This is part 3 of a 4- part article, in which I reflected on my own public image from the lenses of clients/ decision-makers. Part 1 sets the context to the reason why I am on this journey of self-reflection, whereas, in part 2, I have used ChatGPT to evaluate my credibility as an Educator, performer, director, producer in the field of education and theatre, based on the available public persona created on the World Wide Web.
That said, I am really aware that part of my image is formed by how I have carried myself in reality. Thus, it was equally important for me to also get opinions from the people closest to me, people who are candid when it comes to giving critiques that can build my character and career. One of them mentioned that this sounded very much like “character assassination”. Dramatic. I know. However, let’s think about it— I was in the forefront of being considered as an emcee for an event meant for young audience, not some political race or position. If anything should be considered, it should have been my background in the education field and my experiences being a performer, director and producer for theatre for young audience. And since it is an event to promote educational videos, shouldn’t they at least look at my education qualification? And if they had looked at that, they would then know that I have a Master in Education (Drama) from the National Institute of Education, the national education centre in training future educators, and as such scaffolding events/ workshops to hype young audience is definitely my strong trait. All this information is widely and publicly made available on the world wide web. My question is why the need to zoom in to my public persona on Tik-Tok and discredit everything else about me that are equally prominent on websites such as Assitej Singapore, Singapore Drama Educator Association (SDEA) and C42? I really do not know what to call this apart from it being a form of character assassination.
Lastly, if you are a parent, how would you want your kid to grow up? Who do want them to be? Do you prefer them to grow up being a one dimensional person, or someone who is multi-faceted/ multi-hyphenated? Just so that you know, our leaders have always been multihyphenated. Here is one prominent examples:
“The late Mr Ong Teng Cheong will always be fondly remembered as the fifth President of Singapore who held office from 1 September 1993 to 31 August 1999. Mr Ong’s presidency was marked by many charity projects and Mr Ong was strongly regarded as a people’s President by the citizens of Singapore. An architect by training, Mr Ong was very passionate about music, the arts and charity. Being an accomplished musician, Mr Ong had a strong love for the piano and occasionally played the piano at public events” – www.nlb.gov.sg
And let’s not forget how the different ministers try to do a dance-off on Tik-Tok to the tune of Taylor Swift’s hits prior to her concerts.
This clearly highlights the need to be versatile, almost chameleon-like in today's society, in order to engage meaningfully with the intended audience/ participants, because at the end of the day, we don't live in silo. We live in a very well-connected society, in which we constantly need to think of various ways to engage and connect with the people around us, be it whether we want to influence them or otherwise. it is no longer enough for you to just be one mould or be known to just have one persona. You need to be multi-hyphenated to have the greatest reach/ influence, to have longevity in whatever field you choose to be.
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