Rosalyn Lee and Sonia Chew Explain How They Adapt and Cope Under Pressure

Rosalyn Lee, or Rozz as she is more affectionately known, is well-known for many things, particularly her strong opinions and spontaneity. Lee, who recently turned 40, left her 14-year career as a radio DJ two years ago and has since begun a new chapter in her life. Today, she's willing to try new things, such as traveling to the North Pole and eating strange foods (stew bats, anyone?) on a food series called "Weird Food Diaries" — all while hosting.

Rozz first met Sonia Chew in 2012 when she competed in 987FM's Radio Star search. It began as a mentor-mentee relationship but quickly evolved into camaraderie after Chew won the competition. The 27-year-old is best known for her incessant eccentricities behind her 987FM show, “The Shock Circuit” alongside her partner Joakim Gomez. She also hosts an award-winning travel show called "Travel SSBD" and, despite her goofy personality, is a go-getter with a long list of accomplishments for someone her age. However, being in the spotlight in this era is difficult, not only because of the audience's scrutiny but also because of the proliferation of social platforms.

When one's life as a public figure is constantly scrutinized, a lot of pressure often goes unnoticed behind the glamorous lifestyle presented. T Singapore spoke with these two inspiring women who embody TAG Heuer's slogan, "Don't Crack Under Pressure," as well as brand friends.

Childhood Ambitions

Sonia had so many childhood dreams. She wanted to be a lawyer, a vet, and a Singapore Airlines air stewardess, but she didn't meet the height requirement, so that didn't happen.

And Rosalyn was too short to be a Singapore Airlines flight attendant. But she'd always wanted to be a dancer, which didn't work out because she failed all of my subjects in secondary three, and her mother told her that she had to focus on school. The focus led her to film school, which meant she had to work in the film industry, which she despised. Then Rosalyn went to work as a dancer for the army and then for radio. Everything fell into place.

How Career Influenced Sonia and Rosalyn's Life

Rosalyn said that the advantage of a high-profile job was that it allowed it to reach out to a much larger number of people. But, on the other hand, one of the main reasons she left was that she couldn't separate her success from who she was as a person.

When Sonia first started, Rozz was a big help to her. Sonia was highly insecure about her abilities and lacked confidence. She's always needed more confidence to put herself out there and believed she could host and do all of that. So Rozz had to nanny her for a while, saying, "Girl, you got this!" But, in some ways, Sonia was grateful for the career she's had thus far. It has impacted her life in ways she never expected, especially in recent years. Sonia has been avoiding sounding sappy by visiting places like Singapore Girls' Home. It was a way for her to positively impact people, especially with social media being so toxic these days.

Time When Sonia Felt to Crack Under Pressure

Sonia was in university when she started in radio. At the time, she considered dropping out of school to pursue this full-time because a contract was waiting for her, but she also had one more year to finish her degree. What happened was that she informed her lecturer that she wanted to resign and stated, "I have this contract waiting for me. So I hope this makes sense." Her lecturers, on the other hand, were wonderful people. They said that they wanted to pursue Sonia's dreams but asked her to don't give up. So they left it to Sonia, and that was a stressful time for her because her parents had been putting Sonia through school her entire life, and this was the final leg. Sonia came from a low-income family and wanted to convince her parents to send her abroad to study, but they couldn't.

Toughest Parts of Being Under the Scrutiny of the Public for Sonia and Rosalyn

Sonia could not count how many times she's been slammed on the online portal Hardwarezone. When she first went public with the current guy, she was chastised for various reasons! Things that are completely normal to all of us; for example, it was just a normal relationship, but people and keyboard warriors always find a way to slam you. The worst part was that these people also managed to comment on her loved ones' accounts, so she felt terrible putting her family and close friends through that.

Rosalyn was once chastised for making a remark about National Service. She had no idea what a sensitive subject it was until it blew up so widely and quickly that all her family members and relatives heard about it. She had a lot of DMs expressing disappointment in herself, and nothing killed her more than disappointment. So, when she went up to people in real life to apologize, the majority of them said they'd never heard of it. Rosalyn discovered that the online community is extremely small. "Because these online haters are so vocal, you always think it's big". She considered herself a strong person but did not feel so when confronted with hatred. She could not imagine how someone who isn't as strong must feel. So, after going through this online flaming experience — the worst of her career — She kept telling people that the online community was not large.

What Sonia and Rozz Learned from Each Other

Sonia believed that Rozz taught her how to be a strong person. Rozz taught Sonia that she had to be the person who pushed herself to be the person she wanted to be. "You can't rely on the situation or on someone else to push you. You must be the one who pushes yourself."

Rozz admired Sonia's willingness to look within and sometimes admit to and own her flaws, which she found unusual even among her closest friends. Especially since this industry necessitated a great deal of ego and pride. There was a lot of vanity involved. She believed Sonia performed admirably. Rozz was extremely proud of her. She always chose to be the bigger person, looked within, and improved herself. When Rozz was on the radio, she didn't have all of these mediums to distract them from what they were doing in the air. It was becoming more challenging to be a radio personality because there were so many other platforms for consuming content — who listens to radio intently anymore?