Stereophonic

You’re easily above the average height here—how’s the air up there?
I can tell you this: you really do hit your head a lot (laughs). Funnily enough, I didn’t notice how people got so amazed by my height till I started working. Back in school, the rows would be arranged by height, so I’d always be hanging out with the tall boys at the back.

Tell us a little more about how you got into this line of work.
I was in the nightlife industry for a long while, and decided to take a break after my last project didn’t go so well. Doing nightlife can get exhausting, and that was when I connected with the owners for Ritual Gym, who’ve both been my friends for a while now. It’s a good concept, it’s something that helps people, and it’s a lot better than trying to sell people vodka and whiskey.

How do you think Covid-19 has impacted your business?
Fitness is something that’s easy to push off from your to-do list—when people have a busy or a tiring day, they’ll strike off ‘gym’ and say “I’ll do it tomorrow.” I think we saw this amplified even more during Covid-19, but slowly people are getting back into the rhythm.

Is there any decision you took in the past that you’d change?
No. Not because there haven’t been any bad decisions, but because every decision I took has led me to this point, where I’m happy with what I’ve made for myself. If I carried on with my initial trajectory, I’d have become a lawyer, which was my father’s ambition (laughs). I didn’t, and I’m happy that I’ve chosen my own routes throughout my life. It’s difficult, but it feels rewarding.

You spent more than a decade in the nightlife business—why did you decide to quit?
I first got into nightlife because I really enjoyed the music. When you’re young and full of life, there’s this invincible feeling where you think you can throw parties for a long time. Once you get to 28, and you realise you have to be social all around the clock, and stay awake after partying the entire night—that gets really tiring. I ended up missing out on a lot of celebrations for my friends and family, because I was trying to keep the business running, and those start catching up with you as the years go on.

If you had to choose just one artist to create the soundtrack of your life, who would it be?
I’m gonna say Snoop Dogg (laughs). I really like the guy and his music. That was the music I grew up to, and he used to be the coolest person back then. Still is now, actually!