60 Cool And Inspiring Singaporeans You've Seen On Wonderwall.sg
You’ve read about many a cool Singaporean here on Wonderwall.sg. To commemorate the Lion City’s 60th year of independence, we throw the spotlight (again) on 60 individuals who’ve made us go “wow!”. Enjoy (re)-reading their full stories by tapping on their names, and be very inspired!
🎨 The Arts and Creative Expression
IMAGES: ALICE LIM, INSTAGRAM/@EUREKAWANDERS
The sketch artist has challenged herself to undertake the herculean task of sketching all 6500 of Singapore’s shopfronts and shophouses. As of April 2025, Alice has completed over 200 stunning drawings of these iconic urban landmarks.
IMAGES: INSTAGRAM/@CAPTAIN.LULO
Aka Captain LULO, this paper artist turns simple sheets of paper into intricate and detailed masterpieces. Currently, Cheryl is taking a year-long sabbatical from commercial work to refresh and rediscover herself as an artist while engaging in passion projects.
IMAGES: INSTAGRAM/@KUEHMERLION, CLEMENT TEA
This kueh-lover's Instagram account is dedicated to lovingly drawn illustrations of kueh, alongside essay-long captions describing their origins, their taste profiles, and how even tips on how to enjoy them.
Since our interview with Clement, he has published “Kueh-ving! An Illustrated Guide to Southeast Asian Cakes & Snacks”, a 196-page soft-cover book that explores the subject of kueh through 91 different kueh illustrations, along with details on their names, origins, and cultural significance.
IMAGES: DORCAS TANG
The artist and Beyond the Label ambassador transforms personal struggles into a powerful mental health advocacy mission through creative expression. For Dorcas, who was diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and symptoms of an eating disorder, art has always been a sanctuary. “The only place where I felt really at home was in art and writing, where I had a lot more freedom to be creative,” she says.
IMAGE: FAR'AIN JAAFAR
Far’ain wrote a children’s book that charmingly depicts how the blind experience colour, in hopes of raising awareness of the visually impaired community and promoting a kinder, more equitable and inclusive society.
Since our interview with her, she has written a new children’s book called “Sate! | Satay!”. Published in English and Malay, it revolves around our hawker centres and food culture. The book launch raised $1,200, with all proceeds going to Project Hills, a non-profit organisation that advocates for the underprivileged in Singapore.
IMAGES COURTESY OF HAFIZAH (HAFI) JAINAL AND THE MALAY HERITAGE CENTRE
Also known as HAFI, visual artist Hafizah explores themes of cultural identity, womanhood, and modern love through colourful and humorous illustrations.
IMAGES: HO JUN SHENG, AUNTIE ANNE'S SINGAPORE, INSTAGRAM/@MEETMITO
Meet the artist behind Mito, an adorable pea-shaped, Panama hat-wearing green blob whose sticker sets have been downloaded over 87,000 times on Telegram as of April 2025. Jun Sheng also collaborated with Auntie Anne’s to create a canvas tote bag design for their 25th anniversary in Singapore in September 2021. Since our interview with him, he has graduated from NTU and now balances a full-time job with freelance illustration work.
IMAGES: NG KAI (LEFT AND CENTRE) AND INSTAGRAM/@JULIETTEYML
Instead of seeing ADHD as a limitation, Juliette embraced her diagnosis and turned it into a creative superpower, letting it fuel her dynamic, ever-evolving creative process. “I have ADHD and experimenting and risk-taking is not just part of my process – it’s essential to it; it’s how my brain works," she says.
IMAGES: ARTOUTREACHSINGAPORE.ORG (LEFT), AND FELLY LOI AND AMBULANCE WISH SINGAPORE
With the help of Ambulance Wish Singapore, Junyang – who was battling Stage 4 urachal cancer when we spoke to him in January – held a dream solo showcase at Suntec City in January 2025, which he described as “an art exhibition disguised as a living memorial”. Junyang passed away in March, but his legacy lives on.
IMAGES: INSTAGRAM/@KHAIRULFR
This interdisciplinary artist aka Khaitama D. Sun combined his love for music, visual arts and theatre by inventing a technique he calls “Playnting” – painting by using paint-covered drumsticks to create rhythmic patterns across the canvas. The result? Visual pieces that are both stunning and spontaneous.
IMAGES: INSTAGRAM/@XINLI29288
You might know him by his cute moniker Pok Pok & Away, but it his art that is truly captivating and heartwarming. Xin Li captures the minutiae of everyday life with much joy and charm - whether as a small sketch or a massive mural. "I am happy that I get to draw and grateful that there are still interesting projects to work on," he says.
IMAGE: EPIGRAM BOOKS
Both of Xue Shen’s books were longlisted for the Epigram Books Fiction Prize. The best part? They were written on his phone during NS.
IMAGE: FACEBOOK/@CHEAHWILFRED
Wilfred transforms plain old cardboard into intricate miniature models reminiscent of items and memories from old-school Singapore.
IMAGES: SIM DING EN AND FACEBOOK/@YIP.YEWCHONG
At the start of 2023, arguably Singapore’s most prolific muralist completed a 60m long artwork of Singapore comprising 27 canvases depicting scenes of Singapore in the 1970s and 1980s.
Since then, as of early 2024, Yew Chong is undertaking an even more ambitious project. Titled "I Paint My World", he describes it as a painting with an expected length of a few hundred metres, and taking four to five years to paint, depicting places around the world that he has been to, wishes to visit, or otherwise has a connection to.
As part of his project, he plans to travel overseas more frequently and even paint some of the canvases onsite.
🧠 Health, Wellbeing, and Mental Health
IMAGE: ASHLEY TAN
Ashley took the leap to make a major career switch, trading 20 years as a corporate leader for a new calling as a sound healer. Sound healing is an ancient wellness practice that involves the use of sound to balance the mind and body.
IMAGES: YUMMY BROS
16. Ben Leu, Anson Lim, and Gerald Tan
This trio of gym bros collectively founded Yummy Bros, a meal prep delivery service that cooks up healthy and delicious Asian meals which aim to meet all your nutritional needs without leaving you feeling sinful. They also use eco-friendly meal prep boxes to reduce Yummy Bros’ carbon footprint.
IMAGE: TOUCH COMMUNITY SERVICES
Growing up in a tumultuous environment marked by parental strife and abuse from his family’s helper, Edwin internalised his struggles, believing he had no safe space to share his pain. Be inspired by how Beyond the Label ambassador has made use of his own mental health journey to break mental health stigmas in the workplace.
IMAGES: HAFIZ ZAN (LEFT) AND UNSPLASH
Despite being diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 2020, multi-hyphenate JJ (aka local musician Falling Feathers) continues to embrace living life to the fullest.
🤝 Social Impact and Community
IMAGES: INSTAGRAM/@ARTHURCHOO (LEFT) AND SIM DING EN
Inspired by a love for the cajon (a box-shaped drum), Arthur founded BEAT’ABOX, a social enterprise that empowers youths to give back to society through musical events, and Green Drumming, a sustainability focused drumming school.
IMAGES: DYSON LTD
The Singapore national winner of the James Dyson Award in 2023 created the Auxobrace, a vest-like device that makes recovery more comfortable for open heart surgery patients. Since our interview with E Ian, he has begun pursuing his PhD at NUS Division of Industrial Design.
IMAGE: LEARNDIALECT.SG
This husband-and-wife duo founded LearnDialect.sg, an initiative to conduct "dialect classes for healthcare professionals, social workers and volunteers, so that they can better serve dialect-speaking seniors".
During the Covid pandemic, they created three precautionary videos about Covid in Cantonese, Hokkien and Teochew to help seniors understand what they needed to know about the then-current situation.
IMAGES: SAFEDISTANCING.SG (LEFT), JASON LEOW
To help Singaporeans keep up with changing safe distancing rules and guidelines during the pandemic, Jason created safedistancing.sg, a one-stop portal that made it easy to understand and remember the latest rules and restrictions.
While the website is no longer being updated as of February 2023, it remains as an archive and a memoir of the Covid-19 pandemic... and stands ready to be reactivated if need be (touch wood!).
IMAGES: FACEBOOK/@SATA.COMMHEALTH, MANFRED NEO
Inspired by what he saw during the pandemic, this COVID swabber-turned-operations executive now focuses his career on helping migrant workers access affordable, quality healthcare.
IMAGE: ROC KOH
This ex-flight attendant turned CEO of Corridor Farmers was hooked by the kampung spirit of agriculture. His vision? To “put a farm in every corner of Singapore”.
IMAGES: SAKURA SEET
Sakura co-founded personal finance content platform Dare to Finance, and budgeting tool Perfingo to make personal finance accessible for Millennials and Gen Zs.
IMAGES: SAMANTHA BOUNAPARTE
Samantha and her team produce and stage multi-sensory performances for kids with special needs. During the pandemic, they rose to the challenge of transforming their latest production into an online adventure that would capture the audience’s attention, even adding extra engagement in the form of an activity box to go along with the show.
IMAGES: THAM XIN KAI
Xin Kai turned a passion for plants and people into a mission to help others through horticultural therapy. Not only does he design therapeutic gardens in community and healthcare facilities, he also plans nature-based activities, such as workshop sessions, for schoolchildren, the elderly, persons with dementia, and other special needs.
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IMAGE: NDP 2023 EXCO
This 7-member family band bonds by staging volunteer performances to support good causes and family events.
IMAGES: ARCHISEN
Vincent and Sven , founders of local agritech startup Archisen, leverage on technology to yield up to 100 tonnes of vegetables in Singapore a year. Since our interview with them, Archisen has partnered with Malaysia agri-food company FarmByte to develop a smart indoor vertical farm in Johor Bahru.
IMAGES: YASSER AMIN (INSET) AND CLEANANDGREEN.SG
Eco-warrior Yasser has been doing regular beach cleanups every week since National Day 2020.
IMAGES COURTESY OF DAUGHTERS OF TOMORROW, ZULAYQHA ZULKIFLI
Zulayqha co-founded Project Hills, an initiative that provides assistance to low-income families living in rental flats. In the time since our story on her was originally published, she has become a full-time social worker, and won Berita Harian’s Young Achiever of the Year Award in 2024.
🏃 Sports and Fitness
IMAGE: NICK CHEE
Greg founded pro wrestling fitness school Grapple Max in 2017. His teaching style? He believes in the value of having fun to keep his students engaged and coming back for more, but without compromising on discipline.
IMAGE: SWIMRAY
Inspired by their NS stints in the Navy, these ex-JC mates founded SwimRay, a swimming school that imparts crucial swimming skills to all.
IMAGE: IFLY SINGAPORE
With the iFly Singapore wind tunnel, Lawrence managed to change a 40-year-old skydiving syllabus in the SAF and make it part of free-fall training.
IMAGE: SIM DING EN
Razif is the co-founder of Push Pull Give, a fitness social enterprise that has helped ex-offenders, the needy, and the migrant worker community in Singapore.
IMAGES: SIM DING EN
Professional MMA-fighter turned full-time coach Royston Wee is the first and only Singaporean to fight in the prestigious Ultimate Fighting Championship.
IMAGES: INSTAGRAM/@DANTECHENWWE
You might know him as Dante Chen, the first Singaporean (and first Southeast Asian, for that matter) in history to become a WWE Superstar. In the time since our story on him was originally published, he has also debuted on Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) as part of WWE’s partnership with TNA.
👩🍳 The Culinary Arts
IMAGE: SOSPIRI
The Head Chef of South Italian restaurant Sospiri has worked in stellar restaurants, including Tippling Club and the three-hatted Clooney in New Zealand, and was named Junior Chef of the Year at the 2022 World Gourmet Awards.
IMAGES COURTESY OF FELICIA ONG
During the week, Felicia has a full-time job as a strategist in an advertising agency. On the weekends? She spends all her time running Pare, an experimental home-based bakery.
IMAGE: ARAYA
In 2023, Fernanda and her partner opened Araya, Singapore's first Chilean fine dining restaurant, which earned a Michelin star just eight months later.
IMAGES: SOURBOMBE BAKERY
The MasterChef Singapore 2018 runner-up is more than just the baker behind popular donut store Sourbombe Bakery. A self-professed hustler who likes to manifest her dreams, Genevieve also has myriad interests like film and fashion. Since our interview with her, Genevieve Lee has launched a new pop-up concept called Shio and Sato, which is dedicated to the love of Shio pans (Japanese-style salt breads).
IMAGE: SIM DING EN
This bartender has won Flor de Caña’s Sustainable Cocktail Challenge locally three years in a row since 2022, thanks to his eco-friendly outlook on bartending. Most recently, Jez won the grand finals of the Flor de Caña Sustainable Cocktail Challenge in February 2025, becoming the world champion. We'll drink to that!
IMAGE: PROVINCE
Jia-Jun is the chef-owner of Province, a snug 8-seater farm-to-table joint that throws the spotlight on ingredients and flavours of Southeast Asia. Since our interview with him, he has been named Tatler Singapore’s Rising Star Chef of 2025 in the Best-in-class Restaurants category.
IMAGE: ODETTE
Three-Michelin-star restaurant Odette's Head Sommelier was named Sopexa’s Best Sommelier in French Wines (Singapore) in 2021 and 2023.
IMAGE: AIR
As the executive pastry chef at AIR, Natalia pushes boundaries with a philosophy rooted in sustainability and creativity. One of the desserts she created utilises the byproducts of chocolate production (cocoa husks) and coffee production (cascara) to yield brown butter ice cream and candied cascara topped with a crisp banana tuile.
IMAGE: ROSE ANG
Domo's chef-owner has an outstanding résumé that spans famous restaurants like Nobu, luxury hotel openings in Europe and Central Asia, and heading a major Australian catering company.
IMAGES: ANALOGUE
The founder of the award-winning Native bar and restaurant, and plant-based bar Analogue has long been a revolutionary in showing the world what we can do to be better to our environment.
🦄 Unusual Jobs, Uncommon Passion
IMAGES: TIKTOK@/RANGEREATS AND AZIZ SHAFII
Outward Bound Singapore instructor and ex-Ranger Aziz cooks up yummy meals in mess tins on TikTok as @rangereats.
IMAGE: BELINDA CHAN
The former retail manager is now a full-time pet sitter who takes care of cats, dogs, and the occasional chicken.
IMAGES: DARYL ENG JUN
Film director Daryl has shot weddings, documentaries, fashion videos and music videos, turning a passion for watching TV into his career.
IMAGES: SIM DING EN
Singapore Zoo Assistant Curator Delvinder, whose passion lies with “creepy crawlies”, developed the zoo’s Backstage Pass: Incredible Invertebrates tour to educate visitors on the important role that invertebrates play in our ecosystem.
IMAGES: MANDAI WILDLIFE GROUP
Senior Curator with Mandai Wildlife Group Gurusamy has been with Night Safari since its launch in 1994. This passion for animals runs in his family too – his father is a keeper with Singapore Zoo to this day, while one of his children works with primates at River Wonders.
IMAGES: DR HENG WEE SOON
Dr Heng – who was a Platoon Commander in the SAF’s elite Medical Response Force during NS – wins hearts with his entertaining, relatable, and educational social media content.
IMAGES: JAMES TAN
After a decade of working in banking in Melbourne, James returned home to the Lion City. His new calling? Working as a luxury-hotel butler.
IMAGES: JEFFREY KONG @ARTISANBRICKS
Artisan Bricks founder Jeffrey creates Lego brick art pieces inspired by all things local, with some of his past creations including the Merlion, RSAF F-15SG, and the old TransitLink fare machine.
IMAGE: MANDAI WILDLIFE GROUP
A former TV producer and a Master's degree holder in animal behaviour and welfare, Tzu Ying is now Singapore Zoo’s Junior Animal Care Officer (Elephants), taking care of the zoo’s herd of five female elephants.
IMAGE: PRACHI SAINI
Olfactory artist Prachi not only concocts perfumes, she also creates non-commercial scents like the stench of a prison cell. She’s the founder and managing director of Scentopia, a unique perfume experience where you can create your own custom perfume with the help of a personality test.
IMAGE: RYHAN M. Y.
Ryhan left a corporate job in Singapore to work at a green tea farm in Kyoto. Since our interview with her, she has earned a PhD from Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Agriculture.
IMAGES: SYAZ MOHD SALIM
Think all Singapore bus drivers are “uncles”? Meet Zoomer Syaz, who became a public bus captain right out of NS.
IMAGE: TERRY NEO
Pest control isn’t a typical dream job, but to Terry, “It’s part biology, part science, and part problem-solving all rolled into one”.
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