When South Korean native Vicky Choi listened to Kit Chan sing Home during the SG50 National Day Parade in 2015, she cried.
She may not be Singaporean, but the song tugged at her heartstrings because she felt a deep sense of belonging to the little red dot.
The Singapore permanent resident moved here from Auckland, New Zealand, in 2006 with her sister, and now lives with her husband and two children. Her parents used to live in Singapore with her, but in 2013, they packed their bags and moved back to South Korea to retire.
While Vicky was not born and bred in Singapore, she told AsiaOne in an interview on May 12 that she feels like Singapore is home because of all her experiences here.
“I spent the most important years of my life here, which are my 20s and 30s. Most of the time, your life starts shaping up during this period because you start working, building your career, and building relationships at work,” she said.
The move to Singapore wasn’t Vicky’s first relocation.
The 42-year-old was born in South Korea and in 1993, she and her family uprooted their lives to move to New Zealand.
Vicky and her sister Clara Choi lived there for 13 years. During their last semester of university, when they were deciding what jobs to apply for, they agreed that it would be best to relocate.
She shared that after working several part-time jobs in New Zealand and taking a year off to work full-time as a team leader at travel retailer DFS, she realised that she didn’t have much of a future in New Zealand.
“While I was working there, I realised [New Zealand’s] economy was very small,” she said.
“It really depends on how you perceive it. Some people will say that the work-life balance is good, and I agree. But at the same time, there are fewer opportunities in terms of growing exponentially, because it’s just so enclosed.”
The sisters considered other places such as Hong Kong but settled on Singapore because it felt like a more “subdued and quiet” version of Hong Kong with less competition.
They also felt that Singapore’s work environment for women was more favourable.
Vicky had tried applying for jobs while in New Zealand but received no responses. As her New Zealand passport gave her a three-month-long holiday visa in Singapore, she took advantage of that to fly to Singapore and applied for jobs here instead.
This worked, and she received several interview offers, eventually landing a job at courier company DHL.
After her three-year stint there, she went into banking, where she worked for 15 years before leaving the industry in 2024.
Since then, she has been focusing on her passion project and business, Vicky En France, which specialises in sustainable beauty.
She works together with her husband, a stem cell scientist, to develop products such as collagen jelly, sheet masks and ampoules.
Vicky also pointed out that she was able to start her own business because Singapore is a great place to do so.
“It is very easy to start one here,” she said.
When she had her two children in Singapore, Vicky and her husband, who is from France, agreed that they should apply for permanent residency for the whole family.
“After having kids, we liked Singapore even more and decided to become Permanent Residents, knowing that our son has to do National Service, which we don’t think is a huge issue,” she shared.
Singapore versus New Zealand
When Vicky first relocated to Singapore, several things immediately left a good impression on her.
The one that stood out most was the transportation system.
