Alternative Career Paths: Corrinne May

I've blogged about alternative career paths before, here. Definitely not as much as Tiara though. Those of you who are interested in an alternative take on education should definitely take a look at her blog. Wanted to highlight the story of Corrine May, a Singaporean singer and songwriter who's currently based in LA.

You can read about her here. She graduated with an English degree from NUS in Singapore and then went to pursue her dreams of making music by going to the Berklee School of Music, not to be confused with UCal at Berkeley. She's pretty accomplished by now and I think she's going to be a name which many people in the music industry will soon be familiar with. (She co-wrote a song with Carole King for a songwriting competition! How cool is that!)

You can listen to her music here and here. She definitely does NOT sound Singaporean or Asian and the content of her songs is also very 'unSingaporean'. Take a listen to see what I mean.

I know of another Singaporean, who's the wife of a friend, who gave up her newspaper career and is pursuing a PhD in Music / Opera at a US university (Apologies in advance for getting the exact name of your course wrong! You know who you are).

It's assuring when you know that you're not the only one who was chosen to take the path less traveled.

BTW, me highlighting Corrinne is no way influenced by the fact that she was from RGS and RJC.

P.S. The friend who introduced me to Corrinne also pointed out that many people who choose alternative career paths often have to leave their home countries to pursue their dreams. A little sad but it's a reflection of the economic, social and political realities of the world we live in.