Work Experience

These are some of the professional opportunities and organizations I’ve been fortunate to be a part of over the years.

Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement
New York City, USA

2023

US Department of State Community Solutions Fellow, reporting to the Executive Director

I was selected to represent Singapore as 1 of 58 global fellows in the 2023 Community Solutions Program, a year-long professional development leadership program for community leaders, including a four-month work practicum in the United States. Some highlights include:

  • Grant Writing – crafted a compelling proposal to highlight the organization's unique value proposition, enabling it to secure a $52,000 USD city government grant to implement Participatory Budgeting in Queensbridge, Long Island City.

  • Organization Performance Management - designed and facilitated a full-day retreat for 13 senior leaders and key managers to translate their 5-year strategic plan into an actionable dashboard using the Objectives, Key Results (OKR) framework for progress tracking.

  • Program Development - developed a 12-week 'Intergenerational Democracy Fellowship' program to tackle low youth voter turnout in New York City. This involved conducting secondary research on key issues, piloting a 3-week program with 13 older adults and youths, crafting impact evaluation metrics and a Theory of Change and identifying potential funding sources

2020 - 2023

Founding Member & General Manager, reporting to the Board of Directors

In 2020, I incorporated A Good Space as a co-operative with a former Nominated Member of Parliament to intentionally broker collaboration amongst 34 changemakers to create projects with greater social impact than working alone. Some highlights include:

  • Business Development & Grant Writing – Led initiatives resulting in $468,000 revenue from consultancy services and workshops for clients including NCSS, GIC, Ngee Ann Poly, Temasek Poly and NTU. Tasks included: piloting new revenue streams, prospecting and qualifying leads, crafting proposals and fostering strong client relationships to secure sales. Additionally, I secured $68,200 in grants from Foundations and Embassies to sustain AGS' social impact work.

  • Strategic Leadership & Board Engagement - Worked alongside the Board to create and manage the execution of a comprehensive strategic plan, establish yearly budgets and work plans, review governance policies and ensure compliance with annual audit requirements. Additionally, I provided ongoing support to enhance Board Members' understanding of their roles and responsibilities.

  • Staff Performance Management - oversaw the performance and professional development of 11 team members during my tenure. Provided personalized coaching to develop their skills and job knowledge to enhance performance and further their careers. Handled grievances and key concerns impacting staff morale and performance.

  • Multi-Sector Collaboration - designed and facilitated the Listening Living Labs over 2 years, gathering 168 participants to work alongside stakeholders from the People, Public and Private sectors to prototype 6 ideas for migrant workers and digital inclusion of low-income families. This included: conducting primary and secondary research, integrating competing views of different stakeholders, compiling insights into research reports and designing workshops inspired by Design Thinking and Collective Impact frameworks. 

A Good Space Cooperative Limited
Singapore

A Good Space
Singapore

2017 - 2020

Community Curator, reporting to the Chief Curator

A Good Space was a placemaking initiative funded by a government agency to nurture active citizens by transforming unused spaces into places where they could organize activities for social good. Some highlights include

  • Placemaking and Event Curation - partnered 92 changemakers to curate 334 meaningful events, workshops and activities for a space in Clarke Quay that attracted 7,676 participants to learn about 11 social issues (e.g. mental health, poverty, ageing, climate action) and inspire them to take positive action. 

  • Employee Engagement through CSR - collaborated with the HR / CSR teams at J&J, SingPost and CapitaLand to design and facilitate immersive learning experiences for 200+ employees and senior leaders to engage with their CSR objectives, create meaningful conversations and discover purpose at work.

  • Community Building - built an active network of 92 diverse changemakers, organizing quarterly networking events for knowledge exchange and forging collaborations to amplify their social impact. I also wrote a weekly newsletter for 2 years, using a relational writing style to grow it to 2,300+ subscribers with a 40% open rate that the changemakers could tap on for their outreach efforts.

Street Smart Mobile Pte Ltd
Singapore

2013 - 2016

Head, Operations, reporting to the CEO

I was passionate about the transformative power of education for marginalized communities, and this led me to dedicate 3 years working for an education startup while in University. Starting off as a mobile platform of video courses like TED talks, it later pivoted to hosting live personal growth workshops across Southeast Asia. Some highlights include:

  • Project Management - worked with software developers in India over 12 months to create wireframes and user interface designs, supervise development of key app functions and test for bugs, ensuring the app was built to specifications on time and within budget.  

  • Events Production - supported co-founders with on-site coordination and venue logistics in organizing 4 personal growth workshops with trainers in entrepreneurship, wealth, relationships and confidence, benefitting 200+ participants. 

  • Digital Lead Generation - designed and executed marketing strategies to draw attendees to the workshops, resulting in $250,000 in revenue for the startup. This included: developing customer profiles, designing high-converting landing pages, running cost-effective social media ads and optimizing the registration process.

Learning

These are some of the qualifications I’ve attained over the years

Newfield Institute

2020 - 2021

Certificate of Completion in Ontological Coaching

Much of the aid rendered to vulnerable communities seems to often be financial or material. What if beyond material support, we also provided socio-emotional support, to help members of vulnerable communities make sense of their emotions and beliefs? Would that expand the possible actions that are available to them to improve their lives?

I am fascinated by this question and studied to be an Ontological coach with the Newfield Institute for a year to gain the tools and skills to better serve vulnerable communities.

National University of Singapore

2013 - 2017

Bachelor in Business Administration

I studied Business because I felt the management and entrepreneurship skills I’d learn would be helpful in my aspirations of being a social changemaker.