Before We Get There

Angela Lee was a six-time MMA world champion. She retired in 2023, not long after losing her sister Victoria. When she stopped fighting, she started talking about mental health, about Victoria, about who she was underneath the fighter. Not everyone around her was ready for that. She felt like a black sheep, with just her husband and daughter supporting her.
What pulled her through was learning to advocate for herself, something she says she could only do at first by treating it the way she'd stand up for the people she loves. She built her nonprofit, Fight Story, out of the same instinct, and slowly found new people, at the gym and around the work, who became a new family.
This conversation is about who she is now, what she's still fighting for, and much more.
Angela's links:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angelaleemma/ 
Fight Story: https://fightstory.org/ 
United We Rise Book: https://a.co/d/0g481yuk Podcast links:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2h9gsrWKH9C1KY1OzR12kr?si=2a4d19970632465f Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/before-we-get-there/id1775182252 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beforewegettherepodcast/Linktree: https://linktr.ee/nicholasbraman Website: https://nicholasbraman.com/podcast
 
00:00 Welcoming Angela Lee Back To Singapore 05:15 Identity Crisis After Fighting 11:49 Why She Retired 13:43 Burnout And Mental Health 22:46 Losing Victoria And Starting Fight Story 27:41 Becoming The Black Sheep 33:08 Building A New Tribe 36:27 Writing United We Rise 42:31 Five-Year Vision 44:43 Closing

In this episode of Before We Get There, host Nicholas Braman interviews Amber Tan, who left her Singapore Airlines cabin crew career to set up a wholesale fish business at Jurong Fishery Port for her then-partner. Funding the venture with her own savings, she lost about $170K, discovered repeated lies and affairs, and ultimately ended the relationship after a friend warned what staying would model for her daughter. When her ex left debts and an incoming fish shipment under a company in her name, Amber took over, put in a final $10K, let a worker go, and learned the trade hands-on at 3:00 AM, breaking even by February. She discusses navigating a male-dominated port, code-switching between "SQ mode" and wet-market life, expanding via door-to-door delivery and a wet market partnership, and her hope to keep wet markets from dying.
Amber's links:Business Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paogeseafood/ 
Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/valeisky/ 
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/discover/pao-ge-seafood Podcast links:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2h9gsrWKH9C1KY1OzR12kr?si=2a4d19970632465f Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/before-we-get-there/id1775182252 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beforewegettherepodcast/Linktree: https://linktr.ee/nicholasbraman Website: https://nicholasbraman.com/podcast
 
00:00 Meet Amber Tan
03:17 Starting the Fish Company
05:18 Betrayal and Taking Over
09:16 Life at the Fishery Port
11:44 Last Straw and Daughter
16:25 Winning Over the Uncles
22:00 Motherhood Changes Everything
27:34 SQ Identity And Port Life
31:33 Tomboy To Cabin Crew
37:11 Saving Wet Market Culture
42:53 Where To Follow And Farewell

Jeremy Tan had a successful business and no reason to go into politics. He ran anyway, as an independent with no party behind him, and took the highest independent vote share since 1972. Then he lost.
In this one he gets into what pushed him in, what the run cost him, and the read on Singapore he came away with. Wealth that keeps pooling at the top. Work that's about to change faster than most people are ready for. A government he thinks is stuck in its own silos. He's blunt about all of it, including the parts that didn't go his way.
Jeremy's links:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremytan.sg LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-tan-sg/ 
Website: https://jeremytan.sg/ Podcast links:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2h9gsrWKH9C1KY1OzR12kr?si=2a4d19970632465f Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/before-we-get-there/id1775182252 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beforewegettherepodcast/Linktree: https://linktr.ee/nicholasbraman Website: https://nicholasbraman.com/podcast
 
00:00 Introducing Jeremy Tan
01:52 Post Election Life Plans
04:26 Why Run Independent
06:39 Covid Handouts Wake Up
09:44 Campaign Attacks Wealth Gap
15:58 Online Anger Reddit Pulse
20:24 Singapore Identity Immigration
23:17 AI Push Productivity Risks
32:21 Future Work Be A Department
38:51 SkillsFuture Black Box
41:48 Five Year Hopes Outro

Host Nicholas Braman interviews Nini Marini, a multi-artist and art advocate who spent nearly 20 years in Malaysian broadcasting before leaving to pursue art full-time. Nini explains how she coined “multi-artist” to describe her multidimensional identity, how she balanced a dual track of media work and art, and how a phoenix painting unexpectedly merged her private art life with her corporate role. She recounts proposing a reduced workweek, ultimately taking a package to leave, and using COVID to reassess, study branding, and explore opportunities like a New York surface pattern exhibition. Nini shares that full-time art brought income-driven pressure and dissatisfaction with commissions, leading her toward structured work in art philanthropy focused on heritage, policy gaps for creatives, and elevating craftspeople who don’t see themselves as artists.
 
Nini's links:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ninimarini.art TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ninimarini_ 
Website: http://www.ninimarini.art/ Podcast links:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2h9gsrWKH9C1KY1OzR12kr?si=2a4d19970632465f Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/before-we-get-there/id1775182252 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beforewegettherepodcast/Linktree: https://linktr.ee/nicholasbraman Website: https://nicholasbraman.com/podcast
 
00:00 Podcast Intro and Guest
04:38 Art Roots and Identity
08:13 Parents Practical Advice
16:06 Phoenix Painting Breakthrough
21:49 Leaving Corporate Behind
24:05 Money Pressure on Creativity
29:08 Why Full Time Art Felt Heavy
36:38 Craftspeople Worth and Recognition
43:20 Where to Find Nini

At 18, Alyssa Lie auditioned her way into musical theater with almost no training. A decade later she had the followers, the campaigns, the viral comedy, and she was burning out doing it.
Then the comments started. Her accent was fake. Her positivity was fake. Maybe the whole bright, likeable person she'd built online was a performance. She went to Bali to work out whether any of it was real, and the trip made it worse before it made it better.
This one's about what's left of you when you stop giving people the version they came for. Alyssa on choosing the risky path young, managing her entire career herself, and the difference between the self you perform and the self you protect.
Alyssas' links:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsalyssalie/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mxjulianaheng 
Website: https://www.alyssalie.com/ Podcast links:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2h9gsrWKH9C1KY1OzR12kr?si=2a4d19970632465f Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/before-we-get-there/id1775182252 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beforewegettherepodcast/Linktree: https://linktr.ee/nicholasbraman Website: https://nicholasbraman.com/podcast
00:00 Introducing Alyssa Lie
03:49 Choosing Plan A
10:06 Bullied In Class
17:11 Graduation Reality Check
20:28 TikTok Algorithm Trap
25:52 Hate Comments And Doubt
27:15 Bali Wake Up Call
31:55 Rebuilding Authentic Content
35:50 Art Versus Income
39:50 Five-Year Vision
41:12 Wrap Up And Where To Find

Host Nicholas Braman interviews Juliana Heng, who left a career in accounting in Malaysia to pursue stand-up comedy and, through performing, better understand their identity. Juliana describes being drawn to comedians’ unfiltered expressiveness, struggling and bombing early on, and using comedy as an escape from an unbearable corporate job before briefly living on savings and taking odd jobs like driving Grab and deliveries. They explain how it took about a year to find their footing by choosing the right topics and learning joke structure, but also how difficult it is to make a living from stand-up. Juliana shares discovering they are autistic after the label was raised at work, later confirming it with professionals, and how naming autism on stage improved audience connection. They discuss masking, being queer and neurodivergent, finding community at Edinburgh Fringe, leaving an emotionally unsafe family home, and defining success as being happy, healthy, and well-loved.
Juliana's links:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mxjulianaheng/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mxjulianaheng Podcast links:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2h9gsrWKH9C1KY1OzR12kr?si=2a4d19970632465f Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/before-we-get-there/id1775182252 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beforewegettherepodcast/Linktree: https://linktr.ee/nicholasbraman Website: https://nicholasbraman.com/podcast
 
00:00 Introducing Juliana Heng
03:36 Escaping Accounting Life
08:28 Quitting Job And Money Reality
12:16 Realizing Autism Through Comedy
16:20 Naming It And Empowerment
22:26 Labels Without Limits
24:33 Edinburgh Fringe Audience Magnet
32:09 Family Pressure And Control
40:35 Redefining Success Checklist
43:14 Where To Follow And Farewell

In this episode, Nicholas Braman sits down with Michelle Lee, who did what most people only talk about: she planned her retirement at 18, hit her number in her early 30s, and walked away from a top career in financial advisory. But the story isn't the money. It's what came after, the year she sat on her resignation letter, the identity crisis of no longer being "the finance person," and the strange emptiness of a finish line that felt like any other day. Now a part-time private hire driver with no financial reason to work, Michelle shares why she chose the driver's seat over the corner office: the passengers who open up to a stranger, the friendships she burned during her years in survival mode, and the lesson her father's death at 42 taught her about time. It is a conversation about what money can and cannot buy, and learning to spend the wealth you spent your whole life building.
00:00 Introduction to Michelle Lee?
02:39 Early Retirement Plan
07:13 Empty Finish Line
11:07 Freedom Without Agenda
15:30 Rider Conversations
20:45 Sharing the Journey Online
25:44 Regrets And Priorities
30:28 Childhood Money Mindset
36:23 Enjoying Wealth Without Guilt
39:25 Mortality And Motivation
41:15 Where To Follow And Wrap

In this episode, Nicholas Braman sits down with Yip Yew Chong, the artist whose nostalgic murals have become a defining feature of Singapore's urban landscape. While his work captures the soul of neighborhoods like Chinatown and Tiong Bahru, the story behind the brush is one of pragmatic transition and mid-career reinvention.
Yew Chong spent 25 years as a finance director before transitioning to full-time artistry at age 49. We move past the aesthetics of his work to explore the "how" of his journey—the three-year "parallel run" where he balanced international business trips with weekend painting sessions on the streets. It is a conversation about the stamina required to follow a passion without ignoring the reality of keeping food on the table.Michelle's links:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/askmichellelee/ Website: https://www.askmichellelee.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/askmichelleleee Podcast links:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2h9gsrWKH9C1KY1OzR12kr?si=2a4d19970632465f Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/before-we-get-there/id1775182252 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beforewegettherepodcast/Linktree: https://linktr.ee/nicholasbraman Website: https://nicholasbraman.com/podcast
 
00:00 Meet Yip Yew Chong
04:44 Breaking Into Chinatown Walls
07:34 Nostalgia Versus Reality
16:32 Finding His Signature Style
22:16 Not Starting Earlier
26:06 Pragmatic Passion Advice
34:19 Evolving And Dream Projects
40:12 Defining Success And Happiness
43:55 Where To Follow And Farewell
 

Host Nicholas Braman interviews Martin Bém, founder of Level 33, the world’s highest microbrewery, about his life path and entrepreneurship in Singapore. Martin moved to Singapore in 1999 as San Pellegrino’s Director Asia, helped grow Western brands as Asian markets opened, then left corporate life after three years to start an agency bringing European brands to Asia, only to be hit immediately by SARS, nearly running out of funds before a partner invested. He later launched his own restaurant concepts despite no operations background, emphasizing quick feedback, humility, and decision-making driven by numbers rather than attachment to ideas. Bém explains Level 33’s concept (fresh beer, serious food, and wine), adapting to trends like cocktails and sustainability, retaining talent through structured HR practices, and navigating COVID without layoffs while reflecting on exits and future health-focused concepts.Martin's links:Level33 Website: https://level33.com.sg/ Level33 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/level33_sg/ Podcast links:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2h9gsrWKH9C1KY1OzR12kr?si=2a4d19970632465f Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/before-we-get-there/id1775182252 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beforewegettherepodcast/Linktree: https://linktr.ee/nicholasbraman Website: https://nicholasbraman.com/podcast
00:00 Intro to Martin Bém
04:13 Taking the Leap Abroad
08:34 Building Brands and Ownership
11:26 Learning to Pivot Fast
17:15 Keeping the Concept Evolving
21:21 Coping With Setbacks
31:46 Work Life Balance Reality
36:27 Next Goals and New Concepts
42:48 Social Links and Farewell

Host Nicholas Braman interviews entrepreneur and content creator Wendy Vaz two months after she left a six-year corporate career to go all-in on her own business amid major life changes, including a wedding, a move, and a serious back fracture. Wendy describes initial self-doubt, seeking outside validation, and becoming more grounded by trusting her own plan and slowing down to calm her nervous system, drawing on past mental health struggles. She shares her long history of blogging and content creation, overcoming insecurity about her accent after studying in Vancouver on a scholarship, and choosing to stay in Malaysia due to distance from family and depression. Wendy explains adopting a “no plan B” mindset, staying open to pivots while remaining committed to helping people struggling mentally, and aiming to scale impact, earn sustainably, and eventually retire her parents.Wendy's links:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wendyvazzy/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wendyvazzyYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/WendyVazPodcast links:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2h9gsrWKH9C1KY1OzR12kr?si=2a4d19970632465f Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/before-we-get-there/id1775182252 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beforewegettherepodcast/Linktree: https://linktr.ee/nicholasbraman Website: https://nicholasbraman.com/podcast00:00 Meet Wendy Vaz05:38 Why Entrepreneurship13:12 Content Creator Origins17:57 Authenticity Online21:09 Scholarship to Canada25:09 Depression and Coming Home28:55 Quitting Without Plan B33:51 A Year of Big Changes39:00 Purpose Driven Business44:32 Closing and Outro