▶ #1 Dr William Tan
Scientist, doctor, wheelchair marathon champion, philanthropist
Duration of stay at event: 2pm to 6pm
At the age of two Dr. William Tan was paralyzed from the waist down with Polio, but overcame this adversity. This NUS Alumnus majored in Biology and Psychology to pursue his dream to become a scientist and medical doctor. Holder of the First Class Honours in Physiology, this Harvard University Fullbright Scholar and Oxford University's Raffles Scholar also trained at the world-renowned Mayo Clinic in the USA.
He is an international wheelchair marathon champion, competing in the 1988 Seoul Paralympics, the Commonwealth Games, the Asia-Pacific Games, the London and Boston Marathons.
He realized that, "winning trophies or prize money should not be the aim, but a means to help people." He's devoted to charity fundraising. His ultra marathons include pushes accross the length of New Zealand, Singapore to Penang, Thailand to Singapore, Boston to New York to Washington DC, raising over $16 million.
▶ #2 Raymond Anthony Fernando
Silver Ribbon (Singapore)
Duration of stay at event: 10am to 4pm
Raymond is a motivational speaker, poet, author, trainer, songwriter, freelance television actor, regular newspaper forum page writer and a mental health activist. The author of 11 books is also a caregiver to his wife, Doris who is coping with schizophrenia and depression and advanced arthritis. (Raymond has 37 years’ experience in caring for his wife.)
▶ #3James Ong
Singapore Association for the Deaf
Duration of stay at event: 10am to 6pm
James is working as Executive Officer (Programme/Volunteer Coordination) at the Singapore Association for the Deaf (SADeaf). He is deaf.
Note: An interpreter will be present to help translate your questions and facilitate the conversation.
▶ #4 Norani Othman
Action for Aids Singapore
Duration of stay at event: 1.30pm to 4pm
Norani is a Positive Living Centre (PLC) Manager. PLC was set up based on the need to provide Action For Aids’ support groups with a communal safe place for PLHIV to come together for counseling and peer support.
Norani: “I think (people) should learn how HIV is transmitted and understand that despite their infection, a HIV positive person is the same person pre-infection.”
▶ #5 Nazli Anwari
Alternative healing practitioner
Duration of stay at event: 10am to 2pm
Nazli runs a company called Medicine Woman that deals with healing through herbs. She has over 30 years of experience with different schools of traditional healing like Jamu, Ayurveda and Reiki.
▶ #6 Singapore Contemporary Young Artists (SCYA)
Duration of stay at event: 10am to 4pm
Singapore Contemporary Young Artists is a society that aims to generate interest in Contemporary Art and Art by Singaporean/PR Young Artists to enable further discussion and practice of Art in Singapore. SCYA’s objective is to encourage relationships between Young Singaporean/PR Artists with communities, schools, corporate and government sectors to increase appreciation of Contemporary Art by Young Artists in Singapore.
The Society comprises a team of Artists, Art Educators, Art Administrators, Art Students & Art Enthusiasts, who are bound by the common purpose and passion of promoting Contemporary Art by Young Artists in Singapore.
▶ #7 Ashwin Subramaniam
A banking analyst by profession and an avid triathlete, sportsman, founder of Gone Adventurin’
Duration of stay at event: 10am to 1pm
Gone Adventurin’ is a Singapore‐based social enterprise which creates, manages and leads outdoor adventure‐based charity challenges. Their adventure‐based projects raise funds and awareness to support charities tackling various social issues such as education, environmental sustainability, sustainable livelihoods development and animal welfare in Singapore as well as in other countries. There are also unique documentary films and media elements from each of their adventures to enable huge amounts of awareness for the charities.
▶ #8 ShiGGa Shay
Hip-hop artist (rapper), music producer, songwriter and entrepreneur
Duration of stay at event: 2pm to 4.30pm
In 2010, ShiGGa Shay wrote and recorded his debut mixtape, "ShiGGa Shay's in the Building!" entirely in his bedroom. Due to the popularity of his videos, he has been made a Youtube Partner in September 2011. Most of his videos are self-directed along with the film crew Grizzle Films which he founded. The debut single ‘Let’s Roll’ has already landed in the 98.7FM Top 20 Hits charts in November 2011.
▶ #9 Heng Siok Tian
Local poet
Duration of stay at event: 2pm to 5pm
Heng Siok Tian began writing as an undergraduate while at The National University of Singapore. She has since published 5 collections of poetry - Mixing Tongue (2011), Is My Body A Myth (2011), Contouring (2004), My City, My Canvas (1999), and Crossing The Chopsticks and Other Poems (1993).
Besides poetry, she wrote short stories and has also been translated into Italian as part of the collection Sedici Racconti Dell’Asia Estrema (16 Stories from the Far East). Heng’s short play The Lift was staged in 1991 and read at the 3rd International Women’s Playwrights’ Conference in Adelaide, Australia in 1994.
▶ #10 Jeanne Seah, Khong Yoon Kay
Founders of Joan Bowen Cafe
Duration of stay at event: 10am to 6pm
The Joan Bowen Café was established by Khong Yoon Kay and Jeanne Seah as a unique arts themed café cum culinary centre with a new and innovative approach for training and imparting essential life-long skills to young adults with special needs. The café works with and trains up to 10 youths per day with the support of a team of experienced chefs and service personnel using a set of structured learning tools.
▶ #11 Vocaluptous
Local musicians
Duration of stay at event: 2pm to 4pm
Vocaluptuous is Singapore's Premier A Cappella Group. Musically, Vocaluptuous is adventurous, funky and refreshing, preferring an eclectic mix of music styles like traditional, jazz, bossa nova, R&B and pop and diverse languages ranging from Chinese, Malay, Japanese, Italian, Portuguese and even Hindi. Vocally unique and visually entertaining, Vocaluptuous ranks at the top of the list of a cappella talents in Singapore.
Cosplayer
Duration of stay at event: 10am to 2pm
Rosa got attracted to cosplay due to her love for anime and manga. She finds it especially enjoyable to be with her cosplay friends as she feels that they are able to understand one another and mentioned that cosplayers sometimes choose to play certain characters as these characters possess certain characteristics that they would like to emulate such as courage, strength or even beauty. Rosa realises that some people may not fully understand cosplaying. She would like the public to know that they are welcome to support, interact, take pictures of cosplayers and understand them better.
▶ #13 Phoon Kok Hwa
Publisher
Duration of stay at event: 2pm to 6pm
Phoon Kok Hwa is a Publisher at Candid Creation Publishing, where he has spent the last decade helping aspiring authors to get their books written, published and distributed. Kok Hwa is a literary agent at heart, nurturing and extracting the potential book out of every aspiring author. He believes that authors can come from all walks of life, and are most compelling when they are themselves, writing about a subject that is close to their hearts. Kok Hwa continues to look for the distinct literary voices emerging from Singapore and Asia. His hope to broaden the appeal of Singapore's published works continues to fuel his passion and creative flair for helping authors identify personally compelling narratives to drive their writing style.
