"I'm really excited to introduce this concept to Singapore as an immersive outdoor festival. It is an outdoor event rooted in historical elements, typically from the English Renaissance. You will see people dressed as Queen Elizabeth or Shakespeare, alongside buskers playing period-appropriate instruments like the violin and harp. In recent years, Renaissance fairs have become more fantasy-focused, with people dressing as wizards, fairies, goblins, and rats. These fairs are usually held outdoors, with the most elaborate and established versions found in the United States." - Caylee Chua, Founder of Strawberry Champagne Sparkles


"Compared to other Renaissance Faires, our branding leans more toward fairytale because we wanted something more intuitive and closer to medieval fantasy. The obvious references are Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones, but those worlds are very dark, with a lot of death and violence. I tried to think of something adjacent that everyone in Singapore would understand. Many kids grew up with American and Western fairytales like Disney, which also makes the experience more family-friendly." - Caylee Chua, Founder of Strawberry Champagne Sparkles


"I was lucky with my strategy because I started my socials around April or May and used them as a landing page to build an early audience. I did not post on Instagram until August 3rd, and I made that launch a big moment. For the first few posts, every time I published something, I also sent an email asking people to reshare the content. That helped a lot. The early posts got many views because the initial audience really pushed them out, and that momentum helped us unlock more opportunities." - Caylee Chua, Founder of Strawberry Champagne Sparkles

Caylee Chua, multidisciplinary artist and founder of Strawberry Champagne Sparkles, joins Jeremy Au to share how she built Ren Faire SG: The Origin from a niche idea into Singapore’s first Renaissance Fair. She traces her journey from crafting fairycore jewelry to designing an immersive festival that blends artistry, performance, and community play. Caylee explains how early inspiration from overseas fairs sparked her vision, how months of quiet TikTok posts built the first wave of support, and how strict venue rules forced her to redesign logistics with precision. They discuss why Singaporeans crave spaces for imagination, how grassroots creativity grows when subcultures meet, and why young founders can move fast even without industry backing. Their conversation explores the mix of cosplay, crafts, DnD, book culture, and youth communities that shaped the fair, the emotional work behind cold outreach and rejections, and the courage required to keep building when early metrics stay small.

01:59 Discovering Renaissance Fairs through global festivals: Caylee explains how US and European fairs mix historical reenactments, fantasy costumes, live music, and immersive outdoor spaces.

07:35 Planning logistics under strict rules: She walks through tough constraints from the parks authority, including truck access limits, safety marshals, tree buffers, and weekday-only setup windows.

09:51 Choosing Fort Canning after venue rejections: Other parks blocked her plans, Marina Barrage felt too modern, and only one Fort Canning lawn delivered both ambience and affordability.

12:03 Designing a fairytale-first theme: She leans into approachable fairytale fantasy so families, casual fans, and newcomers feel welcome without needing deep fandom knowledge.

15:20 Curating performers with an open call: She reviews video auditions, selects musicians and street cast with the right energy, and balances skill, costume fit, and stage flow.

18:29 Building early marketing momentum: She starts socials early, grows an email list, mobilizes supporters to reshare posts, and uses community filming to power Instagram and TikTok reach.

28:48 Staying brave when early posts fall flat: She pushes through silence, posts daily despite tiny views, and keeps her conviction until the algorithm and word of mouth finally amplify her work.

Jeremy Au: Hey Caylee, I'm excited to have you on the show. Uh, you are 24 years old, and you've built a small business, but now you're building out the Renaissance Fair, uh, which is going to have thousands of attendees in Singapore, and I'm excited. I'd love for you to introduce yourself.

Caylee Chua: Okay. Um, hello, my name is Caylee. So, yeah, I'm 24 this year. I run a small handmade business called Strawberry Champagne Sparkles, where I handmake, um, jewelry with like crystals, gemstones, using like wire wrap techniques. So, yeah, I'm really excited to bring the Ren Fair to Singapore. I can't really say I've brought the Ren Fair to Singapore, 'cause I, I haven't, like, been a franchisee, but I'm really excited to introduce this concept to Singapore, like this outdoor festival that's very immersive and a little bit different from like the everyday, what. Yeah.

Jeremy Au: Yeah. So good. What is the Renaissance Fair? Like, if you haven't heard of it or been to one, what is it like?

Caylee Chua: The term Renaissance Fair started in the US, so it's basically an outdoor festival where there's a lot of historical elements, typically from the English Renaissance. So you'll see people dressed up as like Queen Elizabeth, as like Shakespeare. You'll see people doing Shakespeare and you see people like busking and playing like the violin, the harp, very like period-appropriate instruments. But particularly in the last few years, like Renaissance Fairs are a lot more fantasy focused. So you see people dressed as faeries and like fairies and like goblins and rats. It's definitely usually held outdoors. So there's like canopies. You'll see the really elaborate Fairs in the US, the really established ones. They have, uh, built buildings that look like taverns, like medieval fantasy taverns. Yeah. So it's pretty interesting, and you have a whole lineup of things, especially in the US where it is really established, people like doing blacksmithing. Yeah. On the spot. Yeah. Yeah. It is a very, very eclectic mix of like things to see. It's a little bit different, so it's an opportunity to touch grass a little bit.

Jeremy Au: No, I really appreciate that description, and it sounds like a lot of fun. So, you know, obviously this is something that, it happens quite a lot in Europe, in America. So what's the crowd like?

Caylee Chua: I think it really depends because in the US, especially the really established ones, they have crowd control measures, or they get flamed when they don't have crowd control measures. Yeah. So, but it can be really crowded based on photos. People will be complaining that, "Oh, it's like shoulder to shoulder" for some of them. But the one that I went in Switzerland, it was the Gruyères Medieval Festival. So it was, it's a little bit more historically focused, 'cause it's a medieval festival. It's held in the actual castle. It kind of like recreated what life was like in Gruyères in like the 14th century. So it was really medieval and not Renaissance. The crowd there was actually pretty chill. There was a constant stream of people, maybe like two people every like 30 seconds based on the ticketing counter, but it felt very spacious. There was a lot of space to walk the ground. And people just, yeah, there's a lot of space. It felt very spacious. You see a lot of people, but you don't feel like you're next to them, and there's like 10 meters distance apart from the next person. It was really fun. Yeah.

Jeremy Au: Yeah. And so like people are busking, there's music, people are, you know, having medieval drinks, I guess, and dry cheer company.

Caylee Chua: There's reenactments usually, but in the one that I went to, they were more like serious reenactments. They were like dyeing clothing if like the period accurate. So it's like they use like plants and stuff, right? Yeah. So the dye is all like bright red, like they'd be clothed in this color. And then they were like, they were displaying the different chain mail and armor. Yeah. And people could go there and try it on. And yeah, we got to walk the actual castle, which was pretty interesting as well. But it was a little bit different now because it's a little bit of like a museum experience. It's a historical place, and you could really walk up close and like almost touch, you could touch the artwork, but then we try not to, la.

Jeremy Au: So it sounds like fun because you go there, you go with your friends, you get to dress up. Or if you don't dress up, is it okay for you to not dress up as well?

Caylee Chua: Totally fine. My boyfriend came in like Uniqlo shirt.

Jeremy Au: Singapore. Yeah. Really fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Caylee Chua: It looked fine because nobody was looking. He blended into the surroundings.

Jeremy Au: Tell me more about why you were inspired to bring this Renaissance Fair to Singapore?

Caylee Chua: I got really inspired all the way last year when I first saw Ren Fair Philippines post their TikTok videos. And it was like so magical, especially their promo video. And I was like so jealous, 'cause I was like, "Oh, I only learn about the fair like a week before". "It's not like I can fly to the Philippines like tomorrow". So that was kind of when I first got introduced. And I started actually like my preliminary research in like 2024 after seeing that, that video. So I started like looking up venues, checking prices, but somehow the numbers didn't really like match up. I was doing the budgeting. I was like, "Oh, it's a five-digit number," and like to balance the cost out, like where would the revenue come from? It didn't really make sense. But this year, when I saw like Ren Fair page again, like, "Oh, I saw they were so successful last year". And then I saw people like asking about it in like strangers' convo, like public forums. I was like, "Oh, there might actually be a demand". And then when I went to rework the numbers, it made sense. It made more sense this round. I was like, "Oh, actually it's possible to not even break even, but I mean, it's enough to have a contingency in case like something goes very wrong". Yeah, yeah. So I was like, "Okay, let's start, let's try this out and see if it goes well".

Jeremy Au: Yeah, no, I think I'm quite curious because, it's interesting because obviously when you talk about the Philippines, you know, one interesting thing about, obviously Asia, of course, is that the Philippines is actually very Americanized, obviously because of the American history in the country. And so actually you see a lot of the American cultural art forms actually go to the Philippines first and not Singapore, actually. So I think Renaissance Fair, I think actually look at improv comedy, actually a lot of the performing arts, there's a lot of like, faster, I don't know, traveling between America to the Philippines, and Singapore is a bit later. So I'm just kind of curious, but, you know, when you think about this Renaissance Fair, you saw that there's opportunity. Was it scary to set it up?

Caylee Chua: Mm, I think up till like June or July, it didn't feel very, like stressful. It didn't feel very scary because it felt so immediate that you just kept doing it, like. I didn't have time to think that, "Oh, it won't work out". I was just so focused on like the planning and like getting the programming and the, like, getting the layout to fit what NParks wants. I didn't even think that, oh, until like some of my, like ex-friends were telling me like, "Oh, I don't think, I think marketing is gonna be the most difficult". "I don't think there's gonna be a crowd." That's when I started getting more scared. Yeah. But at first, I was only focused on like the logistics. Like, "Oh, how would a truck enter the venue?". "Like, what time can the truck enter? And like, how, how long should I book for set up?". That kind of like logistical nitpicking. That was what I was focused on.

Jeremy Au: So let's talk about that in the two parts, right? Obviously one's the logistics, and one's the marketing. So logistics, obviously, you know, you're inspired to, but to bring the Renaissance Fair, you saw equivalence in Europe, in America, in Philippines. So the logistics phase, like, talk to me about this, you said about this truck. This, the National Parks Authority. So,

Caylee Chua: It's a little bit complicated because NParks has a lot of regulations, especially at Fort Canning because it's so historical. I think at Gardens by the Bay, right, is a little bit more relaxed, or like Singapore Botanic Gardens is more relaxed. When I was talking to the, the departments at that side, they're a little bit more like, "Oh, yeah, can. This one can, that one can." But at Fort Canning it's like, "Oh, this one cannot. That one cannot". "Like, you must have a three to five meter distance from all trees. Like no setup near any trees. Cannot hang any banners on any trees. You cannot live on the grass. You cannot throw like bubble solution on the grass". Yeah. Yeah. So a lot of like very, very, a lot of things that you'll want at a Renaissance Fair, just not possible at Fort Canning Park because of their, their priority to preserve the space, which is very understandable. Yeah. But some of the logistics is very, like, it was very difficult at first because, we need set up time, right? So at first I wanted the, to maximize like the budget. So like we set up in the morning, then the fair starts in the afternoon, so you only need to run like the day itself. But then they don't allow like vehicular access in the weekends. They changed a little bit of their guidelines. So only on the weekdays. So at first, my first, I was only gonna be one day, since it's a tester because of all of these like regulations. So like I can only set up Friday and Monday. So I was like, "Okay, you might as well set up Friday and Monday, and then the fair Saturday and Sunday". So it hits a certain like economy of scale, so everyone is, it's not so expensive. Yeah. A lot of fun things like, like, "Oh, the truck cannot enter". Then when you, the truck cannot enter, your logistics becomes more expensive. Of course, the rental company will be like, "Oh, there's stairs". Right? And then the thing that to carry is like 60 kg.

Jeremy Au: Yeah, yeah. But it's a poor guy. It's carrying a 60 kg amount of speakers. Like, there's like,

Caylee Chua: A hundred of them. They keep going up and down. Logistics company was telling me like, "Oh, we will not do this project if we have to go up the stairs". So I like find a way for them to like, "Oh, enter the truck". And then if they even, they enter the truck as well, like there's a lot of guidelines that NParks will give you like, "Oh, you need to have like three safety marshals around the truck at all times". Then you need to restrict like, um, public access. Yeah, and the way you restrict public access is also quite specific, and yeah, they have a lot of guidelines. So that was quite interesting to like work out the mathematics, la. Like, "Oh, the truck has to enter exactly like 10 meters". Yeah. And then they have to set up this side first, and then afterwards, then they can set up on this side. Yeah. So a lot of details for like planning a wedding.

Jeremy Au: It'd be a great place for a wedding, actually, all the costumes and everything. But I'm just kind of curious 'cause why do you choose Fort Canning? I mean, obviously it's history and everything, but just kind of curious.

Caylee Chua: Oh, okay. So, I was looking through all the different venues at NParks. Right. And they also have like, actually my first pick was Hong Lim Park in Chinatown. So I actually emailed in. I was like, "Oh, I want to host at Hong Lim Park". Immediately they got back to me like, "Oh, no, we do not allow this because we only allow like public, no, like, almost that like this city,"

Jeremy Au: Demonstration. Correct. Correct.

Caylee Chua: "We want to reserve it for like political, like, yeah, demonstration." I was like, "Okay". So I started looking, I've always been looking at Fort Canning, 'cause I always wanted to host an outdoor event, even before I knew it was the Renaissance Fair. Yeah. So I was always looking at Queenstown, like, "Oh, Murray," so just Fort Canning Park, because it's pretty affordable for the whole day for a venue. 'Cause for example, like maybe NLB is like, um, the drama center is, I'm pretty sure, like one day is like maybe three, four, 5,000. Well, in Fort Canning it's like maybe like a few hundred to a thousand. So for the space it is comparatively more affordable. So I was looking at different venues and then, um, I wanted it to be a central location. Mm. And these were the first one. Yeah. 'Cause people don't really wanna go all the way to East Coast Park or to Jurong Lake Gardens, right? So it can only left Fort Canning. 'Cause Botanic Gardens doesn't allow for you to rent the lawn for corporate events. So it has to be Fort Canning. And then between the Fort Canning venues, the one that people usually think of is Cannon Green, where they hold like Shakespeare in the Park filming. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that one has a very steep slope. Which is good for a stage, but it's not good for a marketplace. Right. 'Cause your vendors or your stuff will just slide off the table.

Jeremy Au: Right, right.

Caylee Chua: So that kind of left, only one place within Fort Canning, but that place is really nice. 'Cause you're next to all the, the monuments, like the Fort Gate and like the actual gate and the, the like cannons and stuff.

Jeremy Au: Yeah. If you say, yeah, the ambience is good, right? I mean, it has the, all of the old British era kind of like, uh, masonry and the cannons. It's actually quite a nice place.

Caylee Chua: You don't see so many like skyscrapers around you. 'Cause our other consideration was Marina Barrage. Yeah. 'Cause the price was comparable, but then it feels so modern. 'Cause you see like the Merlion in the background, and you're like, you, you don't really feel like you are escaping Singapore. You know, you feel exactly where you are.

Jeremy Au: That's such an interesting consideration. So what kind of, uh, ambience were you designing towards? Yeah. How do you think about is a mood board or how do you think about themes? Yeah.

Caylee Chua: Oh, so I think for us, right, compared to some of the other Renaissance Fairs, our branding is more towards like fairytale because we wanted something a little bit more intuitive towards like medieval fantasy.

Jeremy Au: Yeah. So,

Caylee Chua: Actually the most intuitive is a lot of Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. Yeah. But those are very dark IPs. Like there's a lot of deaths and there's a lot of like terrible things. So, but I was trying to think like, what is something adjacent that people, everyone understands, but it's not so, it doesn't feel so dark. Like fairytales are very dark, but you do not intuitively think they're very dark. But Game of Thrones, the first thing you think is like, "Oh, there's so much death, so much murder". People get tortured. So yeah, we are branding towards like fairytales. So there's a little bit of a bookish kind of themeing. Yeah. Not so much like fully D&D.

Jeremy Au: I think it's interesting because, Renaissance Fair, the whole concept is, is a big tent, right? I mean, there's many different IPs that can be there. I'm sure a lot of the Lord of the Rings folks will be there. I'm sure that the Game of Thrones and cosplayers, D&D people will be there. So I think there'd be lots of different groups that be under this big family, but I think it makes sense for you to have that. A framing that's more accessible to everybody. Like, yeah. And everybody all understand.

Jeremy Au: A lot of the kids grew up with American or Westernized or fairytales, Disney and everything. And it also makes it more family friendly, right? We can imagine people bringing their kids.

Caylee Chua: Correct. And NParks also doesn't want it to be not family friendly. Yeah.

Jeremy Au: Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, yeah. Yeah. So I think it'd be interesting to see that play up. But I think what was interesting as well, is the other part is actually what was scary, was really the whole concept of like the marketing. Obviously the question is like, will people show up?

Caylee Chua: Yeah. It was really stressful 'cause people kept telling me like, "Oh my God, outdoor venue. Like no way am I going to any event that's outdoor". Yeah. That was very, um, surprising to me 'cause I do a lot of outdoor events. Yeah. As a vendor. So I was like, "Oh, I'm pretty sure there's a market for it. Like people are willing to go". But a lot of people were saying like, "Oh, even like," other, or even organizers that I reached out to for advice, they were like, "No, you've severely overestimated the appeal of an outdoor event". And people were saying that, "Oh, it was very hot. It's very hot". So we, I started like polling my early audience and my beta testers like, "Oh, what would make it better"? You know, they're like, "Oh, cooling solutions". And when we pushed the fair to like a later time, 'cause usually, cons, conventions, events, they start like 10:00 AM, 12:00 PM, right? Yeah. We pushed it later, like 2:00 PM start. And we end later as well, so that it's not so terrible. Like you, you miss the worst of the heat, la.

Jeremy Au: So, uh, let's talk about some of those like design parameters, right? So one is, it will end before the evening, right? Do you?

Caylee Chua: It will end at 9:00 PM. Oh, night clean down.

Jeremy Au: Okay.

Caylee Chua: Yeah. It's gonna be like lighting and everything, so it's kind of an interesting atmosphere. Oh, yeah.

Jeremy Au: People will show up, I think, because it's quite cool, and it's high. I hope so. I mean,

Caylee Chua: Yeah.

Jeremy Au: Depends on if there's alcohol.

Caylee Chua: The, like the food guidelines are a little bit difficult, so, and we removed it 'cause we'll be afraid of like the logistics for the vendors to bring it in. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jeremy Au: I mean, for this first time, you gotta keep it safe, and then, and then maybe next time we'll feel more comfortable.

Caylee Chua: Yeah. Yeah. But people are allowed to bring in their own alcohol. We're just not selling alcohol at the venue.

Jeremy Au: And I think it's gonna be interesting because, you know, obviously it's like, I mean, it has different time zones, right? It has the afternoon, it has the dusk, twilight, this evening as well. It's quite interesting to see that.

Caylee Chua: I think there's some really interesting acts at night. So we have like our closing for the entire programming, right? Sunday night we have a drag performance. So we feel that's very suitable for like nighttime and that, and that it's all like EDM music, like violins doing EDM. So it's like, oh, that.

Jeremy Au: That sounds like fun. So, yeah. So it'll be busking and stuff like that. How do you choose all the, uh, performances? How are you thinking about it? Yeah.

Caylee Chua: So we had an open call, and we are very upfront that we are not paying you for this. We don't have money to like pay you your rates. So performers are voluntary in exchange for like a free ticket and maybe some perks like free food, early water, some being taken care of at the event. So there's three different kinds of performers actually. So there is the stage performance. For us outside, right, the organizers, we must provide more logistics. Whatever we give them like speakers, and we give them some lighting, but it's nothing too intense. Like it's not a very nice stage, it's a DIY stage. Then there's the buskers. So they bring in their own equipment. There's a few set spots around the fair, so they just go there and they busk, and people can tip them for the, for the performance, la. So they get opportunity to earn as well. But then you also get to, introduce music to more quieter parts of the fair. So there's an ambience everywhere. And then the third kind is like street cast. So these are more like improv performers. Some of them are musicians as well. The difference between street cast and buskers is that they're not stuck in one spot. They're gonna be walking around and performing. And then on top of that, we have another category, but it's a little bit adjacent 'cause they didn't really sign up. So our community partner, Love LSC, they're gonna be going around as NPCs and interacting with guests like a barkeep or like a wizard or whatever they're coming up with. And then they'll give you like quests. Like you have to do something for them. Then they'll give you a prize.

Jeremy Au: I'm just kind of curious because, you know, as you do all this, how do you figure out the curation of this selection of the various acts because obviously you have the theme of the fairytale, but I was just kind of curious how you go about it.

Caylee Chua: Oh, okay. So we made everybody send in like a video, and then we rated the video. So after a while we watch, right. You can kind of see that certain standard, like, "Okay, this is standard, we cannot set". Some of them are very young. Yeah. They're like 14, 13 years old. So you're like, "Okay." Actually, I think they need a bit more time to develop the skill because it's not that they're bad, even. Yeah. I feel like they're not going to be very confident on stage. Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. So you can't really give them that space. Generally we just kind of like rank them a little bit. We didn't rank very seriously, just like, "Oh, you know, like sort like it feels a bit better". So those that are a little bit below the standard, we usually put them in the wait list. We had about like 40 plus, um, auditions. So we looked through the different acts, and some of the acts, at first when we heard the concept, 'cause we made them describe their concept before we watched the video, we were like, "Oh, this doesn't sound like it suits Renaissance Fair". Like it's like a rock band, you know? But then when we heard their music, it was like, "Oh, actually it can fit as long as they dress in costume, too". Actually, it would look very fun. Yeah. And some of them are obviously gonna fit like Renaissance musicians, like they actually play Renaissance music. They sing like, I don't know, the Renaissance, like they have a specific name for the type of music that comes out of Renaissance era.

Jeremy Au: Oh, yeah.

Caylee Chua: Yeah, yeah. Like the Madrigals and stuff. They sing those kind of thing. So, and when you hear that, you can hear that they have some training and practice, so you're like, "Okay, you accept". And then afterwards, you start like scheduling them based on their availability and try and fit as many people as possible. Make sure everyone has, like a space. We're still in the process of like finishing the programming because like some people do not need the full like 30 minutes that we assign them. So we can kind of slot another performer after them. So we can take people off the wait list. Some really like good musicians, they reached out a little bit too late. So they also are put on waitlist.

Jeremy Au: It's been interesting to see that, and obviously, you are getting the word out because it's the first ever festival, I would say. A lot of my friends also don't know about it as well. So how do you think about, you know, marketing or getting these tickets?

Caylee Chua: I think, okay. I think I was quite lucky in my strategy because for, I started my socials in like April and May just to start use as a landing page, you know, to convert people, get your early audience. But I didn't post on Instagram until like August. But, and I made it like a really big thing. And I made like the entire community, 'cause I started building an email list, right? So for my first few posts, every time I post, I also send an email: "Please reshare the content". And it really helped, like I think the first, this one, the first few posts have so many views because your early audience really helped me to push it out, la. Like everyone reshared, everyone commented, everyone like did their best to push it out. And I think that really helped and helped us get a lot of opportunities as well. I was really worried about marketing 'cause the visuals is something that is very important for a Ren Fair compared to like Anime Convention. You could just slap like the illustration. So we had a community filming in like July, and it was really like, above my expectations because I thought nobody would show up. Like maybe like five people, but I think like 20 plus people like came for the filming, which is why the, the, like the videos looked so energetic, 'cause people were having fun, and it was like very easy to film compared to like what I thought it would be. So that was really, really helpful. Like the community really pulled, like early audience, they made time 'cause it was a Friday, like afternoon. So I don't know if they took leave or something. Like they really like, they dedicated the time to come down to Fort Canning in costume.

Jeremy Au: Yeah. Right. Mm. No, I think it's really interesting because, you are making decisions about the marketing and logistics and obviously I think good news is like there's so many communities that are happy to have their own costumes and really kind of like do that. It's an opportunity for them to show themselves on the, on your platform as well. I'm just kind of curious because, is it scary because, you know, it's like tickets? Lots of people. Thousands of people. You sell lots of tickets.

Caylee Chua: I think a little bit scary, like interacting with people sometimes. 'Cause I'm very used to interacting with the, like the craft markets, the craft scene. And you kind of get used to the community there after a while. Like, you know, there's a certain etiquette in the way you do things. But when I started getting all these vendors, 'cause we, it's a very, the Ren Fair like, it's an intersection of a lot of different subcultures. So you get people that do like very, very different, uh, markets than what you normally do as a craft vendor. Like they do, like those people call it flea markets. Like they do it on the street, like those very like, yeah. Everyday, like on the plaza, market, kind of like, uh, vendors, right? Yeah. So they have very, very different requirements for the organizer than craft vendors. Yeah, because. So there was a lot of like back and forth, and sometimes people can come across as very like very angst. They can be very aggressive in their correspondence. Yeah. So that was pretty stressful when it first started, but after a while you kind of get used to it. You're just like, it is a different generation. It's just how they talk. They're not actually angry. Some of them are. Some of them are just a little bit like in their head a bit too much. But some, most people, they're just try treat it as like, everyone has goodwill. Everyone's acting good faith, even if the message doesn't come across as in good faith.

Jeremy Au: You're putting together the intersection of the subcultures. What are all the subcultures that you think ignites?

Caylee Chua: There's a lot of like J-Pop. Yeah. Oh, okay. So ACG is anime, convention, cosplay, games. Right? Those are the very like Jujutsu Kaisen, like Demon Slayer, a very pop culture, Japanese. But you also have like hierarchical fashion enthusiasts, like the kimono crowd. They're adjacent, but they're not the same. These two. Then you have like, yeah, like those like outdoor markets, like those like Green Market vendors. So you have the very lifestyle and um, wellness people as well. Those that enjoy like tarot reading, spirituality. Yeah. That kind. Yeah. Then you definitely have like the D&D enthusiasts. Those that love like TTRPGs. Then you also have like the bookish fans. Those like book club lovers. Those that, that like read a lot of bookstore basically. You also have a lot of like, those that just enjoy like art markets. 'Cause we, I wanted it to be more of like a fair, not just a festival, not just like music. So we have a lot of like craft vendors, right? So you also attract a lot of people that are just there to shop. So like the boutique, maybe not boutiques fair. More like the Mercury Festival people. Like the younger crowd. Minors and like early young adults. Like people in like the institutional education institutes, you know. They're a bit younger 'cause this is their kind of thing. Like it's a bit more creative. It's a a little bit less serious. They have time in between school. So you have a lot of, you had a youth crowd. Yeah, I think that's about it. I think most of the audience tends to skew a bit younger because older folks do not enjoy the outdoors like those unless you're a wellness enthusiast.

Jeremy Au: So I think it's interesting to see all that. And, I'm just kind of curious because, this is actually quite entrepreneurial of you. Have you always been entrepreneurial?

Caylee Chua: I think fairly so. I wouldn't say very entrepreneurial 'cause I feel like when I was younger I was more afraid to scale. 'Cause you are kind of afraid that, "Oh, what if it doesn't work out?". And sometimes I'll just put out an idea, and I could, I cannot get enough like interest to scale as well. Yeah. I used to do like tuition, so I will source my own like tuition kids, like students. 'Cause I don't like to go to agencies 'cause it takes a cut. Buy my own self-source. I think that's where I first started, like earning an income by myself. And then I did the, like the small business thing. So I do think that helped me to at least get an idea of like the market in Singapore, like how the money works, where the money flows from, how to like schedule your cash flow and stuff like that.

Jeremy Au: And then you, you've done tuition and you also run like a crafts store as well. How did you get into that as well?

Caylee Chua: Oh, okay. So for the craft, it was a little bit less serious 'cause I saw my friends like wear like a really nice piece of jewelry, and it was very unique, and she got it for me as a gift as well. So I started buying that style a lot. 'Cause I just could, I didn't see it a lot in Singapore, but after a while it got very expensive. Like, you rack up a few hundred every month, and then you're like, "Oh my gosh, this is, this is not sustainable". So I was like, "Oh, actually it doesn't look that difficult to do it myself," you know? So I was like, "Okay, I can save some money, maybe earn some money". That's how I started. Like personally, it took a while to break even, but afterwards, I like, it's been okay. Yeah.

Jeremy Au: Also, is that why you're wearing one of your, yeah, versions?

Caylee Chua: I like.

Jeremy Au: You know what's interesting is, when I think of the Renaissance Fair, I think obviously it's quite a, was it, is it a Western influence, a Western concept? But, so I'm just kind of curious how you think about that, because now that I think about it, I think also the anime conventions are quite obviously Japanese influence. So I'm just kind of curious how you think about all of that.

Caylee Chua: I think for the Renaissance Fair, right, we have the benefit of like Western fantasy being so prevalent. Like it's such a big, big thing for the like many, many decades already. Like even in like Japan, like you see the Isekai genre, right? Always like to generic medieval world, and it's not even a medieval Japanese world. It's a like European world. But I feel like it's a very, very prevalent thing across all cultures, especially in fantasy. Though recently, like people have been trying to break out of it, like doing more Asian fantasy, East Asian, South Asian. Yeah. But I feel like the concept is already very ingrained. It's very intuitive for our globalized Singaporean audience, so it's not such a big, big thing. And it's also, the West is a little bit more of the colonizers, right? So you don't really, when you take in the concept, it doesn't feel so much like cultural appropriation. Yeah. Yeah. But I think it's also good that we, we try our best to encourage people to come in, like, I won't say ethnic costumes, but more like Southeast Asian inspired cultures. Like people in like Baju Melayu, this or like, like those, like Hanfu, you know? Like we also wanna celebrate our own culture. And I think that's the key difference for our Renaissance Fair compared to one in the US is that you will definitely see a lot more people wearing like Hanfu. Yeah. To like, yeah. The West. Yeah.

Jeremy Au: Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, the Renaissance was also a time of trade between the East and West. You know, those silks and other stuff is happening. And it's not impossible. They're somewhere in the Middle East, some Chinese people. Asian people and some Persian people and some Western people. I,

Caylee Chua: I think it helps that, like for the framing for this fair, we try to make it more fantasy. Yeah. So we say that it's in a fictional city. Yeah. So it really helps to marry like the East and West. Right. Because there's a level of abstraction. So you normally feel like, "Oh, I'm in the 15th century English countryside". You know, you are just in some like random fantasy. Fantasy city, so it's a little bit easy to, you see two like contrasting outfits, you're like, "Oh, yeah".

Jeremy Au: Yeah. Yeah. Makes sense. It's a fictional or part of the elevated fantasy land. They could have hung out in those stories. It could be a European knight saving a Chinese princess, and then they're fighting two dragons, a Chinese dragon and a Western dragon. So, uh, lots of different styles. So I'm just kind of curious, when you think about all this, like what's the vision for the Ren Fair over, you know, if this is a success, how do you see that happening? Over what future?

Caylee Chua: Okay, so, I was just daydreaming with my friend, 'cause there's a couple of like concepts that I also want to do outside of the Renaissance Fair. Like, you know, Jurong Lake Gardens where the Chinese Garden is. I was thinking like, "Oh, let's hold like a Tang Imperial Banquet over there, everyone". Oh, yeah, yeah. Something like that. Or like a pirate. A pirate festival. Like East Coast Park. Yeah. I wanna do like, I wanna do like fantasy-adjacent, like concepts. If this one isn't too like stressful. But for the Renaissance Fair itself, if this one is a success, right, I will put in more effort to try and get a bigger venue. Because there's a lot of logistics and like administrative things that are a little bit difficult in Singapore. Like getting renting fields is not so straightforward, usually. So if I really want a very, very big space, like a SAFRA field or something, I have to go through like a different authority than NParks, which can be very, it can be a very, very, very, very lengthy process. So my next concept would be to move to a very, very big field and make it like closer to the American Ren Fairs where there's a scale. Yeah. 'Cause at Fort Canning, there's always gonna be a limitation because of the, just the size of the space.

Jeremy Au: Yeah. That makes sense. Yeah. I mean, like you said, this is a good test case. If everything works, you can scale up. You said there's a. There's only a fixed cost of all the admin and all the set up and everything. So it makes sense that economy of scale.

Caylee Chua: Yeah. I think one stressful thing about even organizing that is there's always a lot of hidden costs. You can never, ever like figure out all the hidden costs. You just have to go along. 'Cause my original budget was like, maybe like 20K. Now it's like ballooning up by 30K, 40K. Because performers, right? When they give you a first quote, they'll be like, "Oh, I want this much". But then after you talk to them more, they see the success, they ask for more. Then you also have to pay for some licenses, and you didn't think that you need, like some of the copyright licenses, which can be a few thousand as well. So this slowly like adds up. That, and it's gonna be reinstatement of the lawn, nationally. Like 10, 15K maybe? Yeah. Yeah. So a lot of these things, this way it adds up. I'm pretty sure it's gonna go balloon past the budget. Like events never stay in a budget.

Jeremy Au: I mean, I think now it's the first time to try it, and hopefully it's not too painful. You know, hopefully break even, and then go from there. Yeah. There's a lot of effort. Event organizing is one, not one of my favorite activities. Yeah. I'm just kind of curious, could you share a personal story about a time that you've been brave?

Caylee Chua: I do feel that, yeah, I think starting this and like really like, okay, maybe sending like a lot of the cold emails that I first started. 'Cause when I first started, right, I was getting worried about like the financials and the marketing. I started emailing for like sponsorships, grants. Started emailing for, yeah, you know, like people to ask for like media, media shoutouts and stuff. And you just get like silence, you know? And it just feels very stressful. And I first started like posting on TikTok, on my personal TikTok to try and get early hype. It was all like, you want 50 views? And it's very depressing. It's like only your friends see, your friends don't even see past the first five seconds to just like, add a comment, and then they scroll. It's very normal. So to my friends, so like, yeah. So it was very demoralizing, but I was like, "Okay, I've got to stick to it". I told myself like TikTok, right? Must post for at least 30 days every day, like post a lot, every single day. And I think it really did pay off a lot, 'cause by like day 16 and you suddenly get like 20K views. 'Cause the algorithms are, "Oh, this person is serious". But they start to post, post out. But like the, like six or seven day mark was really like tiring. 'Cause you put so much effort into, so like editing the video, but nobody sees it. Yeah.

Jeremy Au: Right.

Caylee Chua: And then you spend so much effort, like emailing people, but nobody responds. Yeah. After a while, you're just desensitized. It's just a chore. Like you have to, you just get it done.

Jeremy Au: So it sounds like it. It was quite demoralizing to, and I think that's the tough part about social media, right? It's like you do something that you spend a lot of time on, and you only get like 50, like 50 views or 50 likes. It's so, yeah. So tell me more about that. Yeah.

Caylee Chua: Definitely the first few videos, which I thought was like really like, oh, really well edited. Yeah, like 50 views, 80 views. As I tried like different hooks and I click bait stuff, it helped a little bit, but you cannot break like more than 700. Yeah. The average is 150 views. So, yeah. I don't know what worked in the end, but I just started like putting this and less effort somehow. Like decided it was, are we there? I was like, "Okay". So I think at the end I managed to get a few videos, like five digit, yeah. Five-digit view count. Four-digit view count. And that really like helped push the word, especially before like my main like Instagram push started. And once that started like, "Oh". That's why like the first few videos got like 20K, 70K views because like there's really a lot of backend work that went through it. Like you prime the algorithm for people to be excited for the fair, for people to search for it. Yeah, I think that really helped. After that, like it has been fairly smooth sailing. So I had a few like viral videos when I first started. Then it slowly died down. But I feel like the word of mouth still helps. 'Cause sometimes I walk on the street, people will be like, "Oh, you know it's a Renaissance Fair". I'll hear people like talk about it. I was like, "Oh, okay". Yeah, people know about it. So I was like, "Okay".

Jeremy Au: I've told my friends before. I was like, they're, they're quite bored. They're always looking for something fun to go to, right? Uh, to develop a weekend or something like that as well. But I think what's interesting is that, obviously, you know, you went through some of those, like I said, fear a lot, right? Because you're like, "Okay, normally don't get it right". They're like, "If your fair was like, I don't know, computer hardware,"

Caylee Chua: Because it's outdoors. They're like, "Oh, my stuff's gonna get rained on". Yeah. Yeah.

Jeremy Au: That's But, but how do you feel about that? Did your parents understand what you're building?

Caylee Chua: I know they won't understand. I know. Full stop. They don't understand. I did tell my mom once about it. She's like, "Yeah, cool, cool". But I know she didn't get it. So I was, but then once the Straits Times article came out, they got more excited 'cause they started to see the vision more. So I think I'm very lucky that like I got a lot of early supporters that really understood the vision, even though there was no proof yet.

Jeremy Au: I totally understand. I always remember that. My parents also did that. I was doing antic-take times when I was about your age. They're like, "Oh, okay". "I understand what you're about." I was like, "Well, thanks for like finally accepting me when the journalist, the journalist sees in me what you could not see". But I mean, but I think what's interesting is, obviously it sounds like you did get some. Your parents are clueless, and then your friends were supportive, but obviously not supportive.

Caylee Chua: It's not really a kind of thing. Yeah, yeah. And they all have full-time jobs, so they're just like, "Oh, they, they kind of like dip out here and there, like sometimes two weeks they'll reply me".

Jeremy Au: And of course event organizers thought it's too niche. It's, I mean, it is very indie or it's very niche, right? In it's very,

Caylee Chua: Expensive.

Jeremy Au: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So tell me more about, about that, because I think what's interesting about the Renaissance Fair's idea is like, it doesn't, to me at least, it's a category creator in the sense that it's a new niche that hasn't come, right? Or is a meta niche, I don't know how I call it, but it also doesn't have its own tribe, right? So you say like, "Oh, it's the Dungeons and Dragons event". D&D event, or Warhammer 40K event, which very clear IP, very clear community really. There's obviously your Japanese anime slash RPG group as well. So this feels like a little bit, outside, right? And it's trying to be welcoming to many, but also on its own. It must be challenging to market and get the word out.

Caylee Chua: Yeah. I do think that like some Renaissance Fairs, like some events, it's easier to, um, get an audience if you appeal to what is already there. Like you're trying to style yourself as a normal convention. You do some of the activities that a normal convention has. But personally to me, that kind of like takes you out of the immersion. Like if you have too many, like cosplay guests, if you're like an anime convention, like that doesn't feel like Renaissance Fair. Got it. So I think for me, like, I think a lot of the things, right, when we do the copywriting and stuff, we appeal to these subcategories. Like in the way we speak. We'll be like, "Oh, yeah, do you like D&D"? That kind of, yeah.

Jeremy Au: Yeah.

Caylee Chua: Yeah, yeah. And then different videos, we will try to like push out to different niches. Yeah. And I think overall, but then our main, like our biggest like hero content, it's more like general. And you pin that, and then like the little like videos, you try to use it to reel in certain subcultures.

Jeremy Au: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. What do you think about that? I mean, just kind of curious, like philosophy of pop culture or all these.

Caylee Chua: I think for, okay. My philosophy for marketing is it has to feel intuitive. Yeah. Like you have to see it. You have to understand. Yeah. You cannot like see it and have to scroll and scroll, scroll, scroll to see like, what is this even about? And that's also for the IPs. Like you cannot see it. You cannot be too closely tied to a very famous IP where you really see, you're like, "Oh, this is from this famous IP". Yeah. But it cannot be so like low effort that it feels like you are just going to like in the supermarket kind of thing, like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For like the, the styling and stuff. But I do feel that like even if people are coming in normally clothes, they're not gonna wear like really less sub-par. It will be a certain level. Like they're not gonna dress like with holes in their clothing, la.

Jeremy Au: Yeah. I think,

Caylee Chua: In general it's gonna be okay.

Jeremy Au: I'm just curious, like, do you feel young to be organizing this? Or do you feel like you're old because everyone's so young?

Caylee Chua: Very old. Like I was very old. And then afterwards they felt like, "Oh, no, no, like this." Like when the Straits Times article came out, people were like, "Oh, you're so young". "I thought you were like in your thirties." I was like, "Oh, plus". Yeah. I feel like, 'cause I come from a youth team, a lot of the organizers are like in their teens. Yeah. In their early twenties. So I am like a little bit older. Yeah. Yeah. I don't find myself young, but some of the vendors may find me young.

Jeremy Au: I think it's just amazing that, uh, you know, you've kind of like put together this, uh, entrepreneurial vision of filtering this and organizing this. So that note, I'd love to summarize the two big takeaways. Uh, first of all, thanks so much for sharing about what the Renaissance Fair is and what the vision is. I think that fairytale place where there's multiple, uh, booths for the handcrafts, but also, I think multiple opportunities for people to listen to music and busking and, you know, have like, uh, also wear costumes as well. It's really fascinating. Uh, secondly, for, for sharing about event organizing and how it actually works, uh, in Singapore in terms of like choosing a venue, uh, logistics, uh, getting regulatory approval. And lastly, thanks so much for sharing about, I think, your vision about how it works. About how it can be scary to build something when you are, you know, 24 and, you know, people don't understand it, your parents don't understand it. But, you know, figuring out how to communicate a vision through marketing to all multiple niche niches is really interesting. So thank you so much. Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing.

Caylee Chua: Thank you.