coffee with

Tommy

Tommy is a Data Scientist from the Synthesis Futures Team. He is at the forefront of developing Futures Scenario Simulators, utilising forward-looking data and probability distributions to capture 100,000 of probable, plausible and possible futures.

The last song I listened to

The Beginning by One Ok Rock, 2000s Japanese rock band. I play this music as a ritual to kick-start my focus time, as it invigorates me with great energy.

The last series I watched

Suits - It’s quite an old series on lawyers. I recently discovered it through a Tiktok video, how Mike Ross convinced Harvey to hire him as a lawyer despite not having any law degree. Love the witty remarks and interactions they throw to one another.

A book I’d really recommend is

The Power of Habit. This book taught me how habit is formed, and has been successful in helping me form healthy habits. Recently, I formed habits to stand, stretch and exercise more!

My favourite quote is
“Start by doing what’s necessary, then what’s possible, suddenly you are doing the impossible”

— St Francis of Assisi.

This quote carries me through rough times, identifying necessary and possible tasks enables me to start, and consistency brings me to do what I thought impossible at the time.

When I need to feel inspired

I read books related to the challenges I face. One idea that I believe in is that life is too short to reinvent everything on my own. Why not discover how to solve it from other people’s experiences?

The best gift I’ve received recently

A notebook for Journaling. I recently found journaling weekly helped me to be aware of my condition as a whole, in which I asked myself how am I physically, emotionally, intellectually & spiritually, what am I grateful for and what have I accomplished big or small. It reminded me that life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.

The things that I couldn’t do without

Read or re-read Manga. This is my go to when I'm stressed or bored. Re-reading allowed me to notice small little details that I missed previously and enriched my understanding of the manga plot and character. Small trivia: I have at least read One Piece 4 times, that is a total of ~4000 chapters all together.

The best bit of advice I ever received

A message from my dad: don't limit yourself by saying that something is impossible. Everything is achievable if we have the necessary resources, manpower, and time to make it happen. This helped me to convert challenges into actionable plans.

My hidden talent is

I know how to use Photoshop and Procreate, for creating posters. Though not trained in an art degree, I self-learn from high-school and train my design sense through looking at Pinterest. I did a lot of posters for church events and activities.

My proudest achievement is

Winning first place for two hackathons (Chengdu80 and NUS innovation challenge) in a row during my master degree at NUS. It’s all thanks to the team we formed.

I hope for a future that is

Kind and peaceful.

My favourite movie is

Real steel. Transformation of a scrap robot into (almost) a world champion in a robot fighting competition!

I want to be remembered for

My kindness and my lame jokes.

I am most looking forward to

To our newly enhanced Scenario Simulators. Much thoughts and efforts have been poured into this, to provide seamless analysis including the “what-if” feature!

have a coffee with...