Clear career paths are so 20th century.
Not that I knew when I started out. Fresh out of school, I landed right in the all-consuming world of crisis PR. Every minute sprouted a new challenge, and no two days were the same. It was a steep learning curve: the ins and outs of corporate deal-making and reputation management, as well as keeping a cool head in every situation. There were speedboat runs on a man-made lake, and punch-ups during public conferences. Trust me, there were punch-ups.
Thankfully, I too had some moments of calm in the years that followed, when I got the opportunity to sharpen my skills and senses in comms at the national securities regulator. It was a chance to gain lifelong professional mentors and associates in the media and financial sectors. Both would prove highly useful when I entered my next phase.
After a short break, I joined the non-governmental sector full-time, first through IMAN Research, and later at Amnesty International’s regional HQ in Bangkok. It wasn’t just new topics to pick up. There were also new logics, funding environments, politics, and security concerns that I had to wrap my head around quickly in order to get the job done.
Meanwhile, back in Malaysia, the country experienced its first peaceful transfer of power in May 2018. I can’t deny that something was calling me to come back even before the call did. So when the call did come, it didn’t take much convincing.
That’s how I found myself back in the public sector, this time as press secretary to Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng. There was a short, surreal moment when I met my old colleagues and associates again. A fleeting moment, before muscle memory kicked in to deal with crises of every kind, large and small. A small part of my story in this role can be read in Parliament, Unexpected, which I’ve posted excerpts of.
Continued in part two.