Wayfinding in a Wild World
Written by: Hong Ruoyi
I’ve known Zhen Long for about a year since the first Bold at Work x Beng Who Cooks collaboration. But compared to Jason, the other half of Beng Who Cooks, who has been interviewed at least 30 times by different media outlets and who regularly posts his thoughts on social media, I know much less about Zhen Long’s stories.
There are many ways to get to a destination. Some people, like Jason, are born navigators. They seem to have a clear destination in mind and they persistently, steadily build their way there, with a 5-year, 10- year plan. In our culture that glorifies Passion and Purpose, it is not difficult to see why the focus has been largely on Jason and why in contrast Zhen Long has been if I might say… overlooked.
Zhen Long admits that his life is not planned at all, and that he is someone that goes with the flow. While he’s always been interested in kitchen jobs from a young age,
he dabbled in many industries before he landed in Hong Lim Food Centre. When asked why, he simply and matter-of-factly replied that it was because he never had access to opportunities in that space – no complaints, no regrets. 潇洒 (very cool)。Instead of being fixated on “MUST FIND KITCHEN JOB NOW”, Zhen Long took to heart what people around him were telling him - “You are young. Just explore”. So just explore he did. Quick to seize any opportunities that came his way. But even as he explored he was moving, like a wayfinder using the stars and the waves to navigate, closer and closer towards his desired destination.
While wayfinding, there were some jobs he knew instinctively that he did not like such as Electronics (“I’m wasting my time, no point ”) or working with people with misaligned values (“I even found a lawyer to sue her”). There were others that he did “just for fun”, like fearlessly auditioning and then getting actually into a Fight Team representing a gym!
Fight For My Way
There were some jobs that he never imagined he’d do such as being an Incident Photographer with the Civil Defence Force during his National Service seeing blood and dead bodies. And yet others that he absolutely knew he MUST do because of a passion or a desire to improve himself etc. “I didn’t even ask about the pay. I just wanted to work”.
What do these seemingly disparate work experiences have to teach? Surprisingly, more than you can imagine. It was his time as a server in St. James that he started talking to strangers, which made him realize that he enjoys meeting new people and connecting others.
ZL with new friends
It was a failed business venture that made him realize that if he wants to do something with someone, he must have a partner with aligned values and vision that he can trust.
It was his experience as a car salesman that made him realize that money while important is not the most important thing to him. Those are meaning and a supportive work environment.
It was all these little clues that he had collected over time that brought him to Beng Who Cooks, into a job where he is in his flow, with a business partner he respects, joking, cajoling, working hard alongside the Hong Lim Work Tribe he has helped bring together.
His varied experiences have also given him another sage-like insight. Under his tough cookie exterior, his response to the world is that maybe it is not enough to just Be Bold, Be You. You must also Be Kind, especially to yourself. As Zhen Long says “everybody is going through their own shit”. Even as we strive to perform in life and at work, it is ok to give yourself a break, to ask for help when you realise you are unhappy. “As long as you are willing, there will always be a way.”
On tough cookies, Zhen Long also sells small-batches of cookies! See his Valentine’s Day message to his customers (ignore crumpled letter).
“Be bold be mean ah???? Oh Be bold Be You. Be bold enough to be yourself lor. Like sometimes at the stall I’m very playful. I always do stupid things, cringeworthy things but at the end of the day you’re having fun lah. so don’t care lah, don’t care what people say. They don’t know me on a personal level so they don’t bother me.”