Queen Of All Trades

Introduce yourself!
I’m Tota. I’m originally from Kazakhstan, and I do marketing for a wealth management platform.

I was 16 when my family and I moved to Singapore, so I consider myself practically Singaporean. We left our home country for variety of reasons, but it’s been good because Singapore is one of the safest places in the world, plus it’s a financial hub.

We hear you play the electric violin, can you tell us more about that?
I studied classical violin actually, so it was a change for me to move from music to finance, but my understanding of the creative scene in Singapore definitely helped me settle in to my current role.

Anyway, music is now something I do on the side. I produce my own music, I dance, and I play a little violin, but I would love to do more. I feel like with music and finance, I use different parts of my brain, and sometimes it shatters just trying to find that balance. I’m still trying to get a hang of it. I’m not yet there but I’m working on it.

Is music still a passion you’d want to pursue?
I’ve always wanted to be an artist. As I mentioned, I studied music in university, but I found that they don’t teach creatives how to manage themselves at all in school, which is a gap that needs to be filled for sure.

That said, I would love to perform at F1 one day. You’ve got to say it in front of other people when you want your dreams to come true, so here it goes!

Other than your work and your music, is there anything else that occupies your time?
So among my other passions—I feel like I’m trying to do so many different things at the same time (laughs)—I’m starting a podcast called Cash Confetti, where we feature businesses with a focus on the angle of investment.

For example, if it’s a members club, I will be discussing the investment side of things. It could be personal investment, etc. but I’m trying to make it a little bit more layman for the mass audience. I’m also a very visual person, so I’m trying to pick the best people I know to help with editing.

What was the strangest thing you’ve ever experienced or done?
The weirdest thing I’ve ever done was being part of a music video in the National Gallery. It was a little bit provocative, but not in a bad way! We were shooting maybe 28 people—I don’t remember the exact number—but the dancers were on the stairs in heels, which was a little bit dangerous and slippery. Even though it was definitely out of my comfort zone, I loved it 100%!