Alumni Stories

SMU Class of 2019’s SMU Salutatorian Award and CIRCLE Award Winner, Tan Rui Feng (BBM & BSocSc 2019), was a student leader who wore many hats.

For Eugene Tan (BAcc & BBM 2019), life is a journey – in his speech to his peers during Commencement on 30 July 2019, the SMU Class of 2019’s SPH Valedictorian recounted his four years in university as

The travel and hospitality industry is not a field most people imagine our graduates entering upon graduation. They would not be too far off from the truth; according to the SMU Dato' Kho Hui Meng Career Centre, less than 1% of our graduates actually do. It is thusly admirable that pioneer-batch alumna, Ho Shyn Yee (BBM, 2004), bucked the trend and impressively built a lifelong career in travel and hospitality, growing from strength to strength with each step.

(A snapshot of the couple in Maldives, their most memorable place on Earth) 

Meet Natasha Toh (BBM 2013), one-half of the dynamic duo behind The Fun Empire.

As an international university student living alone at Prinsep Street Residences back in 2009, Jay Lim Jae Won (BBM 2012) would rely on fast food as his staple. Never considering himself a ‘foodie’, he appreciated the accessibility and affordability of the local McDonald’s in between his studies and his internship.

Since his undergraduate days at SMU, Kenny Lim (BSc(Econ) 2017) had demonstrated a keen interest in the maritime sector. As the President of the SMU Maritime Club in 2016, and the recipient of the Maritime Economics Excellence Award, these accolades testified to his dedication in the sector. Starting his career in the maritime industry upon graduation seemed an obvious choice.

For School of Economics graduate Wang Li Jun (BSc(Econ) 2010), learning does not end upon receiving one's certificate. Having graduated from SMU nine years ago, she is now the Operation General Manager for Premium Distribution Co. Ltd. However, she returned regularly to her alma mater to pursue courses offered by the SMU Academy. To date, she had attended not just one, but three courses across the fields of digital marketing and design thinking.

Many of you may know of Candlenut, the world’s first Michelin-starred Peranakan restaurant that serves refined Peranakan cuisine, but did you know it is helmed by an SMU alumnus? Meet Malcolm Lee (BBM, 2009), Chef and Owner of Candlenut. Nursing a passion for cooking since young, Malcolm took the unconventional route of going to university, before embarking on culinary school and starting a restaurant in 2010.