Work

Co-Founder - Defog.ai

Singapore, 2022 - Present

Building Defog.ai to make it easy for anyone to discover and share insights from data. Defog understands questions in natural language, searches across all your data, and provides AI-powered insights.

Regional Public Affairs Manager - Grab

Singapore, 2021 - 2022

Laid the groundwork for thought leadership on public policy issues, and launched content on financial inclusion and fintech policy in Southeast Asia.

On the launch team for the Tech for Good Institute, a non-profit founded by Grab, where I built and ran engagement online and through events.

Founding Member & Deputy Editor - GovInsider

Singapore, 2015 - 2021

Built a digital media startup for governments in Asia to understand the role of tech in public service delivery. Our editorial team uncovered and shared best practices from around the world.

Worked in nearly every other aspect of the business from sales and marketing to event production. Acted as the 'chief of staff', growing the organisation, team and my contribution from the ground up.

In 2020, our digital platform pivoted and scaled quickly to meet the demands of Covid-19, including the largest number of partners and revenue on our editorial products; exclusive coverage of governments' response to the pandemic; and virtual events for the public sector.

Journalist - FutureGov

Singapore, 2013 - 2015

This was my introduction to govtech and journalism. Learnt to write for and reach a new audience on-the-job. Wrote daily articles to launch the company’s first digital publication and turn it into a profitable business — was the sole full-time writer on the newly launched digital team which increased unique pageviews by 51%.

Learnt the ropes of campaign and stakeholder management as I led a partnership with Red Hat to promote the use of open source among ASEAN governments.

Note: FutureGov was closed in 2015. Here’s a note from the team.

Field Researcher - Innovations for Poverty Action, Yale University

The Philippines, 2012

Spent three months in Mindanao, the Philippines to research informal savings as part of a global study on informal finance.

I met with and interviewed local communities, civil society, government, and a regional separatist military group, to collect data on how people built savings with limited access to bank accounts, and the costs, risks and returns associated with this.