Post by Valerie Teo

✨ This is overdue, but I wanted to share an update. After 5 incredible years at TikTok, I made the decision last month to step away and move on to my next chapter. My time there opened my eyes to the true pace and spirit of startup culture — constant brainstorming, whiteboarding, late-night and early-morning calls across time zones — all centered on one big question: what customer problems are we solving for? That’s why I love being in Product. Whether on the marketing, strategy, or operations side, building innovation isn’t an overnight job. It takes collaboration, mentorship, resilience, customer voices, and yes — a good sense of humor. I’m deeply grateful to my leaders, mentors - Ted Fernandez Adi Thacker Kimberly Komal Agarwal Baiqi Wang ShiQi W. Xiaoyu Zhao and teammates across regions who made these years so rewarding (tagging many of you here 💙 Debbie Teo Jieliang Hao Hannah Grimsey Lauren Gorman Lauren Johnson Peter Albano Hannah Parry Lucy Whitehead Alex Broadley Fellipe Faria Brigitte Rodriguez Abdallah Nasser Benny Li Denise Dillon Michael Fee Simon Boniface Yasmine Sewilam Yan Kanaan Agung T. Christine L. Ruiwan Xu XIAOJIE ZHENG Seline (Minami) Smith Cathy Lu NARA Liao Dmitriy Gord Joseph Gualtiere Johanna Olesen Emily Anderson Matthew Sabban Michelle Lim Minh Do Rachel Grey Ananya K. And many many more) Now onto my next milestone: after 17 years in the U.S., I’ve moved back to Singapore 🌏. Along the way, I also became a first-time homeowner (!!) and have spent these 2 months settling into my new flat and recharging. With this new chapter, I’m excited to start exploring my next role in Product — whether in PMM, Product Strategy, Product Ops, or GTM — here in Singapore. If you’re open to connecting, sharing advice, or just catching up, I’d love to hear from you! To my friends and network in U.S., I’ll always cherish my experiences and connections I’d made — and yes, I’ll definitely be back. ✈️ #careerjourney #newbeginnings #Singapore #product #Gratitude