You may remember Jiezhen as the lady caught on national TV who stood up to sing ‘Home’ during the 2015 National Day Rally. Perhaps she caught your attention in a video of viral social experiment or two. Or maybe it’s her unique surname ‘Wu’ caught your eye and made you wonder, “Wu is she?”
Ms Wu Jiezhen, more affectionately known to others as ‘JZ’, is currently helming The Hidden Good (THG), a community platform that uncovers the good in people and the world around them. With a strong focus on social goals, guerilla activity and youth activation, THG creates innovative social experiments and experiences that celebrate possibility and builds a culture of positivity, gratitude and appreciation. These projects are then turned into engaging videos that are shared online with the purpose of sparking conversation and inspiring action.
After reading ‘Political Science and Peace-Justice’ in college, Jiezhen noticed that the local space for social innovation was beginning to open up and gain traction. By some stroke of serendipity, she was approached by THG’s founder, Mr Rovik Robert Jeremiah, around the same time to come on board as a leader in the fledgling organisation.
“Why me?” she asked.
Sharing her initial fears and pangs of self-doubt, Jiezhen said she felt lost, alone and uncertain of this seemingly illogical choice.
“I’ve always been involved in doing good, but I had zero experience in video production, let alone running a company!”
Growing stronger with the support of the Advisory Team
But thanks to the support from her friends and family, her confidence grew and she became more excited to to effect change on a bigger scale as the days go by.
“I realised I wasn’t alone. There were people who believed in me more than myself. I gained clarity and learnt to adapt. We learnt from one another,” she mused.
Rediscovering leadership
As Director at THG, Jiezhen’s role can be summarised in a word – ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’. From keeping THG together, to enabling positivity and experimentation, one cannot help but marvel at how far she has come as a leader.
She surmises: “Leadership doesn’t have to look a certain way. There was a time when I messed up during a meeting and apologised for it — much to the surprise of our interns.”
The Hidden Good Core Team.
Fuelled by the belief that anyone can be a leader, Jiezhen pointed out that one doesn’t necessarily need to be the most charismatic or intelligent person in the crowd. Instead, we can start by being leaders in our immediate environment and grow where we’re planted by first leading our friends and family.
“Leadership isn’t about putting up a strong front. It’s about being vulnerable, authentic and true to ourselves and others. Through this path, we can find strength, connection and support.”
Rediscovering service
Jiezhen believes that everyone can connect and support one another through acts of service to the community. She said, “We can achieve the greater good through finding different partners who share the same values. It’s about joining youths together in amplifying the good in the world.”
Jiezhen giving a talk on the merits of service at Serangoon Junior College.
Ultimately, she stressed that we can all do good in more than one way.
“Doing good can be as simple as helping someone with the groceries. In the same way that we received support from the National Youth Council for our signature MP3 Experiment, you can also tap on the existing grants available to help you make the society that you want. The opportunities are boundless.”
Jiezhen at the MP3 event supported by the National Youth Council (NYC).
With the youth volunteers from NYC.
The Hidden Good is a community of social enterprises that uncovers the goodness and warmth in people and the world around them.
This article was written by Lee Ci En, who serves actively as a Youth Corps Advocate.
