This was a super busy week with the final prep and then three separate TEDx events into this weekend. It has been very fulfilling, tiring, and thought-provoking. Read more about it and some other things I got up to this week below!
Next guest on Before We Get There
I’m joined by Isabella Liu—entrepreneur, podcast host, and founder of Invincible Co. Bella’s journey is all about blending business, spirituality, and relationships in a way that feels authentic and purposeful. With over a decade of experience as a marketer, strategist, and business coach, she’s worked across industries like health and wellness, creative spaces, and technology. She’s also the host of the How to Be Invincible podcast and author of the upcoming book by the same name. We dive into her story of going from juggling multiple jobs to building a career that empowers others and the lessons she’s learned about staying resilient through challenges. Bella shares her approach to balancing so many passions, the importance of self-compassion, and why community matters so much in both life and business. Catch it on all platforms on Thursday morning.
Letterpress printing tour this weekend
Over the past few months, I’ve had the pleasure of working with Sun Yao Yu to support him in preparing for his TEDxSingapore talk. Yao Yu has worked tirelessly for years to preserve the dying heritage of letterpress printing. This fascinating part of history is being lost to time as the last traditional letterpress printers shut down their businesses or retire. It was an honor to spend many hours with YY learning about the history of the letterpress industry in SG, and I still barely scratched the surface of his knowledge. This weekend as part of our TEDxSingapore Adventures we got a personal tour and some hands-on time with some of the letterpress printing equipment and artifacts. It was awesome to see and touch the tools and prints we had been discussing for months. Letterpress printing was such an important technology for almost 200 years in Singapore, it was how people were able to read their news, order from a menu, share their name cards, check the days off a calendar, get invoices, and much more. Here is an informative video YY did that shares some of his story, but I’ll be sure to share his TEDx talk when it is released online next year!
What I read this weekend
License to Travel: A Cultural History of the Passport traces the origins of travel documents from ancient Egypt and China through the ages until today. Most of us have probably never really thought about when passports started or how they have changed over time, but we have all felt those moments of stress waiting in line to have our passports checked and be allowed to enter another country. My favorite part of the book was the sharing of stories with that same feeling from people all around the world, even hundreds of years ago. Passports are by definition, a tool of control, defining who can and cannot cross borders and be in a given country. The history reflects that as well, with all the ugly truths of racism, sexism, prejudice, and xenophobia showing their faces unfortunately often. In the US, one common occurrence for minorities to go through is to be asked “Where are you from?” and after answering a city or state in the US, being asked again “No, but where are you actually from?”, meaning – you’re not white, so you aren’t really from here. I’ve noticed an interesting way this manifests itself sometimes in other countries when I get asked “What passport do you have?” or comments like “Oh, so you hold an American passport.” – which is basically the same meaning, but in reverse. You have an American passport, but you aren’t really American. Hopefully, someday we will be able to move beyond these kinds of classifications and focus on how we are different instead of embracing our similarities. Anyway, the book is worth a read if you like history and travel!
What I learned visiting the biggest Malay market in Singapore this weekend
The other TEDxSingapore adventure I went on this weekend was with Khir Johari, the author of The Food of Singapore Malays: Gastronomic Travels Through the Archipelago. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really exposed to Malay cuisine before I moved to Singapore, but it has since become some of my favorite food in the world. Malay food is aromatic, pungent, often spicy, rich but delicate, and much more. As an epicenter of trade from China, India, the Middle East, and eventually Europe for thousands of years, it has taken influences from all kinds of sources and localized them with local ingredients and flavor profiles. Khir’s TED talk shared some of the history and nuances of Malay cuisine, but it was an even bigger treat to visit Geylang Serai Market and get a personal tour with him. I felt like I was on an episode of Bourdain as he guided us around the stalls showing and teaching us about the different ingredients and how they are used. As a foodie and avid home-cook, this was so much fun and I can’t wait to go explore again on my own. I also got an answer to a question I’ve been seeking for almost ten years. There is one stall that I discovered shortly after I moved to Singapore that has the most amazing vegetable dish I’ve ever eaten, it is a kind of leafy green cooked in coconut curry broth. The leaf is the perfect texture, stronger than spinach, but not as hard as kale, it has a little bite to it and goes so well with rice. I’ve searched for this dish every time I find a Malay stall across the island, and asked lots of people (and shown them photos I took) what the dish is, but no one was sure exactly what it was. I return to the stall just for that dish whenever I’m in the area, and finally a couple years ago, they told me it is cassava leaf, but I still couldn’t find where to buy the vegetable or have a recipe. I got my chance to ask Khir about it and he knew instantly what I was talking about and shared that I could buy the ingredients at the market! I have a feeling it will take many attempts to get close to the original, but at least now I know where to start.
That’s all for this week, have a great end to your weekend!