In Bloom

Tell us about yourself!
I’m Jin, and I’m from South Korea. I moved to Singapore about six years ago and am currently working as a Marketing Director.

Why did you decide to move to Singapore?
I’ve always wanted to explore other countries but traveling wasn’t really enough to satisfy me. After doing a student exchange programme in the US in university, I had a dream to live and work overseas.

After I graduated, I worked in a marketing agency in Korea and coincidentally, my ex-colleagues who moved to Singapore told me that there was an opportunity for me to come over. So I took that opportunity and here I am!

What’s the biggest difference between living in Singapore and Korea?
I think the biggest difference is diversity. Because there aren’t many expats in Korea, we tend follow the same trends and everyone is expected to act in a certain way. But in Singapore, because there are people from different backgrounds, I feel freer in expressing myself. Like with fashion, you can wear anything you want without getting judged.

I would say the Korean food here is good, but I think it’s just very expensive to eat authentically. I frequent Tanjong Pagar because there are a lot of Korean restaurants along that one street and it’s near my workplace, but it just costs too much.

What do you like to do when you get off work?
I like to workout and dance—I do street dance like popping and hip hop. I’ve been doing it since I was in secondary school, in the Korean equivalent of co-curricular activities.

We get exposed to dance at an early age because of the K-pop culture, but because it’s so commercialised in Korea, there’s actually a lot of competition. So many people aim to become professional dancers, and some even end up majoring in street dance in university. But in Singapore, anyone can join a dance class and just enjoy their time. It has really helped me make a lot of friends here.

If you could live and work in another country, where would you go?
To be honest, Singapore is my dream destination. But if I have to choose another, I think Thailand would be quite fun. I feel that there’s a lot of vibrancy there, and Thai people are quite friendly as well, so that would be something interesting. I don’t know whether I will have the opportunity to move there for work, but I try to travel there every year to eat, drink, and shop because they have many big markets to visit!