Why Marketing, Why Digital?

When people make career changing moves, usually the first (or second) question they get asked is why. Here’s my story…

Low Jia Yu
Sep 4, 2018 · 4 min read

“Hey, heard you’re leaving healthcare, where are you going? Why?” “Oh, studying is good! But why digital marketing? Seems quite different from what you’re doing now?”

The questions keep coming. Since my decision to study digital marketing, I’ve had to explain to my family, colleagues, friends, and even relatives. Each time, I verbalised a slightly different version, in varying length, of the same story. The same story in full, below.


Back in 2004, after crossing the milestone known as the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), I landed in high school to pursue 4 life-forming years of education. This school had then just started a pilot of using technology to educate — instead of the usual textbooks and computer classes, students in these 4 pilot classes were to use a tablet laptop (this Fujitsu model where you could swivel the screen to lay flat on the keyboard and use the stylus to write) in school to study, with electronic-textbooks in it. My dad was a tech junkie, and encouraged me to participate. Those were the good old days where just having a laptop was a big deal to a teen, what more to call it your own, and even bring it to school? So, I became a student in one of these four “tablet classes” where my affinity with digital marketing began.

Blogging was the trend of those times, and I was no exception in keeping a digital diary that my friends could read. However, I was not satisfied with the “blogskins” provided, and soon picked up some HTML coding and Photoshop while reforming, and eventually, creating my own. Blogs soon became more than a digital journal, functioning instead like a website that classes and Co-Curricular Activity (CCA) groups use for an identity and communication. My self-learnt skills led me to become admin of my classes’ blogs, and (partially) contributed to my appointment as Head of Publicity in my CCA group.

Then, while at Junior College (pre-tertiary education), I got myself familiar with the concept of entrepreneurship and admired the spirit behind to turn ideas into reality, with a step in the real world. From a participant in the Youth Entrepreneurship Symposium 2009 (YES’09) to organising committee for the succeeding one in 2010, from a member to Entrée Council (a CCA society) to its Vice President, it became clear to me that Business was the field of study I wanted to pursue in university.

But somehow, the flow of life brought me into healthcare. The exciting plans of an Integrated Care School, a really great bunch of colleagues in the division, and doing event management and marketing (albeit, in a different context and scale) convinced me to stay and transition from a temporary position into a permanent role. My first job gave me learning and leading opportunitites, to manage and support events and projects from start to end as part of a team, which also included some marketing efforts.

When the opportunity arose to interview for a position in a (acute to sub-acute) hospital, I thought that it would be good to go deeper into healthcare, from the coordinating role of the Intermediate and Long Term Care (ILTC) sector. The team was preparing to take over the operations and management of a hospital that is part of Singapore’s early history, and the ‘startup’ aspect appealed to me then, along with the concept of integrated person-centric care that would be, for the first-time, implemented hospital-wide.

I got recruited into a role to forge Community Partnerships between the hospital and its precinct. Marketing the new team, its new model of care, and plans were part of my duties. Essentially, we were to spread the word that “no, the hospital would not be closing down when the current management leaves, and yes, we would be here to stay and serve the community (and how)”. I had to work closely with the Strategic (Corporate) Communications team, and during which, opened my eyes to the “real” marketing aspect.

In some ways, that’s what prompted me to grow the desire about going (back) into marketing. But I had wanted something more specific, and of increasing relevance. With the future in digital, and the small tech junkie in me, digital marketing was a natural fit.

Abridged Summary: My passion for digital marketing grew from experiences while at work and in education.

But that’s not much of a story, isn’t it?

Story style, chronological order. secondary school, address digital first (tablets), marketing (head of publicity), jc (entrepreneurship), school (modules), into public healthcare, interactions with strat. comms, in the role itself as marketing the new management team

Hi, I’m Jia Yu and I am seeking to understand, strategise, align and execute in the arena of digital marketing. Striving to translate my thoughts into words!

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