The “Ah-ha!” moment of my life started about 5 years ago in 2006 when I first questioned myself “What is the meaning of life?”. Up until that moment, I was leading a high-flyer life that most of my peers would die for, yet I was starting to feel a void in my life. That void kind of exploded when my parents told me that I have no right to ask that question at that time and tried to impose a higher family allowance on me in an attempt to stop me from thinking about it. As it turned out, their plan backfired and made me all the more determined to look for an answer.
I started reading intensively on books which could shed some light on finding your mission in life. A good friend of mine recommended a book by the Dalai Lama, named "The Art of Happiness". After reading the book, I came to the conclusion that life is simply a journey... whether you live a fulfilled life or not depends on how you choose to live your life, the way you want it and not how others want you to live it. I chose to live it by pursuing the happiness of giving.
Passionate about nature and the environment, I decided that I wanted to commit myself to the cause of environmental conservation. That decision led me to a volunteering stint for 3 weeks in Greece in a Cetacean observation project, followed by a one-year sabbatical trip to Central America, where I sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from the Canary Islands to Bar, volunteered in a Marine and Coastal Conservation Program at Centro Ecológico Akumal (Mexico) and Stream Biomonitoring Program at Asociación ANAI (Costa Rica).
Coming back to Singapore in 2009, I was determined to find work in the green sector, but found that opportunities were mostly limited to engineering background. Undeterred, I decided to set up my own social enterprise in order to help the poor around Asia by leveraging on the various non-profit humanitarian organisations who aim to empower marginalised people in the region and allow them to get out of the vicious cycle of poverty.
Why the change from the environmental cause to a humanitarian one? A good friend reminded me that environmental conservation only makes sense if it was to help mankind because Mother Nature is capable of protecting herself. It would be foolish to think that we can even protect her especially since I have personally witnessed her wrath when she decided to wipe out the whole village where I attended a workshop just a day earlier, with an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 and gushing floods. If we continue in our errand ways to disrespect her, we are the only ones who stand to lose.
Besides, while promoting environmental education and awareness in Costa Rica among the Indigenous community, I learnt that environmental conservation can only be sustained if we work in unity. That is why Mil Soles chooses to source for products that are made from natural or recycled materials, so as to encourage people to be more eco-conscious and reduce the amount of waste going down the rivers in developing countries.
I started reading intensively on books which could shed some light on finding your mission in life. A good friend of mine recommended a book by the Dalai Lama, named "The Art of Happiness". After reading the book, I came to the conclusion that life is simply a journey... whether you live a fulfilled life or not depends on how you choose to live your life, the way you want it and not how others want you to live it. I chose to live it by pursuing the happiness of giving.
Passionate about nature and the environment, I decided that I wanted to commit myself to the cause of environmental conservation. That decision led me to a volunteering stint for 3 weeks in Greece in a Cetacean observation project, followed by a one-year sabbatical trip to Central America, where I sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from the Canary Islands to Bar, volunteered in a Marine and Coastal Conservation Program at Centro Ecológico Akumal (Mexico) and Stream Biomonitoring Program at Asociación ANAI (Costa Rica).
Coming back to Singapore in 2009, I was determined to find work in the green sector, but found that opportunities were mostly limited to engineering background. Undeterred, I decided to set up my own social enterprise in order to help the poor around Asia by leveraging on the various non-profit humanitarian organisations who aim to empower marginalised people in the region and allow them to get out of the vicious cycle of poverty.
Why the change from the environmental cause to a humanitarian one? A good friend reminded me that environmental conservation only makes sense if it was to help mankind because Mother Nature is capable of protecting herself. It would be foolish to think that we can even protect her especially since I have personally witnessed her wrath when she decided to wipe out the whole village where I attended a workshop just a day earlier, with an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 and gushing floods. If we continue in our errand ways to disrespect her, we are the only ones who stand to lose.
Besides, while promoting environmental education and awareness in Costa Rica among the Indigenous community, I learnt that environmental conservation can only be sustained if we work in unity. That is why Mil Soles chooses to source for products that are made from natural or recycled materials, so as to encourage people to be more eco-conscious and reduce the amount of waste going down the rivers in developing countries.
