Growing up in a singleparent family, Gary Lau joined a gang when he was 14. He landed in the Singapore Boys’ Home, spent two years in Boys’ Town, and when he was rejected by a culinary school because of his tattoos, Gary decided to take his Nlevels as a private candidate before making it to the Institute of Technical Education College East, Nanyang Polytechnic and to his surprise the National University of Singapore on a scholarship.

In 2022, at 31, he graduated with an honours degree in social work.

00:00 Odd man out at NUS
01:56 Joining a gang at 14
03:59 Boys’ Town and a father figure
05:23 Rejection after rejection
06:34 Getting into ITE at 23
07:26 Is resilience enough?
08:53 Diving into social work
09:54 'I'm not a success yet'

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