Influencer Talk: Chasing Dreams and Passions

By Preksha Banerjee

It’s a longstanding debate: can you truly pursue your passion as a career?

On 17 March 2020, NTUSU Integrated Career Opportunities Network (ICON) organised a Fireside Chat Series: Chasing Dreams, which featured lifestyle blogger and Youtuber Yeoh Mongchin (@mongabong) and Mediacorp 987 FM DJ Charmian Tan (@charmiantyx).

With the talk focused on creating and carving out a career from mere passions, our two guest speakers from the media industry shared some wonderful insights on how to get your dreams moving a step towards reality.

Maintaining Your Individuality

As public personas, there is often pressure to fit into a certain stereotype. Both speakers responded that being clear about your personality and individuality allows them to carve out their niche. Figuring out what you like most about yourself, what traits you think sets you apart from others, and then using them to capitalise on your brand image is the best way to go.

Yeoh said: “It’s extremely important to be yourself throughout it all. If you try to be someone else, you won’t be able to keep it up for long and people will eventually realise as well.”

Tan added: “Try to relate everything you do back to yourself so that you do not lose yourself in the process.” For instance, she sees herself as someone who is low-maintenance and likes consistency, and this is reflected in her Instagram Stories which show parts of her daily life and activities. In the process, she is able to share personal anecdotes with her followers, yet stay true to herself.

Relevance & Keeping Up With Trends

Tan gave her two cents on the importance of being relevant as well. “Post things you personally like, but always try to stay relevant to your followers and fans as well,” she added.

Yeoh also mentioned: “It’s a juggle…you’re always trying to ensure that you keep moving with the times in order to create content your followers will relate to, but also never give up on who you are intrinsically!”

Yeoh also emphasised the importance of trying new things, and stepping out of your comfort zone to try and challenge yourself. For her, this meant trying out social media platform Tik Tok, as she saw many of her followers quite involved with it.

Both of them also spoke about the importance of connecting with people of all ages on different social media platforms. Be it Facebook, which the majority of Gen Y is on, or Instagram and Tik Tok, populated by the millennials and Gen Z, they place huge importance on putting authentic and relatable content out there that cater to different age groups.

Do it For Love

All things aside, both Tan and Yeoh are at their happiest when they see their audience gain joy and motivation from their content.

While chasing your passions can be a tough and lonely road, if you are strategic and know how to capitalise on your strengths, you might just be able to do what you love everyday.

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