Who is Annabel Chong?
When a young Grace Kuek ventured overseas to study law at King's College, the universe had other plans for her
Picture this. It's 1995 in a relatively conservative Singapore. A 22 year old woman named Grace using the name Annabel Chong stars in an adult film where she has sex with 70 men 251 times.
The film sets a world record and becomes one of the best-selling adult films of that decade.
Naturally, something of this nature puts Singapore on the map and makes her one of the most famous Singaporeans of the time.
She left the industry almost 20 years ago and has now carved out a career for herself in...engineering?
How did she get into tech?
She's left the industry almost two decades ago and has carved out a career for herself in the engineering and tech industry.
In an interview with Vice, she recalls how she found herself in her current path.
She states that she learnt how to code in a strip club in early 2000. This was soon after she entered the adult film industry.
One of Kuek's private clients had introduced her to the world of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Only because he had a thing for "teacher-student" role play.
Who would've known that ignited the passion in Kuek to start coding for fun? Even when the client was no longer in her life, she continued the learning process and even tried her hand at coding the strip club's website in between jobs.
Where is she now?
Well, she left her stage name behind and is now simply known as Grace Kuek.
According to AsiaOne, she enrolled in a 10-month engineering crash course in 2001 and graduated with an associate's degree. She started work as a consultant while selling Annabel Chong merchandise.
#ShelteringInPlace #birthdayinquarantine #lifeisgood So here I am, living my best life. pic.twitter.com/6oKpdSnoMO — Grace Quek (@GraceQuek) May 22, 2020
She says the biggest problem she's had to face in engineering was the rampant sexism from the men she worked with but that didn't make her give up, she just worked even harder.
After a string of successful job experiences in the industry, she is presently working as a senior front-end developer at Sony Pictures Entertainment.
It's official! I signed my offer letter from Sony Pictures Entertainment today. I feel so #BlessedGratefulThankful and I look forward to joining the Funimation team. I start work next Wednesday! pic.twitter.com/7Blj6xeOyl — Grace Quek (@GraceQuek) September 22, 2020
Although she does wonder if the people at work have Googled her, she isn't really bothered by the past anymore.
"If they're going to find out, they're going to find out. I can only control what I do. And I'm here to work," she says to Vice.
Follow Mashable SEA on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
