Valencia Wong
Tell us a little bit about yourself!
Hello there! I’m Valencia, one of the co-founders of Friendzone :) We started Friendzone because we wanted to bring the thriving young adult community that we experienced living on campus to our HDB neighbourhoods!
I believe deeply that people are designed for connection — so wherever you’re an extrovert (like me) who need a 100 friends and only have 50, or an introvert who need 5 friends and only have 2, Friendzone will provide the platform for you make new friends :)
I care about community building, and about building a better home where everyone feels that they belong.
What are your strengths? Any hidden talents?
I create “adulting” templates to help me navigate life better. I have one for Comparing Best Bank Accounts, one for Finding Out How Much I Should Save for Retirement, and one for Consolidating Insurance Plans, hehe. They all sit in my desktop folder called “Adulting”.
What’s one article you enjoy and think everyone should read?
Can I recommend a book instead? I loved “Every Good Endeavour” by Timothy Keller. I read it right as I started my first job and it has very fundamentally shaped how I view my work, and the honour/dignity that work provides.
What’s your favourite project or initiative Friendzone has worked on so far?
My favourite is probably Friendzone’s first edition of “Sometimes Life Sucks”! This was part of a series of topical Friendzone events that we ran at our pop up shop at Playpan. We wanted to create a platform for people to talk about grief — whether it’s work grief, relationship griefs or just circumstantial grief (eg health, loss). It was cathartic to see people who empathised with one another, and share perspectives and tools on navigating these difficult circumstances in life together.
What’s a memorable Friendzone moment that reminded you why this work matters?
Some of my favourite Friendzone stories:
Two girls who met through a Friendzone event who started playing tennis together for two years. They even flew to Australia to watch the Australia open together!
One guy who invited his neighbours to his house for a durian party right after the Friendzone event because they realised they lived very near each other
My own neighbours at Bukit Batok who surprised me with a birthday cake!
What’s one quirky thing about you?
My dream honeymoon destination is Valencia, Spain, hehe. I want to walk around in a touristy shirt with my name on it, and introduce myself to the locals there HAHA.
