While Ridzwan and I got acquainted through a mutual friend, we got to really know each other through our work. I realized that there were a lot of parallels in our journey from an overseas graduate in the professional industry to finding our place as a creative misfit. I found my path as a writer,…
How do you learn to trust? I couldn’t find words to explain it. There were times when following my heart meant that I had to go against reasons, common sense, and wise advises of the important people in my life. Trust is something to be experienced, the result of work and intention, suffering and reconciliation.…
When I met Richard in 2017, I never knew that we would embark on the journey of self-publishing our first book together and changed each other’s life. Without him as a partner, I wouldn’t have the courage to go it alone. When we reunited on-screen for a podcast, many things have changed but Richard is…
Ever since I met Yong Tien Cin during Christmas season in December 2018, she injected a stream of fresh air into our community by initiating a monthly Yoga and Sutra session. Besides the relaxing and therapeutic activities that take place in nature, what we appreciate even more is her yummy and healthy homemade snack! While Tien always…
I’ve been swimming in doubt for a while in the midst of planning for a new book until a friend pointed me to the right questions: what is the big question that you are trying to answer? Why does the book matter? While I have the clear intention to gather all ‘Own Your Story’ podcast…
“If someone isn’t even seeing or hearing you, what they have to say isn’t relevant to the world you live in.” Zat Rana When I finished watching the movie ‘Temple Grantin’, I was engulfed in a mixed feeling of guilt, love, and gratitude. Temple Grandin was diagnosed as an autistic child and only started to speak…
It was hard to believe it when Heidy, the coach and captain of Malaysia dodgeball team, told me that he used to be a chubby kid who was bullied at school. Some kids could have resorted to drugs and negative demeanour, but he found sports. Maybe, it is also this experience that taught him to…
“When the sharpest words wanna cut me down I’m gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out I am brave, I am bruised I am who I’m meant to be, this is me” – This is Me, The Greatest Showman I love the version of this song when Keala and the crew performed it in a studio…
Mathew is an acquaintance I’ve known for a long, long time. Even though we were just ‘social media’ friend, I really admire his persistent and passion for building ‘y=mx+c’, a Youtube channel for SPM & Pre-U Math tutorial. When I was thinking about people around me who has a story to tell, I thought of…
“How do I know when I’m ready?” “You won’t. That’s all it is, a leap of faith.” Seated in the dark with popcorn in my hand, I was marvelled at the profundity of what I just heard in the Spiderman cartoon. I felt understood, moved, relieved that I’m not the only lunatic out there. Sometimes, I believe…
I’ve heard a lot about Charissa before meeting her in person. Crowned with the title of a national best-selling author, she has a care-free spirit in spite of serious dedication for her craft. From our conversation, I am mesmerized by how much Charissa believes in herself before people in the publishing believe in her, and…
While planning a community meetup with the theme ‘turning struggles into strengths’, I got so confused in the middle of discussions when we were brainstorming the ‘transformation’ part. It’s easy to shine a light at struggle and invite people to talk about it, but how might we empower or enable the transformation into a strength…