Honestly? I took the jobs nobody else wanted.
Fresh out of a Finance degree from Wollongong, I was convinced I understood business. That’s changed now. Different experiences have really humbled me.
My first job was to turn around a struggling tour company of ten people. The business was bleeding, and the new owner needed someone to sort it out fast. I walked in believing I knew everything. Boy, was I wrong. Somehow, we managed to turn it around. And reflecting on this experience, I realised politics, relationships, sales and marketing felt like a whole world I did not fully understand.
Because of that, I decided to challenge myself. I took a role at a creative agency, then at a food distribution company managing key accounts like Tealive, Kobe Bussan and others. I genuinely struggled.
Turns out that when your brain is wired for analysis and structure, communication doesn’t come naturally. But I stuck with it, because I wanted to get better.
Eventually, I found my way back into what I was trained for, finance, structured planning, the kind of work where being analytical is an advantage. I was involved in International Finance and then Startup Fundraising.
During this time, things started to click. I realised that my early experiences added a new layer of problem-solving depth, which led to successful outcomes (growth in ≈RM30M transaction volumes) for these companies.
I then decided to leave for a break because of personal reasons. During the break, I burned through my savings faster than I’d like to admit.
An opportunity came through a biotech startup that was trying to commercialise a regenerative medicine product. I convinced myself it would be good to know what it felt like operating a startup from the inside. But truthfully, I took it partly because I needed work. We did manage to structure an RM15M joint venture and paved the way forward.
I thirsted to learn more and wanted to answer one more itch. I noticed founders constantly chase corporate partnerships and investment, which never materialised. I wondered why.
I decided to try to apply and was lucky enough to enter a telco giant in Malaysia under the innovation department. Henry Mitzberg was right. Understanding an organisation requires understanding its power and politics. Everything I did not know quickly became a structural mismatch.
It’s led me here. Now, my adventure in business has already lasted ten years. A decade of different industries, uncomfortable gaps, and more hard learnings than I would have liked.
However, through it all, I noticed a common thread emerge: I've developed a knack for diagnosing and solving difficult problems. I genuinely like a good challenge. For me, problem-solving will always be more than just work.
I’m still human. I still doubt whether I'm doing enough or the right thing. But a random stranger once shared with me that, “The world is already hard. It is okay to love yourself.”