10 years after college

My journey into finding who I am was a long and hard one. I wished that I was one of those girls who found passion dancing ballet since young and grew up to be a ballerina. I did not get what I wanted as easily as others but still lucky enough to be multi-talented and competitive, so I tried everything and wanted my hands on everything. I will always remember the years I took searching for who I am. I yearned for my success; I was hungry to find my path. The tormenting nights of thinking what my destiny was and what I will be in this world. I am just glad the search is over.

I graduated with a double major in Investment Finance and Accounting. I started as an equity research assistant during the subprime mortgage crisis in 2008. I didn’t last long in my banking career; I just wasn’t happy. I was bored.

Quitting banking was one of the hardest things for me, it was all I aspired to be when I was in school. I didn’t know what else to do. I tried my hands on acting, and the entertainment industry nearly went into politics but finally settled for an executive position at Cradle Fund – an agency under the Ministry of Finance that provides grants to technology startups. That was the best thing that happened to me. I didn’t know I could help turn ideas into businesses. I saw so many exciting ideas back then from Carlist to Grab. I met terrific mentors there including KL Chan from iPay88 who is still my mentor today. It was the beginning of my journey into entrepreneurship.

I never looked back since. I worked for a couple of tech startups in Singapore for three years and finally came back in 2016 to start SushiVid. SushiVid helps activate influencer marketing campaigns at scale.

How I saved my money – presumably to start SushiVid?

I was very blessed with SushiVid. Because of my short stint at Cradle, I met a lot of Angel Investors. Over the years, even while working at startups, I was already hanging around the right crowd. People in the startup space are very close-knit and friendly. I remember introducing my banker sister to my world. She just thought we were a bunch of free-loaders. People don’t understand us.

I met my current investor while trying to raise funds for another startup. He encouraged me to start a startup even before I had an idea, and he funded SushiVid from the very beginning – Tan Sri Vincent Lee.

How I manage to turn my idea into a sustainable business?

I don’t know that it is a sustainable business just yet, but I do believe, with the new generation growing up with YouTube, Instagram and Musical.ly it is going to be in demand for a while. Social media marketing will be here for a while; we just have to be flexible and nimble enough to keep trying new ways to do this. For example, within three years, we launched SushiVid, The F Channel and GoSharelah. Three different models all within social media.

SushiVid.com helps brands to find, hire and work with influencers for marketing campaigns.

GoShareLah.com helps brands to get their content distributed more efficiently via social media.

The F Channel on YouTube just creates entertaining food videos.

We just got to keep trying and keep working hard.

My struggles

There was a lot of adjustments to do. Making decisions was one of them. I use to spend a lot of time analysing, mind mapping, building cost-benefit analysis when I was working for others but today I just make decisions based on common sense and some standard guidelines I made for myself and the company. I don’t make decisions on what to eat, or what to wear. Those decisions are eliminated because they take up time and are unnecessary.

It was also hard getting my family to understand. I am very happy with my life today. I’ve found my passion! Some people live their whole life looking for that. But my family are always concerned that I’m not resting enough or I don’t have a balanced life, yet they are still supportive of my decision.

The rewards that come with it?

The team. There is nothing more rewarding than the brotherhood I’ve built with my team. I am very blessed with a fantastic team. I have worked in many toxic environments before this, and I’m very cautious not to turn our culture into just that. It’s not perfect, and every one of us is different, but we’ve made it work. I’m so grateful for that. A lot of companies have a hard time with millennials, but my team is talented and awesome together.

Making Malaysia more creative. We once had great artists and great music. We had Shiela Majid, who was so amazing, and then came KRU with their iconic music and then it dwindled. We have great talents, but for years our creative industry was suffering due to lack of funding and transparency. I gave acting two years and couldn’t find my breakthrough. Only through globalisation, we now see artists thriving again such as Yuna, Zee Avi and Shila Amzah. We want a more creative Malaysia. SushiVid’s vision is to enable everyone to become a creator. In our little ways, we’re cleaning the space through transparent pricing, we’re making this more efficient through technology, and we’re adding funds and confidence into the creative space again.

The journey. I never imagined I would be a founder and that I could build a business. The family I was raised in, the society I grew up in taught me not to be too bold, not stand out in a crowd, to always fit in. I was conditioned to be contented and grateful, live a simple life and just get a nine to five job. I was very upset I didn’t fit into that mould. I was miserable and the more I tried, the more it defied me. The day I stepped out of that mindset, and what is expected of me, I found me.

This is my journey, and this is who I am and what I like. I don’t need the parties, or the bags and shoes. Give me my laptop, and a book and I’ll be just fine.

Original interviewed was written for Mahsing internal circulation for International womens day.