Mildred Cheng is a curious, playfully unconventional content lead at Generalist World who brings people together through events and community building. During COVID, she started a community for East and Southeast Asian creatives that sparked her realisation that connecting people gives her deep fulfilment. She joined GW as a member, became a London local lead, and is now part of the GW team writing the GW newsletter. She's guided by gut feeling and curiosity, confident in her judgments, saves compliments in a folder, and believes that different versions of yourself die to make room for new growth.

Feedback is so radical that it feels shocking when it actually happens. Most workplaces will have systems in place to give you feedback on what you could be doing better, but forget that we also need to be told what we’re doing well. It builds trust, honesty, and self-confidence.

Binaries are false idols and everything lives in nuance. Most of life isn't right or wrong; it's complex and contextual. When you take time to understand people, you realise you have far more in common than online comments suggest.

Save your compliments and revisit them when doubt creeps in. Mildred keeps screenshots of feedback in a folder literally titled "Nice Things That People Have Said About Me." When you're questioning yourself at work, real evidence from real people is more honest than your own criticism.

Work is a construct, what matters is time and the people you spend it with. The concept of "work" is something we invented. Strip that away and you're left with time, choices, and people. When you stop optimising for titles and status, you can ask the real question: what actually feels good to do?