Written by: Gabriel Ramsey, Ryan Yeo, Charlene Wang, Krithika Elamaran, Ashna Mhatre and Semran Rai
You may recognise her as the “perfume girl” on TikTok or perhaps you’ve heard her voice on 987FM as a radio DJ. Every weekday from 2-5 pm, Ann Nicole Ng hosts “The Halftime Show” where she covers a variety of topics, including mental wellness, dating and relationships, pop culture, and the unique challenges faced by millennials and Gen Z.
Her journey as a DJ started when she was crowned the winner of 987 Radio Star in 2017. Since then she has been juggling being a DJ and her many side hustles, including reviewing perfumes on Tiktok where she has successfully built a fanbase for herself. She used to work at her old campus, Nanyang Technological University as a social media director, where she founded ‘Her Campus’ , an online magazine targeted at the female college student demographic. This website focuses on topics that interest the female population such as makeup, fashion and relationships.
To date, she has garnered 200.4K followers on TikTok (at time of writing) ever since she started sharing her love for perfumes as well as her recommendations for other perfume starters or enthusiasts. Not only does her TikTok platform indulge in scents and perfumery related topics, but she also shares beauty tips and mental health related content.
Mental Health Matters
Temasek Polytechnic was honoured to welcome Ann Nicole to our campus, where she broadcasted 987’s “Lunchbox” segment. In collaboration with Team CMM, she shared more about DJ-ing and her enthusiasm in other aspects of her life as well.
During the interview, the 987 DJ emphasised the importance of discussing mental health. “One of my biggest passions actually is mental wellness and mental health, and I think it is a topic that should never stop being talked about. It needs to be discussed even more, especially among youths.”
“I’m very, very interested in that as well – coming from a background where I went for therapy when I was younger and really enjoyed that experience,” Ann Nicole added, talking about the benefits of therapy that she had experienced first-hand. “From that, I became a lot more clear minded and I have become healthier in that way as well, so I love to talk about mental health and mental wellness. I’m not preaching in any way, I just want to share good vibes on my show.”
Ann Nicole believes that demonstrating her commitment to what she strongly believes in is essential. Incorporating her values and beliefs into her professional career, she opened up about her mental health segment, Wellness Wednesday.
“I tend to share a little bit of positivity every day. I have this segment on the halftime show called Wellness Wednesday where I take, you know, quotes from celebrities that we look up to and maybe share that and unpack that and how I feel about that and how we as Singaporeans can adapt to stressful living conditions in Singapore as well.”,
MAIN CAREER
As a Radio DJ, Ann Nicole’s main career involves the challenge of presenting herself to the public eye daily.
These comments frequently have to do with people holding a different view or stance from Ann Nicole’s fragrance videos on TikTok. Her way of combating such adverse remarks is “to not pay attention and just ignore them”. She expressed her admiration for the art of ignorance, citing her idol, Dua Lipa, who has overcome significant obstacles and is now one of the most idolised women on social media.
“You know, she was able to go from giving us nothing to giving us everything. I love that energy is not bogged down by her (past) failures, where a lot of people made fun of her.”
Throughout her journey in following in the footsteps of her idol Dua Lipa and fostering a positive mindset, a side hustle that boosted her confidence was hosting gigs. These experiences further developed her to be outgoing and expressive, embodying the qualities of a skilled Radio DJ and eventually leading to her success.
“I am very introverted, but I love to speak. I love to talk. So I was like, thinking, where else? What avenue would I go into to express myself while not having to mingle with people? And the first thought would be radio,” Ann Nicole said.
Being an introverted conversationalist made radio the perfect fit for her, giving her a platform to communicate without being in the midst of a crowd. Unbeknownst to her at the time, the job involved more than just being behind the mic.
SIDE HUSTLE
“The majority of my side hustles actually include hosting gigs, emcee stuff as well for shows, concerts, meet and greets, fashion, beauty, skin care and perfume events as well. So I would say that being in radio is actually perfect practice for me to go into other avenues, such as hosting and just being in front of the camera as well,” she added, referring to the interdisciplinary communication skills a DJ is expected to have.
“I don’t just host and speak on air, but I also do content creation on TikTok and Instagram. This has kind of made me feel a lot more comfortable appearing on camera and also preparing me for hosting for TV series as well. I’m also a TV host, so there is tons of overlap.”
Using a unique analogy to describe her field of work, Ann Nicole noted, “I am happy to say that I am an octopus in that area – where my main tentacle is being a radio DJ, while other tentacles allow me to express myself creatively through hosting social media content creation and TV hosting.”
She said with a smile, “I didn’t know that I had to be going to school invasions, meeting you all, coming into TP and stuff like that.” Ann Nicole talked about her realisation that in order to be a successful radio DJ, she had to engage with her audience and meet new, engaging, and creative people.
“But I am very blessed and lucky to be in a space where I am meeting new, interesting, engaging and creative people every single day. I think being in this job helped me to get out of my introversion,” Ann Nicole added. “I have become a lot more social, more extroverted, and I think my presentation skills have since brushed up after being more social as well.” This included stepping out of her comfort zone and interacting with new people from all walks of life.
Apart from carrying out the primary responsibilities that come with being a radio DJ, Ann Nicole also attended seminars, visited schools such as Temasek Polytechnic and a variety of secondary schools like Naval Base Secondary and CHIJ Our Lady Queen Of Peace, and participated in various events to network and learn more about the industry.
“I think I’ve really grown as a person and I hope to continue growing as a radio DJ,” Ann Nicole noted.
An advocate for being your best self, the DJ’s catchy segments and self-love campaigns have garnered the support and attention of a steady following over the years, a testament to how significant her efforts have been in this industry.
