Spoilt For Choice

Introduce yourself!
My name is Shin Mun, but you can call me Mun. I’m a year 1 student from Singapore Management University (SMU). I enjoy the arts and watching movies, and some of my hobbies are bartending and pole dancing.

Very diverse! We hear you also studied film previously? How did you get into all these different interests?
For film, I did it when I was in poly. I studied film, sound and video at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, and I just fell in love with it in year 3.

What changed?
It was after meeting new people and connecting with people that had similar interests. I didn’t vibe with my class that well, but when I went out and found other people in the film industry, I I was able to connect with so many of them, so I was able to better appreciate film as a whole.

We hear your film was recently screened! Tell us more about it.
Yes! It was screened at The Projector Cineleisure. It’s called Waipo’s Coming Over, and it was my third year advance production project. There’s a lot of things that went behind it lah. I was the director and one of the cast members. It was a very fruitful experience. I think it was one of the films that helped me find my passion for film again.

Sounds like a really exciting project! Now on to your other hobbies—how did you get into bartending?
Once I turned 18 and could drink, I realised that I really liked it. I also thought that bartending was really cool! (Laughs) So I asked a friend where I could try it out, and he recommended a bar called Night Hawk. That was how I got the opportunity to bartend with one of the world’s best bars, and it’s been a super cool experience, though it’s only been about six months-ish!

The thing is, right now, I’m kind of lost. I mean, I’m still at the age where I’m exploring and seeing what I want to do, so I tend to job hop. It doesn’t sound very good, but it’s what helps me find what I want and don’t want to do.

We think that’s very valid especially when you’re young and still in school, so it’s great to hear that you’ve got all of these hobbies to potentially explore! Now on to pole dancing—what piqued your interest in it?
I first got interested in pole dancing when I was 16, but I wasn’t old enough to do it for very obvious reasons. So once I turned 18, I immediately went to sign up for a class, and then I realised that it has a lot of similar elements with regular dancing, which is something that I enjoy. I think that it’s very empowering, especially for women. It uplifts me and helps me get my exercise in.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the number interests you have and all the things you wanna try out?
(Laughs) So I juggle all of my hobbies with full-time schooling, and I thought that I could juggle everything, but I couldn’t lah. In the end, I had to leave some out; some things that I’ve been enjoying I need to put aside because studying is the most important right now, I guess. But I have to keep some that I really love lah. It’s a give and take.