Jeff Wang Blog

Do you ever feel like you know someone, simply by reading their writing? Well, today I met a total stranger who I felt like I knew.

Her name is Dushka Zapata

And she has over 155,000 followers & 100million views on Quora, a social media platform based on questions and answers. She also has 4 published books on Amazon, with a 5th to be released later this year.

She happened to be in Singapore and called for a Quora meetup. I was ecstatic. What a coincidence to be able to meet someone who to me was like a celebrity.

About ~50 of us showed up, some who flew in just to meet her.

To be honest, my initial reaction to meeting her was a bit underwhelming.

I honestly don’t know what I expected.

There is a significant difference between meeting someone you admire for their intellectual stimulation, versus meeting someone who you admire for their physical or active stimulation.

If I met Lebron James, I’d probably shout or scream or jump up and down or something. He would just bring a different aura.

But meeting an introverted, middle-aged, “amateur” writer from the web is a bit…different.

The initial reaction was a bit underwhelming…until Dushka started talking

Until we all gathered around her, in complete silence and awe, as she discussed her life and philosophy and answers to questions such as “what is the meaning of life?” and “how do you learn empathy? what is empathy?” and “what is your writing process?” and “how do you answer questions?”

It didn’t feel like I was meeting her for the sake of seeing her in person; in fact, I had no idea what she looked like before today!

It felt more like meeting her mind and her thoughts and her philosophy and her stories. All the readings and the words, all the stories, they all came together and I could now see it.

There they were. Right in front of me. Materialized into this beautiful woman who had so much insight, that I could sit there and listen to her for hours! (Which we did! For ~3 hours)

I find it amazing that someone can make you feel so much with only words.

At the end of the day, no one will remember what you said, and no one will remember what you did, but they will remember how you made them feel.

Grateful Day 54: I am grateful for being able to meet people I am inspired by. I am grateful for meeting such amazing new people at the Quora meet up too. A lot of cool people were there!

Magic Day 23: I did magic today! Woot Woot.

I performed for several people at the Quora gathering.

Particularly fun was performing to Dushka’s friends/coworkers, who gave me the more typical Western reaction. They basically screamed.

It was a nice change of pace for my audience interaction because I could relate to them a bit more and talk more about American culture. Immediately after, one of her friends asked me for a business card, and luckily I had one in hand. (Okay, I purposely prepared them. Networking opportunities!). We’ll see if I get booked to perform some magic here in Singapore 🙂

Today was a good–and long–day.