Long before titles or responsibilities, Ricky Low was learning how to listen. His journey in SMC began in quiet observation, listening more than speaking, trying to understand the dynamics of people, teams, and purpose. What started as simple involvement in different communities gradually evolved into something deeper. Small responsibilities became ownership. Ownership became leadership.
Across his time in SMU and beyond, Ricky stepped into roles that challenged him to grow, including leadership positions in the SMU Business Society and the Guitar Ensemble. From leading teams and organizing large-scale events to navigating setbacks and rebuilding momentum, he learned that leadership is not defined by position, but by accountability, intent, and follow-through. He learned to listen beyond words, to ask better questions, and to step forward even when he felt unready.
Experiences like SMC played a role in shaping his perspective, but they were part of a much larger journey. Through his work in student leadership and community-building, Ricky developed a leadership style grounded in purpose, impact, and a constant pursuit of harmony. By his third year, he had co-founded the SMU SMC Club and led the Singapore Youth Hiking Library operations.
Ricky’s journey reflects what the SMC Youth Leadership Track is designed to cultivate — individuals who grow from participation to ownership, and from ownership to leadership. As the first featured voice in this series, his story offers a glimpse into how SMC is preparing globally ready, values-anchored youth leaders for SG100 — Singapore’s next chapter of nation-building.
Getting to Know Rick Low
My name is Ricky Low, and I am a Year 4 Business student at SMU, majoring in Finance. My journey with the Singapore Mentorship Committee (SMC) began in my first year of university, when a close friend, Kenneth, who was already volunteering with the organisation, introduced me to it. What started as joining a few hikes quickly grew into something much more meaningful. I began volunteering in small ways, helping to disseminate information and coordinate logistics, before gradually taking on greater responsibility within the committee. By my third year, I co-founded the SMU SMC Club alongside Kenneth and Cedrica, working to bring SMC’s mission closer to the student community. I also took on the role of Lead Coordinator for the Singapore Youth Hiking Library, overseeing hike operations.
What began as curiosity became a defining thread of my university life.
1. What motivated you to join SMC as a student volunteer?
Watching Kenneth volunteer gave me my first glimpse of what SMC stood for, but what truly drew me in was observing the quality of conversations that happened during the hikes. These were not surface-level networking exchanges. They were candid, thoughtful dialogues between people at very different stages of life. I realised that mentorship is not something you outgrow; it is relevant at every stage, whether you are a student trying to find your footing or a seasoned professional navigating new challenges. That universality resonated with me. I did not join because I was looking for career advice. I joined because I wanted to be part of an ecosystem where learning from others was a way of life.
2. How has your perception of yourself changed since becoming part of SMC?
Before SMC, I lived largely within the boundaries of my own experience. My concerns were my grades, my internships, my immediate circle. SMC expanded my frame of reference in a way that the classroom never could. Through conversations with senior professionals across industries, from finance to healthcare to public policy, I began to appreciate just how vast and interconnected the world really is. Every person I spoke with carried a different set of challenges, and hearing them articulate those challenges taught me humility. I became less preoccupied with having the right answers and more focused on asking better questions.
Over four years, I grew from someone who was hesitant to speak up to someone who could hold space in a conversation with people far more experienced than myself. Not because I became louder, but because I learned to listen with genuine curiosity and respond with intention.
3. Can you share a moment in SMC that significantly shaped your confidence or mindset?
One moment that stands out is listening to Andre Andonian, former Chairman of McKinsey Asia, speak about leadership during a SMC Hike. He outlined ten principles of good leadership, and two themes in particular stayed with me: purpose and impact. What struck me was not the advice itself (many people talk about purpose), but the way he framed it as something you practise daily in the small decisions you make, not just in grand career milestones. That reframing changed how I approached leadership when I ran for SMU Business Society President. Instead of thinking about leadership as a title or a position of authority, I began to see it as an ongoing responsibility to align my actions with the kind of influence I wanted to have. That single conversation gave me a compass I still use when making difficult decisions, whether in committee work, internships, or my personal life.
4. What is one skill or insight you gained through SMC that you wouldn’t have learned in a classroom?
The skill I value most is what I would call deep listening: the ability to hear beyond the words being spoken. In the classroom, you learn to absorb information. In SMC, you learn to interpret meaning. Over the course of many hikes, I noticed that different mentors would sometimes offer seemingly identical advice. Take, for example, the idea of adopting a servant leadership mindset. On the surface, the message sounds the same. But when I listened more carefully, I realised each mentor was drawing from a fundamentally different experience. One mentor meant serving the people you lead. Another meant serving the mission of the organisation. A third meant serving your own growth so you can give more to others. If I had taken the advice at face value, I would have dismissed it as a cliché. But by listening for the nuances, the context behind the words, I was able to extract something far more personal and actionable. That practice taught me that wisdom often hides in familiar language, and it is the listener’s job to uncover it.
5. How has working with mentors or senior professionals through SMC influenced your growth or decision-making?
Working with mentors through SMC taught me that perspective is one of the most valuable currencies in decision-making. When you are a student, your frame of reference is naturally limited. The mentors I walked alongside during hikes offered me windows into how they thought about problems: not just what they decided, but how they arrived at their decisions. That process of thinking out loud, shared over hours on a trail, is something no textbook replicates. It made me more comfortable engaging with senior professionals, not because I stopped feeling the gap in experience, but because I learned that curiosity is a bridge that closes that gap. Practically, it has made me more deliberate in my own decision-making. When I face a difficult choice, I often find myself drawing on fragments of conversations from years ago, a perspective from a healthcare executive, a question posed by a public servant, and those fragments help me see the fuller picture.
6. What was your first leadership responsibility in SMC, and what did it teach you about leadership?
My first responsibility was something that many might consider unremarkable: sending information to mentees and mentors via WhatsApp during my first year. It was purely logistical. Coordinating schedules, relaying updates, making sure no one was left out. But looking back, it taught me something fundamental: leadership begins with followership. Before you can lead others effectively, you need to understand what it means to support a process, to make someone else’s job easier, to pay attention to the small details that keep an operation running smoothly. That experience grounded my understanding of leadership not as something you earn through a title, but something you build through consistent, unglamorous service. It is a principle I carried with me into every subsequent role I held at SMC.
7. What was the most challenging part of your journey in SMC, and how did you overcome it?
The most challenging chapter was co-founding the SMU SMC Club. Unlike volunteering within an existing structure, building something from scratch meant navigating ambiguity at every turn. We were drafting proposals, planning events from the ground up, and making the case for SMC’s relevance on the SMU campus. There was no playbook to follow. What helped me through it was my team. Cedrica brought meticulous planning and attention to detail, and Kenneth excelled at building external relationships and liaising with stakeholders. I learned that overcoming a challenge is rarely a solo endeavour. My role as a leader in that context was not to have all the answers, but to create the conditions for my team to do their best work. That experience taught me that the strength of any initiative lies not in one person’s vision, but in the collective commitment of the people behind it.
8. Has your experience in SMC influenced your career aspirations or future plans? In what way?
In a very direct way, yes. During my second year, Dr David referred me to Spark Systems, where the CEO, Mr Wong Joo Seng, took a chance on me and offered me an internship. Under my manager Barney, I was exposed to the operational and financial workings of a real business, and those experiences solidified my interest in finance and eventually led me to start investing on my own. But beyond the tangible career milestone, SMC shaped my aspirations in a subtler way. It taught me that a career is not just a sequence of roles; it is a reflection of the values you carry into your work. The conversations I had during SMC helped me define what those values are: intellectual curiosity, a commitment to service, and a desire to create impact beyond my immediate scope. Those are the principles I carry as I think about the next chapter of my professional life.
9. If you could give advice to your pre-SMC self, what would you say?
I would say: step forward, even when you are not ready. Especially when you are not ready. Growth rarely happens in the space of comfort. Every meaningful opportunity I had at SMC came because I said yes before I felt fully prepared. I would also tell myself to pay closer attention to bandwidth. Ambition without awareness of your own limits leads to burnout, not growth. Seize opportunities, but do so with intention. Know why you are saying yes, and make sure it aligns with what you are building towards. An opportunity missed is one you may never see again, but an opportunity seized thoughtfully is one that compounds over time.
10. What would you say to a student who is considering joining SMC but isn’t sure yet?
I would say this: the fact that you are considering it already means something. Uncertainty is natural, and I felt it too. But joining SMC is not a commitment to have everything figured out. It is an invitation to be curious, to listen, and to grow alongside people who have walked the path before you. You do not need to know what you want from it to benefit from it. Some of the most valuable lessons I took from SMC were ones I did not expect to learn. At worst, you walk away with a broader perspective and a few meaningful conversations. At best, it changes the trajectory of how you see yourself and the world. That is a bet worth making.
Written by Ricky Low & Edited by Alyson Tin
About SMC Youth Leadership Track
Operating as a student-led, mentor-supported organisation on a fully volunteer basis, SMC is actively run and operated by students, who take ownership of programme execution, community initiatives, and day-to-day operations under mentor guidance.
The SMC Youth Leadership Track is a structured programme designed to develop globally ready, values-anchored youth leaders in preparation for Singapore’s next phase of development (SG100).
The programme follows a three-tier progression pathway—Student Volunteer, Student Leader, and Youth Leadership Committee— enabling youth to grow from contributors into leaders and mentors within SMC’s ecosystem.
Interested in joining SMC as a student volunteer? Send your resume to smccareers8@gmail.com
Media Contact:
Singapore Mentorship Committee (SMC)
Email: singaporementorshipcommittee@gmail.com
Website: https://www.smcmentorship.org/