Multi-hyphenated influencer Jade Rasif is among Singapore’s highest-paid DJs, having gained prominence not just in the local nightlife scene but also regionally.
But did you know that she used to DJ in siam dius (Thai discos) where she earned about $8 to $9 an hour?
Rasif revealed all these details in a recent series of Instagram stories in response to an interview with a former Thai disco entertainer Khunmew who shared about her life working in a siam diu with media company MOSG.
In the 10-minute clip, Khunmew talked about how on her first day of work as a 17-year-old, she was tipped $1,000 by an old man who then started holding her on her shoulders, much to her disgust.
She also shared how the average entertainer takes home about $4,000 a month although she once made an impressive $20,000 in a single night in what she described as a “China club”.
This was a stark contrast from Rasif’s experience, where she said she would earn a meagre $8 to $9 per hour in comparison.
“I love her honesty, but here is my take as a girl who used to DJ in ‘siam dius’,” shared this model-actress.
She started her career deejaying at local clubs where she would start work from around 9.30 pm and end in the wee hours of the morning just before 5 am.
Rasif sharing how no one has offered her money before while she was a DJ (left), unlike Khunmew (right). PHOTO: Instagram/Djjaderasif, Instagram/Khunxmew
Back then, her starting pay was $120 a day, she revealed, and that it would add up to be around just $8 to $9 per hour after deducting the 30 per cent agency fee as well as her cab fare home.
To add on, Rasif, 28, shared that she didn’t entertain for tips and even if someone tipped her $5,000, the most they would get is a “polite nod” in their direction.
“Speaking from experience, nobody ever offered me money to take me to a hotel,” she said, adding that she “broke down” after hearing Khunmew’s recount about how she cried after that encounter with the man who gave her $1,000.
“What f****** irresponsible sleazy people let a minor be in this situation,” Rasif responded angrily.
After three months of deejaying in siam dius, Rasif said she couldn’t take the hours and moved on to perform at clubs.
However, even then, nobody offered her money to entertain or have sex with them.
“Maybe nobody offered because nobody wants to sleep with me,” she theorised in one of her Instagram stories.
Is the Experience the Same Across the Board?
In her IG stories, Rasif also asked other Thai disco entertainers about their experience working in such establishments in Singapore.
She later concluded that the larger siam dius here are “modern” and “clean” where most of the DJs are men and the girls typically just host and do not accept money for sex.
On the other hand in the smaller establishments, many of the hostesses are sex workers and the DJs are pressured to “entertain”, she posted.
“That’s possibly why our experiences were so different,” Rasif said, adding that she now understands why her ex boyfriend would get annoyed when she told him she was playing at a siam diu.
Apart from being a DJ and online personality, Rasif wears many hats, including being a mother to her four-year-old son.
In a previous interview with AsiaOne, she revealed that it was her mother Joyce Fong who had dug the family out of their dire financial straits after her estranged father David Rasif embezzled $11.3 million from his clients and fled the country in 2006.
And before he left the country, he had convinced the family to sell their HDB flat to buy a condominium unit that was way out of their budget, leaving her mother stuck with the million-dollar mortgage and the lawsuits that followed in the wake of his disappearance.
This article was first published on AsiaOne and republished on theAsianparent with permission.