What went well?

My last week with UWS! I spent this week tying my loose ends on projects I’d started; blog posts, social media posts, finishing up compiling research figures. I also did site visits for two programs this week -  one with an ITE College Central and the other with Deloitte Singapore. I particularly enjoyed both of these experiences for different reasons.

The ITE workshop was about gender roles, values and sexual health. The facilitator of the session was externally sourced, but UWS partnered with them and the school to deliver the session to the ITE’s student leaders. ITE students are stigmatized in Singapore because ITEs are seen as delivering the lowest level of post-secondary education, focusing mainly on technical skill and work-readiness rather than empirical research and critical thinking. ITE students are those who achieve lower grades in junior college (an equivalent of high school). I’d really wanted to meet these students to understand what brought them to the school. During the workshop, I observed how keen and resourceful the students were; they were engaging in what they were learning at every point in the session.

There was a particular student whose story deserves to be amplified across Singapore. This student jokingly commented that what he cared most about was making money. In response, the facilitator asked him what he did to earn money. He responded by listing off a long list of jobs and roles he held towards supporting himself. The facilitator, surprised at his long list of activities just as I was, asked him “how do you balance all these things?”. To which he shot back “balance, lah”.

What he shared would put Singaporeans to shame; although ITE students don’t achieve the best grades, they handle many competing responsibilities. This moment made me realize that what drew me to women’s empowerment work was the structural violence that creates inequality, and that this structural violence creates more unequal outcomes than I’d initially noticed.

What could have been done differently?

Aside from wishing I’d started on my handover list sooner, this was another cosmically perfect week.

What did I learn about myself when working with others?

You need to balance adapting to a new workflow and bringing your own ideas to the table. You can’t join a group and impose your ideas on them, even if you are familiar with the space you are working in. But it’s also important to have your own flair or unique mark on the work you do. Working in a team is about knowing when you can make contributions and when it’s more important that you support others.  

What did I learn about leadership?

As I cleaned up my desk this week, I thought about the person I was when I first entered the office. I thought about how normal it became for me to walk in, see my nametag, take my seat and start on the day’s tasks. It forced me to reflect on how minimizing the time I spent treating myself as a beginner or “just the intern” helped me maximize my time with UWS. This week, I learned that leadership means refraining from infantilizing yourself.

What do I want to develop or focus on next?

Observing such a different way of life in Singapore prompted me to consider my core values – what do I hold dear to me, and what am I willing to experiment with? What things challenge me, and when has something gone beyond my abilities? I ended up creating a list filled with my fundamental non-negotiable principles, akin to a personal Constitution. Moving forward from my LiA, I want to continue testing my principles and seeing how I can build a career that is best suited to my ideals.