From turning passions into entrepreneurial ventures to impacting the society we live in, we are grateful to read unconventional stories that can teach us a thing or two. Here are the top five articles for April by our network of contributors.

Turning passion into your bread and butter, with student entrepreneur Earnest Lim 

Earnest Lim is the founder of Dirty Butter. Photo courtesy of Earnest Lim.

Earnest Lim, the founder of Dirty Butter, shares how the pandemic spurred his creativity to create a whipped butter company. With the novel idea of modernizing the butter industry, Dirty Butter offers a line of flavored compound butter like honey yuzu lavender and garlic parmesan, among others.

Lim talks about the importance of having an outlet in times of stress, as well as finding joy in the process of starting a business.

Million Meals March helps raise over USD 70,000 in support of vulnerable communities in Bali 

The Million Meals March is a fundraising event in Indonesia organized by the Scholars of Sustenance. Photo courtesy of Richo Darma.

Australian video creator Damien Hoo joined forces with the Nas Academy and the GrabforGood program for the “Million Meals March.” Hoo shared his motivation for being invested in these initiatives and his thoughts living in Bali during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 30-kilometer Million Meals March focuses on collecting and distributing nutritious meals for the most vulnerable in Bali. The 2021 edition was joined by 65 international hikers from different sectors.

Robotics startup founder Daryl Lim, on the importance of self-awareness 

Daryl Lim speaks out on dealing with failures and the importance of self-awareness. Photo courtesy of Daryl Lim.

Daryl Lim, the founder of AI robot programming platform Augmentus, has a very different mindset when it comes to failure. “Just because you don’t win doesn’t mean that your idea sucks.” Failure doesn’t have to be a negative thing but should provide you with opportunities to improve, Lim says.

“Successful people are not those that spend all their time trying to fix their weaknesses.” Rather, it is those who are brave enough to take action in improving themselves after recognizing their strengths and weaknesses that will succeed in the end.

Drawing lessons from China’s “Lipstick King”, Austin Li, on building careers based on our strengths 

Chinese social influencer Austin Li rose to success after an amazing feat in selling lipstick. Photo courtesy of Baidu.

The ability to sell 15,000 lipsticks online in just 15 minutes earned Austin (Jiaqi) Li the nickname of “king of lipsticks” in China. Li’s achievement, especially in a conservative culture, is so phenomenal and extraordinary that numerous networks are intrigued to interview and report on him to decipher his success.

In the writer’s opinion, Li’s success comes from using his strengths to build his career. Drawing lessons from the “king of lipsticks,” she speaks on the necessity of finding our strengths when pursuing a career, also giving us a few tips on how to do so.

How an Indonesian mortuary makeup artist is helping families for free 

Gloria Hutasoit currently provides free mortuary makeup for families of the deceased after going through the pain of losing her husband. Photo courtesy of Gloria.

Gloria Hutasoit lost her husband in 2018 and didn’t have the money for a proper burial service. Knowing from experience the pain that families have to go through to afford a proper burial service, she decided to offer mortuary makeup free of charge for families of the deceased.

Hutasoit reflects on her journey thus far and also tells us how she’s giving mortuary makeup lessons for women who need a skill for extra income.

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