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When Chew Si Ying first walked through NVPC’s doors in December 2019, she brought with her a sense of purpose, a passion for contributing, and curiosity about the social sector. Today, as Head of Corporate Development with the CEO’s Office, she reflects on a journey marked by growth, resilience and impact.
Si Ying began her career in the construction sector before moving to Sport Singapore, where she developed sport facilities for the community. Her first interaction with NVPC came not as an employee but as a volunteer. Through SGCares (now giving.sg), she mentored upper primary students from lower-income families at Care Corner (Tampines Family Service Centre) for seven years. That experience sparked a question: “Who’s behind this platform that connects so many people to causes?” The answer led her to NVPC.
Starting out as an Assistant Manager in the Groundup Partnerships Team, Si Ying was immediately thrown into the deep end when COVID-19 hit. She led donation-in-kind matching for migrant workers—coordinating with donors, government agencies and logistics partners. “It was a time where I witnessed Singapore’s generosity and solidarity first-hand,” she recalls.
Over time, her work expanded from programme development to stakeholder engagement and eventually organisation-wide initiatives. She moved to the CEO’s Office in 2023 as Special Assistant to the CEO, before being appointed Head of Corporate Development.
Looking back, Si Ying credits NVPC with giving her the space to experiment, lead and grow. “I started with zero experience in the social sector and knew nothing about ground-ups,” she shares. “But my colleagues took a chance on me.” Alongside her teammates, she built new initiatives to support ground-ups—helping them not just start but sustain their work.
Two milestones stand out for her:
BAGUS Together – a partnership with Tote Board and Temasek Foundation that evolved from the little-known Groundup Central into a go-to support hub for ground-up movements.
Corporate Purpose Journey – leading the process of articulating NVPC’s Corporate Purpose ‘Nurturing the Heart of Singapore’ and refreshing its core values, a foundation that shapes strategy, influences decisions and defines culture.
Her understanding of impact first began to take shape when she launched her own mini ground-up project — driven by a dual motivation to better understand how to serve ground-ups and to contribute to a cause she was passionate about.
With support from the Oscar Fund, she created and delivered 220 customised #GoBuddy stationery kits for children from Care Corner, MINDS and Chen Su Lan Methodist Children’s Home. The experience gave her first-hand insight into the credibility and partnership challenges unregistered ground-ups face, and later helped her design more practical, relevant programmes for the community.
That experience also sharpened her perspective in the CEO’s Office, where she learnt the importance of listening to the ground. Her 2.5 years with the CEO’s Office were a masterclass in starting from a blank canvas. “I’ve learnt to navigate ambiguity, connect the dots between programmes, people and purpose, and develop a more strategic lens to create impact at scale,” she says.
If she could speak to her younger self, Si Ying would say: “Stay rooted in purpose and be patient with impact. Change doesn’t happen overnight, but every step forward adds up to something meaningful.”
For Si Ying, the ‘the glow up’ isn’t just about titles or achievements. It’s about evolving from passion to impact, and from individual contribution to organisational strategy. Her aspiration is clear: “I want to ensure our purpose and values aren’t just statements on paper, but something lived and experienced by every colleague and partner we work with.”
Explore a purpose-driven career with NVPC today: https://nvpc.org.sg/join-us/