When Debbie Soon arrived in Los Angeles at the start of 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic had brought the world to a standstill.
While family and friends were hunkering down in Singapore, Ms Soon had other plans.
Leaving behind a stable role at mixed martial arts organisation ONE Championship – where she worked after completing her scholarship bond and also at Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC – she packed her bags and moved halfway across the world to the United States without a job waiting for her on the other side.
The 36-year-old: “I’d always wanted to experience living and working in the US … I was just, like, ‘You know what? I’m going to take a leap of faith and I’m just going to move and I’ll see what happens’.”
That seemed to be her approach to most things – just take the plunge and see where it would lead.
I stumbled upon Ms Soon’s profile online and was struck by her varied curriculum vitae and unconventional career trajectory. Curious to learn more, I spoke with her to find out how a Singaporean who once followed the traditional academic track ended up forging such a unique path.
While clocking full-time hours at GIC, she opened one of the first boutique spin studios in Singapore. After GIC, she pivoted to the world of mixed martial arts before moving to the US and diving headfirst into the uncharted waters of Web3, a blockchain-based internet that uses decentralised technology to operate.
While cooped up in Los Angeles during the pandemic, a chance online meeting with Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg’s older sister Randi led to the duo launching HUG, a social marketplace for artists to showcase and sell their digital and physical work.
