SHENTONISTA

“Sometimes, you meet people who work differently from you, and you have to be adaptable. Since I’m just an intern, I’m at the end of the food chain, so I must be able to work with everybody, no matter their working style. We don't learn about adaptability in school, so these soft skills that are a bit more difficult to pick up.”

“Every time my colleagues and I go out to dabao food, it’s always packed in plastic bags and plastic containers. One day, I thought, “Okay, I’ve had enough. Maybe I can try to be more sustainable.” So I started using reusable containers and cutlery, which is how I got my start in sustainability.”

“My family owns a winery called Pierre Vessigaud in Burgundy, a region famous for its wines. The name of our winery incorporates both my father’s name and my nickname. My father loves working in the vineyard, and has the patience required to make wine, but he doesn't really like the selling or business aspect of it, so my mother sells the wine.”

“My first tattoos are the ones on my fingers. I wanted to test my threshold of pain, so I got my first ones on my fingers, and my next ones on my leg, near my ankle. Back then, not many artists were willing to tattoo fingers because there are so many nerves there, so I really had to go around asking different artists and studios if they could do it for me. But now, it’s a lot more common.”

“I have three tattoos in total on different parts of my body. I got the one on my back seven years ago from a Vietnamese artist in Singapore, but the one on my belly is quite new. I got stretch marks after giving birth, so I recently decided to use a tattoo to cover them up.”

“I’m from Western Japan, and I moved to Singapore three years ago with my husband who is working here now. I love Singapore, especially the food, because everything is so good, but I still miss Japan so much. It’s my favourite place to travel to.”

“I'm a food and drink writer at Timeout Singapore, which has been a really fun experience so far. It's bringing me to a lot of places, because I basically get paid to eat and drink. I’m definitely putting my waistline on the line here, but I’m always looking forward to my next meal—I live to eat.”

“Us Japanese, we have a lot of beautiful old silk kimonos. Many people don’t wear them anymore, and I hate to see them waste such good quality silk, so I started thinking about recycling these kimonos and turning them into items that we can use today, like umbrellas, fans, bags, caps, and so on.”

“In my time working in the Esports industry, I picked up the skill of shoutcasting. It’s basically game commentary for live Esports matches, and it works the same way as sports commentaries. It’s usually done in pairs with a play-by-play caster who tells you exactly what’s going on in real-time, and a colour caster who tells you their analysis of the game itself and the plays being used.”

“I’m from Lyon, France, and I’m taking a gap year here in Singapore before deciding what Masters Degree I want to pursue. I’ve been here for three months, and I love the food here. In France, I used to eat a lot of spicy Asian food, so it’s not really new to me. And I used to be a vegetarian, but I have to say satay is the best thing I’ve eaten here.”

“I’m from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, and I’m here on a holiday with my boyfriend. My boyfriend grew up here, and we made a promise to come to Singapore together 10 years ago when we were still just friends, and now we’re here together for the first time.”

“One reason why I’m in the CBD a lot is because of the running routes here. I find that they’re the best. There’s just something about the vibe here that’s not the same with anywhere else in the country. The Marina Bay area is actually my favourite. I like to run and people-watch there. It’s the one area in Singapore where you can really see a mix of people—interesting folks of different strokes.”