2023's ONES TO WATCH

We check in with Clement Chia, Tony K Tan, and Qiyun Woo, three self-starting, visionary, and purpose-driven thought leaders harnessing tech for good this new year.

- LAUREN TAN, MARY LIM & KAREN TEE

QIYUN WOO

Sustainability consultant and founder of The Weird and Wild

Qiyun Woo has been a science communicator since the age of 9. That was the year her childhood hero Australian zookeeper and TV personality Steve Irwin was killed by a short-tail stingray while filming a documentary off the Great Barrier Reef. Devastated, Woo wrote a three-page essay on his life's work.

Now 25, she's the founder of The Weird and Wild (@theweirdandwild), an Instagram page she started in 2018 that breaks down complex climate issues and needle-pushing science into doodles and infographics that educate and inspire action.

Her illustration depicting the SG Green Plan adorned pins that were handed out at the Singapore Pavilion at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) in Egypt, where she spoke on youth activism. While at the COP27, her daily updates, reels and comic-style storytelling ensured followers both at home and around the world felt part of the climate conversation.

"I want to create content that people enjoy engaging with whether you care about sustainability or not. By doing so, I hope to nurture the right conditions to inspire action," she says.

Interested in the intersection of tech, climate and art, Woo is also building Climate Commons, an interactive and exploratory creative platform dedicated to communicating climate science. A bank of content is expected to launch later this year. In addition, she co-hosts the podcast Climate Cheesecake with three friends, and is a sustainability consultant at Unravel Carbon, a Singapore-founded climate tech whose software-as-a-service helps companies track and reduce their carbon emissions.

While still in university, you became a science communicator. Is it hard for a young person to get people to listen?