My passion lies in animal welfare.

I spend every Sunday at a local animal shelter tending to the needs of the many dogs that live there. We have about 100 of them currently and most of them were rescued off the streets. Typically, their kennels are cleaned before I take them out for walks followed by a shower in the afternoon.

I have been volunteering for 3 years now and it has brought me a lot of joy because I am given the opportunity to witness the growth and change in some of the dogs – even the shy ones! Many people misunderstand our “Singapore Specials” (street/rescued animals) and that’s where we have our work cut out for us – correcting these misconceptions and showing them how each dog is as capable of loving as another.

I actively encourage my friends to adopt pets instead of buying pedigree from pet shops because each dog out of the shelter means another dog can be taken off the streets and saved from the hands of those who wish to bring them harm.

At Aspire Lifestyles, I am a “content specialist”; I help to source and manage content for the purposes of marketing our merchants. While my volunteering and job at Aspire Lifestyles may not immediately seem to share any common ground, both require me to be very meticulous, paying attention to little details, as well as being empathetic.

I think empathy in the workplace is important because at some point, we will need to leverage on our connections to enable progress in the organisation. But these things cannot happen if we do not first know how to understand and share the feelings of those around us which in turn helps to foster good working relationships.

– Melissa Chia, Content Specialist, Aspire Lifestyles Singapore