Amanda Chong is a full-time lawyer trained at Cambridge and Harvard with a focus on gender justice. On the side, she is also a published poet and the co-founder of ReadAble, a non-profit organization that runs weekly English literacy classes for children and migrant women in an underserved neighbourhood with the aim of improving social mobility. In this episode she shares - How to find your passion How she balanced her full-time career, side hustles and also me-time Her thoughts on careers...

Christina Wong is the founder of 10X Study Academy, an online training programme that has helped thousands of students around the world learn how to study better and achieve better results in school. Before starting 10X Study Academy, Christina studied medicine at Imperial College London and served as a junior doctor in the United Kingdom. In this episode she shares - How she turned her tutoring side hustle into a full-time business Factors to consider when pricing your services How to...

Gregory Van is the founder of Endowus, a digital wealth platform and robot-advisory based in Singapore. Before starting Endowus, Greg worked as an investment banker at UBS as well as in the payments team at Grab. In this episode he shares -  His transition from finance to tech to starting his own company How entrepreneurs can build a successful business Factors to consider when fundraising for your business And many more…! —- If you’re feeling unhappy with your corporate job and looking for...

Jamie Lee is the co-founder of The Kind Friend, a wellness company that helps people live a more mindful life through kindness. Prior to this, she started two education businesses and was also helped Carousell expand their operations to Australia as their regional partnerships lead.  In this episode she shares -  Her journey and lessons learned from building and growing three separate businesses How to build relationships and gain connections throughout your career Her thoughts on pursuing...

Renee Wu is the owner of a pole dance studio Inspiration Studios and national champion of many pole dancing competitions. Before all this, Renee studied physics at Caltech, pursued a PhD at Stanford with plans to become a professor, and had a stint in Microsoft as an engineer. In this episode she shares -  How she shifted from pursuing the sciences to chasing her passion in pole dance How she coped with the pandemic and her plans for the studio moving forward Her approach to taking risks and...

Jada Poon is an award-winning wedding and portrait photographer based in Hong Kong, and the founder of Jada Poon Photography. Prior to this, she studied law at Oxford University and was a practicing lawyer for a couple of years. In this episode she shares -  How she found her passion in photography and pivoted from a career in law How to price your services and set your own rates What she hopes to achieve through her work, such as the empowerment of other women Her thoughts on balancing both...

John Lim is the founder of This Humid House, a botanical design studio in Singapore whose clients include Cartier, Dior, and Singapore’s Housing Development Board, to private homes and weddings. John has been named Prestige’s 40 under 40, and his work has been featured in publications like Vogue. Prior to this, he studied architecture at The Cooper Union in New York City, and practiced architecture in New York, Tokyo and Beijing.  In this episode he shares -  How he stumbled into landscape...

A lot of us out there know that we hate our jobs, but what’s not so easy to figure out is what DO we like? What job would we want that’s better suited to us?  This was something I personally struggled with for a long time - I knew my finance job wasn’t the best fit for me, but what else was I even interested in, what else do I even like?  I want to compile this episode for you guys because a lot of my guests shared some really great advice and actionable steps you can take if you too are...

Carolyn Yim is a multi-hyphenate designer-businesswoman. She founded two knitwear labels, Ply-Knits and Dreyden, and also helps her family modernize their three-generation knitwear manufacturing business. Her work, particularly on design-forward sustainable knitwear, has earned praise in Vogue, Wallpaper, Business of Fashion, and WWD. She sells her knitwear through Lane Crawford, FarFetch, and online. Prior to this she studied English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, and...

Fengru is the co-founder of Turtle Tree, a cell-based milk company in Singapore. The first product she’s working on is selling cell based human breast milk not just to infants but also adult humans! Prior to this, she started her career in sales roles at Salesforce and Google. In this episode she shares - How her love for cheese led her to starting a cell-based milk company How she started Turtle Tree without a background in science How she leveraged the sales skills she honed in her...

When choosing a career - should you follow your passion or a more financially secure path? Hear what some of my guests from prior episodes have to say about this. As always you can find me on Instagram @ongjennifer_, pop by and say hi!

Scott is the founder of Gooroo, an online education tech startup based in the US that started off as a marketplace to connect tutors and students, and has now expanded to become a Netflix for education content. In this episode he shares - * How to build a two sided marketplace * How to fundraise * How to figure out what your passion is and whether entrepreneurship is for you * And many more… For more about Gooroo - https://www.gooroo.com/ As always you can find...

Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Alex and Clara are the married couple and founders of Sunday Bedding, a direct to consumer bedding company based in Singapore. In this episode they share - How to start a direct to consumer brand in Singapore How to leverage and modernize a family business And many more… For more about Sunday Bedding - https://sundaybedding.com/ As always you can find me on Instagram @ongjennifer_, pop by and say hi!

Nathan Chan is a cellist at the Seattle Symphony. On the side, he also runs a popular Youtube channel with over 6 million views where he does pop renditions with a classical twist. In this episode he shares - * How he managed to conduct an orchestra at the age of 3 * What mentality he had that gave him the successes he enjoys today * Why he chose to pursue music professionally (rather than take on a finance or tech job) * And many more… You can find out more...

For the season finale, I’m turning the mic onto myself today. Hear how I went from Columbia to BlackRock (with stints in NY, HK & London) to Style Theory, how I got started with this podcast, and the exciting new online course I am launching at www.ongjennifer.com/ctrl-your-career. === To learn more about Kevin (my podcast host today), you can find his very own podcast Almost Home here - https://open.spotify.com/show/6gBAc9Ioo4omBvPC8MXPXP

Priscilla started her career as a marketer in Marina Bay Sands, and left to pursue a career in singing after a few years. She then decided to return to the corporate world and spent almost 5 years at Singapore Press Holdings before breaking out again to pursue music full time. In this episode she shares - * Her journey and struggle between a traditional and alternative career path * How she pivoted her business when all her gigs/income disappeared because of COVID ...

Dinesh is the Chief Business Officer and one of the founding members of Chope, an online restaurant booking platform with operations in SG, HK, China, Thailand, and Indonesia. Dinesh chose to forego furthering his studies at New York University and was one of the founding members of the Chope team. He hasn't looked back since, and was recently listed as one of Forbes' 30 under 30 for his work with Chope. In this episode he shares - Why he decided to forego his studies at NYU How he got...

Ariana is the founder of Forested Foods, an agroforestry enterprise who’s main goal is to combat deforestation. Before starting Forested Foods, Ariana worked at Booz Allen Hamilton as a management consultant. In this episode she shares - * How she left her consulting job in the US and moved to live in Ethiopia full time * How she balances having one foot in the supply chain in Ethiopia and one foot in the US with customers of her premium honey * How she found her...

Adrian is the founder of Liquefy, a technology platform that uses blockchain to tokenize illiquid assets such as real estate, and mutual funds. Outside of Liquefy, he is also an angel investor in FinTech startups. Before starting Liquefy, Adrian worked at BlackRock as an ESG analyst. In this episode he shares - What tokenization and blockchain means The power of relationships and how he built his business by attending and hosting fintech events Not all emails are spam - a hilarious story on...

Michelle Yuan is the founder of Asia Wedding Network, Asia's largest online wedding platform for couples planning their big day. She has been awarded Forbes 30 Under 30 for her work with Asia Wedding Network. Before this, Michelle graduated from Columbia University and started her career at JP Morgan investment bank in equity sales and was a journalist at WSJ, Reuters and Forbes.  In this episode she shares - What inspired her to start her business How to grow a two sided marketplace...

Jasmine is the founder of PIM (Purpose in Motion), a social enterprise focused on teaching young leaders in China how to be the social entrepreneurs of the future. She has been awarded Forbes 30 under 30 for her work with PIM, and aside from running PIM, she is also part of the Gates Foundation Goalkeepers Initiative and serves as an advisory board member for them. In this episode she shares - * How she went from a girl who had no idea what she wanted to do after graduating...

Joyce Chiang is a licensed architect, calligrapher, artist and the founder of Joyce Chiang Design Studio. In this episode she shares how she found the courage to leave her job as an architect, how she found her first corporate customers, how she prices her work, and more. You can find out more about Joyce via her instagram @joycechiang_ or her website www.joycechiang.co. She has also been very kind to offer a free guide on the 5 stages of building a creative career, which you can download...

Chris Cheung is a restaurateur and have started multiple food and beverage concepts in Hong Kong, starting with Bread & Beast (a sandwich restaurant inspired by Hong Kong flavors), Kong (an Asian fusion restaurant), White Lemon (a B2B catering service focused on servicing gyms) and Black Garlic (a grain bowl based, fast casual restaurant focused on the office crowd). In this episode he shares his experience launching multiple F&B concepts in HK and how he has navigated the recent...

Feel stuck at your corporate job? Want to quit but unsure what’s out there? Or maybe you already have a side hustle but you’re not sure how to translate it into a full time career? Welcome to Ctrl+Alt+Career, a podcast where we will be sharing stories...