At e27, we have kickstarted a new articles series called work-life balance to learn more about tech enablers and executives and their lives beyond working hours.
As the Marketing and Content Manager, Sheryl Chen leads marketing, content strategy, partnerships, and community programmes at at Qualgro. Previously, she was a Programme Manager at Google Cloud for Startups, covering events, programmes and partnerships across JAPAC.
Chen holds a Bachelor’s in Sociology and a Minor in Entrepreneurship from Nanyang Technological University.
She is a regular contributor of articles for e27 (you can read her thought leadership articles here).
In this candid interview, Chen talks about her personal and professional life.
How would you explain what you do to a 5-year-old?
This is tough! I still struggle to tell my relatives what I do during Lunar New Year gatherings, but I recently had a crash course on Baby Shark, so let me try.
Baby Shark wants to create a company that solves some of the world’s most significant problems, from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. His solution knows no bounds. Baby Shark needs seashells to start his company to expand from his Sea Hometown to the Global Oceans.
Baby Shark seeks help from a V.Sea, a school of fish, which gives him seashells, dishes out advice, and helps him meet other sea creatures to help him in his quest.
The V.Sea, a school of fish, has many different roles, all of which are important. Some of them give out seashells, some advise the other sea creatures on where to look for the best food, and some make sure that the school of fishes are in the best shape to perform their roles.
My role at the V.Sea is to help Baby Shark look good when he is ready to put his best fin forward, so the world will know of the fantastic work that he has done! Baby Shark also has friends who have big dreams to change the world, and I hope to help them.
PS: Pinkfong, please hit me up if you want to do a series on popular but unconventional careers (e.g., data scientists, project managers) so we can tell the wee ones that there is more to life than being a doctor or lawyer.
What has been the biggest highlight/challenge of your career so far?
My biggest challenge was to pick myself up after being displaced thrice.
My heart is in pain with the current spate of layoffs. I am not a stranger to them. I’ve experienced my restructuring and was made redundant three consecutive times. This is something that I wish nobody had ever experienced, and each time I see news of mass layoffs, my heart breaks for the affected individuals.
I hold no grudge against the organisations I worked for and still keep them in high regard. They were all business decisions, and I tried my best in each role.
I spent a lot of time grieving each role and the future I thought I had, and each time felt like a kick in the gut. I didn’t know who I was outside of work and struggled to find meaning and value in life. I had days where I was unable to pull myself out of bed. I regret not reaching out to industry friends to ask for help or introductions earlier.
Also Read: Blockchain promises to be as foundational and indispensable as the internet: Amit Ghosh of R3
I started going to therapy, and we worked on building a sense of self outside of work and reframing my self-talk to be kinder to myself. Most importantly, how I shouldn’t let these setbacks define my career.
It took me a few years to be ready to share what happened to me, and only when I started sharing my vulnerabilities did I learn that it was more common than I thought and LinkedIn feeds (primarily) only show the glitzy side of peoples’ lives.
To anyone who is struggling and needs a listening ear, I’m here if you want to talk. Take all the time you need to grieve and heal. When you’re ready, pick yourself up, knowing that you have people around to support you. Know that what happened to you didn’t come from lack but was a factor of market conditions and business decisions.
How do you envision the next five years of your career?
I still see myself connecting people to people, people to ideas, and people to resources. It’s what sparks joy in me.
What are some of your favourite work tools?
Notion, EverNote, Trello, and Notability for iPad for time boxing (or old-school pen and paper work too).
What’s something about you or your job that would surprise us?
I unintentionally went viral twice.
The first time was because I stood up to a racist commuter on the bus. The second time was on TikTok when I filmed two cats at the right place at the right time.
Do you prefer WFH, WFO, or hybrid?
Hybrid. I still appreciate WFO because of the productivity, sharing, and cross-pollination of ideas. However, WFH is still better for me when I need to be creative and ideate.
What would you tell her if you could reach out to your younger self?
Your identity shouldn’t just be limited to what you do at work.
A friend once sent me this HBR article: What Happens When Your Career Becomes Your Whole Identity.
The article asks the reader five questions:
- How much do you think about your job outside of the office? Is your mind frequently consumed with work-related thoughts? Is it challenging to participate in conversations with others that are not about your work?
- How do you describe yourself? How much is this description tied to your job, title, or company? Are there any other ways you would describe yourself? How quickly do you tell people you’ve just met about your job?
- Where do you spend most of your time? Has anyone ever complained that you are in the office too much?
- Do you have hobbies outside work that do not directly involve your work-related skills and abilities? Are you able to consistently spend your time exercising other parts of your brain?
- How would you feel if you could no longer continue in your profession? How distressing would this be to you?
If we take a step back, we should also see that having a job is one of the many roles you play in your life. You can be a manager at work, but you are a daughter, wife, girlfriend, or mother.
I want to challenge you not to limit your identity to your roles. Sure, these are essential aspects, but what’s more important is the traits that make you who you are.
Also Read: Try to look at the world through a beginner’s eyes: Joey Alarilla of Playfix.io
So instead of How is Sheryl like? She’s a super hard worker, and she tries her best in everything she does. She’s executed xx conferences, worked with xx speakers, and put together xx minutes of stage content which achieved xx NPS score and xx audience turnout.
I would reframe it to Sheryl is exceptionally empathic, and I know she will always have my back. She’s also super compassionate, and she even gave herself a crash course on caring for neonatal kittens so that she could foster a two-day-old kitten. She’s also a great cook, and her memes are impeccable.
Can you describe yourself in three words?
Empathic, compassionate, resilient.
What are you most likely to be doing if not working?
Find me where the animals are!
After my third layoff, I started volunteering at a local no-kill shelter. They are home to over 100 dogs, 300 cats, and a couple of terrapins.
I upkeep my animal TikTok account, taking advantage of the following I gained from my one-hit wonder to educate the public to adopt and not shop. But content creators know how tiring churning out content is hence the word ‘try.’
What are you currently reading/listening to/ watching?
Unfortunately, I have a very short attention span for non-fiction books, so I toggle between a few books.
During a recent event we hosted, my portfolio company founders recommended a few books they keep returning to. I immediately carted the books out.
They are:
- High Output Management by Andrew S. Grove
- The Great CEO Within by Matt Mochary
I’m reading ‘You’re About to Make a Terrible Mistake’ by Olivier Sibony, a Senior Advisor at Qualgro. He talks about why organisations make terrible mistakes due to cognitive biases and how to create processes and environments to make better decisions.
I read fiction books like candy, and my all-time favourite author is Jeanette Winterson because she makes me feel all my emotions.
—
Join the e27 contributor community of thought leaders and share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.
The post Your identity should not be limited to what you do at work: Sheryl Chen of Qualgro appeared first on e27.