Sandy Oh (PPE, 1990)
From DJ-ing to banking to global experience design consulting, Sandy’s career path wasn’t planned but they have all been stepping stones to where she is now!
My romantic notion of English schools stemmed from a steady diet of Enid Blyton books as a child. Growing up in Singapore, the thought of studying in Oxford or Cambridge seemed like a faraway fantasy; until I heard about a small group of British tutors in a top Singapore junior college who were highly successful fielding students to Oxbridge. I eagerly applied to join their course, and it was through them, I landed at Hertford. They must have sensed that Hertford’s open and down-to-earth personality suited me and they were right. I am forever grateful to them for setting me on a path that led to such huge positive ramifications.
The world can be divided into two camps of people: those who have a clear idea of what they want to be since young, and those who don’t. As a student, I was in the latter camp. After graduating with a PPE degree in 1993, I applied to be a DJ at a Singapore radio station. I lacked a career plan but knew that I enjoyed DJ-ing. When the DJ job didn’t pan out (a fortunate thing on hindsight), I took the conservative route and landed in at an investment bank. Over fifteen years, I was on high-pressure trading floors of various banks trading bonds with institutional clients. It was fast-paced and exciting; and having a background in PPE certainly helped me to understand the dynamics of the markets and be a more effective adviser.
In spite of a successful corporate career, there was a side of me that wanted to do my own thing. I started and ran my own businesses four times, including once to open a bar and restaurant which finally allowed me to satisfy my earlier DJ ambition. Most significantly, it was on the third venture that left the longest lasting impact. In my final year in banking, I worked with a mentor to help me figure out what I really wanted to do with my life.
It was a revelatory and transformational process which led me to leave banking and become a mentor myself. The experience made me realise the importance of having a personal long term vision – not one dictated by peer pressure, but one that resonates with your innermost being that makes you thrive. It took me in my late 30s to realise the importance of finding purpose in life. So, if you haven’t already done so by now, my advice is to get out there and figure it out. Don’t wait till you hit a mid-life crisis!
Habits become behaviour which become culture at an organizational level. With my knowledge and experience, I want to help individuals and organisations strive towards positive change for better and sustainable outcomes. It is with this purpose that I co-founded Nomadism (http://nomadism.co/). I believe that all experiences connected to a brand and organisation have both internal and external aspects. My co-founder leads the external piece in product, service and brand design; whereas I lead in culture and organisational change.
Would I have predicted that I would be running a global experience design consultancy whilst building a house and sustainable garden in Tasmania, Australia (more of the latter on my blog https://thegrid.ai/calyx/)? Absolutely not. You cannot predict the future but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a plan.