RISE with Strangers

Rise With Strangers wasn’t just an event — it was an evening where unfamiliar faces stepped into the same room and walked out as something closer to kin. Designed as JCI Orchid’s signature community experience, the gathering brought together members from across chapters, each arriving with their own stories, ambitions, and quiet hopes for the year ahead.

The night opened under the steady, grounded guidance of Shilpa Nath from The Kali Club, who invited every woman into a reflective ritual:

Where have you been?

What weighed on your energy?

What lit you up?

And what intentions do you dare to set for the year unfolding before you?

Layer by layer, the room was ushered into deeper self-inquiry. From assessing emotional bandwidth to articulating what alignment truly means (see pages 17–19 of the presentation). It was soft work, but also brave work. Women shared openly: the habits they wanted to shed, the identities they were growing into, the intentions they wanted to protect. For a moment, strangers spoke like old friends.

Then the evening shifted gears.

Jasmine How, JCI Orchid member and founder of The WOW Collective, took to the floor with a segment that challenged everyone to stretch their understanding of social responsibility. Drawing from a landscape of Singapore’s most pressing — and often invisible — social issues, Jasmine reframed impact not as philanthropy reserved for the few, but as a mindset available to all.

She spoke of mental wellness gaps, aging with dignity, disability inclusion, and the quiet struggles of communities that seldom make the headlines. She asked:

What world do you want to help build?

Who pays the price when society looks away?

And what does “starting small” look like for you?

Participants were then invited to imagine Singapore ten years from now — not as passive observers but as architects of possibility. Conversations grew louder, richer, more urgent. Ideas sparked across tables. Perspectives collided and converged.

Each attendee crafted a pitch:

An issue they noticed.

A community it impacted.

And with just one step, they could take to begin shifting the story.

The evening closed with a final, grounding prompt:

What small act of goodness will you commit to this week?

That was the magic of Rise With Strangers, a gathering that began with slow, intimate reflection and ended with a quiet revolution of intention. Our guests walked out not only having met new people, but having met themselves at a deeper threshold.

There was connection. There was clarity. It was community in motion.

And for many, it was the first rise of the year.