl’s first startup, failed
33:43 Meeting Adrian & starting SGAG
38:27 How they come up with memes
40:32 The Ah Lian meme, which was picked up by mainstream media
42:36 Milestones to track
47:47 The early days of SGAG
49:04 Land grabbing tactics used by SGAG
51:42 Distinguishing SGAG from other similar pages
56:40 Selling vulgar T-shirts
59:18 How the business deal with Scoot happened
1:00:57 Changing the engine of a plane in mid-air
1:06:03 Your failure makes you more valuable
1:07:26 Building a creators’ network
1:15:58 How COVID-19 impacted Karl & HEPMIL Media Group

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/55

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Yulia Brodskaya is a Russian artist and illustrator known for painting with paper.

Pioneering contemporary paper quilling, she uses thick, coloured paper to compose stunningly detailed 3d portraits. And her work is owned by the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Hermés, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Paramount Pictures, Country Music Association, The New York Times Magazine, Washington Post, New York Observer, and Issey Miyake.

She also designed the official poster for the 2015 Wimbledon Championships, designed a Google Chrome theme, created a Forever stamp design for the United States Postal Service in 2016 and Christmas 2017 stamps for New Zealand Post. In 2019, she was named a “Breakthrough Star” by Creative Review and featured among other leading UK-based artists in the BBC programme Making Art Work: First Idea to Final Piece.

Highlights:

2:32 Growing up in Moscow in the 1980s
8:27 Learning to see the world with an artist’s eye
10:12 Picking up a love of typography
12:43 Discovering a love of paper art
16:59 Creating the Christmas cover for the G2 supplement of the Guardian
19:27 What “paper quilling” is
21:54 Being protective of her own style
23:40 The process of creating her work
27:19 When she knows a piece of work is complete
30:18 Creating portraits of old folks
39:20 Publishing a book
41:52 Creating her own mobile app
44:16 Creating her first NFT

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/54

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Rahul Chaudhary is the Managing Director & CEO at CG Corp Global and CG Hospitality Holdings. And the second son of Binod Chaudhary, who is the first & only Forbes-listed multi-billionaire from Nepal!

In this STIMY episode, Rahul shares what it’s like being the 4th-generation heir of a 140-year family business empire, starting from being a sporting champion at boarding school to striking his first business deal in New York, where everything that could possibly go wrong, did!

And how the CG Hospitality arm has grown and even thrived during the global pandemic.

Highlights:

3:12 Rahul’s great-grandfather, whose birth is taken as the genesis of the Chaudhary Group
6:48 Core family values
10:43 Always focusing on the good
18:02 Civil war in Nepal
20:30 Striking his first business deal, where everything went wrong
28:34 Leaving the US for opportunities in Asia
31:54 Forging a partnership with the Taj Group
39:44 Creating CG’s own hospitality brand, Zinc
42:19 Entering Dubai
46:25 Starting Prestellar Ventures, CG’s own VC fund
51:17 The CG Foundation & how it’s helped out during the 2015 earthquake in Nepal & the global pandemic
54:45 Becoming aware of the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic
59:36 Changes that have allowed CG’s hotels to thrive during the pandemic

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/53

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Kendrick Nguyen is the co-founder & CEO of Republic - one of the US’s top equity crowdfunding platforms where over USD$ 100 million has already been raised in just 2021 alone. And boasts a heavily curated list of startups that, according to Kendrick, is harder to get into than Harvard!

Before Republic, Kendrick was a trading and securities lawyer at Wall Street. Knowing that this wasn’t for him, he eventually transitioned into becoming a Stanford teaching fellow and COO of Kanbar Enterprises. He later became the General Counsel of Angellist (also its first non-engineering hire!) and simultaneously spearheaded Angellist’s expansion into Canada and Europe and the launch of various products.

That is, until the JOBS Act passed, which changed the investment landscape and allowed non-accredited investors (i.e. anyone regardless of net worth) invest in startups.

With the blessing (and investment!) of Angellist before him, Kendrick decided to launch his own startup, Republic, with the ultimate aim of becoming the Amazon of private investing. Where anyone can invest in the next potential Uber or Airbnb for as little as $10.

Highlights:

3:26 Studying neuroscience & law at Berkeley and Oxford
4:38 Becoming a securities & patent litigator
7:20 Becoming a teaching fellow at Stanford University
11:48 Joining AngelList as its General Counsel & first non-engineering hire
14:22 The JOBS Act
16:04 The vision for Republic to become the Amazon of private investing
17:51 Telling the AngelList board that he wanted to quit & launch his own startup
19:46 Getting 2 investments out of 250 VCs in 8 months
25:12 Republic’s curation process
28:25 The different lens between Republic and VCs
31:38 Allowing a 12-year-old founder to raise funds on Republic?!
34:48 Getting deal flow
37:43 Why startups would raise on Republic & not from other VCs
39:47 Republic’s business model
42:12 Hallmarks of successful campaigns on Republic
43:53 How Sahil Lavingia (founder of Gumroad) raised USD $5 million in 12 hours from just under 7,000 investors
45:51 How founders can activate their community
51:06 Distinguishing Republic from other competitors
52:54 Republic Notes - launching Republic’s own digital tokens
54:29 Partnership with Meet the Drapers television show
1:00:21 Use of Republic’s recent $36 million for Series A

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/52

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Nick Bernstein is the Senior Vice President of Late Night Programming (West Coast) at ViacomCBS & is the executive in charge of the Late Late Show with James Corden.

In Part 2 of this STIMY episode with Nick, we explore how the Comcast's 51% acquisition of NBC Universal impacted Nick personally, how he ended up being the executive producer of the Pete Holmes show & ultimately (currently!) the executive in charge of the Late Late Show with James Corden.

Nick talks about all things related to the Late Late show including his initial conversation with Nina Tassler (then President of CBS), how the show has transformed over the past 5 years, the impact the global pandemic has had on them and not forgetting, how Nick ended up in front of the cameras (with his own camera and mic!).

Highlights:

16:19 The announcement that James Corden would take over the 12.30 show
17:58 Speaking with Nina Tassler (then President of CBS)
19:45 The mad dash to get the Late, Late show ready for launch
23:25 How Carpool Karaoke came about
26:14 Why the Justin Bieber Carpool Karaoke video exploded on YouTube
27:38 When Nick felt that the Late, Late show had “made it”
31:37 Jumping out of a plane with Tom Cruise
33:01 Having a direct relationship with fans of the show
36:58 “Kidnap One Direction”?
38:30 Impact of the global pandemic on the Late, Late show
43:57 How Nick ended up on the show itself!
47:47 GAP clothes, Carnival Cruise… updates?
52:17 Advice for those wanting to be just like Nick Bernstein

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/51-2

💌 Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

Nick Bernstein is the Senior Vice President of Late Night Programming (West Coast) at ViacomCBS & is the executive in charge of the Late Late Show with James Corden.

In Part 1 of this episode with Nick, we explore what it was like growing up in Maryland and how he would spend 4 hours every Sunday morning charting America’s Top 40 biggest hits on radio, the impact that Camp Taconic had & continues to have in his life, and how he ended up being an NBC page and working with legendary late night television executive, Rick Ludwin.

Highlights:

7:04: Why summer camps were & continue to be so important to Nick
15:13: Majoring in broadcast journalism at Syracuse University
19:28: How Nick became a NBC page
24:39: How Nick ended up working for Rick Ludwin, who’s worked with every The Tonight Show host from Steve Allen to Jimmy Fallon
30:28: What makes a good host
33:11: Why Rick was a “man of conviction” who stood behind hosts like Conan O’Brien when no one else would
39:05: Believing that Conan O’Brien & Jimmy Fallon were the future of late night back in 2002
42:41: Replacing late night hosts
48:41: The Conan/Jay Leno debacle
56:00: Giving as much runway to shows as possible or… not?

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/51-1

💌 Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

PART 2 of STIMY’s interview with Ning-Geng Ong - Artisan chocolate maker, farmer, and founder of Chocolate Concierge & Culture Cacao.

For Part 1, please refer to the earlier episode.

Highlights:

2:48: How the signature flavours of chocolate are brought out
4:34: What Ning means by saying he is “fiercely unbending”
12:10: Why Ning runs fermentation anywhere between 6 to 71 days!
18:23: The sheltered, sun-drying process
21:54: Creating some of Chocolate Concierge’s signature flavours, including Assam laksa and nasi kerabu bon bon
34:10: Impact of the global pandemic
37:24: Advice for those seeking to be chocolate makers too

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/50-2

💌 Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

Part 1 of STIMY's episode with Ning-Geng Ong - a farmer, chocolate marker, flavour fanatic and founder of Chocolate Concierge & Culture Cacao, where he makes incredible single-origin Malaysian chocolate.

In this episode, Ning shares his journey from majoring in physics and computer science, to founding a business in chocolate making. In particular, what it is like working with the indigenous community (including stories involving tigers, a durian thief and a murder!).

Highlights:

2:31: Loving the outdoors (the dangers of being a boy scout!)
5:52: Backpacking in Europe
6:59: Doing programming work
11:53: Diving into the world of fermentation
17:37: Why chocolate making stood out
21:39: Cocoa seeds taste like.. Unicorn milk?!
24:26: Obsessing over creating Malaysian single origin flavour
25:08: Chocolate-making process
26:33: Creating the universe
27:08: Why Ning struggled to find reliable cocoa beans
30:13: Starting Culture Cacao
32:11: Living with the Semai community
38:38: Tigers
40:15: Durian thief!
44:17: Not having a contractual arrangement with the indigenous community
49:08: Struggling to get cocoa beans from the indigenous community
50:52: Giving up?

Stay tuned for PART 2 of Ning's episode, coming out this Wednesday!

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/50-1

💌 Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

Dato’ Thomas Mun Lung Lee is a Senior Partner & founding member of Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill - one of the largest law firms in Malaysia. He was also previously Chairman of AIA Public Takaful Bhd and AIA Malaysia Berhad, had directorships at AIG Malaysia Insurance Berhad, was a member of the Appeals Committee of Bursa Malaysia Berhad and Chairman and Non-Executive Director Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd & Alliance Merchant Bank Berhad. He also served on the Board of UMW Holdings Berhad, Saujana Resort (M) Berhad and Bank of America Malaysia Berhad.

In addition, Dato’ Thomas was an arbitrator with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Lausanne, Switzerland and a member of the Ad Hoc Panel of Arbitrators at the 1988 Commonwealth games at KL, the Commonwealth Games 2006 at Melbourne, the Olympic Games 2000 at Sydney, Olympic Games 2008 at Beijing & Olympic Games 2012 at London.

Last but not least, he is also the son of Tun HS Lee - Malaysia’s first Finance Minister!

In this episode, we cover Dato’ Thomas’ life story, beginning with his earliest memories (of air raid sirens & bombs dropping over Kuala Lumpur!) to then fleeing to India after the Japanese placed a bounty on his father’s head, and how he eventually made his way to the UK with his brother for his studies at the age of 13.

And his fascinating legal career, which included being in the same pupil batch as Tun Hussein Onn (who eventually became Malaysia’s 3rd Prime Minister) & Chan Sek Keong (who became the 3rd Chief Justice of Singapore).

Highlights:

1:57: Earliest memories of air raid sirens & bombs
2:40: Fleeing to India
7:52: Living under the British imposed emergency rule during the height of the communist insurgency
9:42: Travelling to the UK from Malaysia via a 3-week boat through the Suez Canal
10:42: Studying at Leys School, Cambridge
14:14: Being guided to study law at St John’s, Cambridge University
16:29: Working as a tourist guide at Costa Brava, Spain
18:36: Completing a pupillage at 2 Crown Office in the 1950/60s
27:20: What KL & the Malaysian legal scene was like in the 1960s
28:54: Beginning his career in debt collection
30:34: Seeing Bannon & Bailey dissolve in 1963 & joining Skrine & Co
31:15: Why Dato’ Thomas wanted to be like John Skrine
32:19: “Don’t harbour a grudge. Life is too short for that.” - John Skrine
34:24: Working in the same pupil batch as Hussein Onn
36:12: Impact of 13 May 1969
37:57: Royal Selangor Golf Club
39:30: What Tunku Abdul Rahman was like in person
40:29: What Tun Dr Ismail was like in person
41:06: Setting up of Lee Hishammuddin in 1993
44:06: Turning down 2 offers to join the judiciary (including the Court of Appeal!)
45:03: Whether he ever felt pressured by his father’s legacy

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/49

💌 Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

Oz Pearlman is an Emmy award-winning mentalist & magician who recently emerged as the runner up & finalist in America’s Got Talent Season 10 in 2015.

In this STIMY, Oz shares what he was like as a child, discovering magic on a cruise ship to Bermuda and how that transformed his life as he obsessed over mastering magic.

Oz got so good, he paid his own way through college and even continued it as a side hustle while working at Merrill Lynch before deciding to take the leap & become a full-time mentalist.

He hasn’t looked back since.

Oz Pearlman has performed for an impressive list of A-list celebrities, Fortune 500 companies, politicians and professional athletes, and also appeared on numerous networks including NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, The TODAY Show & ABC World News. He is also an avid marathon & ultra-marathon runner, having competed in events like the Badwater 135 Miler, Hawaii Ironman World Championships, Western States 100 and Spartathlon.

Highlights:

3:47: Being a child math prodigy (scored a perfect 800 for his SATs at age 12)
4:36: Discovering a love of magic
6:19: Meeting Ryan Hertz & Bruce Kessler
9:41: Getting his first magic gig at age 14
12:13: Knowing how to break the ice with strangers
16:34: Deciding to stay behind in USA & pay for himself through college
19:00: Finding his own magic community
20:49: The balance between sharing magic tricks & keeping your secrets to yourself
26:54: Simple magic tricks for anyone to learn
31:30: The Off Broadway Show, Watch Magic, that attracted Ethan Hawke & the New York Times
35:44: “Making it” as a full-time, freelance magician
37:46: Why Oz thinks he didn’t make it the first time he applied for America’s Got Talent in 2012
38:46: Coming up with new magic tricks on AGT within days
39:56: Competing on America’s Got Talent while training for 3 marathons!
43:17: Impact of COVID-19 on Oz’s business

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/48

Lincoln Lee Ming is a Malaysian social entrepreneur, biomedical science graduate from University College London, UK & founder of a social enterprise called Rice Inc., which seeks to combat the 26 million tons of rice wasted during production every year & help smallholder rice farmers break through the convoluted supply chain

In this STIMY episode, we cover how Lincoln’s entrepreneurial streak first came up in his childhood in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (beginning at the age of 13!) and how he tried to organise a Pokemon Walkathon just before leaving for his university studies.

Having arrived at UCL, Lincoln quickly realised in his second year that he wanted to pivot to business / entrepreneurship. He also learned about the most prestigious startup competition for university students: the $1 million HULT Prize - which is said to be harder to win than the lottery!

The HULT Prize took an entire year & came with lots of ups and down. Lincoln shares the experience of being at the finals (judges included Arianna Huffington!), how they have used the $1 million investment they won from the HULT Prize, the impact of Brexit & COVID-19 on Rice Inc's operations, and what drives him to do what he is now doing.

Highlights:

4:43: Losing his parents’ money at age 13 when dabbling in entrepreneurship
8:10: Running a past year paper printing startup (by pretending to still be students!)
12:17: Organising a Pokemon Walkathon
19:04: Learning about the $1 million HULT Prize
21:52: Finding a problem to solve
33:29: Introducing big changes after UCL & regional HULT Prize rounds
34:54: Raising $20,000 in funds to visit Myanmar & run a pilot program
45:58: Adventures in Myanmar
51:29: Girls following Kisum
53:38: Attending the HULT Prize accelerator at Henry VII’s former residence
55:46: Working & playing (too) hard
59:59: Building connections with high-ranking people
1:03:16: How a UN security guard helped Sunrice / Rice Inc win the HULT Prize competition in New York
1:13:21: Getting stuck inside the UN building at midnight
1:17:33: Balancing winning the HULT Prize with getting a 1st class at UCL
1:20:33: What to do with an investment of $1 million at age 19
1:22:34: Impact of Brexit on Rice Inc’s operation
1:24:02: Getting into the top 5 caterer distribution services & meeting with the Board
1:28:47: What keeps Lincoln going
1:30:07: When Lincoln knew that there was nothing else he would rather be doing than this (Rice Inc)

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/47

Azran Osman-Rani is one of Malaysia's most well-known CEOs & entrepreneur and in this STIMY episode, we cover his colourful & highly impressive career that has included being:

CEO and Co-Founder, Naluri Hidup (now)
CEO of iflix Malaysia. Dragon-Keeper of the Tao
CEO, AirAsia X Berhad
Senior Director, Business Development, Astro All Asia Networks plc
Senior Vice President, Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange
Associate Partner, McKinsey & Company
Associate, Booz Allen & Hamilton

But how did it all begin?

Childhood

Growing up with two professors for parents, Azran was always encouraged to speak up and speak out. This began when he was just 4 years old, where he would participate in adult conversations with his parents’ visiting guests that other professors.

Stanford University

Azran eventually went to Stanford University to pursue a degree in electrical engineering although he did end up doing the barest minimum amount of engineering classes required. Instead, he ended up taking lessons in history, culture, psychology, economics, ballroom dancing and even sailing!

After completing his masters, Azran ended up becoming a management consultant first at Booz Allen Hamilton, then McKinsey. He eventually left for Bursa Malaysia, which set him on his incredible path as an entrepreneur.

Highlights:

6:37: Studying at Stanford University before the dot com boom
8:01: Ultimate frisbee
13:45: Working at Booz Allen Hamilton
14:25: Bombing his client presentation & being warned he would be kicked out if he repeated his performance
14:25: Moving to Korea for work
16:18: Earning the trust of his Korean clients
20:28: Working to turn the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange from a nonprofit government linked organisation to a for-profit company (Bursa Malaysia)
25:14: Phone call 1 that led him to Astro All Asia Networks
27:06: His big failure at Astro, where he had to shut down their Indonesian business & letting go of 450 staff
28:42: Phone call 2 from Tony Fernandes that led to him becoming CEO of AirAsia X
30:16: AirAsia X’s value proposition
31:27: Building a sustainable airline business model
36:47: Making the pitch of a lifetime to the European export credit agency to save AirAsia X
39:34: Securing an upward flow of information
47:06: AirAsia X’s $15 million in-flight entertainment mistake
50:47: Staying ahead of the competition
51:47: Becoming CEO of iFlix
54:13: Starting iFlix with a few people & laptops, but no product!
56:14: How iFlix gained 1 million subscribers, 6 months after its launch
1:00:03: Learning about Omada Health
1:01:41: Launching Naluri Hidup
1:02:59: Why Azran bet his kids’ education, life savings etc. on Naluri Hidup
1:07:00: The importance of localisation
1:10:25: Educating the public about digital health
1:11:10: Why Azran is a YouTuber & active content creator
1:11:58: A life-changing car accident in May 2018
1:12:32: How Azran kept going & completed his Ironman 6 months after his brutal car accident!
1:15:31: Fundraising before & during COVID-19
1:17:05: Azran’s mirrors to deal with his confirmation bias

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/46

💌 Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

Lim Pui Wan is a Malaysian miniature artist who discovered her love of miniatures at the age of 14 and has, since 2014 under “Picoworm”, become a full-time professional miniature artist. In 2020, she was even part of Ryan Reynold’s “Ryan Doesn’t Know” Snapchat series!

In this STIMY episode, Pui Wan shares what it takes to forge a path to becoming a professional miniature artist.

Highlights:

4:10: Figuring out how to make miniature art
8:02: Making her first miniature art
9:08: Joining her first competition by remaking a Studio Ghibli dollhouse!
11:25: Behind-the-scenes of najubg nubuatyre art
14:17: Why she loves capturing dirt
16:52: Why Pui Wan loves Chinatown
22:42: Why she ended up studying mechanical engineering
24:08: Being tempted to drop out of university early
27:31: Turning a hobby into a business
28:15: Doing market testing
31:23: Pricing her works
33:33: Her first commercial sell
34:43: Giving up?
36:45: Filming with Ryan Reynolds
40:06: Advice for those who want to become miniature artists
43:33: Making personal miniature art every week for the year 2021

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/45

💌 Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

Best Known as director of the George Town Festival, Joe Sidek has established himself as one of Malaysia’s strong advocates for the arts.

Prior to becoming a festival director, Joe Sidek played major roles in various forms of art expression – from event management, art curator-ship, restaurant ownership and even costume design. He also still runs his family–owned textile chemical factory, Chemdyes Sdn Bhd.

Since 2010 when he began GTF, in 2018, Joe also directed the 3-year-old Rainforest Fringe Festival in Kuching, having founded the festival in 2017. He also helmed the Butterworth Fringe Festival for 3 years (2015–2017) and earlier in 2014, he brought Tropfest, the world’s largest short film festival to Southeast Asia and showcased the inaugural Tropfest South East Asia in Penang.

He is 2020-2022 chairman of Federation of Asian Cultural Promotion, an industry expert on the industry panel of Malaysian federal agency for the arts and culture, Cultural Economy Development Agency (CENDANA), and chairman of Penang Arts Council.

In this STIMY episode, Joe shares his fascinating life story: from wanting to do art in Central Saint Martins to returning to Malaysia, recovering from his first “failed’ festival to eventually be one of Malaysia’s biggest, and most well-known advocate for the arts & culture!

Highlights:

1:52: Joe has noble blood!
3:18: Moving to Penang
3:42: Why Joe thinks Penangites are “arrogant, confident, and proud of who they are”
4:36: Wanting to do art in London & John Galliano
5:45: Not wanting to return home
6:50: His relationship with his dad
10:37: Taking over the family business
11:35: Why Joe’s first festival in 2001 failed
14:33: Becoming the festival director of the George Town Festival
17:02: Getting help from the Penang Chief Minister
19:15: Why Joe brings in not just local, but also international artists
21:48: How Ernest Zacharevic got involved in the George Town Festival (resulting in the subsequent street art boom!)
24:01: Gentrification & over-commercialisation
24:54: GTF’s student and community tickets project
31:49: Finding historical, old & meaningful places to stage GTF
32:41: The biggest challenges of a festival director
35:50: Artists that have adapted well to COVID/virtual world
37:50: How artists can build their personal brand & stand out
42:21: How to become a festival director
49:45: Where artists can find their community

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/44

💌 Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

Nicky Gumbel is an English Anglican priest, vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton, London and pioneer of the Alpha Course - a course that has reached over 25 million people who are looking to discover the meaning to life!

This episode is so special to me not least because I used to attend HTB myself!

In this STIMY episode, we explore Nicky’s incredible faith journey - how he went from being an argumentative atheist to someone completely on fire for God! - and what HTB and the Alpha course was like back in the 1970s, including the pivotal moments that led to what it is today. As well as his thoughts on online church and online Alpha!

Highlights:

3:48: Growing up in London in the 1950s
5:13: Having an eventful conversation with his mum at the age of 14
11:44: Why Nicky labelled himself a “logical determinist” while at Eton
12:50: Why Nicky entered Cambridge University to do economics (before switching to law!)
13:56: The Nicky lunches
15:02: Coming to faith in February 1974
19:46: How Nicky ended up in Kitchen with Phil Lawson Johnston
22:13: How Sandy Miller came into Nicky’s life
24:01: The change in HTB culture from robed choirs to contemporary worship
26:25: Why Nicky went from working as a barrister in a tax chamber to criminal then a mix set
27:34: Meeting John Wimber in 1981
28:10: “Come, Holy Spirit”
29:23: Why Nicky studied theology at Oxford
30:46: Learning that he had tied his self-esteem to his job
32:12: Being rejected from 9 parishes!
32:55: How Nicky went from Agnostics Anonymous to the Alpha course
35:36: How the first Alpha training conference in May 1993 came about
37:58: The 1994 Toronto blessing that spread to HTB
39:35: Alpha Asia Pacific
40:42: Doing online church & online Alpha
42:34: Where Nicky gets his drive from

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/43

Wai Ken Wong is the Country Manager of StashAway (Malaysia). He first worked in investments in Khazanah Nasional Berhad, then became the Vice President of the Equity Capital Markets at Affin Hwang Capital, before entering the startup world.

Want to learn what it's like working in the fintech startup world, all things investments & the intricacies of how StashAway is set up?

This is the episode for you!

Highlights:

2:38: Using ang pow money to invest in unit trusts
6:10: Why he moved to Australia at the age of 16
7:54: Enjoying business
9:24: Whether Wai Ken was ever tempted to drop out of college to launch a startup
10:41: What drove Wai Ken to start working while still studying
17:56: Working in Khazanah
21:33: Working with Dato Hisham
22:35: Working at Affin Hwang
26:07: Why Wai Ken decided to join StashAway - then a 2-year-old startup that began in Singapore
32:13: Whether he had any doubts about joining StashAway
33:34: His role as Country Manager from Day 1
35:36: How Wai Ken built a 5000 person waiting list before StashAway launched in Malaysia
41:42: The role of content creation in StashAway
44:27: What does “robo advisory” mean?
47:38: Robo Advisory v ETFs
49:51: StashAway’s investment framework - known as the Economic Regime Base Asset Allocation (ERAA)
52:40: How StashAway came up with its risk index
54:56: Guaranteeing a 1% chance of your portfolio dropping?
57:17: How StashAway categorises risk
1:01:58: Will customers get to determine their own assets with StashAway in the future?
1:04:44: StashAway Simple
1:06:51: Why StashAway Simple doesn’t have PIDM protection
1:09:01: What guarantees StashAway has for its customers
1:11:51: How StashAway came up with its projected rate of 2.4% for StashAway Simple
1:14:05: How StashAway compares to Wahed & MyTheo
1:15:47: Whether StashAway will ever invest in crypto
1:17:53: StashAway’s Series B & Series C fundraising rounds
1:22: What do the rich know, that the poor should know?

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/42

💌 Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

Richard Lui is a TV news anchor for MSNBC and NBC News and was previously at CNN Worldwide, where he became the first Asian American male to anchor a daily, national cable news show. He also earned the Peabody and Emmy awards for his team reporting at CNN during Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf Oil Spill. Mediaite ranked Richard among the top 100 in news buzz on its "Power Grid Influence Index of TV Anchors and Hosts" & was also listed by Business Insider as one of 21 dynamic careers to watch alongside Warren Buffett and Mark Cuban.

In addition, Richard is also a columnist for USA Today, Politico, The Seattle Times, Detroit Free Press and San Francisco Chronicles.

Prior to journalism, Richard spent 15 years working with Fortune 500 and tech companies, including at Citibank where he co-founded the first bank-centric payment system.

But how did it all begin?

Highlight:

3:12: Why Richard’s real last name is “Wong”, not “Lui”
6:05: Learning to be selfless
11:10: Learning kungfu from a Shaolin temple master
12:23: Working at Mrs Fields Cookies
15:41: Being exposed to politics
20:25: Going back to college
21:32: Working at KALX radio station, reporting on Senor Dianne Feinstein, Magic Johnson and Rodney King
24:04: How Mike Breslin influenced Richard at Clean Environment Equipment
16:18: Working at Citibank in Singapore
29:38: Working at Channelnews Asia
31:19: Working at CNN Worldwide
35:36: Winning the Peabody & Emmy awards
38:19: Reporting on humanitarian issues & offering a helping hand
40:00: Being a 7-year-old feminist
42:02: What feminism means to Richard
43:36: Learning of his father’s Alzheimers
46:59: Traveling ⅕ million miles a year
47:48: Coming up with a family caregiving plan
48:36: Knowing when to let go & whether they are keeping their dad around for too long
52:59: Richard’s new book, Enough About Me: The Unexpected Power of Selflessness
54:49: Three lunches
56:26: Why Richard produced Sky Blossom
58:07: The meaning behind “Sky Blossom”
1:00:59: Why joy is featured so prominently in Sky Blossom

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/41

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He Ruiming & Goh Wei Choon are the Singaporean/Malaysia duo behind The Woke Salaryman: an incredible personal finance page that educates people about making better financial and life choices through the use of simple albeit beautiful comics.

Since 2019, they have rapidly grown to over 204k followers on Instagram & 218k on Facebook - and we spend this STIMY interview uncovering how they first met and began building their Woke Salaryman brand: creating a consistent publishing schedule, dividing the work among themselves, getting their first piece of sponsored content, negotiating with clients, their thoughts on what the secrets are to virality, expanding the team and more.

3:27: Wei Choon’s love of animation since young
4:39: The impact that the 1997 economic crisis had on Ruiming
5:53: How Ruiming was blogging & writing gossipy columns in school
7:44: How Wei Choon & Ruiming met at Ngee Ann Polytechnic
12:23: Not letting anything sully his art
13:57: Wei Choon’s wake up moment when he graduated with a $25k debt
21:23: The meaning behind creating “impact”
25:27: The “secret” to creating viral content
26:14: Where virality was attached to their sense of self-worth
31:52: How Wei Choon got into personal finance
33:03: What “being rich” means to Wei Choon
34:10: Writing the viral article on saving $100,000 before turning 30
37:48: The start of the Woke Salaryman
39:31: Figuring out the division of labour
42:40: How they stayed consistent in publishing regular content
46:56: Discovering that financial planners were stealing the Woke Salaryman content
53:38: Planning to go full-time on the Woke Salaryman
56:34: The “secret” behind the virality of the Woke Salaryman, which is now over 204k strong on Instagram!
57:18: Building a passionate community
59:35: Getting their first sponsored post from CPF
1:01:49: Staying true to their values & turning away opportunities
1:06:02: Negotiating with clients
1:07:25: Expanding the team for the Woke Salaryman
1:15:45: Biggest highlights to date
1:17:31: What drives Wei Choon & Ruiming
1:21:32: Tangible steps for people to begin their personal finance journey
1:25:27: Advice for content creators
1:28:32: What Clubhouse means to them

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/40

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Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist of Canva and the creator of Guy Kawasaki’s Remarkable People podcast. He is an executive fellow of the Haas School of Business (UC Berkeley) and an adjunct professor of the University of New South Wales. He was the chief evangelist of Apple and a trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation. He has written Wise Guy, The Art of the Start 2.0, The Art of Social Media, Enchantment, and eleven other books. Kawasaki has a BA from Stanford University, an MBA from UCLA, and an honorary doctorate from Babson College.

In this STIMY episode, we explore what it was like growing up in Honolulu, Hawaii and the important people/events that set Guy on the path to becoming one of the world's most well-known brand evangelists!

Highlights:

3:09: Growing up in Kalihi Valley
4:17: Harold Keebles - one of the toughest teachers Guy ever had
5:11: Stanford in the 1970s
5:45: Why Guy quit law school after 2 weeks
6:59: Working at a jewellery manufacture company
7:26: Why Guy describes sales as hand-to-hand combat
9:28: Getting into Apple through nepotism
10:22: What it was like working at Apple in the 1980s
11:24: How Apple was set up then
13:29: Why Guy quit Apple for the first time
15:00: Why Apple rejoined Apple in the 1990s, when everyone thought the company would die
15:41: What a Chief Evangelist does
16:11: The Evange-List
18:02: How Guy first got involved in Canva
19:29: Guy’s role in Canva
21:19: Building brand awareness
22:54: Getting into podcasting
24:33: Getting Jane Goodall as his first podcast guest
28:08: How Guy first got onto Clubhouse
29:32: How Guy decides who to let onto the Clubhouse stage in his AMA rooms
31:02: What Guy thinks Clubhouse needs to achieve to go mainstream
32:19: Why Guy keeps giving out his personal email freely

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/39

John Yohan Kim serves as Managing Partner at Amasia, a cross-border venture capital firm that helps technology companies get global. He is a Kauffman Fellow, a Term Member at the Council of Foreign Relations, a member of the Young Leader's Circle at the Milken Institute and serves on various corporate and non-profit boards including those of Dialpad Communications, Kairos Society Asean and the Choson Exchange.

But before all that, John began his career as a serial entrepreneur, founding a music internet and e-consulting business called The Y Group before joining as a violinist in the Ally, where he toured around the US and collaborated with top artists across the US and Korea, most notably receiving a platinum record for contributing to an album with Grammy Award winner, Brandy.

All of that ended when John realised that he was still depressed despite pursuing his passion in music and during one performance, he heard God’s voice calling him to come home. Which kickstarted a journey that took him from the USA to Korea and now, Singapore.

Highlights:

3:36: Being a rebel to be accepted by society
6:04: Suffering senioritis & nearly losing his place in University of Pennsylvania!
9:04: Hearing God telling him to “Come home”
17:56: Joining the rock band, The Ally, as a performing musician
19:09: Getting a platinum record for contributing to Grammy award-winning Brandy’s album
22:25: Crossing paths with John… Legend!
29:35: Pivoting from music to hedge funds
31:56: Corporate culture in Asia versus the West
33:18: Co-founding his own VC firm, Amasia
41:22: God is not a vending machine
43:25: Workplace conflict when work clashes with faith
54:57: Amasia’s 4Rs of Behaviour Change
58:01: Investing in Dialpad
1:05:00: Hearing God tell him to become a vlogger
1:06:00: Meeting Nuseir Yassin of Nasdaily
1:09:00: What Nas advised John to go from 200 views to 170k views and now, almost 1 million views!
1:12:23: Involving his family in his vlogs
1:17:14: Thoughts on Clubhouse

📍Show notes:https://www.sothisismywhy.com/38

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Ng Kai Yuan is the co-founder of Our Grandfather Story: a Singapore-based digital publisher dedicated to uncovering timeless and overlooked stories across Southeast Asia.

Founded in 2017 with three other co-founders, Our Grandfather Story started as a school project! More specifically, an assignment for an Advance Photojournalism module at Nanyang Technological University. All four college students were tasked with coming up with a digital startup and the first video they created was on Singapore’s distinctive green & pink ice-cream sandwich bread.

To their surprise, the video went viral! And after acquiring investors (while still in college) and big corporate clients including Nippon Paint, Temasek Holdings & Singapore’s National Heritage Board, the four friends decided to turn their assignment into a real startup.

And in this STIMY episode, Kai Yuan shares exactly how that happened.

Highlights:

4:51: Getting an advance photojournalism assignment that sparked the genesis of Our Grandfather Story

6:40: Why they named it ‘Our Grandfather Story”

7:17: Coming up with the concept of Singapore’s Ice-cream bread video, which went viral!

10:50: Turning a college assignment into a full-fledged digital media publishing company, OGS

11:30: Obtaining a seed investment of $50,000

12:09: Reaction from friends & family

14:46: Securing corporate clients without any track record

17:20: Managing budget while growing the team in the early days of OGS

18:18: OGS’ target market

20:16: Focusing on food content

23:11: How OGS uncovered “untold” stories

24:06: The most unique & “kepo” way that OGS has used to obtain a story

26:22: OGS’ biggest success - the Can Ask Meh? Series

28:56: How OGS created the video on “Parents Who Lost a Child” for the Can Ask Meh series

30:35: Remaining sensitive to the questions asked

32:57: Creating O+ - the animation illustration arm of OGS

34:38: Creating the Something Private podcast

37:13: How OGS has gained its dedicated following - in 3 years, OGS has grown to over 300k on Facebook, 250k on YouTube & 70k on Instagram.

39:07: Sharing Southeast Asian stories during the COVID-19 pandemic

40:01: Who OGS is looking for to join the team

41:34: Maintaining relationships with the people they meet for OGS stories

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/37

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Kyne is the stage name of Kyne Santos: a mathematician, YouTube/Tik Tok star with nearly 1 million followers collectively, Drag Queen & contestant in Season 1 of Canada’s Drag Race.

Born in Manila, Philippines, Kyne moved to Kitchener, Ontario at the age of 5 with his family. Since young, mathematics and academics were a priority at home and he developed a love and knack for it.

In Grade, 9, Kyne began experimenting with makeup. What started out as almost invisible men’s makeup turned into full-blown, dramatic horror makeup that he would then post on his YouTube channel as part of his repertoire of makeup tutorials! This consequently led him down the path to becoming a Tik Tok drag queen star & contestant on Canada's Drag Race!

Highlights:

2:34: Maths & academics as a priority since childhood
3:27: Wanting to be a priest at the age of 12
5:07: Coming out
6:28: Experimenting with makeup at the age of 14/15
10:15: Wearing makeup to school
12:46: How Kyne’s understanding of drag evolved over time
15:18: Coming up with his drag aesthetics
16:04: Finding maths to be very beautiful and elegant
19:45: Maths can be used for evil or for the social good
22:01: Joining Tik Tok & posting short educational math videos while in drag
26:30: How Kyne’s video showed that the graph for Georgia’s coronavirus cases was misleading, and how it resulted in officials changing the graph and issuing an apology
27:13: What constitutes a faulty graph?
28:36: Participating in Canada’s Drag Race
30:46: Facing backlash after Canada’s Drag Race premiered
32:15: Advice for those wanting to get into drag

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/36

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Chye Neo Chong is the former Managing Director of IBM Malaysia with over 30 years in the information technology industry, and current independent director at Hong Leong Financial Group and Bursa Malaysia.

Chye was appointed to the role of MD in 2015, becoming the first woman to helm the company in its 57-year history in Malaysia and was also awarded the CEO Champion Award by Talentcorp in 2015 and recognised by the Malaysian Business publication as one of Malaysia’s Women of Influence in April 2018.

Highlights:

1:36: Growing up with 5 siblings (including an elder twin sister!)
3:22: Why Chye studied computer science at University of Science, Malaysia
4:47: Working as a software development engineer in Penang
10:26: How Chye managed to get so many work opportunities coming her way (without applying for them!)
12:06: Why Chye turned down the opportunity to be the MD/CEO of IBM Malaysia in 2007
14:36: Does Chye regret her decision to reject the position of CEO?
16:08: Taking 2 sabbaticals at the peak of her career
19:03: What am I worth without my (work) title?
23:33: Staying relevant while being on year-long sabbaticals
25:26: Returning to IBM & becoming MD/CEO of IBM Malaysia (the first woman to do so in its 57-year history in Malaysia!)
32:49: Leaving a legacy behind
38:32: Chye’s succession plan
40:20: The best way to ask for a salary increase
42:07: How do you find out that you’re being paid what you’re worth?
42:59: Networking with people
44:54: What value can you bring as a young person to a CEO?
46:33: Reinventing the wheel at IBM
49:45: Why Chye took early retirement

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/35

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Shawn Chong is one of Malaysia’s top mixologist, a three-time Diageo World Class Malaysia champion, once listed as the No. 25 Bartender in the world and co-founder of Kuala Lumpur’s pioneering speakeasy, Omakase + Appreciate. A speakeasy that was listed in the Top 10 of Asia’s 50 Best Bars Award 2016. He is also the founder of Bar Class Academy Asia.

Today, Shawn shares why he decided to enter the F&B industry, which led to him finding his calling as a bartender!

Highlights:

3:03: Having his first sip of alcohol at age… 5!
3:53: Moving back to Kuala Lumpur from France
5:07: When Shawn decided he wanted to enter the F&B industry
8:30: Working in the fine dining restaurant at Hilton Kuala Lumpur
11:50: How Shawn entered his first bartending competition
18:16: Why Shawn left Hilton KL for an independent restaurant
20:31: Opening Omakase + Appreciate - Kuala Lumpur’s very first omakase bar
22:57: Being inspired by the 1920s Prohibition Era in America
25:13: Coming up with the omakase concept, and mixing their Japanese/Western approaches
26:14: Changing the drinks menu every 6-8 weeks
28:05: The unique marketing tactics used by Omakase + Appreciate
29:02: Inviting big-name guest bartenders
30:57: Mise en place
33:13: Reaching the global finals for the Diageo World Champion competition for the second time
33:13: Winning the 10th spot of Asia’s 50 Best Bars in 2016
37:30: Finances
40:02: Deciding to close Omakase + Appreciate in December 2019
41:43: Starting Bar Class Academy Asia
42:23: Why Shawn’s endeavour in PJ failed
47:33: Best way to enter the bartending industry

🌍 Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/34

👉 Sign up for STIMY Newsletter here: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

Maurizio Leo is a software engineer-turned-baker from Albuquerque, Mexico whose blog, The Perfect Loaf, remains one of the most authoritative sources when it comes to all things sourdough!

To date, The Perfect Loaf is a two-time Saveur Magazine Blog Award winner. In 2016 The Perfect Loaf won both Editors' and Readers' Choice Awards in The Food Obsessive category and the 2018 Readers' Choice Award for Best Special Interest Blog. In addition, The Perfect Loaf was a 2019 Webby Award nominee.

Maurizio is a regular contributor to the King Arthur Baking blog and is the Resident Bread Baker at Food52. Maurizio has written articles on bread baking for Edible Magazine, the Bread Baker's Guild of America, and Bread Magazine.

But how did it all begin?

3:21: Growing up with Italian cooking
6:27: Latching onto things obsessively
8:07: Entering the world of computers & softwares
11:41: Founding Terminal Eleven & creating the stargazing app, Skyview
17:02: Seeing Skyview go viral (it’s achieved over 10 million downloads!)
18:21: How Maurizio first got into the sourdough making world through the book, the Tartine Bread by Chad Robinson
20:37: Meticulously planning for his first sourdough bake (and how it turned out)
23:25: Using the same starter from 10 years ago
25:14: How The Perfect Loaf blog started
29:06: The biggest challenges Maurizio faced from a baking & business perspective
34:46: How Maurizio experiments to create the perfect sourdough recipes
36:01: Impact of baking at high altitude in Albuquerque
37:27: Why Maurizio mills his own flour
39:14: Learning from Jeffrey Handelman
40:19: Being known in the sourdough community
46:04: Best places to find & get plugged into sourdough communities
50:04: Maurizio’s favourite baking techniques
51:17: Whether he uses high hydration to achieve open crumb
52:08: A recipe that Maurizio makes over and over again
53:40: Impact of COVID-19 on sourdough making
55:23: Why Maurizio uses so much rye flour in his baking
59:10: The best investment Maurizio made in his baking journey

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/33

Darrion Nguyen is currently a lab research technician at Baylor College of Medicine & the face behind “Lab Shenanigans”: a social media brand that makes fun, easily digestible science content that has garnered over 600,000 followers to date (½ million on Tik Tok!)!

But who is Darrion?

What led him down this path towards marrying his twin loves of theatre & science, quickly becoming the Asian Millennial Tik Tok version of Bill Nye the Science Guy?

And how can others do the same?!

We unpack all that and more in this STIMY Episode.

Highlights:

3:18: Incident at Darrion’s family’s convenience store that led to his father's unfortunate passing :(
5:40: The moment he discovered a talent (and love!!) of improvisation
9:07: Watching Bill Nye at his grandma’s tailor shop
10:21: Realising he was gay & coming out to his friends and family (except his mum?! 😅🤣)
13:46: Why Darrion ended up pursuing science when he also loved theatre
18:13: His love of organic chemistry & biochemistry in high school
21:57: Getting into voice acting & coming to terms with his higher pitched voice as part of his identity
24:14: Creating fun videos that went viral on Facebook meme pages
25:48: Creating Lab Shenanigans
27:43: Why Darrion decided to take a gap year rather than immediately doing his PhD
31:09: His work as a research technician
32:13: The ecosystem of a lab & their stereotypes (as seen in his Lab Shenanigan videos!)
34:00: What is the “mfing tea”?!
37:35: How Darrion first ended up on Tik Tok (P/S: As a joke!)
42:30: Suffering burnout
43:58: Creating 10-15 second Tik Tok videos anywhere between a 5-10 minutes to 3 hours, and why it takes so long!
46:00: How Darrion’s PI (aka boss) reacted when she first learned about his lab shenanigans lates at night in the lab!
49:16: Collabs with other fun science content creators like Chris Sutherland, Raven & Nick Uhas
50:08: How Darrion builds his passionate online community
51:51: Facing keyboard warriors as an Asian gay man
53:36: Advice for those wanting to venture into the world of Tik Tok
57:13: Splitting his time between his work as a scientist (yes, he does do real work!) and a content creator
1:00:14: Advice on monetization for content creators
1:01:11: Launching his Lab Shenanigans merchandise store

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/32

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Kenji Chai Vui Yung is a popular Malaysian graffiti artist most known for his alter ego, Chaigo the Stray. A dog that, if you’ve ever been to Kuala Lumpur, you’ll have probably seen spray painted all over!

But more than that, Kenji Chai has done plenty of mural art and collaborations with companies such as Tiger Beer, Netflix, Volkswagen, Uniqlo, and CIMB. His drawing of a giant cockerel on the side of Nando’s building at Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock even made it into the Lonely Planet Pocket Kuala Lumpur guidebook and Lonely Planet Malaysia, SG & Brunei guidebook.

In this STIMY episode, Kenji Chai shares:

1:46: Coming from a broken home
2:41: Childhood love of comics, cartoons & storybooks like Ninja Turtles
4:05: Changing his name to Kenji at the age of 15
4:57: Why Kenji thought all his dreams could be fulfilled in Kuala Lumpur
10:31: His former street name, Black Fryday
14:35: Getting a job at Sakai Sushi
19:40: Doing free work to get his name out
20:18: Winning the Character Licensing eSport Asia 2010 Thailand’s Custom Toy Design Contest
24:57: Being hired to draw a giant cockerel for Nandos (his first building mural artwork commission)
30:31: How Kenji got his numerous commissions while just starting out
31:35: How “Chaigo”, his alter ego, was formed
34:07: The first time he (illegally) drew Chaigo at Kampung Attap
36:33: The rules of street art to avoid getting caught!
37:42: Why does Kenji keep doing street art when it can land you in jail?!
38:26: Why Kenji doesn’t always sign off on his art & how people can trace it back to him
39:51: Working on 25-storey RED by Sirocco mural art over 21 days
46:04: Being filmed for art projects
49:13: How Kenji’s collaborations with other street artists come about
51:06: Working with international artists like Gus Eagleton
52:19: Life transforming experience painting in Mongolia
54:26: How street artists like @Kaws make it big on the international stage
58:31: What up & coming artists should do to build their careers
1:00:43: Don’t waste time on haters
1:01:48: The importance of social media

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/31

Dr Finian Tan is a Singaporean venture capitalist and Chairman of Vickers Venture Partners: a VC he founded in 2005 with 4 other partners and which is now ranked the 5th most consistently performing fund manager worldwide.

Prior to Vickers, Finian was inter alia:

Regional Director & Head at J.Aron - Goldman Sachs’ Asian trading arm;
Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Trade and Industry for the Singapore Government, where he oversaw the creation of the $1 billion dollar TIF fund (he was subsequently appointed as chairman of the said fund); and
A Managing Director at Draper Fisher Jurvetson Eplanet & the founding partner of its Asia Pacific Operations, where he led the investment into Baidu and remained its largest backer until IPO.

But how did it all begin?

Born on St Finian of Clonard’s Day, Finian had what might be considered an ‘unconventional’ childhood for someone who grew up in Singapore. He would spend his days on the beach with friends and family crabbing, spearfishing, snorkeling, and swimming in the sea!

He ended up studying engineering at Singapore Polytechnic before pursuing a degree at Glasgow University where he swept all of the academic awards.

In this STIMY episode, Finian shares:

4:10: What it was like growing up in Singapore in the 1960s
6:14: How he ended up studying engineering at Singapore Polytechnic
8:19: How the bankruptcy of his father’s company impacted his family
9:15: Planning it “like a war” to win all the academic awards at Glasgow University
13:09: Completing his Masters & PhD at Cambridge University
15:05: Working as a Chief Trader at Shell
15:51: Being poached by Goldman Sachs & later heading J.Aron - the Asian arm of Goldman Sachs
18:12: Why Finian decided to leave Goldman Sachs to become the Deputy Secretary of Singapore’s Ministry of Trade & Industry
24:21: Joining Draper Fisher Jurvetson Eplanet & figuring out where to invest by drawing a line in his book
27:01: Why Finian chose Baidu to be his first & only investment (at $7.5 million!)
28:57: Big decisions made by the Baidu board
31:51: Founding Vickers Venture Partners
34:15: Building Vicker’s reputation in the VC space
35:07: Best platforms to generate deal flow
36:44: Why Vickers pivoted into the deep tech space
44:24: Investing in Samumed, which is working to reverse aging by drugging the Wnt signaling pathway!
47:05: How Emergex is involved in the COVID-19 vaccine fight
55:31: RWDC - a company that is creating 100% biodegradable plastic that looks, feels & costs like plastic
58:01: The silver bullet
1:00:28: Spending time with entrepreneurs
1:01:52: Values that Finian looks for
1:03:01: What went wrong with 24 Quan (Finian’s biggest investment failure)
1:05:31: How Eavor is making breakthroughs in the geothermal space
1:12:13: Plans for Vicker’s Fund IV
1:15:21: Institutionalising knowledge as part of Vicker’s succession plan
1:17:11: What Finian looks for when hiring someone
1:32:17: “To whom much is given, much is required”
1:37:16: Charity Water & education in Africa

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/30

Chef Darren Teoh Min Guo is the head chef and restaurant owner of Dewakan, where in April 2019, it became the first Malaysian restaurant on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list at 46th place with the title Best Restaurant in Malaysia.

“Dewakan” derives its name from a combination of two Malay words: Dewa (meaning “God”) and “makan” (meaning “to eat”). And at Dewakan, Chef Darren is known for taking rare and forgotten ingredients from peninsular Malaysia – including the sea, mountain, jungle and farmlands – and elevating them into unique dishes that diners have described as ‘modern art’.

But how did it all begin?

In this STIMY episode, we talked about:

2:00: Why Darren once considered doing fashion or graphic design
3:38: Being good with his hands
5:15: Studying at Ternas, which had a dual programme with Institute Cartel
7:13: Why he moved to Singapore to work
10:25: Being caught sauteing mushrooms in a pan that wasn’t hot enough
14:58: Working in the cafeteria of KDU
15:46: Lecturing on molecular gastronomy at KDU
17:14: Unexpected challenges in running Dewakan
18:44: Diving into the history of “Malaysian” cuisine
21:12: Figuring out how to use local, often forgotten, ingredients in Dewakan’s menu
23:17: Developing relationships with local producers like Langit, Chocolate Concierge & A Little Farm on the Hill
24:09: Differentiating good/bad local producers
29:04: Impact of being on Asia’s Top 50 Restaurants List in 2019
31:55: How listeners can help Darren
36:38: Be very, very good at failing

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/29

Lily Xu Lijia (徐莉佳) is a Chinese sailboat racer who won the bronze medal in the women’s Laser Radial class at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London where she was also the flag bearer for China at the closing ceremony. She also medalled at the 2006, 2008 and 2012 World Championships.

In this STIMY Episode, Lily shared:

3:38: Why Lily had short hair until the age of 15
4:49: Why Lily told her mother to consider a divorce
7:55: Growing up with her disabilities
10:45: How Zhang Ning, her first coach, discovered and chose her to attend the Shanghai sailing training camp
13:30: Life in the Shanghai sailing program
15:43: The consequences of disagreeing with what they were told to do in the sailing program
16:35: The incident that led Lily to seriously study English
19:10: How Lily narrowly escaped death during a training session off the coast of Wujian;
21:46: Discovering a tumour in her left knee
24:33: Why Lily loves sailing
27:12: Why she adopted the name Lily
28:38: Her experience at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics
36:02: Communicating with Jon Emmett during the 2012 London Olympics
41:48: Being China’s flag bearer for the Closing Ceremony at the 2012 London Olympics
44:00: Retiring from the sport after the 2012 London Olympics
45:01: Participating in her third Olympics at Rio;
47:34: Working in media
53:01: How COVID-19 has impacted her life & career
54:44: Being an author
55:31: One thing Lily would do differently
56:03: What Lily believes in that most people don’t

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/28

Freda Liu is one of Malaysia’s most prominent radio-television hosts, having worked at BFM 89.9 - Malaysia’s only business radio station, for over 12 years. She has conducted over 5000 interviews and some prominent names include Martin Cooper, author Stephen Covey, motivational speaker Nick Vujicic, former GE CEO Jack Welch, the Duke of York HRH Prince Andrew to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

At BFM, her show Enterprise provides the tools to help businesses succeed covering topics with the startup scene, personal development, technology to organizational development. While HerVantage talks about women of leadership and influence to showcase women representation in all strata of society from sports, the arts & sciences to entrepreneurship. Freda has authored 5 books called "PR Yourself" and “Shake & Spear Your Business: The Romeo & Juliet Way, ” and "Everybody Loves Ray" (biography) “Bursting Fixed Mindsets” and her latest “In Your Skin”.

She also contributes to The Star, one of the leading English newspapers. She was recently awarded the ASEAN Rice Bowl Awards for Malaysia Startup Journalist Of The Year and a nominee for MaGIC’s Social Enterprise journalist. Freda is a member of the National Association of Women Entrepreneurs Malaysia (NAWEM) and the Malaysian Association of Professional Speakers (MAS). She started her Lean In Circle called Think and the Malaysian chapter and has over 100 members in her group.

In this STIMY interview, we cover:

3:05: Growing up in Seria, Brunei & swimming in the open sea
4:55: Listening to the British Forces Broadcasting Services (radio) as a child
6:30: Moving from Brunei to Kuching, Sarawak at the age of 14
9:47: Returning to Kuching after graduation to look after her father
10:21: Having the opportunity to appear on RTM’s live telecast, which launched her career in news reading
12:51: Working in PR at Edelman in Kuala Lumpur
14:00: Leading the #duakerja life (i.e. working 2 jobs at the same time)
16:41: Being headhunted to work at IBM
19:24: The Gideon test
20:57: The early days of working at a startup called BFM 89.9
22:22: Crafting BFM 89.9’s working culture of Educate, Entertain, Enlighten
24:57: A typical day as a BFM 89.9 radio host
26:29: Whether Freda’s interview process has changed after conducting over 5,000 interviews (which includes Julian Assange & HRH Prince Andrew!)
27:56: How Freda finds the unique guests she brings onto her show
28:30: Interviews she has felt she couldn’t air
29:13: How Freda got Nick Vujicic to appear on her show
31:31: Getting into book writing
33:58: Writing her book, Everybody Loves Raymond, on the life of Raymond Chew
36:04: Writing her 6th book during COVID-19
38:25: Being better, not bitter
41:43: How COVID-19 has impacted Freda
42:58: The importance of goal setting & putting it down in writing
43:57: What Freda would tell her 21 year old self
47:30: A new story about Freda that isn’t already covered in the media!

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/27

Cesar Kuriyama is a video maker, director, producer, animator, and founder of 1 Second Every Day - a mobile application that allows users to record one second of video every day and then chronologically mashes them together into a single film. And an app that is well on track to being the No.1 Downloaded Free App in the App Store!

In this STIMY episode, we covered:

2:42: His struggles in picking up the English language
3:16: Growing up as a science & math nerd
4:50: Wanting to be an architect
6:13: Wanting to work on the Stars Wars movies after graduation
8:23: Studying at Pratt Institute
11:29: Being a Marvel intern
17:03: Finally breaking into the NYC advertising scene & getting into Curious Pictures
21:43: Shooting 45,000 photos to create the music video for Fat Cat Reprise (Long Gone)
23:56: Impact of Stefan Sagmeister’s TED talk, Power of Time Off
26:38: Writing a future email to himself on futureme.org
28:36: How he first came across the idea to shoot 1 second of video every day as a form of a private diary
34:03: How Cesar ended up giving a TED talk that went viral & changed his life
38:11: Filming 1 sec of every difficult day he experienced
40:57: How Cesar figured out how to build a mobile app from scratch
41:37: Meeting Tim Ferriss & the advice he gave
45:29: Running a highly successful Kickstarter campaign
48:54: Getting 50,000 on Day 1 of the launch of 1 Second Every Day
51:52: What Cesar had planned to do next after the launch of 1 Second Every Day
53:54: The tweet Cesar sent that resulted in Marvel Director & Actor, Jon Favreau, featuring 1 Second Every Day in his 2004 movie, Chef
1:00:42: The value proposition for 1 Second Every Day
1:03:44: Impact of COVID-19
1:04:49: The future for 1 Second Every Day
1:06:44: What Cesar would do differently
1:10:35: The best sources to find information/get help from

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/26

Chong Chan-Yau is the CEO of CarbonCare InnoLab, the President of the Hong Kong Blind Union, former Chairman and current Director of The Board of the Dialogue in the Dark Hong Kong Foundation, former Chairman of and current Board Director of Carbon Care Asia, former Executive Director of Oxfam Hong Kong.

He has received many awards including Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award, MBE, China Poverty Alleviation Award, and Honorary Fellowship from the University of Hong Kong.

Chan-Yau grew up in Kowloon City, Hong Kong and became blind at the age of 6. However, Chan-Yau has never allowed his blindness to hold him back from defying society’s expectations & creating great impact whether it’s in the area of fighting for equal rights for the disabled to combating global poverty and climate change.

In this STIMY episode, we discuss:

1:41: Growing up in a large family of 10 in Kowloon City, Hong Kong
3:49: Going blind at the age of 6
7:37: Studying at the Ebenezer School for the Blind & why it took 1 year for his family to decide to let him go (including learning Braille)
9:28: What it’s like learning Braille
12:03: Being rebellious & defying expectations of what being blind could do as students
16:04: Aspiring to further education & not doing what was expected of blind people then (being telephone operators or fortune tellers)
20:44: What drove Chan-Yau to constantly prove others wrong, that “our ability is not affected by our blindness”
21:39: Attending regular school & receiving assistance from Sister Moira of the Maryknoll Convent School
25:10: Entering the University of Hong Kong as one of its first blind students
27:07: Petitioning the Governor of Hong Kong to provide more equal rights and opportunities to blind people
30:44: Studying at the London School of Economics
33:35: Becoming the first Hong Kong government administrative officer
34:48: Reason for joining Oxfam and becoming the Director of Fundraising
36:06: How Chan-Yau developed the monthly donor base for Oxfam Hong Kong from 3000 to over 100,000
39:47: Developing Oxfam rice & why rice was the medium chosen
42:07: The development of rights of the blind in Hong Kong
44:48: Founding the Dialogue in the Dark Hong Kong
46:40: How can employers create a more inclusive workplace for the blind?
48:31: Entering the climate change space

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/25

Malek Ali is a former lawyer turned serial entrepreneur most known for founding BFM 89.9, Malaysia’s only business radio channel, and Fi Life, Malaysia’s first online life insurance service. Malek shares a ton of fascinating insights on what it’s like being an entrepreneur & trust me when I say he hasn’t had it easy! It seems as though every time he starts a business, a financial crisis hits!

Some highlights of our STIMY episode include:

2:52: His childhood & being asked to decide on which parent to stay with during their divorce at the age of 5;
4:55: Accompanying his father (and later, brother) on their many overseas business trips particularly in France;
7:52: The 1985 recession that crushed the slimming center business chain that his father was running;
8:46: Why Malek initially studied law when his first love was in business;
10:22: Working at Allen & Overy in London, including on a deal that involved the bankruptcy of Canary Wharf;
11:48: Studying for his Harvard MBA & the lessons he drew from that (he was classmates with Sheryl Sandberg!);
15:43: Founding KL Classifieds, his first startup, in 1997 & why that landed him RM300,000 in debt;
16:50: How Malek got out of his debt & ended up working at JobStreet;
21:26: What he learned from his time as Head of Mobile at Maxis, then Yahoo;
23:20: What Sue Decker, then CFO of Yahoo, taught him about the importance of creating good products;
25:29: What pushed Malek to start BFM 89.9, Malaysia’s only business radio channel;
30:50: The challenges he faced in getting investors on board;
34:08: How Malek obtained a dormant frequency for broadcasting BFM 89.9;
36:10: The collapse of Lehman Brothers & BFM 89.9’s struggle to cover relevant content with their threadbare staff;
38:18: Getting sponsors for BFM 89.9 including from Malaysia Airlines;
40:51: Sensitive topics that can’t be discussed on air;
42:12: Listening to customer feedback & how to handle complaints;
43:47: The different interviewees that have come through BFM’s doors & how their attitude informs their character;
45:47: Whether radio will ever be obsolete;
48:41: Why Malek started Fi Life;
50:27: Reading up on the investment portfolios of many other people on Fi Life’s “This Is How I Invest” blog series;
50:56: Impact of COVID-19 on the media space; and
53:18: How listeners can help Malek.

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/24

Sarah Chen is many things but she is above all. a powerful advocate & role model for women empowerment. She is the co-founder of Lean In Malaysia, which boasts over 5,000 women within the network, bringing women back into the workforce, accelerating women into leadership positions. And also sits on multiple boards including 131 & counting, which is a bipartisan effort to fete the unprecedented number of women serving in the House and Senate, to encourage more women to run for office in the United States.

Sarah is also a global investment professional. She previously worked in the corporate venture capital unit of Sime Darby, a $13 billion Asian conglomerate investing in late-stage biotech stageups, and is now the co-founder and managing partner of The Billion Dollar Fund for Women: a global consortium of venture capital funds that have now pledged beyond US$1Bn to be invested into women-founded companies; now known as Beyond The Billion. Specifically, she works with limited partner investors to diversify their portfolio through venture as a returns strategy.

In addition, Sarah was named World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and Forbes 30 Under 30, and has also been featured amongst others on Der Spiegel, the Wall Street Journal and Forbes.

But what is her story?

In this STIMY Episode, we explore:

4:27: Her parent’s parenting style of “dream big, aim high”;
5:43: Becoming a national child TV host for the Golden Kids Club on TV2 RTM (a Malaysian channel) at the age of 9;
8:49: How Sarah’s dad gave her the push she needed to audition for the Golden Kids Club;
10:42: Family dinner conversations that included listening to her dad advise her mom on her career;
14:17: The ping pong competition story;
18:54: How Sarah was told, “Hey as a girl, I think you’re too ambitious”
21:11: Why Sarah did law at King’s College London;
26:27: Why Sarah ended up being the interim director of MRI Network at the age of 21;
30:25: How Sarah ended up working in the corporate venture capital unit of Sime Darby (p/s: by taking initiative & asking for a coffee chat!);
35:41: Appearing on the reality TV Show, The Apartment, with her brother (Chef Brian Cheng);
39:40: Becoming aware of women doing the work, but not getting the recognition for it;
40:40: Of how no matter how good a woman is at her job, “she was not good enough unless she had a ring on her finger”;
50:03: How Sarah met Shelly Porges, who became her co-founder of the Billion Dollar Fund;
52:05: The state of the VC industry in 2017;
1:03:02: The reception they got at the World Bank when the Billion Dollar Fund was launched in October 2018;
1:04:23: Key misconceptions people have about gender diversification in investments;
1:07:58: How they gained public attention on the Billion Dollar Fund’s mission;
1:10:08: The role of Billion Dollar Breakfast events & how the Billion Dollar Fund helps female entrepreneurs;
1:14:12: The difference between an LP (Limited Partner) and a GP (General Partner);
1:17:49: Impact of COVID-19 on the venture capital space;

🎙️Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/23

Alena Ose’ Murang is a Sarawakian sape player singer, teacher, speaker, social entrepreneur, visual artist & heritage advocate. Born in Kuching, Sarawak, to a Kelabit father, Ose Murang and English-Italian mother Valerie Mashman, Alena and her older brother were immersed in their local heritage from young including dance and the local lute instrument, the sape. While Alena has never formally studied music, she answered her calling to be a keeper of stories for her people and in 2016, released her first EP, Flight - a collection of traditional Kenyah & Kelabit songs.

Since then, Alena has performed at many renowned world music festivals including the SXSW (USA), Colors of Ostrava (Czech Republic), Paris Fashion Week (France), Rudolstadt Festival (Germany), OzAsia Festival (Australia), and Rainforest World Music Festival (Malaysia). She was a youth representative at the UNESCO Youth Forum in Paris, and UNESCO Asia-Pacific for her work in intangible cultural heritage.

Some of the things we talked about include:

3.20: What is was like growing up in Kuching & being immersed in the local culture including visiting villages, studying rituals like basket weaving & hiking
6:08: How at the age of 6, Alena & her cousins began to learn the arang kadang (long dance) & solo Hornbill dance from her aunties, before half of them decided to pick up the sape
7:26: Getting Uncle Mathew Ngau to teach them the sape & why that was such a contentious issue because of their gender
8:46: The difference between the “spirit” & “human” sape
17:45: Identity & heritage
20:13: Her love of art
21:35: Studying fine arts at the Lasalle College of the Arts
22:37: Why Alena’s fine arts teacher did not encourage her to pursue art as a career
23:59: How she ended up on a US tour with the Diplomats of Drum as a sape player
25:58: Her discovery of how the sape could move people
26:31: Why she became a fellow with Teach for Malaysia
28:28: How she started her social enterprise, ART4 Studio (now known as Kanid Studio)
30:35: What led Alena to pursuing world music as a full-time career
31:53: How Alena produced & released her first EP, Flight
33:45: Working with life coaches
35:15: If Alena was ever plagued with imposter syndrom
35:44: When Alena knew that she was doing exactly what she was meant to be doing
36:44: How Alena ended up participating in the Norway Fjord Festival (Scandinavia’s largest traditional music festival) & Paris Fashion Week
38:47: Whether Alena ever felt she had to get out of Malaysia to grow her musical career
41:48: Working with her village elders
43:09: Being a part of the Small Island Big Song Austronesian production
44:53: Why beads are so important to Alena’s indigenous heritage
46:56: How COVID-19 has impacted Alena & her career
49:14: What listeners can do to help Alena & any other world musician

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/22

Saw Teong Hin is an award-winning, Malaysian director, producer and screenwriter for film, TV and theatre and was Louis Vuitton Malaysia’s Generation Next (2003), was Tatler’s 100 People You Must Know In Asia (2006), received the CHT Essence Art Award (2009), was August Man, Men Of The Year (2017) and was Chinese Film Association Malaysia Leading Film Industry Person (2018).

He is best known for his directorial debut of “Puteri Gunung Ledang” (2004) - the first Malaysian submission for the Academy Awards and the first Malaysian film invited to the Venice International Film Festival. And his production company, Real Films, provided production support for Ang Lee’s “Lust: Caution”, produced the Sudirman-tribute musical film, “Hoore! Hoore!” (2012) and the Penang Hokkien film “You Mean The World To Me”(2017).

Childhood

Born in Georgetown, Penang in 1962, Teong grew up the youngest son of six siblings. He later obtained a scholarship to study double physics and mathematics at the National University of Singapore; the first of his generation to head to university.

However, he never graduated.

Teong Hin’s parents were incredibly understanding and encouraged him to return as after he was kicked out of NUS, but the shame of what had happened meant that he couldn’t do so and moved instead to Kuala Lumpur.

Moving to Kuala Lumpur

Teong Hin started off couch surfing among his friends, before landing a model gig for Shell.

We then discussed:

How he ended up as a production assistant to Joe Hasham;
Learned the ropes as a production assistant before rising to become a producer in 3 months; and
Set up his own company and made a name for himself in the TV commercial and music video (e.g. KRU “Fanatik”) world.

Puteri Gunung Ledang

What really allowed Teong Hin to enter the public eye was with his directorial debut of “Puteri Gunung Ledang” in 2004. But it was hardly an easy journey.

We discussed:

How boredom pushed Teong Hin to spend the next 2 years trying to break into the film industry as a director - but failed;
How he was on the verge of quitting when a phone call with Tiara Jacqueline changed everything;
Why he changed the direction of the Puteri Gunung Ledang script into that of a love story at 2am;
The pushback he received for being chosen as the director of one of Malaysia’s largest film productions to date at the time;
What it was like directing the Puteri Gunung Ledang film;
His experience at the Venice Film Festival (hint: Johnny Depp & Tom Cruise!);
Why the success of Puteri Gunung Ledang backfired on him; and
How Mi Fang (Astro at the time) & a feng shui master changed his fortunes!

You Mean the World To Me (Hai Ki Xin Lor)

In 2009, Teong Hin began writing a semi-autobiography of his life. A script that was written as a tribute to his now deceased mother.

Teong Hin faced a lot of pushback, with many asking why he would be willing to air his dirty laundry. But Teong Hin persevered and we discussed:

Why Hai Ki Xin Lor first debuted as a stage performance during the Georgetown Festival;
The storm that threw everything into chaos on the eve of the performance;
The reception he received from viewers & also family members;
What it was like filming the silver screen version of Hai Ki Xin Lor;
The impact that the film had on moviegoers;
Whether he would’ve still proceeded to create the film version if his family had been strongly opposed to its production;
Whether Teong Hin found his “voice” with Hai Ki Xin Lor;
Whether he would do anything differently

Other Things We Talked About

Being the creative director for opening (19 Aug) & closing ceremonies of 2017 Southeast Asian Games
Impact of COVID on his life and career;
The challenges of creating a regional film directing career;
Whether it’s important to move to other locations to obtain “better” career opportunities;
Teong Hin’s advice for those seeking to break into the industry.

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/21

Tan Kheng Hua is a popular award-winning actress/producer in Singapore and Malaysia. Kheng has appeared on stage, and in TV series and movies that include Phua Chu Kang, The Philanthropist (NBC), The Patriarch (UFA), Serangoon Road (HBO Asia Original Series), Netflix’s Original Series, Marco Polo, and most recently, as “Kerry Chu”, the mother to Constance Wu in in the movie adaptation of Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians. She is currently filming CW’s Kung Fu series.

In this STIMY episode, we dive deep into:

What it was like growing up in the 1960s in Singapore;
How Kheng first discovered her love for acting in Indiana University;
How Kheng balanced her corporate day job with her love of theatre;
The moment she decided to take a leap of faith & become a full-time actress;
Her experience as a cast member of Masters of the Sea, Singapore’s first English language movie;
Some of her fondest memories filming Singapore’s popular sitcom, Phua Chu Kang;
How they hid Kheng’s 7-month pregnancy while filming Phua Chu Kang!
At what point Kheng felt secure being a full-time actress;
Her experience on the set of Crazy Rich Asians;
The impact of Crazy Rich Asians on her career;
The reality of going for auditions & working in Hollywood;
How COVID has affected her life and career;
What Kheng considers to be a “good” role; and
So much more!

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com.20

Patricia Kelikani is a multiple Emmy award-winning filmmaker and videographer.

Having spent 12 years working at Loma Linda University where she became Director of Advancement Films, she is also the producer, director and cinematographer of the 12-time Emmy award winning TV documentary series, “Life on the Line”, narrated by Lisa Ling. In 2014, Patricia became a freelancer and founded Kelikani Films & Kelikani Consulting, where she teaches people how to make lucrative videos from home.

Some of the things we discussed in this STIMY episode include:

Why Patricia & her twin sister wanted to be the Doublemint twins;
How God spoke to her while mountain biking before graduation;
What she learned during her student missionary trip in Prague;
Why the Albania trip was a turning point in her career;
How she learned to edit videos herself back in 2003, before YouTube even existed!;
Why her trip to Ethiopia - which raised over $1 million - was so impactful;
An unfortunate filming incident involving Ryan Reynolds & Matthew Perry;
Producing “ Loma Linda 360”, which eventually turned into “Life on the Line” - the 12-time Emmy award winning documentary focusing on the resilience on mankind;
What it was like filming some of the episodes for Life on the Line, including the San Bernardino shooting;
How Lisa Ling became involved in the documentary;
What it was like winning the Emmys;
Why she decided to quit & become a freelancer;
How she built her freelance video production company; and
How COVID has impacted her life & career since.

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/19

Dr Jason Leong is a former doctor turned Malaysian stand-up comedian star who has been enthralling his audience since 2010 when he did his first open mic gig at Zouk, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Since then, he has gone on to, amongst others,

Be the first Malaysian to win the 7th International HK Comedy Competition 2013 & win the title of Crowd Favourite;
Perform at Comedy Central’s Stand-Up Asia, Hollywood’s Laugh Factory & New York’s Gotham Comedy Club; and
Have his own Netflix Special called Hashtag Blessed!!

But how did this all come about? What is Dr Jason’s story & has he found his “why”?

In this STIMY podcast episode, we dig into:

1.57: What Dr Jason Leong was like as a child
3:23: His experience studying as a medical student in Dublin & experience of working at an Irish pub;
6:06: His first open mic gig at Zouk KL & why that experience was so transformative;
8:17: How he ended up joining the Malaysia Association of Chinese Comedians;
13:45: Dr Jason’s first major bomb - which almost caused him to cry on his birthday!!;
15;29: Winning the 7th International HK Comedy Competition 2013 and performing at Hollywood’s Laugh Factory & New York’s Gotham Comedy Club (where he got to see Jerry Seinfield perform in the flesh!)
20:38: Why he won’t be less Malaysian in his stand-up jokes (to appeal to an international crowd);
24:21: His experience watching the live taping of the Stephen Colbert Report;
27:22: Why he spent RM150,000 of his own money to film his Netflix Special (with no guarantee that anyone would ever buy it!)
28:47: The process of trying to get Netflix to buy his Special for 2 years;
31:52: What Jason has been up to during this crazy COVID-19 period;
33:27: Why not all stand-up comedy jokes translate well to online platforms/social media;
34:47: The most contentious joke Jason has ever put forward & why he feels he has never gone “too far”
37:56: The “Fight for Gotcha” Brazillian jiu jitsu fight he will be having with Ean of Hitz;
39:25: Why stand-up comedy is one of the hardest art forms you can do; and
So much more!

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/18

Louisa Jane Gurski is a two-time British Olympian who competed as a sprint kayaker in the London 2012 Olympic Games (5th place) and Rio 2016 Olympic Games (7th place) and the inaugural European Games in Baku.

She has obtained incredible achievements including the gold medal in the K-1 5000m at the World Championships, and the silver and bronze in 2013 Montemor-o-Velho and 2009 Brandenburg respectively for the European Championships

Louisa spent nearly 20 years as an elite athlete and she shared:

What it was like growing up in Walton-Upon Thames, England;
How she got started in kayaking;
What her training schedule was like;
How she overcame doubt;
The difference between being a great athlete and the best athlete;
Her most fond memories from competing in the London 2012 (home game) & Rio 2016;
The moment she decided to retire after nearly 2 decades of being an elite athlete;
What it was like to no longer be an athlete;
Finding a new future for herself when she was no longer an athlete;
Why she decided to pivot from a corporate job to being a personal trainer;
Whether she would recommend her daughter be an elite athlete;
How to encourage more sports in a child’s life; and
How COVID has impacted her life.

Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/17

Renyi is the co-founder of MyBurgerLab, MyPizzaLab and MyBobaLab alongside his friends and partners, Chang Ming and Wee Kiat.

If you live in KL, you will probably have heard of MyBurgerLab: the burger joint that went completely viral several years ago with their charcoal buns & continue to hit the headlines due to their innovative flavours. Quirky options that include the nasi lemak burger, the salted egg yolk burger and the upcoming flavour, The World’s Smelliest Burger!

Renyi is a university dropout and the path towards founding MyBurgerLab was hardly an easy one, but there were many significant incidents that happened that resulted in Renyi entering the F&B industry.

Some of the things we talked about include:

Why he chose to work at Yellowstone park for three 3-month summers straight & the impact this left on him;
His prior businesses leading up to founding MyBurgerLab;
How he got Wee Kiat and Chang Ming involved in his idea of starting a cafe and why that later turned into a burger joint;
The 10 R&D sessions that they conducted to perfect their products - p/s: they almost burned the kitchen down!!
How Renyi came up with their signature charcoal burgers;
The 2 critical incidents that happened which made MyBurgerLab go viral, resulting in people queuing for 2 hours every day for their charcoal burgers!

Running MyBurgerLab

Renyi & his team succeeded in maintaining the virality around MyBurgerLab for 2 years but MyBurgerLab is a business, so we talked about:

The scary drop that hit MyBurgerLab when their virality tapered out;
How Renyi came out with unicorn products to boost sales;
How they created MyBurgerLab’s signature level-up company culture;
Why MyBurgerlab’s staff consists mainly of university students;
The secret to MyBurgerLab’s patty;
How Renyi came up with some of their most innovative flavours including the Nasi Lemak Burger & Jammin’ with Elvis Burger (aka peanut butter and jelly fillings!);
How MyBurgerLab responded to COVID with kindness; and
So much more.

If you love burgers, or want to know how MyBurgerLab creates the culture they’re so known for, then this is definitely the episode for you!

Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/16

Yi Jun Loh is a Malaysian food blogger at Jun & Tonic (nominated for the Saveur Blog Award 2018), a food writer for TASTE, Saveur & Food52 & podcaster for Malaysian’s national radio channel BFM (Baking Bread) & his own podcast, Take a Bao.

If you’ve ever wondered how you can break into the Malaysian food industry, then this is the podcast episode for you!

Who is Yi Jun Loh?

Now you would’ve expected for one in the creative industry, that Yi Jun always had a deep love of food & pushing the boundaries of what he can do. But that was not the case.

While completing his engineering degree at Cambridge University, he ended up rooming with a friend, Andrew, who brought him into the world of food. Cooking elaborate dishes in their shared kitchen awakened the chef in him. An awakening that led him to consider breaking the convention upon graduation.

Rather than taking on an engineering or consulting job, why not give Le Cordon Bleu a go?

Le Cordon Bleu & Blue Hill at Stone Barns

In this STIMY episode, Yi Jun shares his experiences:

Studying at Le Cordon Bleu & whether he thinks every food aspirant should attend the school;
Why he chose to starge at Dan Barber’s Blue Hill at Stone Barns restaurant at New York; and
What he learned from working in a professional kitchen & alongside farmers growing unique strains of crops.

Returning home to Malaysia

After his working stint in the US, Yi Jun returned to Malaysia and worked to establish himself in the Malaysian food scene. He shares

How he first started writing for Food52 & the process of pitching to such publications;
How he ended up hosting BFM’s food channel, Breaking Bread;
His favourite episodes & why that stood out for him;
How he comes up with the quirky recipes found on his blog, Jun and Tonic; and
How he eventually started his own podcast, Take a Bao, and the challenges behind producing investigative food episodes.

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhycom/15

Joey Law is the mother of 15-year-old Founder & CEO of MinorMynas, Hillary Yip, who was our STIMY Episode 13 guest!

Joey & Hillary are STIMY’s very first mother-daughter pairing and I’m so honoured to have them on board. This episode is particularly dear to my heart because even before I’d launched STIMY, I knew that I wanted to feature inspiring mothers like Joey on the podcast.

I really want STIMY to be a place that features the amazing, life-changing, self-sacrificing work that mothers are doing every day, behind-the-scenes, and put them on the exact same platform as people society would typically consider to be “successful”. Because while they might not be featured on the front page of The Economist, their work is no less important and amazing.

Who is Joey Law?

Joey came from a humble background. A time where her parents were busy with work and she had to fend for herself.

But she was also adventurous and brave, and we talked about what it was like selecting her own school for her education (despite a gruelling 1.5 hour ride to school every day!), and her motivation for eventually joining the Hong Kong police force!

Senior Inspector of Police, Hong Kong Police Force

Some of the things we discussed about her career with the Hong Kong police force included:

The different ranks within the Hong Kong police force;
What it was like working in the force, and rising to become a Senior Inspector of Police as a woman;
Her biggest lesson from being a bomb disposal officer (which can be applied to our own lives!); and
Why she quit the force after 12 years.

Life After the Force

Joey is not a person to raise on her laurels.

Soon after she quit the force, she started an online children’s bookstore & she shared her WHY behind that move, and also some of the big challenges she faced with this new online endeavour.

Being a Mother

But running her children’s online bookstore and blog was ancillary to being a mother, and we dive deep into her experiences.

Something you might not know (and probably won’t have detected from Hillary’s episode) - which we discussed at length - is the intense bullying that Hillary faced in school at the age of 8. Joey shared how she discovered what was happening, her advice to other young parents on detecting potential bullying in school and things she might’ve done differently if she was to face the same issue again.

While bullying isn’t something typically covered on STIMY, I felt that it was important to do so here because these things do happen. And perhaps a little awareness can go a long way in preventing the same situation from arising in another child’s life.

Apart from bullying, we also discussed:

The realities of schooling in Hong Kong (for certain schools, you have to start filling out application forms before your child is even born!);
Why Joey opted for homeschooling for both Hillary and Alexis (her second child);
How she ensures that her children have a well-balanced education covering not just the academics but also socially and physically;
What it’s like being the mother to a teenager CEO - quite a different perspective to the one Hillary gave!; and
So much more.

This is a very different and special STIMY episode and I hope you love it as much as I did!

Show notes: http://www.sothisismywhy.com/14

Hillary Yip is the CEO of MinorMynas, a startup that creates fun, immersive, online products for children worldwide in a safe environment. And as at the time of this interview being recorded, she is a mere 15 years old!

She founded MinorMynas at the age of 10 - which makes her one of the youngest CEOs in the World, and has been featured in places such as the BBC, CCTV, Yitiao, Yeti and the South China Morning Post. She is also a popular keynote speaker and has appeared on TEDx stages, events by HSBC and Microsoft and most recently, at the Global Women Forum 2020 in Dubai.

Who is Hillary Yip

Hillary was born & raised in Hong Kong and her amazing entrepreneurial journey began with a summer camp for Mandarin in Taiwan. Upon her return, she soon came across the AIA Emerging Entrepreneur Challenge 2016 in Hong Kong and decided to participate.

Despite having teammates that dropped out at the last minute, she came up with a proposal within the final 3 hours and went on to win the First Prize and Business Prize! She also met with a number of business leaders who gave her advice and encouragement, and proceeded with the steps needed to bring MinorMynas from being a mere idea to an actual startup!

Building MinorMynas

In this STIMY podcast, we discussed:

How Hillary found her first customers;
Her first MVP & the main findings she obtained;
How she scaled from a mere 4 users (2 of them consisted of herself and her brother, Alexis!) to around 4,000 downloads from over 20 countries in the 9th month!
MinorMynas’ approach to privacy;
How MinorMynas differs from other similar apps;
The role of parents on MinorMynas;
The behind-the-scenes of launching the 2nd iteration of MinorMynas;
Financing & why she chose crowdfunding; and
And the future of MinorMynas.

Apart from MinorMynas…

But lest we forget, Hillary is only 15 years old! So we also talk about:

Her homeschooling life;
Her favourite things to learn about; and
Why Gary Vaynerchuk is her idol.

Hillary is a true testament that age is no barrier to the extraordinary things you can already achieve. And I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did!

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/13

Danielle Merlyn Kettlewell is an Australian synchronised swimmer who competed in the team synchronised swimming event in the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. She was vice-captain of the Australian team which placed eighth overall with 75.4333 in the free routine and 74.0667 in the technical. She was also selected as Australia’s first Mixed Duet in the sport of artistic swimming for the 2019 FINA World Aquatic Championships. She is now a coach and motivational speaker.

Who is Danielle Merlyn Kettlewell?

Danielle was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada to Australian parents, the youngest of 5 siblings (2 brothers and 2 sisters). Since young, she was exposed to the world of swimming and gymnastics and at the age of 8, entered the world of synchronised swimming (now known as “artistic swimming”).

Now, you might think that she is a “typical” elite athlete who has always topped her year, had a natural affinity for her sport and ended up, inevitably, on the Olympic world stage.

You couldn’t be further from the truth.

The Unlikely Olympian

Danielle is the first to point out that she is an “unlikely Olympian”.

She didn’t have the right body type. Was never flexible enough. Was the “chubby one” on the team. The reserved at Nationals and didn’t even rank in the top 100 in Canada!

To top all that in October 2013, she was involved in a horrifying incident at training that resulted in her having a major concussion and needing to drop out of university to recover. A situation that resulted in her feeling extremely depressed.

2013/14

But in the worst of times, something quite unexpected happened. She had the chance to compete for a spot on the Australian national team seeking to qualify for the Rio Olympics!

Rio Olympics 2016

And in this STIMY interview, we dived deep into:

The process of being qualifying to be a part of the Olympic synchronised swimming team;
What she did to go from No.16 out of 16 to No.4 in the team rankings;
How synchronised swimming teams were selected to participate in the Rio Olympics 2016 (p/s: it’s not really about being the best in the world!);
What it was like to participate in the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics;
What it was like training and participating in the Rio Olympics; and
Transitioning back to the “real world” after the Olympics.

Olympic Myth Busters

We do a lot of myth busters in this episode when it comes to the world of Olympics, and also the fact that men are discriminated against in the artistic swimming sport!

Some things we discussed include:

Do all Olympians end up becoming rich and famous? (spoiler: she finished the Rio Olympics with $300 in her bank account!!);
What it is like to train to be a synchronised swimmer (now known as artistic swimming);
Why she decided to retire a second time & not try for her second Olympics;
The inherent sexism against men in the sport; and
Why the mixed duet was rejected from the 2020 Olympics (and why there is hope that this might change for the 2024 Olympics).

The Future

Danielle has now retired for the second time for the sport and is passionate about coaching people to pursue their dreams. Some advice she shares include:

What are the 3 questions you should ask yourself every day to transform yourself just like the Olympians do?
Her CLARITY Code

For more details, visit the show notes at https://www.sothisismywhy.com/12

Morgan Then is the Sarawakian half of the popular Australian electronic duo, Slumberjack. Since launching their career with a No. 1 track on Triple J’s influential sister station, Unearthed, SLUMBERJACK have released four EPs—including their newest effort, Black & Blue—and over 10 singles. They’ve received 2 ARIA Gold Records (for their 2014 self-titled debut and their 2017 single, “Fracture”), while their second EP, Fracture, debuted at No. 1 on iTunes Australia’s electronic chart.

Childhood

We talked about Morgan's childhood: what it was like growing up in our hometown of Kuching, Sarawak, and that moment where he was first determined to learn the piano. Something that he had to enter into an “agreement” with his dad on.

Moving to Perth, Australia

Morgan eventually moved to Perth, Australia where he triple majored in economics, finance and commerce. And at the time, he was even determined to become the best accountant there was!

But he had amazing friends who lent him instruments - including a Taylor guitar! - and that kept the fire going.

Entering the Music World

Having spent time playing at weddings & music gigs, there came a point where Morgan graduated and he was faced with the choice of taking on a full-time graduate role, or pursuing the world of music.

And we talked about:

How he ended up participating in the Limelight DJ Competition in 2012, when he didn’t even know what DJing was about!
Meeting Fletcher & how they first got together to make music and form Slumberjack; and
What it means to have synesthesia & what the Slumberjack sound “tastes” like to Morgan.

In addition, we talked about:

What it was like when Fracture came out & started going viral;
How Morgan first found & channeled his inner Freddie Mercury when performing on stage to crowds of up to 15,000.
Meeting real skulls kept in rucksacks when in Sarawak;
Getting a hand tapped tattoo;
What it was like meeting real Hollywood stardom aka Jason Day (Lifehouse) and collaborating with Corey Enemy (producer and songwriter for Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, will.i.am, David Guetta etc.);
How Slumberjack has been staying connecting with their fans during the COVID-19 season;
His biggest advice for those seeking to follow in their footsteps; and
Knowing when to quit

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/11

To chat further with past STIMY guests & be a part of the exclusive STIMY community, visit: https://www.facebook.com/groups/523851861591311

Benjamin Von Wong is Canadian mining engineer turned social artivist/photographer who designs campaigns around social impact and has succeeded in raising over 100 million views for different causes including plastics, fast fashion and electronic waste. He has a Guinness Book Record, a community of over 500,000 followers and tries to change the world through amplifying positive impact.

Who is Benjamin Von Wong?

Von was born in Canada and his parents are first-generation Chinese Malaysian immigrants. With something of a “chaotic” childhood - he went to 13 different schools in 3 different countries - there was nothing in his background that suggested that he would end up with an artistic career.

Instead, he became a mining engineer in Nevada.

Until one day, driven by a breakup, he purchased his first $100 camera from Walmart. A purchase that set him down the crazy, artistic trajectory he is currently on.

I just woke up one day and realized that I didn't want to be an engineer for the rest of my life.

Becoming a Photographer

The transition into being a full-time creative wasn’t immediate, and some of the things we discussed included:

Why quitting his engineering job was less a question of courage, and more out of “fear”
Why photography ended up being the thing that drew him in for the long term;
How he first got his start in the industry, and the most popular platforms to use at the time;
How he ran a Kickstarter to fund his Von Wong Does Europe Tour;
Some of his projects including the 365 day project; and
Von’s 3 most impactful work prior to entering the social impact space.

Within 3 years, Von obtained the highly sought after global campaign with Huawei where he had to create an angel with fire wings.

Entering the Social Impact

After the Huawei campaign, he felt empty. And this signified another pivotal point in his life, only this time it was into the social impact space:

Why was it so hard to enter the social impact space?
Why was the mermaid with 10,000 plastic bottles project so successful?
How does he measure the impact of art?
Does he worry about alienating potential clients after entering the social impact space?
What is his metric of success?

To learn more, visit: www.sothisismywhy.com/10

Rabi Chandra Malla is the founder of KOLPA - a social enterprise based in Kathmandu, Nepal that aims to promote sustainable & exclusive handmade goods produced by various indigenous communities from across the country (including the nomadic Raute tribe!).

Who is Rabi Chandra Malla?Rabi was born in Bhaktapur and grew up in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Having spent his formative years in a boarding school for the children of ex-police officers, Rabi became aware of the growing mental health issues in Nepal. With that in mind, he applied to study psychology in the US in 1998.

Living in the USA

In the 12-13 years he spent in the US, Rabi would read news about Nepal being an underdeveloped country and felt that Nepal needed to have its own self-sustainable economy or they would always be dependent on foreign countries and donations.

It was 1998. The time of Yahoo, Netscape, and Lycos with Alta Vista as a search engine. Google was in its primitive form and no one had heard of Amazon.

Due to the influences of other Nepalis in his university, he switched to the field of IT and ended up with a Bachelors in IT.

Returning to Nepal

The first time he returned to Nepal, there was political turmoil in the country where businesses were ordered to be shut.

He therefore returned to the USA to pursue a Masters in IT and returned again to Nepal in 2011 with his wife and two daughters.

For the next 3 years, he would look after his daughters at home while his wife pursued her career. But during that time, he did an extensive amount of research. Met local craftsmen and attended fairs, understanding the local artisan landscape.

Starting KOLPA

The beginnings of KOLPA were difficult. People didn’t know him and he had to build trust with each and every person from the ground up.

And in STIMY Episode 8, we dig deep into how Rabi faced & overcame each of these challenges. From working in his basement to moving to his first physical store at Lazimpat (and why that was important!) and how he ended up in his current location at Jhamsikhel.

Other things we talked about:

The lives of the various indigenous tribes scattered across Nepal;
how he first gained the trust of the communities;
How he gained attention from perspective buyers both locally and internationally;
The challenges of running his business (hint: transporting local products on the backs of humans through some of the world’s highest mountainous regions down to Kathmandu!);
How he determined a fair price for producers and customers alike;
The changes that have been introduced to the communities;
How COVID-19 has impacted KOLPA & the local communities; and
KOLPA’s future.

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/9

Barbara Woolsey is a Canadian freelance journalist currently based in Berlin, Germany and our guest for Episode 8 of the So This Is My Why podcast.

Who is Barbara Woolsey?

Barbara Woolsey was raised on the Canadian prairies in a culturally-vibrant family. She is of Filipino, Scottish and Irish heritage - a unique background that meant that she was quite unlike anyone else she knew while growing up!

We explore the question of identity, particularly as a first generation immigrant in Canada, as well as her first exposure and reconciliation with the Filipino part of her identity while carrying out an internship with Bangkok Post - Thailand’s leading English daily.

Prior to becoming a freelance journalist, Barbara worked for the Bangkok Post, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) as a television and radio reporter, and In Channel (formerly True Visions 92), a former English-language channel in Bangkok. Some of the things we discussed included:

working in a country where she was not versed in the local language; and
the realities of being on camera and being exposed to harsh criticism concerning her looks on social media.

Life as a Freelance Journalist

As a freelance journalist, Barbara has covered a wide range of topics, including lifestyle, culture, food, travel, and politics, for a variety of publications: Reuters, The Guardian, The Telegraph, USA Today, AFAR, Condé Nast Traveler, Tasting Table, Thrillist, Time Out, Roads & Kingdoms, Vice, and others.

She has also interviewed a wide range of people including politicians, Berlin DJs, hotel maids, Venezuelan gang members, transgender sex workers in the Netherlands & Bernard Trink (who wrote weekly column “Nite Owl” for 40 years in Bangkok World - a publication then known as Bangkok Post)

If you have ever wondered what it’s like to become a freelance journalist, then this is the episode for you!

Other Topics Discussed:

How Barbara reinvented herself time and again while living in Thailand and therefore, Germany;
How she submerged herself in the local journalism scene;
How she uncovered writing opportunities for herself & established herself as a journalist;
Fees generated as a freelance journalist;
Some of her more “dangerous” writing assignments (hint: hanging out with Venezuelan gang members!);
How she crafted a work/life balance for herself;
How Barbara stands out with her writing;
The impact of COVID-19; and
Whether journalism work done virtually is as good as when done in person.

Fun Fact: Barbara has also emceed the Digital Innovation Awards (DIA) in Bangkok in 2013, and participated in a panel on travel journalism in 2014. And in 2018, she moderated the Digital Science Match, a gathering of over 1,000 science and tech specialists, put on by the German daily newspaper Tagesspiegel in Berlin.

Show Notes:https://www.sothisismywhy.com/8

Jan Wong is a Forbes 30 Under 30, Malaysian serial entrepreneur, youth advocate & founder of OpenMinds - a data-driven martech company he bootstrapped for 8 years & generates millions in revenue with offices in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Hong Kong and at one point, Kazakhstan!

Jan’s entrepreneurial spirit was present from a very young age.

He pursued an IT course at University College of Technology & Innovation.

At the age of 17, he spotted a gap in the market & established his first company while still in college: Genesis IT Solutions & Services. Genesis started off with him reformatting computers for his friends - given that he had no prior knowledge in this area, his services didn’t always bear fruit!

And yet he preserved. And when he spotted a gap (again) for data recovery services, he pivoted. And grew a business so successful, it attracted the attention and partnership of conglomerates like Seagate, Microsoft, Fujitsu and Samsung.

The Entrepreneurial Journey

Jan’s story is full of tremendous highs but also tremendous lows. Some of them include overcoming a teacher’s “prediction” when he was 10 years old that he would never amount to anything. Of facing the lack of support and confidence from those around him when he first established Genesis. And how he had to confront the heavy consequences of allowing his pride to get in the way of his business.

We dig in deep into those low points. Of how Jan approached them and continued on his journey.

And how he was willing to go out of his comfort zone, even till this day!

Founding OpenMinds

In 2009, Jan founded OpenMinds Resources. Some of the things we discussed included:

Why he decided to not pay himself a salary for the first year & a very low stipend for the next few years;
His priorities in the early startup days;
OpenMind’s unique selling point;
Things Jan would’ve done differently;
How Jan created a people first work culture; and
How he led OpenMinds to tripling its revenue in 2015 and expanding to Singapore, Hong Kong and Kazakhstan!

Other Things We Discussed

Jan’s drive of always seeking to “stand out” & doing something that no one else can easily copy;
His biggest mistake behind starting his first company at the age of 17 in college;
The role of faith in his life;
Why he continues to invest in other people;
The impact that being Forbes 30 under 30 had on him;
The impact that COVID-19 has had on him and OpenMinds; and
His biggest piece of advice for those wanting to start a new venture in this day and age.

Jan’s story is truly one of great perseverance and a willingness to always learn & never let fear hold you back. I have nothing but admiration for him.

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/7

Ashley Dean is a South African dancer and a First Artist at the Royal Ballet in London, which is the premier ballet company in the UK.

I was just blown away by her love & talent for dancing, her grit, her bravery in dropping out of school at the age of 15 in pursuit of that dream, her love of family and unwavering trust & faith in God no matter what came her way.

Ashley, I’m in awe of you & feel so privileged to be able to feature you on this podcast!

Who is Ashley Dean?

Ashley Dean grew up in Johannesburg, where all the little girls did ballet as a hobby. But it was an international competition she attended at the age of 15 that proved to be a turning point for her. She realised that if she was serious, she would need to put in a serious amount of hours practicing, and even dropping out of school with no guarantee of even entering a ballet company!

English National Ballet

We talked about the experience of applying for ballet schools & also the experience of moving all the way to London to be with the English National Ballet.

And thereafter, how she got into the Royal Ballet and being on the pilot scheme of the Aud Jebsen Dancers Program, which was a complete miracle!

Life at the Royal Ballet

The life of a professional ballerina is quite unlike any other career I know of! And we talked in depth over:

Dealing with perfection, when it is something expected from you every single day;
Handling the injuries & constant pain that are part and parcel of a dancer’s life
The way she manages her diet given her strenuous schedule;
Balancing said career with her family life;
How she got into the Aud Jebsen Young Dancers Program;
The magical backstage world that the audience never sees;
Her faith; and
How COVID-19 has impacted her & the ballet world.

Bonus

Stick to the end of the interview to find out how you can get a free backstage pass to the Royal Opera House!

Show notes

https://www.sothisismywhy.com/6

Being in a quartet is like being in a marriage, says Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, violist and founding member of the world renowned award-winning Dover Quartet & our guest for Episode 5 of the So This Is My Why Podcast.

Holding dual citizenship in the US and the Netherlands, Milena considers herself to have grown up “a little bit of everywhere” including in Oxford (UK), Baltimore and Jacksonville.

Her father taught her the piano before, feeling fed up with the instrument, she chose the violin as her next musical endeavour. An instrument she picked up after hearing a musician busk on the streets of Oxford.

At the age of 10 years old, having moved back to Jacksonville by then, she picked up the trombone and also (eagerly!) volunteered to play the viola when her younger brother wanted to form a quartet.

We explore all that including a pivotal moment in the summer of 2005, where she met and learned from Michael Klotz, violist of Amernet Quartet & her first viola teacher, at the Bowdoin International Music Festival. A meeting that resulted in her “sudden immersion in the viola world”.

Curtis Institute of Music

We also discuss the considerations she had in place when applying for music schools and how she dropped all other applications the moment she got into her dream school - the Curtis Institute of Music! There, she studied with the likes of Michael Tree (of the Guarneri Quartet) & Roberto Diaz (President & CEO of the Curtis Institute of Music).

It was also at Curtis that the members of what would be the Dover Quartet came together - not unlike the tentative start of a budding relationship! They bonded so well, one of their teachers, Shmuel Ashkenasi (Vermeer Quartet) asked them, “Have you considered getting married (to each other)?” because you’re always together. To which Milena said:

We could not have been more giddy than when he said that to us because we had looked up to him so much and he notoriously is one of the most demanding coaches we've ever had. And so to get that kind of encouragement from someone we looked up to… I think that definitely had a huge thing to do with our morale and decision to be kind of brave enough to commit to one another.

From there, they decided to show “commitment” to each other by attending the graduate residency program at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music as a quartet.

Realities of Life As a String Quartet Member

The life of a string quartet member is so very unique & some of the things we explore include:

What is your schedule like as a string quartet? How often are you on the road?
What was it like participating in competitions (e.g. Fischoff Competition) and in particular, your memories of those incredible wins at the Banff Competition 2013 which launched the Dover Quartet into the spotlight?
Importance of competitions to the careers of string quartets
Ways of dealing with disagreements between quartet members, particularly in musical interpretations of pieces
Managing personal space while on the road;
Staying in touch with loved ones while on the road
Collaborations with other musicians & how that comes about
Giving live performances versus making studio recordings;
The role of social media & the power of collaborations - e.g. with Avi Avital, Edgar Meyer, Ray Chen, Roomful of Teeth & the Brooklyn Duo;
The Importance of public speaking as a means of connecting with the audience;
Dealing with concert reviews
Giving back to the community through Music For Food; and
“Balancing” a solo career with being in a quartet.

String Instruments

As the instrument itself is so important to a musician, we talk about:

The two violas she plays on & their different purposes
Modern v old instruments - which is better? Does it even matter?
How do you choose your violin?
Are violins with an unknown maker a good investment?
Impact of COVID-19 on her personal life & the life of the Dover Quartet

Role of Parents in a Child’s Education

For parents with young kids or those thinking of pursuing music, we also deal with questions on:

Should all children be exposed to music / have music lessons?
How should parents handle children who don’t want to practice, especially if they want to just quit after trying it for a short while?
At what age should a child learn a musical instrument?
What should people looking to pursue music think about & do?

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/5/

**

Official Bio of the Dover Quartet

The phenomenal Dover Quartet catapulted to international stardom following a stunning sweep of the 2013 Banff Competition, at which they won every prize. Named the Cleveland Quartet Award-winner, and honored with the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Dover has become one of the most in-demand ensembles in the world.

The Quartet’s rise from up-and-coming young ensemble to occupying a spot at the top of their field has been “practically meteoric” (Strings). With its burnished warmth, incisive rhythms, and natural phrasing, the Quartet’s distinctive sound has helped confirm its status as “the young American string quartet of the moment” (New Yorker). The Quartet serves as the quartet-in-residence for the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, Chamber Music Northwest, Artosphere, the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, and Peoples’ Symphony in New York, and was recently named the first-ever quartet-in-residence for the Kennedy Center.

In 2018-19 the Dover Quartet performs more than a hundred concerts around North America, including performances at the Kennedy Center, San Francisco Performances, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Spivey Hall, Boston’s Celebrity Series, the Chamber Music Society of Detroit, and Carnegie Hall. In addition, the Dover’s season features tours of Hong Kong, Europe, and Australia, collaborations with Emanuel Ax, Inon Barnatan, Peter Serkin, Anthony McGill, and Roomful of Teeth, and premieres of new works by Caroline Shaw and Matan Porat. The Quartet was thrilled to be invited by the maverick filmmaker and cultural icon David Lynch to be featured at his Los Angeles Festival of Disruption.

Cedille Records released the Quartet’s sophomore album, entitled Voices of Defiance: 1943, 1944, 1945 in October 2017. The recording takes listeners on a powerful journey through works written during World War II by Viktor Ullmann, Dimitri Shostakovich, and Simon Laks. The 2016-17 season saw the release of its all-Mozart debut recording on the Cedille label, a nod to the 1965 debut album of the Guarneri Quartet, whose founding violist, the late Michael Tree, joined the Dover Quartet on the recording.

In addition, the group has participated in three complete Beethoven quartet cycles, including the University at Buffalo’s famous “Slee Cycle” – which has presented annual Beethoven quartet cycles since 1955 and has featured the likes of the Budapest, Guarneri, and Cleveland Quartets – and will record the cycle over the next three seasons. The group’s world-class collaborators have included pianists Anne-Marie McDermott, Emanuel Ax, Marc-André Hamelin, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Peter Serkin, and Jon Kimura Parker; violists Roberto Díaz and Cynthia Phelps; bassist Edgar Meyer; and the Pacifica and Escher Quartets.

In the spring of 2016, the Dover Quartet was recognized with the Hunt Family Award, one of the inaugural Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Awards, and in past years has taken top prizes at the Fischoff Competition and the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition.

All four Quartet members are consummate solo artists: first violinist Joel Link took first prize at the Menuhin Competition; violinist Bryan Lee and violist Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt have appeared as soloists with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Tokyo Philharmonic, respectively; and cellist Camden Shaw released a solo album debut on the Unipheye Music label.

As Strad observes, “With their exceptional interpretative maturity, tonal refinement, and taut ensemble,” the Dover Quartet is “pulling away from their peers.”

Hailed as “the next Guarneri Quartet” (Chicago Tribune), the Dover Quartet draws from the lineage of that distinguished ensemble, as well that of the Cleveland and Vermeer Quartets; its members studied at the Curtis Institute of Music and Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where they were mentored extensively by Shmuel Ashkenasi, James Dunham, Norman Fischer, Kenneth Goldsmith, Joseph Silverstein, Arnold Steinhardt, Michael Tree, and Peter Wiley. It was at Curtis that the Quartet first formed, and its name pays tribute toDover Beach by fellow Curtis alumnus Samuel Barber. The group has since returned for residencies to Rice in 2011-13, and to Curtis, where it became the conservatory’s first Quartet-in-Residence, in 2013-14. In addition, in 2015 the Dover was appointed the first Resident Ensemble of Peoples’ Symphony Concerts in the 116-year history of New York City’s oldest concert series.

The Dover Quartet is dedicated to sharing its music with under-served communities and is actively involved with Music for Food, an initiative enabling musicians to raise resources and awareness in the fight against hunger.

The Dover Quartet plays on the following instruments:

Joel Link: Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, Paris circa 1857, on loan by Desirée Ruhstrat

Bryan Lee: Riccardo Antoniazzi, Milan 1904

Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt: Michele Deconet, Venice, 1780, the ‘Kroyt,’ generously on loan from the grandson of Boris Kroyt of the Budapest Quartet

Camden Shaw: Frank Ravatin, France, 2010

Today’s guest is Sara Holden and she, well, has been shot, strangled, bludgeoned, suffocated & died in pretty much every imaginable way possible on the big & small screens!

Sounds crazy?

Not at all. She’s pretty used to it, given her career as a Hollywood stunt actress!

A quick look at her IMDb profile will reveal an impressive CV with appearances in I’m Your Woman, Batwoman, General Hospital, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Veronica Mars, NCIS, American Horror Story, Venom, The Walking Dead, Transformers, Divergent, Man of Steel, Oz the Great and Powerful, Sons of Anarchy… the list just goes on and on!!

But who exactly is Sara Holden?

Sara hails from Detroit, Michigan and she always had a love of theatre while growing up. And while she had no idea what stunts even were back then, retrospectively, it seems as though it was all meant to be.

She was a tomboy not afraid to get down and dirty. Played soccer, gymnast and also competitive cheerleading before joining the women’s rugby team in Western Michigan University. The story of how she even ended up in the rugby team is pretty hilarious and involves, surprisingly, the offer of beer! And being smashed into the ground at every match (which she seems to relish! ;)).

Moving to Los Angeles

Upon graduation, she did an 8-month advertising stint before deciding to quit to give acting a shot. Her reasoning?

I've always wanted to do this acting thing... and if I don't do this now, I don't know that I'll ever do it. It was kind of like my time, let's just take the jump leap of faith, if you will, and just see what happens. And so I did, I just moved to Hollywood. And I packed whatever I had into my car and drove out there.

But you know what makes that decision especially remarkable?

I didn't know anybody. I did not have a job. I did have some money saved up… and I remember I kind of told a little white lie to my parents and said that I had this job. I didn't really have a job at all... And yeah, I just drove out there and got a job as a hostess in Beverly Hills and just started networking.

One of the many pieces of evidence of her “what is the worst that can happen?” go-getter attitude.

Establishing A Presence In Hollywood

Establishing herself in Hollywood with no contacts, no job and more importantly, no SAG card, was difficult. And we explore:

The art of networking in LA/Hollywood;
The realities of being one of the many faceless “extras”;
How she first discovered the world of stunts;
How she got into the exclusive invite-only stunt training facility run by circus-trained Bob Yerkes;
What it was like doubling for Pamela Anderson & executing her first professional stunt on a 80mph speed boat;
The turning point where she knew she could “make it” in Hollywood; and

The Realities of Life as a Stunt Actress

We also get real on some of the challenges, including

How she got booked onto stunt jobs;
How much stunt person make & the realities of the Hollywood freelance life;
The competitive nature of the stunt industry;
How she handles the injuries & risks taken on every day;
The difference in career opportunities between men and female stunt workers;
Why Sara is self-funding a car flip gag;
The role of social media in as a stunt person;
Managing life at home with young children during the COVID-19;
What the future could hold for stunt work in a social distancing era; and
What you should do if you want to be a stunt actress in Hollywood.

For more details, check out https://www.sothisismywhy.com

And don’t forget - if you’re looking to flip your own cars, make sure you give Sara a holler first!!

Dr Julian Tan is the Head of Digital Business Initiatives & Esports in Formula 1 (London), and someone I got to meet while studying in the UK.

Perhaps a little selfishly, I’ve loved how this podcast gives me the “excuse” to reconnect with old friends and Julian is definitely one of them. You’ll find out soon enough because my goodness, there is just soo much to unpack from our conversation! We recorded this way back in May 2020 & I’m still blown away by everything I’ve learned and I’m sure you will too. :)

So buckle up & get ready for this ride!

Who is Julian Tan?

Julian spent some of his earliest years in Hong Kong but moved back to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for primary school in Sri Subang, and were some of his happiest years. But unfortunately, all that changed when he moved to secondary school (around the age of 13) because:

In Standard Six, I got along with everybody. Everybody was my friend. and then suddenly you come into high school and then you immediately get picked on because at the time, I was a little bit overweight.

Weight, a natural inclination towards rule keeping & always doing academically well meant that Julian stood out. And not, at least to his peers, in a good way. But you know what I was blown away? It was the way in which Julian handled that challenge:

And it was, I would say, at the age of 13, 14. I remember writing it down on a note, like, don't care what other people think. Just keep doing what's important to you and also surround yourself with people who can support you because at that age, I felt like the more time that you spend with people, you either morph into them or they'll morph into you.

So make sure you pick your company very wisely.

Wow. I do not know if I would have had the wisdom to do that in his shoes!

The Oxbridge Experience

Julian ended up going to Oxford University to do a Bachelors & Masters in Engineering Science. And in the process, graduating in the top 3rd percentile with First class Honours, being the top engineering student & scholar of Jesus College & the recipient of numerous department and collection prizes.

But soon after graduating, he wrote a viral Huffington Post entitled: A First Class Degree from Oxbridge - So What?. And we explore that article in the podcast and why looking back, he would have wanted to have handled his time in Oxford differently. Which is not to say he “regretted” doing what he did!

Cambridge University was his second chance to get the university experience he wanted, which is where he went to next for his PhD in composites engineering. And we talk about his experiences there as a PhD student and also the age-ago debate of Oxford v Cambridge: are they really all that different?

But all good things must come to an end & as with any “adulting” process, there comes the need to find a job.

Boston Consulting Group, London

Let’s be real. Julian has an academic CV that anyone would kill for. But reality is a bitter pill and as Julian puts it in his May 2012 Huffington Post article, “people rely too much on education being the silver bullet to every conceivable problem.” Even with the grades he had, the rejections kept coming. And we talk about that: the emphasis on education & false myth that the world is your oyster when you have the grades.

Julian eventually ended up at Boston Consulting Group and it was there that he first became exposed to Formula One.

Head of Digital Business Initiatives & Esports, Formula One

Julian, alongside Frank Arthofer, helped to establish the digital & esports division in Formula One. Most prominently to date, Julian’s team was responsible for the Virtual Grand Prixs that took place during the COVID-19 pandemic when no other races were being held!

At the end of the Virtual Grand Prix run, F1 Esports achieved a stunning 30 million in views, and up to 85 million when social media is thrown in the mix!

In the podcast, we unravel the genesis of those results. Touching on topics such as:

The process used to establish the corporate structure for a digital and esports department (F1 had never had a marketing campaign before)!
What the esports field was like back in 2017;
How the different F1 offerings were conceptualised e.g. the Pro series v the Virtual Grand Prix races;
Esport opportunities for gamers like Brendan Leigh (who is now signed on to Mercedes, a F1 team!), even though Brendan didn’t even have a driver’s licence!
What it was like putting the Virtual Grand Prix races together; and
How F1 intends to stay ahead of its competitors.

And if you haven’t already done so, go check out one of the F1 races! I did and kudos to Julian and his team, because I was hooked. This, from a girl who has never watched a race in her life. Because the races really were that thrilling! I even have a favourite F1 driver that I now follow - who would’ve thought?

Other Topics Discussed

The question of identity: Who am I? If I have also been “special” because of my academic achievements, who am I when I enter an environment (like Oxford or Cambridge) where everyone is exactly the same as me with the same background and I find out that actually, I’m not that “special”?
How pursuing a PhD differs from an undergraduate degree?
Is consulting at one of the prestigious MBB firms really a “dream” job?
What qualities someone should have to succeed as he has?

For show notes & more, visit https://www.sothisismywhy.com/episode3

Today’s guest is Red Hong Yi – a Malaysian architect turned full-time artist known for painting without a paintbrush! One of the sweetest, friendliest and most talented people I know and am privileged to call a friend. 🙂

You might have heard of her or seen her work displayed somewhere, whether in publications like the South China Morning Post, Straits Time, Prestige, artventures with Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia, or more recently on Mashable about her “I Am Not A Virus” 2020 series.

Who is Red Hong Yi?Hong Yi grew up in Sabah, which is located on the East coast of Malaysia (yay, East Malaysians!). We discuss what her childhood was like, her influences, and the kind of art she did.

Fun fact: In her pre-teen years, Red Hong Yi used to draw comics with her friends and “rent” them to her classmates for RM 0.10 until their teacher called them out for it because it was distracting everyone from UPSR exam preparations (a pivotal national exam in Malaysia that students take before entering secondary school)!

Working as an ArchitectWhile she had a desire to go into art, and even once dreamt of working for PIXAR, she decided, in the end, to study architecture at the University of Melbourne.

Upon graduation, she moved over to Shanghai and we talked about what that was like. The people, the culture, and again, the entrepreneurial spirit that was so prevalent among the youth of Shanghai! And how those influences, including an important trip to Yiwu International Trade Market, resulted in her friend filming a timelapse video of her Yao Ming portrait.

Quite unexpectedly, her portrait of the famous Chinese NBA player went viral and was picked up by the likes of NBA and Gizmodo.com!

Pivoting into ArtWhile this craziness was happening, Hong Yi was still working at her architecture firm, HASSELL.

Soon after, she received a call from Michael Hawley who invited her to the EG Conference (who wrote the commencement speeches for Larry Page & Steve Jobs amongst others!). This conference proved to be a huge turning point for her as she became exposed to people doing incredible things, including other artists, musicians, astronauts, and chefs.

Her parents also attend the EG Conference and as Hong Yi put it:

"So they (Hong Yi's parents) came with me and that was when they realized that, Oh, my daughter is not that crazy after all. There is a room filled with crazy, you see?"

The Artist Who Paints without a PaintbrushSoon after, Hong Yi decided to quit her job as an architect to give art a shot. And we discuss what those initial days were like, the financial considerations and how she decided on the kind of “brand” she wanted to be.

Her trademark approach to art is painting without a paintbrush and she achieves this by creating mixed-media installations by reinterpreting everyday materials through the accumulation of objects. By combining traditional craftsmanship and digital technology, she creates work that considers perceptual habits and preconceptions on the chosen objects and subjects, expressing the themes of women and race.

Achievements to DateNeedless to say, she has achieved extraordinary success!

And her work has been exhibited at H Queens in Hong Kong, the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, World Economic Forum in Davos (the Teh Tarik Man!), and Anchorage Museum in Alaska. Collectors of her work include JP Morgan Chase Bank and actor Jackie Chan.

Her art has also been featured in publications including Wall Street Journal, TIME, and New York Times, as well as in JP Morgan Chase’s commercial campaign, “Gift for Baba”, in 2018 where she performed the leading and critical role of artist. She created an artwork made of tea leaves and that commercial was aired throughout North America during some of the biggest sporting events of the year including Super Bowl LII, which was viewed by 103.4 million viewers, and the 2018 World Cup, which was seen by an average of 1.98 million viewers per game.

Hong Yi has spoken in conferences around the world, including EG Conference in California, the ASEAN Young Entrepreneur’s Conference in Beijing, TEDx in Kuala Lumpur, and in institutions such as Domus Academy in Italy, Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts in Shanghai, and the MIT Media Lab in Boston. She has been offered art residencies at 18th Street Art Centre in Los Angeles and the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai in 2020.

Sotheby’s Institute has named her one of the “11 art world entrepreneurs you should know”. Tatler Magazine has named her one of Asia’s most influential voices in 2020.

How did she do it? What’s next?Hong Yi’s journey has been anything but conventional and I loved how we went deep into the behind-the-scenes of what it took to get to where she is, including:

How she put together some of her most popular work including the Teh Tarik Man and the Jackie Chan bamboo stick collaboration;
Where she gets her inspiration from;
Who “gave” her name “Red”;
The role of social media in her work;
How she charges clients for her work;
The realities of being your own boss & why that might not be for everyone (and that’s ok!);
Striking a balance behind taking on work for financial reasons versus artistic inclinations;
Creating impact behind her work;
How COVID-19 has affected her & how she stays connected with other creatives like Von Wong (another guest on the STIMY podcast);
Collaborating with other local artists back in her hometown of Sabah;
What it takes for someone to succeed as she has; and
What the future holds for her.

External Links

You can reach Red Hong Yi via her blog, Facebook and Instagram

For the show notes for this episode, visit https://www.sothisismywhy.com/episode2/

WARNING: The content gets slightly graphic when discussing the realities of poaching in South Africa.

Our guest for today is Chloe Buiting – an Australian vet & wildlife conservationist who grew up in Lord Howe Island, Australia. She knew from a young age that she wanted to dedicate herself to protect wildlife and ended up going to veterinary school.

One of her more interesting placements was in South Africa, where she was involved in things like capturing giraffes, dehorning rhinos (to try to protect them from poachers) & working with wild cats. We also learn of a unique men's Calvin Klein scent that draws in the wild cats - which you will learn about once you listen!

We also talk about:

Life as a veterinary student, including placements;
The realities of poaching in South Africa & the big debate over what to do with the horns of the rhinoceros;
What it’s like to capture a giraffe in the wild (hint: you need a helicopter!);
The importance of ecotourism (including gorilla work in the DRC, Rwanda & Uganda), Thailand’s first
Working with amputee elephants out of the world’s first prosthetic hospital for elephants in Chiang Mai;
Being on the front line in the 2020 Australian Wildlife (the fire went right up to her backyard in Kangaroo Island!);
The future of veterinary medicine (hint: 3D printing beaks for toucan is already a reality!);
Whether you can make money as a vet; and
What WE can do to support wildlife conservation efforts.

If you're interested in wildlife conservation or just want to know more about this fascinating world, this is the episode for you. The show notes can be found at https://www.sothisismywhy.com/episode1/

Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to get all the latest episodes and behind-the-scenes sneak preview!

Hello everyone!

I'm Ling Yah, the host & producer of the So This Is My Why podcast. A show featuring a range of inspiring people every week about their WHY journey.

This trailer episode gives a sneak preview of what to expect in the STIMW podcast and the questions asked including:

their childhood;
the decisions they made
how they first got started;
their successes and failures;
whether they think they've found their WHY at this point;
the kind of legacy they want to leave behind; and
how others can do the same.

New episodes will be released EVERY SUNDAY.

For more information about STIMY, the latest episodes & guests (past & upcoming), visit https://www.sothisismywhy.com/