Nostalgia

Tell us about yourself!
I’m working in advertising as an account management associate. Interest-wise, I’m very into pop culture, so I know a lot about it. This is very nerdy, but I very was into Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network as a child, so I grew up watching a lot of those shows. During my free time, I would even read up on or watch a lot of the relevant behind the scenes content lah. Recently, there’s been this whole resurgence of nostalgia for example with iCarly that had a remake recently. You can quiz me on that and I’ll be able to answer anything! (laughs)

Wow, we don’t doubt that! Of all of these shows, what’s your favourite one from your childhood?
Victorious and Wizards of Waverly Place. I’m saying this because it’s top of mind because I recently had this conversation with my colleagues a few days ago.

What’s the most interesting fact that you’ve learned from these shows?
For Nickelodeon shows, like Drake and Josh, iCarly and Victorious, there’s always one character that they’ll pick to get their own spin-off. So with Drake and Josh it was Miranda Cosgrove who had iCarly. Then from iCarly it was Sam with Sam and Cat. And Victoria Justice was from Zoe101 before she got her own show, Victorious. So there’s always that continuation, that kind of link within the network.

Interesting! Do you have a particular favourite actor or actress?
Currently, it’s Ariana Grande. I’ve been a big fan of hers ever since Victorious, which is also when I found out she’s a very good singer. Ever since then, I’ve followed her journey over the years, and now that she’s gained so much success in her career, I feel very proud of her!

She sure has come a long way! Let’s talk about your work. How long have you been in advertising?
I’ve been advertising for about three years. This has been my first job since graduation. We do social media advertising, and so far it’s been good—I’ve got quite a few accounts that I’m managing!

Is this something that you’ve always wanted to do?
Yeah, I’ve always wanted to work in advertising! Actually my degree was a hybrid degree. I was in both engineering and mass communication. But after my first year, I knew that I wanted to go into mass comm fully. And I’ve always wanted to work in an advertising agency, so I’m very glad that I had this opportunity out of college.

Did you chose engineering also because you had an interest in that as well?
Oh no. I think given societal standards and all, when I was in primary and secondary school, I’ve always been in the science stream, so it made sense that after JC, I went directly into engineering even though I knew that there was something in me that wanted to pursue media or design. So when I graduated, I was researching and found out that there was this major that gave me the option to do both. So that’s why I went for this hybrid degree.

In another life, what do you think you’d be doing?
Maybe it’s a bit morbid, but if I didn’t realise that I wanted to do media, I would have just stuck with the engineering route and maybe only realised many years into my career that I didn’t enjoy doing it. When I realised that I liked media, I was already in JC, and I sometimes wonder “what if I had realised this earlier and pursued it earlier? Would I have wasted less time?”

Well, what matters most is that you’re here now! In hindsight, what advice would you give your younger self?
I think it’s important to be more confident when you’re younger and not care so much about what other people think or the external influences around you. As a child, I already had a rough sense of what I wanted to do, but I allowed too many outside voices to influence me, when I should have listened more to my inner voice.

That said, it’s very natural to be influenced by what our parents and peers tell us—it’s inevitable that external noise can cloud our thinking. But learning to listen to yourself and recognising that it’s a journey really helps you understand who you are. Of course, being able to pursue that isn’t always a given; it’s a privilege in some ways. It’s about give and take, and understanding what’s possible for you at each stage of life.