5 Minutes With… Paul
What does a typical day look like for you?
I typically begin the day reading the news — both lifestyle news and general news, which helps inform the kinds of stories we are able to tell for our clients. Regardless of sector, life at a client services agency entails plenty of meetings and deliverables throughout the day, and the same applies to public relations agencies, with the added challenge of just how rapidly the news cycle develops throughout the week.
This means that there is no such thing as a typical day, as each day presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities, where the only constant is our ability to adapt and distill the best possible outcomes for our clients to cut through the noise and resonate with the public.
Which aspects of your role do you enjoy the most?
Honestly? Reading the news. Just as storytelling is the role of a public relations professional, so too is reading the stories everyone else is telling, so as to parse out the cacophony, figure out the different schools of thought among the general public, and identify existing gaps that can be leveraged as opportunities for your clients’ messages to resound.
If you could do another job for just one day, what would it be?
Probably a journalist. The life of a journalist presents very different challenges from that of a public relations professional, but much of what being a public relations professional entails has to do with thinking like a journalist, and it is precisely my interest in the art of storytelling that led me to this path.
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not at work?
I love going on hot girl walks all around Singapore’s park connector networks or hiking up Macritchie Reservoir, enjoying nature and the elements, being all up in my live laugh love era.
Do you have any “hidden talents”?
None. The moment I find something that could remotely be considered a talent, I tend to make it my entire personality and leave nothing to imagination, whether it be playing the piano (self-taught), singing (I’m Filipino), or writing poetry (like every other dramatic teenager who had read Sylvia Plath). I do have a penchant for being able to explain memes or chart the etymology of a meme, but whether this constitutes a talent is debatable.
