Ctrl + Alt + Career

Dinesh is the Chief Business Officer and one of the founding members of Chope, an online restaurant booking platform with operations in SG, HK, China, Thailand, and Indonesia. Dinesh chose to forego furthering his studies at New York University and was one of the founding members of the Chope team. He hasn't looked back since, and was recently listed as one of Forbes' 30 under 30 for his work with Chope.

In this episode he shares -

(i) Why he decided to forego his studies at NYU

(ii) How he got started at Chope

(iii) What has kept him at Chope for the last 10 years

(iv) The importance of a strong team

(v) And many more…

In celebration of 3 months of podcasting - I’d love it if you could leave me your feedback so I can keep making content that’s relevant and helpful for you!

https://forms.gle/Q7z2t3TopyzVB77G6

—-

If you’re feeling unhappy with your corporate job and looking for some guidance, you can find me on -

(i) Instagram @ongjennifer_

(ii) LinkedIn

(iii) Or download my free guide to finding your passion here.

(iv) Want to work with me 1:1? Sign up for a FREE discovery call to learn more about my career coaching program here.

Ariana is the founder of Forested Foods, an agroforestry enterprise who’s main goal is to combat deforestation. They do this by incentivizing farmers in Ethiopia to grow honey and other products in the forest instead of clearing out the forest to grow crops.

Before starting Forested Foods, Ariana worked at Booz Allen Hamilton as a management consultant.

In this episode she shares -

(i) How she left her consulting job in the US and moved to live in Ethiopia full time

(ii) How she discovered her passion for agriculture

(iii) How she balances having one foot in the supply chain in Ethiopia and one foot in the US with customers of her premium honey

(iv) Why she decided to go to business school

(v) And many more…

In celebration of 3 months of podcasting - I’d love it if you could leave me your feedback so I can keep making content that’s relevant and helpful for you!

https://forms.gle/Q7z2t3TopyzVB77G6

—-

If you’re feeling unhappy with your corporate job and looking for some guidance, you can find me on -

(i) Instagram @ongjennifer_

(ii) LinkedIn

(iii) Or download my free guide to finding your passion here.

(iv) Want to work with me 1:1? Sign up for a FREE discovery call to learn more about my career coaching program here.

Adrian is the founder of Liquefy, a technology platform that uses blockchain to tokenize illiquid assets such as real estate, and mutual funds. Outside of Liquefy, he is also an angel investor in FinTech startups.

Before starting Liquefy, Adrian worked at BlackRock as an ESG analyst.

In this episode he shares -

(i) What tokenization and blockchain means

(ii) The power of relationships and how to start building your network from zero

(iii) Not all emails are spam - a hilarious story on how he landed a major deal in UAE

(iv) How to find a Chief Technology Officer and why they might not need to be the best coder

(v) And many more…

—-

If you’re feeling unhappy with your corporate job and looking for some guidance, you can find me on -

(i) Instagram @ongjennifer_

(ii) LinkedIn

(iii) Or download my free guide to finding your passion here.

(iv) Want to work with me 1:1? Sign up for a FREE discovery call to learn more about my career coaching program here.

Michelle Yuan is the founder of Asia Wedding Network, Asia's largest online wedding platform for couples planning their big day. She has been awarded Forbes 30 Under 30 for her work with Asia Wedding Network.

Before this, Michelle graduated from Columbia University and started her career at JP Morgan investment bank in equity sales and was a journalist at WSJ, Reuters and Forbes. 

In this episode she shares -

(i) What inspired her to start her business

(ii) How to grow a two sided marketplace business where you have to grow both vendors and customers at the same time

(iii) How she expanded beyond Hong Kong to multiple countries in Asia

(iv) How she pivoted her business during COVID-19

(v) The power of search engine optimization over paid ads

(vi) And many more…

You can find out more about Asia Wedding Network at https://asiaweddingnetwork.com/

—-

If you’re feeling unhappy with your corporate job and looking for some guidance, you can find me on -

(i) Instagram @ongjennifer_

(ii) LinkedIn

(iii) Or download my free guide to finding your passion here.

(iv) Want to work with me 1:1? Sign up for a FREE discovery call to learn more about my career coaching program here.

Chris and Raena are the co-founders and married couple behind Style Theory - Southeast Asia’s largest fashion subscription rental platform, where for a monthly fee, you can rent clothes and designer bags and get access to an unlimited closet. Style Theory was founded just 4 years ago in 2016 and has since expanded beyond Singapore into Indonesia and Hong Kong. To support its growth, the company is venture backed and just closed its Series B in 2019.

Before starting Style Theory, Chris started his career as a management consultant at Bain & Co, and Raena worked at Goldman Sachs in the Prime Brokerage division. 

In this episode they share -

(i) Why they left their corporate careers to start Style Theory

(ii) How they tested demand for their product at the beginning and what their minimum viable product (MVP) looked like

(iii) How they built a business in fashion with no prior experience or connections to the fashion world

(iv) How the fundraising process works in Southeast Asia

(v) How they went about hiring and in particular what they did when they didn’t have a CTO (Chief Technology Officer) at the beginning

(vi) What it’s like working together as a married couple

(vii) And many more…

You can find out more about Style Theory at https://www.styletheory.co/

—-

If you’re feeling unhappy with your corporate job and looking for some guidance, you can find me on -

(i) Instagram @ongjennifer_

(ii) LinkedIn

(iii) Or download my free guide to finding your passion here.

(iv) Want to work with me 1:1? Sign up for a FREE discovery call to learn more about my career coaching program here.

Jasmine is a Yale graduate and the founder of PIM (Purpose in Motion), a social enterprise focused on teaching young leaders in China how to be the social entrepreneurs of the future. PIM has two main arms - (1) where they partner with universities to offer immersive courses to teach students the business behind philanthropy, and (2) is an accelerator program that incubates social impact start ups. 

Along the way, Jasmine has been awarded Forbes 30 under 30 for her work with PIM, and aside from her day job running PIM, she is also part of the Gates Foundation Goalkeepers Initiative and serves as an advisory board member for them.

In this episode she shares -

(i) How she went from a girl who had no idea what she wanted to do after graduating from college to turning her interest in community service into a company

(ii) How she managed to redefine success for herself and found the courage to pursue an alternative career

(iii) How she managed to get the CFO of Alibaba Joe Tsai to reply to her cold email

(iv) The difference between for-profit and non-profit fundraising

(v) What the philanthropy landscape looks like in China

(vi) How she found ways to get the corporate experience since she had never worked in the corporate world

(vii) And many more…

You can find out more about PIM at https://pimglobal.org/

—-

If you’re feeling unhappy with your corporate job and looking for some guidance, you can find me on -

(i) Instagram @ongjennifer_

(ii) LinkedIn

(iii) Or download my free guide to finding your passion here.

(iv) Want to work with me 1:1? Sign up for a FREE discovery call to learn more about my career coaching program here.

Joyce Chiang is a licensed architect, calligrapher, artist and the founder of Joyce Chiang Design Studio.

In this episode she shares how she found the courage to leave her job as an architect, how she found her first corporate customers, how she prices her work, and more.

You can find out more about Joyce via her instagram @joycechiang_ or her website www.joycechiang.co.

She has also been very kind to offer a free guide on the 5 stages of building a creative career, which you can download here - https://view.flodesk.com/pages/5edeb70d2eacb000260d4557

Chris Cheung is a restaurateur and have started multiple food and beverage concepts in Hong Kong, (Bread & Beast, Kong, White Lemon and Black Garlic). After graduating from Columbia University, he started his career doing marketing at Unilever.

In this episode he shares why he left his corporate job, his experience launching multiple F&B concepts in HK and how he has navigated the recent protests in HK and COVID-19.

Feel stuck at your corporate job? Want to quit but unsure what’s out there? Or maybe you already have a side hustle but you’re not sure how to translate it into a full time career? Welcome to Ctrl+Alt+Career, a podcast where we will be sharing stories of those in Asia who have successfully taken the leap from their corporate job to an alternative career.

In this first episode, get to know your host Jennifer Ong and hear her candid story from a well paid job in finance to life at a fashion start up, and why she decided to start this podcast.