National University of Singapore, thank you.

Unintentional beginnings
5 years ago, life was getting stale. Pursuing my Business and Communications double degree wasn’t stimulating or inspiring. It wasn’t horrible, but it felt like nothing was going anywhere. I stumbled upon Industrial Design and tried my luck applying because “never try, never know”. Nobody thought I would get an offer anyway (myself included) because nobody from my school, or my college, or my social circle studied in Asia’s best university.
After a family holiday discovering that Singapore is actually more than just Orchard Road and trying my hardest to convince my interviewers that my horrible sketch of a GPS device is the future, I got an offer letter to NUS.
On the first day of class, I proclaimed with pride and oblivion, “Bring it on!”. By the end of the first month, I was drained. I stood out fresh off the boat at orientation camps, I struggled to keep up OGs, HTHTs and MRTs, and I felt so helpless when for the first time in my life, I’m not cruising through to the top of this foreign concept called the bell curve. I remember taking my first trip back home and wanting to wave the white flag. Why am I doing this to myself?
But through that, I’ve learnt that:
- It’s okay to give less shits about grades, but it’s not okay to not try my hardest.
- It’s okay to be different from the rest, but it’s not okay to be ashamed of my roots.
- It’s okay to (occasionally) wallow in self-pity, but it’s not okay to not get up and keep moving forward.
Surrounded by greats
And thankfully, there were awesome communities around me that have made all the difference in these years.
- Shearites — for injecting my schedule with too many useless but fun events that there was never time to breathe.
- Acers — for polishing and refining my weirdness, by being so weird yourselves.
- Demure neighbours — for constantly self-inviting and warming my room (and heart).
- Fellow Malaysians — for being relatable as we try create our new homes in a foreign land.
- Course mates — for never stop hustling and keeping each other on our toes while we brave the sleepless nights.
- NUS Overseas College — for inspiring me to brave the shitstorm relentlessly, because pursuing my passion is worth it.
The journey that mattered
It took me five long years to get a scroll with my name on it, but what mattered more was the journey. I’ve got to experience life-changing, out of this world amazing, never in a million years I’d imagine myself doing sort of experiences with the greatest being:
- Designing products and experiences as my full time occupation.
- Interning, studying and living halfway across the globe in Stockholm.
- Kickstarting a product I believe in with people who are in it to win it.
Immensely grateful
And beyond the big wins, I am also incredibly thankful to NUS for:
- Training my fastest fingers to bid for studio platforms and book laser cutting machine slots.
- Thrusting me into adulthood when I’m on the verge of dying from a flu or having to *insert annoying household chore*.
- Providing just enough resources and people to succeed (though most times too little or hard to find, but never too much to make me complacent).
- Schooling me to never settle for anything less than perfect, no matter how small or big and learning to be proud of my work.
- Expanding my worldview in so many different directions and challenging me to always think bigger because the world is just that big.
- Exposing that there is always a (crooked) back door to every situation, whenever the straight paths don’t work.
- Allowing me to be stupid on way too many occasions, amidst the world’s smartest brains.
- Proving that there is an opportunity cost to everything we do and since we can’t have it all, make those choices before life chooses.
- Permitting me to experiment and discover who I am, how I want to live, and how I can create value in this world.
Onwards and upwards
The past 5 years have been nothing short of amazing, and I can only hope that the next 5 will be even better.
Next step: looking for a job as a product designer.

