So This Is My Why (Ling Yah)

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 insurance limit on bank deposits
• 58:01 Disagreeing with Senator Elizabeth Warren 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

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

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.

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.

Even when building Acumen felt like - in the words of Acumen’s first COO, Dan Toole - “Standing at the 5th floor of a brick building & we’re trying to build a terrace brick by brick with no safety net underneath!”

So:

❓ What is it like to live a life of such purpose?

❓ Who are the people (+ life partner!) that you need to surround yourself with to keep the mission alive?

❓ Why did her mentor, John Gardner, use to say that “the key to life is to be interested. Not interesting”?

Well.

You’ll just have to listen to STIMY Ep 124 to find out! 😏

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

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

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 

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 

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What do you think of 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

✍🏻 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

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

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

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 

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 

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/104

💌 Weekly Newsletter on upcoming STIMY guests/interesting reads to make you smarter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605 

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 live 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

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 

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              

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

🪙 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     

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

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

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.

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: Founder & Chief Creative Officer of Secret Cinema (he took movies like Star Wars & Moulin Rouge, brought them to live & allowed the public to experience it like they were one of the characters!)
• 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 

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 

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

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

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

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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

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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                

💌  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

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

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 

💌 Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter: 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

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

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

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

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 

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!!

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 

💌 Get the latest STIMY alpha/exclusive updates: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605 

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

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

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                

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

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

P/S: "Dropkick" is an Australian slang that refers to someone who isn't very smart & hasn't made it very far in life.

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

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

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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

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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 

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.

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

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  

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

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

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 

#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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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

Subscribe to STIMY Newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605

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

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

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

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 

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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  

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

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

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!

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 

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

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

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

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 

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

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 Architect

While 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 Art

While 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 Paintbrush

Soon 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 Date

Needless 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/

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

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 

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 

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

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/i1eK1LO6WoU 

🙊 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.

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 

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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

❓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!

💌 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

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

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

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

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 

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

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 

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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 

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

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

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

Growing up, Woon Tai Ho - Channel NewsAsia founder & Bestselling Author of books like the George Yeo trilogy, Soul of Ink, Riot Green- 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 

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 

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

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

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

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

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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

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

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

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

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

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/

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 10,000 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 newsletter that publishes x5/week (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: https://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

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         

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

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

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 

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 HDB 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

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

🙊 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 

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

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

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

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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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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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?

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

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