FINDING YOUR IKIGAI
Wildtype Media’s publisher and CEO Juliana Chan believes the modern woman should stay true to herself.
Four years ago, Juliana Chan had an academic career that kept her busy. She was doing research, applying for grants, writing papers and lecturing. At home, raising her two young children took up most of her spare time. Whatever she had left, she devoted to her hobby magazine that fed her spirit when work wore her down to the point where she questioned her life’s purpose. “I wasn’t living my best potential life in 2017. I had to make a choice, and I’m glad I followed my heart rather than my head,” Chan recalls.
Wildtype Media now has almost 25 full-time employees working on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) communication and outreach. In addition to Asian Scientist and Supercomputing Asia, it publishes several other titles. Additionally, Chan’s team produces in-house magazines for many institutions.
Yet, despite her success in a challenging field, Chan confesses that she still feels like an imposter sometimes.
“I am pretty late to the game. I had been an academic scientist without any training in the private sector for 15 years. Today, I have to worry about making payroll and keeping the lights on. I never had to worry about those things before,” she says.
The relentless pressure of society doesn’t help either. Chan is aware of the sometimes unrealistic cultural expectations society and the media put on women and admits that she sometimes falls victim to them. When she was younger, Chan remembers being “many things to different people while still performing at the highest levels” expected of her.
It was exhausting. Chan is kinder to herself now and has embraced her strength and her flaws. “Women are equally capable of being career women or homemakers. We are happy, married or single. And it is fine if we don’t have any kids or if we do. We don’t need to defend our choices or feel obliged to live out somebody else’s vision for us,” she opines.
For Chan, the modern woman cannot, and should not, be defined by a singular adjective. She’s multidimensional – “proud and vulnerable, bold and gentle, determined and free-spirited”. And while she is still finding her identity, she’s no longer feeling lost.
She’s also grateful to her husband, a set of parents and “an amazing domestic helper” for helping with childcare and propping up her science communication aspirations. Chan has also adopted a scientifically-based routine for optimal productivity in her life. She completes all her deep work in the morning, when her concentration is at its peak, and schedules all her virtual and face-to-face meetings in the afternoon. She also makes it a point to stay active, especially during stressful periods.
But the most important lesson she has learned in the past four years is the power of rejection. “I have learnt that only by saying no to opportunities that don’t serve me well can I say yes to my colleagues, family and friends whom I would have otherwise neglected,” Chan explains.
She’s still keeping herself busy. But Chan is far happier today than she was four years ago. She has found her ikigai, a Japanese concept for a life with purpose, and is happily serving her community while staying true to herself.
Women are equally capable of being career women or homemakers. We are happy, married or single. And it is fine if we don't have any kids or if we do. We don't need to defend our choices or feel obliged to live out somebody else's vision for us.