I still remember my first day playing Claire in DBS Sparks. It was my very first acting role and as I donned her outfit, walked around the DBS office, met my fellow “colleagues”, and told true stories about the bank, I felt empowered and inspired.
Today, I’m proud to say that I’m a case of life imitating art. I’m no longer just Claire who works at DBS, but Jamie who works at DBS in Hong Kong.
My journey to the bank was about 10 years in the making. At just 19, I’d moved across the world on my own, from laid-back-nature-surrounding-Seattle, to the fast-paced, bustling city of Hong Kong.
I didn’t have a concrete plan then as I was still completing my Bachelor’s - all I had was a dream to pursue a career in modelling and acting, and attempt to discover my roots as an American-Born Chinese.
Playing Claire was extremely special to me. Over the next eight years, I’d experience the highs and lows of being a model and actress. My self-worth would especially take a hit in the months when I couldn’t get a single call back, no matter how hard I worked.
So each time I got to play Claire in a new episode of Sparks, I was always excited - not just for the story I’d be telling but the chance to work with this “family” I’d grown familiar with, and even close to, over the years.
One special memory was our trip to India to film season two, episode six with cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar (the huge crowd in the stadium weren’t CGI by the way)! Watching the making of the scene with women riding their Vespas after getting jobs as delivery associates was so moving and inspiring to me – I had goosebumps!
The scene really portrayed the strength of women, especially together as a force.
Two years ago, I started to crave stability and wanted more control over my career, so I made my first career switch to digital marketing.
I juggled modelling jobs on the side, as I delved deep into the tech space working on marketing strategy and activations, exploring Web3, NFTs and the metaverse.
I also enrolled in coding boot camps. As someone who isn’t the most fluent in writing Chinese, I found extra appreciation for the tech lingo that transcends traditional languages.
Around the same time, I got the call back for season three of DBS Sparks. Coincidentally, Claire was to welcome new colleagues who clinched tech roles in the bank, and the new episodes were about using technology to better help clients.
Excited that my interests aligned with the bank’s, I constantly refreshed the DBS careers page, and regularly applied for suitable roles.
I’m now three months into my new role. My colleagues have been nothing but welcoming, even as they jokingly ask for spoilers for upcoming episodes!
While Claire’s a Relationship Manager with a top line understanding of all our systems, I’m on the back end in the deep tech space as a project manager in the Consumer Banking and Core Banking team. I’ll also get a chance to be well acquainted with projects that support DBS’ digital transformation.
Transiting to my current role, where I'll support the development of open APIs, new solutions driven by data science and machine learning and more, has not been easy. The learning curve is steep, and some days are especially hard and ridden with imposter syndrome.
Still, I’m proud I pursued my passions and embarked on a new, exciting career path. I’ve learnt (at the risk of sounding cliché) that if you put in the work and believe in yourself, no dream is truly out of reach.
- Jamie Ha, Technology & Operations, DBS Bank Hong Kong aka Claire Lee from DBS Sparks