Category Behind the scenes

01 Mar

A goodbye letter from one of our bright young interns

*Published with permission *

The day that I leave this office finally came.

To be completely honest, there’s a sinking feeling in my chest. I don’t like it. Maybe I’ve just got too comfortable here.

You guys are more than just mere colleagues. Hell, you crackers are more than friends to me. I see you guys as family, as siblings.
Which makes it a whole lotta hard to let go.

It’s time to close this book, and open a new one. And I know I have all of your blessings to go out and do what I wanna do.

Forgive me for any of my wrongdoings. I’m sorry if I offended you with the way I speak. I’m sorry if I accidentally raised my voice at you. I’m sorry if I got snappy. I’m sorry for isolating myself for way too long. I’m sorry.

But at the same time thank you.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to learn so much.
Thank you for taking a risk with me.
Thank you for believing in me and my limited abilities.
Thank you for the random hugs, the jokes and the laughs.
Thank you for turning me into a much, much happier person than I was before.
Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

But it’s not like I’m gonna die or anything right? So if you just feel like hanging out, I’m just a phone call/text/tweet away. Drop me an email. I’ll drop by the office lor to visit. And I’ll bring cookies :D

“Weekend warriors and our best friends
The writers weren’t kidding about how all good things must end
Then again some things, then again some things are far too good
Some things are far too good to go ahead and let go

Always up or down, never down and out
Dream of demons when you speak, that make you stutter when you sleep
Always up or down, never down and out
Dream of demons when you speak, that make you stutter when you sleep
Sleep now or forever hold your peace

We won’t forget Tony or Johnny
No matter how they miss us they still wish us the best on the road
Garrett took a plane to Paris, France
Now he’s cooking up entrees for the pretty pretty French girls
Bookends, Blue and Clarity to The Wall and Grace
Darkside, Wish and a toast to the Late Figure 8
Weekend warriors and our best friends
The writers weren’t kidding but the good things will live in our hearts”
- ‘Down and Out’ by The Academy Is (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQQNSMJ6me8)

This is a blog post I made yesterday, but it’s in Bahasa Malaysia. If you wanna read it, this is the link. :)

You guys are amazing. Don’t let other people tell you otherwise.

Forever grateful – your ex-colleague, your friend
Lina Halizah binti Abdul Halim

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08 Feb

Our co-founders are in ONE Young World!

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Our co-founders, Joel Neoh and Khailee Ng  were selected to represent Malaysia in the One Young World, a global leadership summit for young leaders. The inaugural summit took place on Feb. 8-10, 2010, in London.

During the One Young World Summit, together with 1000 young pioneers from 192 countries, Joel and Khailee were guided, counselled, considered and voted on the One Young World resolutions. As decision makers of the future, they had plenary discussions about issues that are affecting and would eventually affect our world, such as global health, political leadership, interfaith dialogue, media, business and environment, were guided by the One Young World Counsellors.

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02 Jan

Ministry of Youth & Sports picks co-founder of Youth Asia as part of the National Youth Consultative Council

It started with a phone call.

A few meetings. Then a letter.

Our co-founder Joel Neoh was amongst one of 20 appointed to join the Majlis Perundingan Belia Negara, or the National Youth Consultative Council for 2009-2010.

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11 Dec

Joel speaks at MyLDS – AIESEC’s largest anual leadership seminar

Amongst many awesome individuals, our co-founder Joel was invited to speak at AIESEC’s Malaysia Leadership Development Seminar (MyLDS) held in Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) last December 6-11, 2009.

MyLDS (3)Joel Neoh talks about his experiences in entrepreneurship

MyLDS was another activity of AIESEC in Malaysia which aims to provide an international platform for young people to explore and develop their leadership potential for them to have a positive impact in society.
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This six-day workshop brought together about 500 AIESECers and young people from universities and colleges from Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and India. The delegates aspired to be leaders and change agents for their societies. Some of the featured topics which stirred their emotions and interest were about HIV/AIDS, Entrepreneurship, and Environmental Sustainability.

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10 Dec

Position Open: Youth Research Manager

This position is currently open.

Responsibilities:
We are looking for a managerial level person who has strong market research technical knowledge (both quantitative and qualitative experience required), yet versatile enough to quickly learn and eventually represent Youth Asia well for our other range of products (Campus event activation, social media marketing and youth festival).

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05 Dec

AIESEC selects Joel as a Supervisory Group Member

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Joel Neoh, co-founder of Youth Asia has been selected as a Supervisory Group Member of AIESEC.
As a Supervisory Group Member, Joel will oversee the overall organization and management of all AIESEC projects.
AIESEC is a global, non-political, independent and not-for-profit organization run by students and recent graduates of institutions of higher learning. Its members are interested in world issues, leadership and management. AIESEC does not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, gender, sexual orientation, creed, religion, national, ethnic or social origin.
It is the world’s largest student organization, an international platform for young people to discover and develop their potential so as to have a positive impact in society.

Our Executive Director Joel Neoh has been selected as a Supervisory Group Member of AIESEC!

On top of his (huge pile of) duties in Youth Asia, Joel now has something new on his plate: he will now oversee the overall organization and management of all AIESEC projects.

Watch this space for more exciting collaborations with AIESEC! :)

AIESEC is a global, non-political, independent and not-for-profit organization run by students and recent graduates of institutions of higher learning. Its members are interested in world issues, leadership and management. AIESEC does not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, gender, sexual orientation, creed, religion, national, ethnic or social origin. It is the world’s largest student organization, an international platform for young people to discover and develop their potential so as to have a positive impact in society.

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18 Nov

Khailee & Joel to judge the 9th HSBC Young Entrepreneur Awards

The 9th HSBC Young Entrepreneur Awards (YEA) will be held in Malaysia for the first time on April 2010.

hsbc

Why is Youth Asia (extra) excited about this?

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31 Aug

What the new generation of young Malaysian marketers really need

I have an issue with young Malaysians. Considering I contribute monthly articles to Marketing magazine about Malaysian youth marketing, I probably have many ‘issues’ with young Malaysians.

But this is a different sort of issue. The kind of issue you would care about if your business relies on marketing to young Malaysians each and every day. Recently, we’ve expanded our operations in a big way, hiring people in the process. The thought arises: How do I hire and train young Malaysians to be top performers at work? How do I turn youths into youth marketing experts?

We’re looking at the next-generation of marketers here. Is it just me, or is there something they need now more than ever?

THE SEARCH FOR TOP MARKETING TALENT

It’s 7pm, and I am in the ‘boom-room’ sofa with my eyes closed, soaking in the sounds of the rain I love so much. I am waiting for shortlisted candidate number 57 to come in. All this is happening after 2 weeks of interviewing and countless CVs.

I hear a knock on the door.

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19 Aug

LEAKED: Spontaneous email to my clients

Dear clients/ friends/ friendly client hybrid mutants….

I’m writing to you spontaneously on a personal, non-work related matter…..

Tonight (THUR) , two very talented local artists (like serious ones who actually make money) and myself, KHAILEE NG the youth-marketer-who-is-not-an-artist-but-cleverly-disguised-as-a-serious-artist will be given truckloads of second-hand makeup, paint, two semi-naked bodies, a bunch of canvasses, and a local arts curator as the DJ playing tunes “you have never heard before”.

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This is part of a Creative United Movement event where people in the creative industries get wasted and hang out in a non-work setting.

Yes.

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18 Aug

Embracing the Youth Movement, Engaging the Next Generation Consumer : Joel at ASLI

Asli_Logo

Joel was recently invited to speak at the Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute Brand and Marketing seminar in 2009.

Amongst the many things he said at the seminar, we distinctively remember this one, which we would like to share with you:

“Much has been said about the potential of the lucrative youth market. Young adults however, do not limit themselves to certain types of media and are in fact digital natives who are totally in tune with technology in every aspect of their lifestyles. Marketing to the youth is no longer just about advertising or media strategies,” he said.

Joel Neoh talked about embracing the youth movement and engaging the next generation consumer in the ASLI’s Brand and Marketing 2009 in Sheraton Imperial Kuala Lumpur Hotel last August 18-19, 2009.

His speaking session covered the following…

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