Adrianna Tan (born 1986) is a Singaporean product manager who has been the Director of Digital Product Management for the Monterey Bay Aquarium since November, 2024.[1] Adrianna was previously Director of Product Management for the San Francisco Digital Services, as well as an entrepreneur and early employee at various technology companies.[2]
Adrianna Tan | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Adrianna Tan at the blogging seminar Plugging Tomorrow in 2005. | |
| Nationality | Singaporean |
| Alma mater | Singapore Management University |
| Occupation | Director of Digital Product Management |
| Organization | Monterey Bay Aquarium |
| Website | popagandhi |
Education and career
editAdrianna graduated from Singapore Management University with a Bachelor of Political Science.
She previously ran a design agency named Pen to Pixel as well as a gourmet ice cream business.[3]
Wobe
editIn 2013, Adrianna founded Wobe, which is short for women's benefit, an app designed to help Indonesians set up their own businesses.[4] The app was intended to promote financial inclusion in Indonesia by allowing users to easily purchase prepaid mobile phone credits without having to go through middlemen. Wobe hoped to be able to allow users to purchase other digital goods in the future as well.[5] In July 2016, Wobe was crowned the inaugural winner of Her Startup, a female-focused trans-pacific startup competition.[6] Wobe was funded by Draper Ventures, Wavemaker, Mercy Corps and other private investors.[7]
Adrianna was named one of the Top Female Entrepreneurs of 2015 by True Global Ventures.
In 2016, Wobe was the winner of the Ascendas-Singbridge Her Startup 2016.[8]
San Francisco
editIn November, 2024, Tan wrote in a followers-only post on Mastodon of her new job at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, "I spoke to a few people about the hiring process for my job and they all said 'you were the first candidate who said tech can’t solve everything, this job is about people, and respectfully talked about being part of a team and not having all the answers'" [9] In her role as Director of Product Management for the San Francisco Digital Service, Adrianna led various projects, including the sf.gov project, which aimed to consolidate the city's more than 200 websites in a single location and provide the content in English, Spanish, Chinese and Filipino.[10][11]
Impact
editIn 2012, she established the Gyanada Foundation, a non-profit based out of Singapore and India. The foundation provides young girls with bond-free scholarships to help them complete 12 years of formal education under a programme known as "Gynada Scholar".[12][13][14] One of its other programmes is "Binary Story" which involves teaching of computer skills such as programming to under-privileged children. To date, about 2,800 children have benefitted from the foundation's programmes.[15]
In 2013, Adrianna ran a Singapore-based, citizen-driven food project named Culture Kitchen. The project regularly hosted dinner parties in Singapore that aimed to highlight a specific non-citizen community each time.[16] She aimed to gather about 100 migrant workers and 100 Singaporeans for every Kitchen Culture dinner, which happened once every three months.[17]
In 2014, in response to an open letter written by Thio Su Mien to the then-Minister for Health, Gan Kim Yong, denouncing homosexuality,[18] Adrianna published an open letter advocating for LGBT rights in Singapore.[19]
Political activity
editAdrianna served as the digital engagement team leader for the National Solidarity Party in the 2011 Singaporean general election.[20]
Personal life
editWhilst studying for her undergraduate degree, Adrianna spent many summer breaks in various Indian cities, volunteering at non-government organisations (NGOs), writing for Indian newspapers, and meeting people from all walks of life.[21]
Adrianna identifies as queer.[22] She relocated from Singapore to San Francisco in 2018, where she now lives with her wife.[23][24]
In 2018, after the film Crazy Rich Asians was released, Adrianna posted a thread commenting on 'crazy rich' Asians in Singapore which became very popular. In the thread, she observed that "My friends at school ate $30 lunches daily at nice restaurants, age 13; vacationed in private islands with royalty, age 15. I was an outsider in this world".[25]
In 2022, Adrianna stated that she would be deactivating her Twitter account in favour of her Mastodon account, and explained that "[w]alled gardens were a mistake".[26]
References
edit- ^ "Mastodon post by Adrianna Tan, dated November 5, 2024, 7:35 a.m., reading "I made it to the otter side (first day at work at the Monterey Bay Aquarium)"". Hachyderm.io. Retrieved 2024-11-15.
- ^ leonaleesgn (2022-03-08). "Women to Watch". Singapore Global Network. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
- ^ "TEDxYouth@Singapore | TED". www.ted.com. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
- ^ Tan, Adrianna. "Adrianna Tan". BRINK – Conversations and Insights on Global Business. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
- ^ "Micro-Businesses With Big Aspirations_2016Issue2". singaporemagazine.sif.org.sg. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
- ^ Wong, Yi Wei (16 November 2016). "The Indonesian Startup That Wants To Empower Women With Prepaid Phone Credits". Fast Company.
- ^ "Adrianna Tan | About". adrianna.jefritan.com. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
- ^ "Singapore's Wobe wins world's first cross-border startup comp for female entrepreneurs". Yahoo News. 2016-08-02. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
- ^ "a followers-only Mastodon post by Adrianna Tan, date November 15, 2024". hachyderm.io. 2024-11-15. Retrieved 2024-11-15.
- ^ "A tale of two cities: Singaporean techie compares govtech approaches across Singapore and San Francisco". govinsider.asia. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
- ^ JD, Alois (16 August 2015). "Dusan Stojanovic Backs Female Entrepreneurs as Trio Shifts to Crowdfunding on Indiegogo". Crowdfunder Insider.
- ^ "Q&A with Adrianna Tan, entrepreneur and queer role model". helloclue.com. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
- ^ "Adrianna Tan: I'm Just a Busybody". High Net Worth. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
- ^ "Blazing The Trail_2013Issue4". singaporemagazine.sif.org.sg. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
- ^ Chew, Alywin. "The Code to a Better Life". singaporemagazine.sif.org.sg. Retrieved 2024-02-24.
- ^ "Foodpreneurs: Food as conversation starters (Part 1)". MICHELIN Guide. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
- ^ "She would rather spend to help migrants makan , Latest Singapore News - The New Paper". www.tnp.sg. 25 September 2015. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
- ^ "Former NUS Law Dean Thio Su Mien writes open letter to PM, Health Minister on HPB Sexuality FAQ". mothership.sg. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
- ^ "Openly gay S'porean responds to Thio Su Mien's open letter with an open letter of her own". mothership.sg. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
- ^ "What's Kate Spade Got To Do With It — Social Media at #sgelections 2011". www.slideshare.net. 18 May 2011. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
- ^ "The Code to a Better Life". singaporemagazine.sif.org.sg. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
- ^ Shan, Hoe Pei (2014-02-05). "Health board tackles gay issues in FAQs". The Straits Times. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
- ^ "LGBTQ Singaporeans May Find Public Housing Access Harder". Time. 2022-08-25. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
- ^ "'It's still hard for us to own a home': struggles of Singapore's LGBTQ buyers". South China Morning Post. 2022-08-25. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
- ^ "Here's what someone who grew up with actual crazy rich Asians in Singapore has to say about the movie | Coconuts". coconuts.co. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
- ^ "Goodbye, Twitter. Hello, Slow Socials". popagandhi.com. 2022-11-05. Retrieved 2023-11-04.