So This Is My Why Ling Yah

“Are you a masochist?”

“Do you love books that much?”

If you want to be a bookseller, than those are the questions you need to ask yourself - according to Kenny Chan, the former Senior Director at Kinokuniya Book Stores (Asia Pacific) - he spent ~20 years of his career there prior to his retirement!

But prior to bookseller, Kenny was a foreign diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singapore, where he was posted to London as their Trade and Culture Attache.

He then switched to bookselling, first at Popular Holdings Limited, then MPH Bookstores Sdn Bhd, and back again at Popular when they launched their IPO!

And finally interviewed for a position at Kinokuniya.

The President & Chairman of Kinokuniya flew from Japan to Singapore to conduct the interview and asked Kenny just one question:

“Do you love books?”

As it turns out, Kenny gave me the exact answer he was looking for!

And even after retirement, Kenny remains deep in the bookselling world.

If you haven’t already guessed it, Kenny is the latest guest on STIMY!

And we dive deep into all things books & the art of evangelising.

❓Why does Kenny not judge people by their educational level?

❓Why did he initially become a foreign diplomat?

❓What was it like opening bookstores throughout Asia Pacific, Dubai and New York?

❓What was it like working at his dream company?

❓What is the secret to buying books & why is bookselling a spiritual experience?

❓How can aspiring authors can get Kenny’s attention?

Are you intrigued yet?

The YouTube version is out now too. 😎

Highlights:

1:01 The Punisher
1:50 Don’t judge people by their level of education
2:59 Do your best in everything that you touch
3:58 My education was a roller-coaster
5:31 Didn't want to be a bookseller!
7:56 Getting into foreign affairs
9:51 Hunted down a book for Lee Kuan Yew & the power of connections
11:35 Lee Kuan Yew was a hard task master
14:54 Life isn't fair
18:32 How to get rid of inventory/books for bookstores
20:21 Leaving Popular for MPH
21:00 Introducing comics & Sanrio (Hello Popular) to Singapore
22:12 How Kenny knew it was time to bring Hello Kitty in
24:07 Memorable stories
26:43 What was it like working in his dream company?
27:46 Becoming store manager of the MPH Stamford Bookstore
28:22 You need to be a dictator
32:22 A great success
36:23 The IPO
37:11 The secret behind buying books & working at Popular
41:29 Moving to Kinokuniya
43:03 Meeting
43:30 The 1 question asked by the President & Chairman of Kinokuniya from Japan
44:44 Working with someone who doesn’t understand English
46:09 The spiritual aspect of book selling
47:01 Opening a store in Dubai
48:16 Love of books
49:13 The Kinovirus & training to become a great bookseller
50:45 The Speech
52:05 Biggest achievements while at Kinokuniya
54:44 Kinokuniya isn’t a bookstore. It’s a lifestyle choice
56:15 The importance of building a brand
58:51 The Twin Lemons Act
59:50 Getting Kenny’s attention
1:00:25 Ask a bookseller, what questions should you ask yourself?


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🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/1uCeI8LOI5Y

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/145

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

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Gero DiMaria knows what it means to go truly viral.

He's an Italian chef & owner of Kucina - Singapore's first authentic halal food restaurant.

But he's also a bona fide Italian culinary superstar with over 500k followers on social media - 256k on Instagram & 252.6k on TikTok!

He took the world by storm with his recent series of viral reels on choosing the best pasta/cheeses in grocery stores, and that had a real trickle down effect on his business.

So we dig into all the juicy stuff, including:

❓ What does it mean to actually go ‘viral’?

❓ What kind of measurable impact has social media had on his business?

❓ What is his advice for leveraging social media for businesses?

❓ What have his toughest moments been?

❓ And who exactly is Gero?!

The goal: To understand the role of social media today, what it really means to go viral & how one can leverage on that social media reach to build your own business.

Highlights:

1:55 Italian childhood
4:11 What do Italians eat every day?
5:38 People in Asia aren’t taught to think?!
10:58 Entering the food industry
12:13 Work hard to earn your money
13:33 Your first job sets the bar
14:49 That English breakfast shift
16:52 Knowing that the F&B world was for him
17:33 How to cook the perfect pasta
20:04 Moving from London to Singapore
21:58 First job at Pasta Fresca
23:19 What’s an authentic halal Italian restaurant?
25:59 Chefs can only be chefs, they can’t run a business
29:43 Going into marketing & the lost $3000
31:22 The turning point
32:39 Content strategy
35:14 Going truly viral
36:18 Acting debut
37:58 Why accept collaborations?
40:00 Separating his personal brand from his Kucina restaurant
41:24 The content creation team
42:48 Advice for entrepreneurs
44:06 Do you feel like you’ve found your why?
45:25 What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?
46:15 What do you think are the most important qualities of a successful person?


📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/144

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Would you die for your passion?

Most wouldn’t but for Swee Chiow, Singapore’s first professional adventurer, it’s a question he must face every day.

And it all began when he caught a glimpse of Mount Everest from a plane.

He was working in IT (Singapore Airlines) then, but he decided from that one glimpse that he wanted to climb Mount Everest - a dream that took him a mere 10 years to achieve!

The journey was hard.

He knew nothing. So he read many books & even went on a 10-day mountaineering course at Mt Cook that he flunked because he wasn’t fit enough!

In 1998, he joined Singapore’s first Mount Everest expedition. It was a disaster at first because:

❌ Their tent collapsed during a freak storm

❌ Their first attempt at the South Pole failed as they didn’t have enough rope - the Singapore media hounded them & issued headlines declaring that the expedition had failed

But they didn’t give up.

Their second attempt was a success!

But an exhausting one.

In the midst of the media glory, Swee Chiow knew he had to take advantage of it so he immediately launched Singapore's first Antarctic expedition.

Since then, he has:
Climbed Everest x3 and K2
8,000km cycle from SG → Beijing (China) = 2003
Swam 40 km across Malacca Straits
Kayaked 3,000km across Philippines
Broke his first Guinness World Records for the longest scuba submergence (220 hours)
Rollerbladed 6,000km from Hanoi SG in 94 days (and broke the Guinness World Records in 2008)

Highlights:
3:34 Why Why Why?!
4:12 Fear of heights
5:00 Computer science in Kansas
6:11 Saw Mount Everest from a plane
6:51 Not giving up after 10 years
7:24 The mountain is magical & spiritual?!
9:06 Lessons learned
10:27 Altitude sickness / AMS
12:04 Pulling Singapore’s first Everest expedition together
13:25 You can’t fail!
14:19 What should people know about Everest?
16:45 Quitting his day job
17:45 Antarctica
19:38 Commercialising his adventure business
20:32 Swee Chiow’s value proposition?
22:02 How he builds trust with his clients
24:11 Risks & death
25:11 Any trick to staying calm?
25:24 Drifting to Taiwan & near certain death
27:37 Never let your ego take over
29:28 Dealing with the media
30:55 Never doing K2 again
32:19 The ghosts at Tibet’s Xishapengma
36:12 Adventurers hogging the limelight
37:04 Collaborating with AirAsia X
40:16 How Swee Chiow decides on his adventures
41:43 Advice for those in their 30s
45:28 What’s next?
46:26 The second act of his career?
47:36 Leadership principles to be an effective guide for his team
49:15 What drives you to push yourself to the extreme each time?
50:23 Do you feel like you’ve found your why?
51:06 What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?
51:27 What are the most important qualities of a successful person?

Special thanks to Limpeh Studios (Hepmil Media) for the studio!

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy
📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/143

💌 STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062
✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

Meet Lucas Lu - Head of Zoom Asia.

And also a fellow Sarawakian!

Lucas has had an illustrious career going from GM of Systems Technology Group at IBM Malaysia where they closed large deals within the first 6 months, leading to Lucas winning ASEAN Rookie of the Year - his first big recognition.

He ended up staying at IBM for 10 years and won 2 Global Golden Circle Awards before moving on to become:

- General Manager, Astro
- GM (Tech Sales Malaysia), Oracle
- Senior Director (APAC Enterprise Commercial Sales & Industry), Microsoft,

Prior to his current role heading the Asian arm of Zoom, covering ASEAN, South Korea, Hong Kong SAR & Taiwan).

While at first glance, Lucas appears to have had a very varied career, he has also been very intentional about every career move he’s made.

And has had no zero regrets with how it has turned out.

So we dive deep into this episode into all things career development:

❓ How has Lucas chosen the roles that he has?

❓ What is his secret sauce to climbing the corporate ladder?

❓ How should one find mentors/career sponsors?

❓ How does he plan his career & life (he has a plan for everything, including for his family members!!)?

Please do listen & leave a rating & review!

Highlights:

1:50 My first 15 years
2:27 Shell City
4:22 No one leaves Shell, but I did…
5:26 Getting the call from IBM
6:05 Switching to tech
6:59 Lucas’ unfair advantage over other people
7:50 Lots of planning & reflections
11:55 What should you do when you first take on a regional role?
14:06 Career sponsors
14:41 Secret to landing career sponsors
15:22 The first time doors opened for Lucas?
16:15 Moving on after 10 years
17:14 Bringing a corporate mindset to the startup world?
19:09 Measuring returns for media projects
19:41 Moving to Oracle
21:01 Kilimanjaro
22:55 Element of luck
24:16 Dealing with failure
25:55 No regrets?
27:37 Moving to Microsoft
29:14 Takeaways from being fully immersed in a country
32:00 Did hiking change how he approaches sales and work?
32:25 Why Zoom?
33:43 Checklist for Lucas’ next career move (no compromise)
34:24 How to determine if someone is the right person to work for?
35:33 Most influential person in Lucas’ career
37:28 Managing the strawberry generation
39:15 What Lucas hopes to achieve at Zoom
43:58 The second act in Lucas’ career
46:45 What STIMY listeners can help Lucas with


🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/142

💌 STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

This episode is a compilation of 6 of the most powerful women featured on the So This Is My Why podcast, discussing the milestones that led them on their journey to success



Ep 124: Jacqueline Novogratz

Jacqueline is the founder & CEO of Acumen - a non-profit global venture capital fund that aims to use entrepreneurial approaches to address global poverty. As the OG of impact investing, she shares her experience in Rwanda and learning that the most important thing is to build something where you leave no footprint behind.

And how there is no such thing as black & white. Everyone has an angel and demon within them that comes out at different times.



📍 Listen to Jacqueline's full episode: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/124



Ep 115: Lydia Fenet

Lydia is the former Executive Director of Christie's New York and for 10 years, she thought it was a privilege to be working at Christie's. She never asked for more.

Until she realised that you are just a number in the P&L, and you have to fight for what your worth. In one conversation, she managed to x3 her salary, obtain an international director designation and start a new department on strategic partnerships.



📍 Listen to Lydia's full episode: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/115



Ep 125: Tanya Zakowich

Tanya has worked at NASA, Boeing and Hyperloop and shares her journey in making big career pivots which led to the creation of Pink Pencil Math with 2 million TikTok followers, 507k Instagram Followers & 99k YouTube followers.



📍 Listen to Tanya's full episode: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/125



Ep 79: Nicole Quinn

Nicole is a General Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. She's known as the celebrity whisperer who's worked with the likes of Lady Gaga, Tom Brady, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jessica Alba.



📍 Listen to Nicole's full episode: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/79



Ep 77: Lily Wu

Lily is a two-time 7 figure business founder who shares how she got started on her entrepreneurial journey in Australia as a teenager



📍 Listen to Lily's full episode: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/77



Ep 56: Lauren Hom

Lauren is a California-born designer, illustrator & hand lettering artist with a 250k strong following on Instagram. She is known for her use of bright colour palettes & playful letterings and has worked for clients such as Starbucks, YouTube, TIME Magazine, Google and AT&T. She has also been recognised by Communications Arts, the Art Directors Club, the One Club, the Type Directors Club and the Webby Awards

She shares how she's built her enviable artistic career including with Daily Dishonesty.



📍 Listen to Lauren's full episode: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/56



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🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/ncLfbdQ7XQA

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Sponsor: Descript - an AI-enabled software that makes it possible to edit weekly videos efficiently because it transcribes a 1.5 hour interview in 1 minute - and allows all editing to be done via the transcript! To find out more: https://www.descript.com/?lmref=sjT9JA
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It’s not every day that you get to inherit a 100-year-old family business, but that’s exactly what Fong Wai Kheng has done.

Fong is the fourth generation of his family to run Tong Heng - Singapore’s top confectionary shop most known for its trademark 💎 diamond-shaped egg tarts.

Ask pretty much any Singaporean (I did), and it feels like 99% of them will have heard, eaten and love those egg tarts!

So of course, I got curious.

And asked Fong if he’d be up for a STIMY interview!

After all, family businesses are tricky.

There is:

🍿 The legacy you’ve inherited & must now maintain

🍿 The relationships you need to navigate (you can’t split family/work)

🍿 The challenge of keeping your brand relevant (a huge issue for Tong Heng at one point until they went through a massive rebranding exercise)

🍿 All the ups and downs of keeping a business alive.

A business that first came about because of Fong’s great-grandfather who fled China in 1901 (end of Qing Dynasty) to work as a c****e in Singapore.

His great-grandfather eventually earned enough to start his own pushcart coffee business but… the local “gangs” came around for protection money.

The great-grandfather had none, but promised to have the money ready next time.

Unfortunately, the gangsters won’t hear of it.

And proceeded to beat him up.

Or at least, they tried too.

Because what they didn’t know was that Fong’s great-grandfather had been trained in martial arts by the soldiers in the Qing Court (+ he was also 1.87m tall!).

So Fong’s great-grandfather beat up those gangsters instead. 🤣

News spread.

The community gathered and gifted him with a pistol before appointing him as its protector!!

Want to know what happened thereafter? 😏

You’ll just have to listen to this STIMY episode with Fong to find out.



Highlights:

2:54 Childhood
5:00 Expectations in joining the family business?
6:32 Have you had enough fun?
10:26 100-year-old confectionary shop - the origins of Tong Heng
12:22 Tong Heng’s trademark egg tarts
14:22 Gangs & protection money
14:44 Martial arts
16:50 After the war
17:55 His two aunts
20:24 Pulling a surprise
25:06 A new shop
27:38 Cracking thousands of eggs?!
29:40 Massive rebranding exercise to appeal to the Gen Zs & Gen Alphas
33:23 Tension in the family?
34:41 Going viral
35:00 Branding decisions behind Tong Heng’s trademark yellow packaging
36:15 Tong Heng’s faithful customers - the grandmother & her grandson
37:30 The future & staying in their own lane
39:35 Advice for other family business owners?


🌟 Special thanks to Limpeh Studios for making this recording possible! If you want to do any studio recordings while in Singapore, be sure to check out: https://www.hepmil.com/limpehstudios

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/kSXxRHrWWas

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/141

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442