At the age of 22, most of us would be on the lookout for jobs to begin our career in Singapore.
Singaporean Carmen Low, however, had other plans.
Moved to China Alone When She Was 22 Years Old
According to Mothership, it all began when she first visited Shanghai at the tender age of 16 years old. It was love at first sight for her and she vowed that one day she would return to China to work there.
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After graduating from university, she decided to find a job in China and secured a position as an executive at Warner Bros.
Not bad for a fresh grad!
Challenging
Of course, living alone in a foreign country came with its challenges.
All her friends were back home in Singapore, so she had no one but herself to depend on. She could also only afford to rent an old apartment which she had to care for by herself.
Uhh… At 23 years old, the only ‘house skills’ I had was cooking Maggie Mee…Â
Luckily though, she made a couple of expat and local friends over in China and settled in.
Living In China Taught Her That Nothing Is Impossible
Today, she is an entrepreneur in Singapore and has since opened startups like Getai Group, a creative arts curation agency and Afterglow, a farm-to-table restaurant that serves raw, vegetarian food.
It takes a lot of courage to open a business here since failure could mean a loss of a huge amount of money. So why did she do it?
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Well, she credits her experience in China.
“Working in China allowed me to see that nothing is impossible. It forced me to grow up in a very short amount of time.”
“The country gave me the courage to do things that I never even dared to dream of had I never ventured out of Singapore.”
Hard Work Is The Key
According to Carmen Low, anything can happen in China as long as you “have faith and put in the hard work.”
“In China, it is not so much about your experience but your capability in getting things done,” as compared to the “road map for career progression” that Singaporeans have.
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She then recounts how her friend began working at a company as a personal assistant, but soon became the director of the whole department in a matter of years.
Anyone got lobang for this company?
Chinese Are A Lot More Driven
Carmen also believes that though Singaporeans have their own talents, she says “The Chinese are able to make an opportunity out of anything and I hope to see our younger Singaporeans have that spirit, courage and the hunger to learn new things and take up new opportunities globally.”
Her advice?
She is encouraging Singaporeans to hop aboard the China bandwagon to “take up new opportunities globally,” and to see the country for themselves before they believe any assumptions.
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For now, she has plans to expand her businesses to China.
Hopefully, we’ll be able to join as a personal assistant too and eventually move on to become a director!
But jokes aside, you got to admit she’s pretty inspiring.
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