The Paper Lantern

[Episode 13] Emily Fang - Community Ops in FinTech, Being a Digital Nomad, and Creating Communities

Emily Fang is a Community Operations Strategist at Stripe, where she focuses on developing and fostering communities for one of the most impactful FinTech startups in the world. Emily is a Taiwanese-American who spent most of her life in California before moving to Singapore as a digital nomad. Beyond her day job, she is a passionate content creator and is the co-founder of AsianFemaleNomads, a global network of career-oriented women on IG and Facebook. She also creates videos for her personal YouTube channel “The Fang Girl" where she talks about her career in tech, living abroad in Singapore, and interviews diverse friends and guests.  You can follow her content here: Instgram: https://www.instagram.com/asianfemalenomads/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheFangGirl

[Episode 12] Alton Wong - Account Exec at Google on Career-Life Goals, People Intelligence, and 'Life Abroad Culture'

Alton Wong is a veteran of the marketing & sales world who has worked at leading Tech Companies including Microsoft, Salesforce, LinkedIn, and TikTok. Originally from Markham, a suburb of Toronto, Canada, Alton spent the last 2 years living abroad in Singapore. A trusted friend and fellow Cantonese expat, Alton shares his journey from studying accounting, breaking into the marketing world, and realizing his 'superpowers' as a high EQ sales leader. We cover a lot of ground and go deep into his experiences living in Asia, and relays his lessons learned about life goals, career experiences, and always being curious about learning new skills.

[Episode 11] Melania Lotti - Finance Analyst at The World Bank on Global Experiences, Economic Development, and Non-Linear Career Paths

Melania Lotti is an Infrastructure Finance Analyst at The World Bank, an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries. In this wide-ranging conversation, Melania shares her journey from growing up in a small town near Florence, Tuscany to moving her studies and career abroad to the USA, South Korea, and eventually to Singapore. She is one of the most global-minded people I've ever met and her work contributes directly to making the world a better place.  In this episode we talk about her early youth and the formative experiences that led her to pursue a career in public policy and economic development. We dive into the differences between humanitarian work, philanthropy, and economic development, before sharing some life/career advice centered on the non-linear nature of career paths.  Melania is living proof of the advice and wisdom that she shares with us:  We can constantly shape and re-shape our destiny; our futures are malleable. You can be a good person, do good for the world, follow our own values, and be successful.

[Episode 10] Philip Man - 'Port' CEO/Founder and Innovation Coach on Startup Real Talk and First Time Founder Struggles

Philip Man is the CEO and Co-Founder of Port, an early stage travel-tech company. Man is a Dutch-Chinese startup founder who spent his early career as a Product Manager and an Innovation Coach traveling to clients all around the world. In this episode, we go deeper into his international and multi-cultural upbringing in the Netherlands, his experiences as a corporate innovation coach, and the highs and lows of being a startup founder,  Some of the best advice he shares is to "get started before you're ready" - that sometimes you have to take the plunge and execute before you're 100% ready.

[Episode 9] Michael Wang - Startup Marketer and Semi-Pro Beatboxer on Balancing Priorities and Finding Joy

Michael Wang is a Sr Manager at Databricks, a B2B data analytics company based in SF, as who focuses on demand generation and marketing operations. Beyond his day job, Michael is a passionate musician who is a classically-trained pianist and a semi-professional beat boxer. He is a member of of Business Casual, an award-winning a capella group, that performs and competes internationally.  I've known Michael since our high school days and have always loved spending time talking with him about startups, current affairs, and leading a well-balanced life. He and his younger brother Gary are both dynamic and gifted athletes on the badminton and basketball court. Michael is one of the most humble, well-mannered, and well-rounded people I know, and I've been eager to  to pick his brain on a multitude of topics. From 'figuring out' what he wanted to do with his career, to balancing his hobbies and family within his busy schedule, Michael offers a lot of introspection and advice on how he does it. Time Stamps: 23:30 Hard and Soft Skills 30:00 Musical Journey: Piano, Beatboxing, to joining ‘Business Casual’ semi-pro music group 43:00 Time Management and How to Prioritize: Finding TIme vs Making Time, Athletics; 5/25 48:00 Fixing Bad Habits 52:00 Life Lessons from Learning to Sing/Beat Box: Breath Control; Confidence and Conquering Shyness; Mindful Practice & Knowing your Target 58:00 Finding a Good Mentor: Personality match; type of person + how they express; self-awareness and presentation Links: Sign of the Beaver Link Business Casual - A Capella Group Link Warren Buffett’s 5/25 Strategy for Prioritizing Link