SHENTONISTA

“Working in the media industry has taught me to be kind. In my role, I meet and liaise with many different people, and I’ve found that people can be quite unkind. I always remind myself that I don’t want to be them; I want to be nice despite being stressed and having deadlines to meet.”

“I’ve always loved to cook! Cooking is like a creative outlet that you can eat, and my parents are both chefs, so I was raised around great food. For me, it’s really fun to learn about new techniques, ingredients, or types of food, and then think about how to combine them or swap them out to create something new."

“In the past year, I’ve learnt that being alone is okay. I just got out of a relationship where I depended on my partner a lot, so I had to relearn being alone. It’s tough, and some days get pretty lonely, but I know that life has so much more to offer than this. Sometimes, it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s there.”

“I’m a full-time father of three, so I’ve lost all my hobbies. But, being a father is great! It's the best thing that’s ever happened to me. As long as I see my kids happy, I’m happy.”

In the middle of Raffles Place Park on a Friday evening, amidst the sea of human rush hour traffic and throngs of Zumba dancing folks, we spotted Sharon, bright-eyed and cradling a bottle of wine. She was dressed comfortably in a simple black skirt and tank top ensemble, but had an air of poise and confidence about her that we just couldn’t ignore.

“My weekends typically start off with a cup of coffee, as any day—weekend or weekday—would, followed by an extended period of yoga and meditation. There’s no specific type of yoga that I do. In fact, I’ve actually crafted my own permutation of it by taking bits and pieces that I enjoy most from the different courses that I’ve taken.”

“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.”