I drove to Singapore at 4am on February 15th to send my film edits to the award winning movie composer. Melissa’s birthday was a few days before that and I had sent her a text to see if she had time to catch up for this trip.
Melissa invited me to stay the night so I could drive home the next morning. I offered to stay for Sunday church too.
“Everyday is church!” she said.
Her response reminded me of the life hack I need to model.
Melissa is an unusual human being. This was written about her.
“Melissa is a cross-cultural and cross-sector bridge-builder who enjoys raising leaders and catalysing partnerships for the greater good. An anthropologist by training, a possibilist by nature and a product of two entrepreneurial families, she is a serial ideator and catalyst enabling and co-founding numerous initiatives and championing their leaders and communities.”
I casually call her my favourite “social worker” of Singapore as a joke, but it also simply describes her humility. After spending 9 years levelling up the philanthropy movement in Singapore, Melissa becomes a resident in a HDB neighbourhood and frequently gathers the community for meals in her home.
“Melissa believes that genuine friendships are the purpose of life and is passionate about building communities where people can become their best selves. She is a resident of Singapore’s first planned neighbourhood Queenstown and serves on the board of her family enterprise, Pontiac Land Group.”
That Saturday night, she hosted an appreciation dinner for 3 cleaners from Bangladesh who takes care of the HDB blocks in Queenstown. Their names were Pragdev, Jahit & Shamim. Other neighbours joined in. It was an interfaith group - I paid close attention to how Melissa did church.
Halfway through my second plate of food, a noisy man busted into the house and announced that he was going back to jail the next day. Melissa gently invited him to take some food but he only wanted the wine. For a few minutes I got him to sit down next to me but as soon as he identified my yakuza straight talking, he went away. At least we got him to eat a little.
The evening lived up to the expectations of the unusual Melissa dinners I have heard much about. The learning was profound for me.
My key takeaway came before the guests arrived while we set the dinner table.
“Don’t tell people who is Jesus. Be Jesus.”
Like the Bible, her instructions are basic, but I have rarely seen it done. I can now model Melissa’s posture and try it myself.
When God put us back in touch last year, I have unconsciously followed in her footsteps and repaired my family home with the intention to serve the community. Our circumstances are different, but there are enough parallels to be drawn that inevitably makes her mentorship extremely applicable to my journey right now.
For starts, I have my own version of neighbourhood gangsters to tame and my Imbi smarts were handy in Queenstown.
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