Life, a sum of our experiences
One of the greatest things about life is the experiences we earn from people we meet and work with, working for a common purpose to see through each project. I started my first business as a media sales rep. at the age of 27 and have since worked on brand and marketing communication campaigns for government, corporate and agency clients and it’s been a truly rewarding sum of experiences!
Sales, a skill to hone
My career started in sales, something many people fear. Sales may mean cold-call telemarketing or door-to-door canvassing. It can be intimidating, but I am a big believer that everybody needs to undergo a course in professional sales training to understand that sales is NOT about selling something to someone who doesn’t need it. Anything when done with the right intentions, targeting a willing buyer, will serve its purpose. I’ve sold dictation units to hospitals, CD-Rom archival technology to engineering and architectural firms, table booking diaries to restaurateurs, but it was media sales that I really found my calling. Soon I was travelling and represented Publishers of titles like Reader’s Digest, Fortune Magazine, Asian Geographic, Travel Away Australia and The Quorum meetings magazine.
I found a niche in upselling advertising clients to add advertorials in their campaigns and that was where I started to hone my creative writing skills. Publishers loved the additional revenue and clients liked the idea of brand storytelling. I went on to secure the largest regional advertorial and advertising contract for Reader’s Digest with Star Cruises buying an advertorial supplement in the Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and Philippines editions. Later, I was invited to write the copy for Star Cruises’ 10th Year Anniversary 300-page Coffee Table Book. I was able to combine my love for creative writing and advertising sales and it was those early days that I blossomed as a writer.
Cruising through adversity
My first entrepreneurial venture, Mobius Media was supported by my father, an entrepreneur himself. We launched Asia’s first cruise travel magazine, cruise website and cruise travel fair. Our humble team received invitations to go onboard cruise liners like Silversea Cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Star Cruises, Victoria Cruises, Orthodox Cruises, Empress Cruise Lines and we covered stories of the grand life of cruise travelling through famous port destinations. Some of the most memorable media trips were river cruises along the Volga River from Moscow to Volgograd and along the Yangtze River where I witnessed the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. Asian Cruise Passenger was phased off after 18-months due to two worldwide catastrophes that crippled the travel industry – the 9/11 Twin Towers Attack in 2001 followed by the 2002 Bali bombings. On the back of tragedy is reinvention.
Mobius Media focused on consulting work and served customers from advertising agencies, FMCGs and government agencies like Unza Malaysia, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Malaysia Automotive Centre, RHB Bank, the Malaysian American Friendship Alumni Association and the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA).
GIG economy pioneer
Entrepreneurs have a strong survival instinct and are constantly challenged in finding solutions to problems. After the publishing stint folded, editor Nadia Gideon invited me to set up a public relations firm with her. With a mere RM5,000 investment, we started Nova Partners from the living room of our mutual friend Marlene Seth. We had a great head start working on projects like AXN Channel’s Malaysia Challenge, Survivor on Survivor Island Sabah, the Kotex Dri-Fit Challenge, A Girl’s Day Out Expo, 3RTV and are grateful to have served a pioneer batch of customers that included RedComm (Kotex, Ford, WAO), Nomad Adventure, Caberawet Advertising (Shiseido, HSBC), singer songwriter Pete Teo and the WWF. We then pivoted to work with international brands, corporations, government agencies and non-profit organisations like Tai-Kwong Yokohama, Securities Industry Development Corporation. I had learned early on that to survive in business, we had to focus on the long game and that kindness and respect for one another is more empowering than anything else. That was my main takeaway from that era.
I took a sabbatical for two years after that stint as copywriter, PR consultant, speech writer and ghost columnist for an international advertising agency.
A freelance consultant, Abby Lo once told me that I’m a GIG pioneer. I suppose it’s true as I have been working with teams of freelancers and independent contractors from around the world since the 1990s.
My next business venture was with a God-sent friend, Nikki Yeo. We co-founded Go International Group as a trade marketing company and from one small gig to another, we grew the company into a creative services agency.
Experiential brand activation
Creating live event experiences
After a decade in the printed word, we started producing more live event experiences.
- Mozilla Foundation’s inaugural MozCamp Asia welcomed 200 delegates to KL.
- Sweden Embassy’s Sweden Malaysia Innovation Days with a Youth Festival and a first-ever Sweden Innovation media junket.
- Sephora Malaysia store openings and party-of-the-year!
- International Humanitarian Run with beneficiary partner MERCY Malaysia.
- Digital solutions for governments agencies like MIDA and MIDF.
- Distribution of multilingual news releases in ASIA PACIFIC for global logistics giant Agility Logistics.
Representing youth in music, eSports & drone sports.
An advocate of the independent music scene, I co-organised open mic events, opened a live music venue and produced a few concerts. I received the 2009 Hall of Fame Awards from Voize Independent Music Awards which I’m grateful for, standing alongside other music industry stalwarts. In a decade from 2004-2014, I produced more than a hundred music gigs and started writing and performing spoken word myself. Malaysia was abuzz with creative talents and the time was right to create a platform to showcase them.
In 2008, we launched FEYST Indie Youth Festival as a way for talents to go international! We signed on as the Malaysian national partners of the Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) from France, DreamHack from Sweden, Digital Youth Awards at the Shanghai World Expo from Singapore and the Global Battle of the Bands from Norway.
In 2018, we worked with the Malaysia Sports Aviation Federation and with support from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, brought two Malaysian drone pilots to represent Team Malaysia at the FAI World Drone Racing Competition in China. Kudos to another young entrepreneur Jack Chan of Dojo KL, we secured sponsorship from quasi-government organisation Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation. I’m so proud of this part of my career. In all of those years, we sent 65+ youth representing Malaysia to festivals around the world.
Over the years, we have welcomed and mentored interns from local universities like Taylor’s, Monash, KDU, KBU, UTAR including interns from Indonesia, Australia, Reunion Island, France and Korea.
Understanding GESI – Gender Equality and Social Inclusion
COVID-19 had us reinventing ourselves once again, and this time, it was the ability to deliver solutions remotely. We were hired as National Consultancy by the International Labour Organization, a specialised agency under the United Nations. Working with the “Skills for Prosperity Programme in Malaysia” team, we launched the 1st Skills Innovation Challenge Call to mainstream GESI into technical vocation and education training and skills institutions across the country. Funded by the British High Commission of Kuala Lumpur, the project reached out to over 700 TVET/Skills training institutes in search of innovative solutions.
On Mission 2030
It took a while to get to it. All those experiences have now come together, and I’ve found my WHY.
We’re on Mission 2030: to halve non-communicable diseases in the Asia Pacific region starting with my very self! An integral part of this is the Kurang Manis film, podcast & newsletter and public health conference.
We rebranded the company and are now known as GIG: GoInternationalGroup.com, an OMNI-platform media group that creates, curates and distributes content focused on public health messaging delivered via website projects and live events.
Our main products include:
- A Fitness Today News Network – an impact media platform producing live events, documentaries, podcasts and online media.
- GIG Academy – a peer-to-peer networking and upskilling platform for creative industry freelancers.
- WebPRojx Community – web development and web maintenance community.
I hope that by sharing my entrepreneur stories, I’ve inspired you on your own personal journey.
Thank you for reading this and never give up on your dreams!