So This Is My Why

Steve Chao was just a kid from Toronto who loved reading encyclopaedias. Who later chose a career that would lead him to the middle of opium fields during harvest time surrounded by hundreds of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. Just another “day in the life” of his career as a x2 Emmy-nominated and multiple award-winning investigative journalist and filmmaker who’s led programming for the likes of...

Simon Alexander Ong grew up often feeling like he didn’t fit in. Which is weird when you look at his CV: He graduated from LSE before going to work at Lehman Brothers (until it fell into administration) then a hedge fund as a junior trader. Along the way, he attended a 2-day coaching seminar that transformed the way he saw coaching and kickstarted his journey into becoming a bestselling author, in...

Prestine Davekhaw knows how much you earn. Thanks to a viral IG platform she launched called MalaysianPAYGAP, where she has Malaysians anonymously submit [payslip verified] details about their job, including: Their salary + benefits (if any) How they landed that job The realities of doing their job Advice for those wanting to do the same So you can see why people are obsessed with MPG. 😉 But what...

It's the final day of 2023! So I'm doing a solo episode where I answer questions that you've sent in. I hope you enjoy this episode and find it helpful. Also, if you've been following STIMY and would like to support what's happening here, please do leave a rating and review. It truly makes a difference in spreading the word about this podcast! 💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the...

Welcome to STIMY Ep 134! Today, you have the pleasure of hanging out with me. 😉 What we'll cover today: What I've been up to in October (8 STIMY in-person interviews in Singapore), November (first conference panel & personal branding client wins) and December (6 STIMY interviews) I'm also in the midst of prepping for a new course! Tentatively titled " Build Your Why" . It&...

Adlin Yusman, Managing Director of Endeavor Malaysia, will work for anyone he’s hired. A huge contrast to when he began his entrepreneurial journey with the mentality of, “ I pay you a salary, you work for me and you do as I say .” Which, as you can imagine, created quite a lot of issues. That said, Adlin has had an eventful life. One that’s sprinkled with a generous serving of failures and spooky...

Who's got the juiciest gossip on startups these days? Well. The journalists, of course! And today, we have Terence Lee - Editor-in-Chief at Tech in Asia - to share the inside scoop on their organisation (TIA just sold for a reported $30 Million to Singapore Press Holdings!). Fun Fact : Terence Lee really didn't want his position. He's an introvert & does not consider himself a natu...

Meet Charlie Todd - a professional prankster & also the founder of Improv Everywhere (a New York City-based prank collective with a twist!). Rather than pranks that embarrass people, Improv Everywhere organises large-scale pranks that create chaos & lots of joy in public. The kind of thing that’d make you go, “You’ll never believe what just happened!” E.g.  ✨ A bunch of strangers ride the...

Meet Alvin Wee: Grammy, CAS & Golden Horse Award winning music mixer from Kuching (now based in LA)! You might've heard some of his work: 🔸 Disney's Encanto - it won the Grammy! 🔸 "Loyal, Brave & True" - sung by Christina Aguilera in Mulan 🔸 Top Gun: Maverick - with Hans Zimmer 🔸 Kung Fu Panda 3 🔸 Kingsman Series 🔸 "Arena Cahaya" - sung by Zee Avi 🔸 Video gam...

What does it take to bring a movie to life & have the general public participant as actual characters in said movie?! You need only ask Fabien Riggall - founder of Future Shots and Secret Cinema. Fabien has always loved films and began his career working as a runner before becoming an assistant producer of short films. In 2003, he set up Future Shorts: A series of mini pop-up film festivals th...

Imagine spending 30 years working as an architect. Then deciding to uproot your entire life from the UK to move to Bali to work in a new field of architecture - bamboo! Because that's exactly what Ewe Jin Low. When he made the big move to Bali, he worked as Lead architect at IBUKU covering buildings like the Green School and in 2018, began his own bamboo journey by founding his own bamboo arch...

Whoops. We've been gone for the past few weeks. It's been hectic here at STIMY - securing new guests in Singapore while prepping for 2 exciting guests that we'll be recording in person this week. So rather than a new episode, I'm experimenting with this new, short solo episode where you'll get updates from me on what it's like running STIMY the podcast & STIMY the perso...

Alejandro Navia is the co-founder and President of nft now , the premier source of NFT content and analysis. As an advisor, coach, and early supporter of web3 and the creator economy, Alejandro has helped numerous founders and creators scale their communities and raise over $92MM in funding. Prior to NFT Now, he held leadership positions at startups and enterprises in AI, aerospace, and media, inc...

How do you:  😳 Reject a $200k/year paycheck? 😳 Blow your life up in a systematic way? 😳 And build a pathless path for yourself? Paul Millerd - former McKinsey consultant (aka the Lean Guy) turned solopreneur, author and podcaster - would know, because he did just that.  And along the way, wrote a book called the Pathless Path, which has since sold over 20k! At the time of our recording, I was j...

It takes guts to quit your job. But what if it was NASA? BOEING? Or Elon Musk’s Hyperloop One?! Because that’s exactly what Tanya Zakowich did. Tanya grew up with a fascination for space & like most kids, she wanted to be an astronaut. But unlike many, that fascination held even when she grew up, which is why she ended up studying mechanical engineering at Columbia. An internship in India help...

Jacqueline Novogratz is the founder & CEO of Acumen - a non-profit global venture capital fund that aims to use entrepreneurial approaches to address global poverty.  She was also born for crisis. As the OG of impact investing, her impressive list of accolades include: One of the World’s 100 Greatest Living Business Minds 2017 by Forbes Forbes 400 Lifetime Achievement Award for Social Entrepre...

Dr. Giovanna Graziosi Casimiro has had a unique career. She is the current Head of Production at Phygicode and former Metaverse Producer at Decentraland Foundation and Head of Metaverse Fashion Week. She has more than a decade of experience in digital design and the XR industry and also serves as a mentor at MIT during their Hacking Arts 2016-2018, and as a Senior Professor at SENAC University Cen...

Yesterday, we lost the King of Singapore. I never had the privilege of meeting him, but a year ago, I sent a cheeky email to Adrian Tan asking if he’d share his life story on the So This Is My Why podcast. In a true spirit of generosity, he said yes. And we spoke for over 2 hours! 🤯 Podcast hosts shouldn’t have favourites but… Adrian was one of my favourites. It is true. Today, Adrian’s episode h...

Welcome to a special Questions from the Audience episode with Peter Yong aka Mr Money TV - one of the top personal finance YouTubers in the region. In this episode, we feature questions that came from you ! Which include Peter's own co-founders & staff. If you haven't done so already, do check out Episode 122 Parts 1 & 2 to learn more about Peter's journey from being a replacem...

What does it take to build a 7-figure YouTube business on personal finance? Peter Yong aka Mr Money TV spills the tea on STIMY Episode 122 Part 2. That includes telling us: Why he tells all his staff, " I am not your father !" Why he hires 5, works 10 & pays 8; How he creates a moat around himself; How he's built his personal brand; Why his staff actively tell him to NOT hire more...

Hey STIMIES! It’s time to meet the Replacement Son who refuses to drive a Porsche: Peter Yong aka Mr Money TV. One of Malaysia’s most beloved personal finance YouTubers with 153k subscribers! It’s one thing to start another YouTube channel; quite another to turn it into a thriving 7-figure business in Southeast Asia, but Peter has done just that. And today, we dive deep & personal, touching on...

❓What is it like becoming a Deputy Minister in a government that’s never been in power before? ❓What was the relationship really like between Malaysia’s then Prime Minister & Deputy Prime Minister, Mahathir & Anuar? ❓How does one pick a constituency and why even politics in the first place when you can make good money as a BCG consultant? If you haven’t already guessed it, today’s STIMY...

Apolo Ohno has won 8 Olympic medals & 21 World Championship medals, which makes him the most decorated US Winter Olympian in  history ! He was the state champion swimmer at age 13 & national speed skating champion at age 14, but it was short track speed skating that really caught his eye. Because to him, they were like Superman! After 6 months of training, Apolo won the 1997 US Championshi...

Entrepreneurs must be ruthless, obsessive and willing to cut corners. Something that Justin Byam Shaw , Chairman of ESI Media, would know. He co-owns (alongside Evgeny Lebedev) the Evening Standard & the Independent , and also co-founded the Felix Project - one of the biggest food redistribution charities in the UK! If you've ever been in London, you'll notice the Evening Standard lyin...

Not everyone has to be a Steve Jobs. The charismatic, big picture, visionary leader that everyone gravitates towards. We also have (and need ) those who execute. Who double down on the nitty gritty and ensure that things actually get done . And well Which brings me to today's STIMY guest: Chen Chow Yeoh . Speak to anyone in the Southeast Asian startup scene and they'll likely have heard of...