Meet Your Baker: Nichelle Koh

Meet Your Baker is a series casting the spotlight on Bakers (our employees), sharing who they are and their valuable contributions to the Cake Group.

Kicking off the debut of Meet Your Baker is… Nichelle Koh!

• The Engineering Lead for Levain, Cake’s B2B arm, Nichelle is armed with deep expertise in web and software engineering.
• Equipped with experience in business management, Nichelle deftly marries business strategies with technology, to craft solutions that meet the complex needs of enterprise.

Hi, Nichelle! Tell us about yourself and where you're from.

Nichelle: My name is Nichelle, and I’m also known by my Chinese name, Xiao Wei - some of my colleagues insist on calling me by this name!

Based in Singapore, I’ve been with Cake since March 2022. I’m currently the Engineering Lead for Levain, Cake’s B2B arm.

Why did you choose to join the crypto industry?

Nichelle: Prior to Cake, I was a Software Engineer with JPMorgan Chase. Although it was a great workplace where I developed my expertise as a Global Technology Analyst and Associate, I eventually sought something challenging to test my limits. This led me to explore the crypto industry, where the landscape is dynamic and exciting, marked by rapid changes and constant evolution.

The crypto industry also gave me the freedom to explore new tech stacks and solutions, expanding my overall domain expertise and knowledge. Specific to Cake, I’ve also had the pleasure of exploring decentralized finance (DeFi), which completely shifted my perspective on finance. DeFi completely topples the foundations of banking, challenging conventional schools of thought around what it is and should be.

What kind of problems do you solve in your job?

Nichelle: Fostering a culture of customer obsession in my team is my main area of focus. This culture is especially important for Levain, as it’s pretty new and in the process of building its presence in the market.

We thus need to place our customers front and center - no matter how big or small their organizations are, Levain must be the go-to platform that empowers them to build successful Web3-powered businesses.

With this in mind, my team and I are always on the lookout for ways to improve our customers’ journey. So far, we’ve provided our customers with a spectrum of services and functionalities, from seamless onboarding to autonomous self-service features.

What do you love about working at Cake?

Nichelle: Without a doubt, it’s the people who make working at Cake so much fun! I tell my friends about Cake’s people-centric culture all the time - yes, we do work hard, but we play even harder here. While it was the challenging nature of the crypto and DeFi industries that drew me to Cake at the start, it’s the people who have grounded me and kept me here for over 1.5 years.

What was the most impactful project you've worked on?

Nichelle: This isn’t strictly related to my work at Cake, but I’d say it’s the goodie bag distribution exercise we did during Chinese New Year 2023. A bunch of us went all out, shopping for goodies and packing them before delivering them to our beneficiaries. And we did this with a personal touch too - we went door to door to carry out our deliveries.

All the effort we put in was well worth it. For me, the true impact of this project shone through the warm, joyous smiles our beneficiaries gave us when we delivered the goodies to them. I was especially heartened by how they readily extended their kindness to us by offering us drinks or inviting us into their homes for a chat. We did a vlog covering this distribution exercise, which you can check out here:

Tell us about a memorable moment or funny incident that happened at work.

Nichelle: There’re so many moments that come to mind, but if I had to single one out, it’d have to be the Phuket company retreat back in May 2023. The dinner-and-dance event was the standout for me, as everyone dressed to the nines in full 1980s style! Our over-the-top hairdos, combined with our eye-melting neon clothes and exaggerated accessories, defo turned more than a few heads in Phuket.

There was great food, lively music, refreshing drinks, and most of all, the people were fantastic! Witnessing everyone’s playful and vibrant side, away from their usual work personas, was an absolute delight. 😍

Check out our vlog on the Phuket company retreat here:

We welcome you to join the Cake Group and write the next chapter in your career - we’re hiring.