{"id":2659,"date":"2020-10-27T19:05:24","date_gmt":"2020-10-27T19:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-alumn-nus.pantheonsite.io\/alumnus\/?p=2659"},"modified":"2025-07-15T16:08:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T08:08:10","slug":"the-jade-of-all-trades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/2020\/10\/27\/the-jade-of-all-trades\/","title":{"rendered":"The Jade of All Trades"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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WHO SHE IS<\/h3>\n

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One of Singapore\u2019s most famous club DJs, Ms Jade Rasif (Arts and Social Sciences \u201918) is also an actress, model, and talk-show host. Having been in the public eye since 2013,\u00a0she is also a popular social media influencer, with over 360,000 followers on Instagram currently.<\/em><\/p>\n

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For many, local DJ, model, and actress Ms Jade Rasif needs no introduction. The 26-year-old\u2019s career in the limelight began when she came in second in the\u00a0New Paper New Face<\/em>\u00a0pageant in 2013. Ms Rasif, who today is an NUS Psychology graduate, quickly rose to fame as Singapore\u2019s highest-paid DJ, amassing more than 360,000 followers on her Instagram account. She also appeared on Mediacorp Channel 5\u2019s longest-running drama series\u00a0Tanglin<\/em>, where she played Sheila Oh for three seasons. The mother of a two-year-old son, Ms Rasif has also been actively giving back to the community since the start of the Circuit Breaker period in April.<\/p>\n

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How did you end up becoming one of\u00a0the most successful DJs\u00a0in Singapore?<\/h4>\n

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I got into DJ-ing during my first year at NUS. My ex-boyfriend, then a DJ, got me interested. It wasn\u2019t a passion, but rather a way to pay for my university fees. In the beginning, I was playing up to seven hours for $120 at most. I think luck played a huge role in my success. I also had people who helped me along the way, whom I appreciate greatly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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What does being on the podium feel like?<\/h4>\n

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I love the feeling of performing; I get such a rush. My favourite moment was performing at the Djakarta Warehouse Project \u2014 South East Asia\u2019s biggest festival for the last 10 years. The organisers typically invite prominent DJs, including Martin Garrix and Calvin Harris. Being a regional DJ, I was assigned a really early time slot on a small side-stage. But I was so touched that many Singaporeans flew to Indonesia for the festival to watch my set. When I looked into the audience, I saw pockets of people who had brought Singapore flags to wave at me. The support and love I get from Singaporeans really warms my heart. I also enjoy the travelling that comes with the job. I\u2019ve been blessed with trips to the United States, New Zealand, Japan, Hungary, and Italy. I love meeting people and witnessing the nightlife in cities all around the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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What has been your biggest challenge in juggling the responsibilities of being a mother, DJ, actor, and model?<\/h4>\n

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Being a mother has its unique challenges. Just two weeks after giving birth, I was in Kuala Lumpur playing a show. I had to pump breastmilk every four hours and get the hotel staff to help me store it in the freezer. A gig scored is not something you can simply cancel or postpone. In the six years I\u2019ve DJ-ed, I\u2019ve only ever cancelled once. I\u2019ve endured bad cramps while boarding a plane, passing through immigration, conducting sound checks, fulfilling extra promotional work, getting through hair and makeup, and giving my 100 per cent to the show. I can\u2019t say that my experience is any harder than someone else\u2019s job or life, though. We all have our challenges.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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How have you been spending your time these days, since clubs are currently closed due to the pandemic?<\/h4>\n

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I still pick songs when I\u2019m in the car, if that counts! On a serious note, however, I\u2019ve been blessed. While in NUS, I took Business electives, and learnt how to diversify my portfolio. So aside from DJ-ing, I tried to generate income through blogging, acting, and hosting. People used to criticise me for it, accusing me of not being a \u201creal DJ\u201d because I was doing all these other things. Now with the pandemic stopping clubs from opening, I\u2019m thanking my lucky stars and my ability to adapt to different circumstances.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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What made you want to volunteer with the Singapore Healthcare Corps, and how has the experience been? Would you encourage others to play their part?<\/h4>\n

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I\u2019m happy to serve and be of use. I enjoy the work a lot and feel so proud of my job and country every day. In the events\/clubbing scene, things are planned weeks, if not months, in advance. But for healthcare workers on the frontline, entirely new departments and teams can be up and running within days. People can be mobilised in the morning and get ready to work by night. I was eager to get out of the house and do something during the Circuit Breaker. It was by chance that an opportunity to volunteer with the Singapore Healthcare Corps came along. Plus, it seemed like they were short-handed at the time. I would neither encourage nor discourage people when it comes to volunteering. Honestly, you are already doing your part by just observing infection control directives.<\/p>\n

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In the midst of your successful career, you also decided to go back to NUS to complete your degree \u2014 why?\u00a0<\/h4>\n

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Completing my degree made my mother happy. Initially, I was driven by passion; I wanted to become a psychologist after seeing my sister suffer from childhood depression. However, the more I delved into the subject, the more I realised I could not cope with the emotional demands. I felt myself inching towards an existential crisis, and I decided not to take any more Psychology modules. But now I have so much respect for people who go into counselling.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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How would you describe your NUS years?<\/h4>\n

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On top of studying, I was working 12 hours a day, and had very little sleep. I lost a lot of weight; it is not a lifestyle I\u2019d recommend. I don\u2019t regret the work I put in then, but I\u2019m happy things have slowed down for me. I also met some great friends and stayed at Eusoff Hall for a semester, which was incredibly exciting because I wasn\u2019t allowed to have sleepovers as a child.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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I also loved that we have the best food of any university campus. Sin Kee Chicken Rice at the Faculty of Law is in the Michelin Guide! The Starbucks at University Town is good for lattes and a deep-dish beef pie, and Waa Cow! has great sous vide beef bowls. A milk tea outlet on campus would\u2019ve made the NUS foodie experience complete! But it wasn\u2019t all good; I recall how parts of the campus would get flooded during the monsoon seasons.<\/p>\n

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WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE TO YOUNG PEOPLE WANTING TO PURSUE A LESS ‘MAINSTREAM’ CAREER PATH, AS YOU HAVE DONE?<\/h4>\n

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I\u2019m not qualified to give advice, but from\u00a0my own experience, a career in media and the arts, while exciting, is not the most\u00a0stable. If you crave security, this may not be the best path for you. Write down your long-term goals, be aware of your appetite for risk, do research on the industries you want to enter before career planning \u2014 and do it early!\u00a0<\/p>\n

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One of Asia\u2019s biggest club DJs and multi-hyphenated influencer, Ms Jade Rasif (Arts and Social Sciences \u201918) proves that a woman can, in fact, do it all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2662,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leadership"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2659"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7982,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2659\/revisions\/7982"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}