We recently had the chance to connect with Senaida Ng and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Senaida, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What are you chasing, and what would happen if you stopped?
Honestly, at this moment, I am chasing investors. A few months ago, I joined Primary Assembly as the Director of Partnerships, Strategy & Growth, and we are preparing to launch our first B2B product. It’s a very exciting time of co-creation, brainstorming, and drawing out our roadmap but the biggest roadblock we currently have is in regards to funding. In 2022, I founded MiSynth, so I’m no stranger to fundraising and VCs, but when you’re trying to rapidly scale a business, sometimes you just wish you could share the vision with people and have them ‘get it’ immediately. At the same time, I’ve also been working on scaling my art practice. I recently launched a Patreon page, and have been selling my work on Artsy and Metalabel. I’ve also been exploring alternative cultural funding and artist-for-artist economies with various collectives in Berlin. But I do miss the old days when wealthy patrons would sponsor artists, and artists could focus solely on making art. (Some people might disagree with me and say that these patrons were gatekeepers, but I still think there are gatekeepers in the industry. It’s just that they look and feel different these days). Some days, I have to stop and remind myself that I will survive by sheer will-power. “If there is will, there is a way” is how that saying goes, no?
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am a Hakka Chinese-Canadian transdisciplinary artist-technologist, sound healer, curator, international DJ, and serial founder, currently based in Berlin, Germany. My work explores the intersections of shamanism, posthumanism, generative art and sustainability to create collective experiences through sound. Since 2019, I have created projects including a music festival, interdisciplinary art label, a community for gender equality in music, a music-neurotechnology startup, a film production company, and an artist collective called “WE ARE THE FUTURE!”. This past June, I graduated from New York University’s Interactive Media Arts Low Residency, M.A. As an artist with a global perspective, I have had the immense pleasure of speaking and sharing my insights on platforms such as Abbey Road Red, NYC Media Lab, ASCAP Lab, NAMM, Cannes Next, POWRPLNT, and New Visions for Music & Sound.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: What relationship most shaped how you see yourself?
My partner, Ricky, is the most important person in my life. He saw and believed in me before I ever was able to find the confidence to believe in myself. We met at New York University as undergrads at Tisch School of the Arts. He was studying film, and I was studying recorded music at the time. At the time, I was a sophomore and I felt very lost in my artistic path because I thought I had picked the wrong major to study and I was struggling to feel inspired. Ricky is a very optimistic person and he always saw the positive side of every situation. He encouraged me to explore and reflect on my experiences as a source of inspiration. He also taught me what selfless love truly is, and he was the first person to ever teach me how to show love to others. Through his unwavering support, I became a more loving and caring person to everyone around me. We often talk for hours about philosophy, history, and people; I have learned so much from Ricky and I truly wouldn’t be the person I am without him.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
In 2023, I got a phone call from a scammer who stole over $11,000 USD from my accounts. I remember I had maxed out all of my credit cards and lost all the money and crypto I had. I was completely devastated and I didn’t know how I would ever make it through that time. I come from a low income family of immigrants, and although my family always tried to provide all that they could for me, I knew we were always struggling with money. When this happened, I felt so ashamed and I wanted to give up everything. However, with the support of Ricky and my friends, I was able to sell some of my belongings and rent out my apartment in NYC in order to make back the money. It was a very difficult time, but it taught me that I didn’t need money to be happy and that I had a strong community behind me.
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
In the art and music industries, success is often measured by exposure and metrics such as social media followers, likes, and clicks. However, my definition of success means being able to build sustainable models from my creative work—systems that allow both myself and my collaborators to thrive without compromising artistic integrity. I’m less interested in success defined by numbers or fame, and more in creating frameworks where art can exist ethically, collaboratively, and with long-term impact. Often, the recognition of my peers and the people who I look up to is much more valuable than millions of people barely knowing who I am. In the long term, I want to contribute to a shift in how art and technology coexist: toward models that are slower, more intentional, and more sustainable. Whether through alternative payment systems, open-source creative tools, or cross-cultural residencies, I hope to build infrastructures that allow artists to experiment freely and be supported for it. My goal is to help redefine success in the arts not as visibility or profit, but as the capacity to create meaningful, interconnected, and lasting change.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. If immortality were real, what would you build?
If I could be immortal, I would dedicate my existence to the continuous act of traveling and cultivating transnational networks that foster intercultural exchange, solidarity, and collective learning. My aim would be to contribute to the emergence of a distributed and decentralized system of resources, one that reconfigures traditional notions of ownership, governance, and agency. Through such networks, I would work toward the co-creation of self-sustaining, autonomous communities that operate in ecological balance and mutual support. These communities would serve as experimental sites for reimagining social, economic, and technological relations beyond extractive or hierarchical paradigms. Immortality, in this sense, would not merely extend one’s lifespan but would allow for a continuous engagement in the process of knowledge transmission, ethical innovation, and planetary cooperation—an ongoing commitment to cultivating resilience and interdependence across temporal and cultural boundaries.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.senaida.ca
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/senaidaxoxo/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/senaida-ng/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/senaidaxoxo
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SENAIDA/
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/senaidang
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
