A Letter To Myself - How the cello saved Hughes Chong from a lonely childhood and helped his mum recover from stroke

A Letter To Myself - Lunch Actually's Violet Lim on how to find love in the age of Tinder

For those who have found their forever partners by swiping right, there are many more for whom dating apps can be a source of great frustration and disappointment. In this episode of A Letter to Myself, Violet, the co-founder of the matchmaking agency Lunch Actually, tells Joel Chua how she built her company despite these online competitors, what she learnt about love and the reasons why people don't get a second date.

A Letter To Myself - Singlish, serendipity and being a senior with Sylvia Toh Paik Choo

Sylvia Toh Paik Choo is known as the Godmother of Singlish, as she was probably the first to codify Singapore's unique language with her groundbreaking book "Eh, Goondu!" in 1982.  She tells Joel Chua how she established a prolific career as author, broadcaster and being inducted into the Woman’s Hall of Fame, despite leaving mainstream education at 14. 

A Letter To Myself - Deep in delinquency, a book he read changed his life

Delonix Tan was a textbook bad boy. Struggling in school and falling in with the wrong crowd, he walked the well-worn path towards violence and delinquency. He ended up in police lock-up twice and was expelled from school. But a book his cousin gave him would change his life’s trajectory towards a life of entrepreneurship.

A Letter To Myself - How the cello saved Hughes Chong from a lonely childhood and helped his mum recover from stroke

Cellist Hughes Chong remembers the day strangers from the bank entered his house, labelling anything of value because his family declared bankruptcy. During this difficult period, with angry relatives constantly showing up at their doorstep demanding money, Hughes turned to his “buddy” - the cello – for solace.

The composer and founder of the Cellography Orchestra started playing the cello when he was seven, fell in love with it and began pursuing it professionally. 

The instrument would later become a source of strength for a second time when his mother suffered a stroke. Despite a bleak prognosis, Hughes’ mother made a full recovery and learnt to move her fingers again with the help of the cello.  

In this episode, Hughes tells Joel Chua how the strings became instrumental in comforting his younger self and provided hope for his mother to heal.

A Letter To Myself - Father of a child with rare disease - The pain and worry has been ‘all worth it’

When a pin prick to draw blood for their newborn son didn’t stop bleeding for 36 hours, parents Geoffrey Toi and Amelia Teng knew something was very wrong with their child. At six months old, Christopher was diagnosed with Bile Acid Synthesis Disorder – and he is the only patient in Singapore with this rare disease.