As a journalist, I hear a lot of stories, some more impactful than others, some disheartening, and others outright depressing. But even after years of doing this, I must admit that I wasn’t ready for Kieran Donovan’s story. To be frank, a part of me feels like he wasn’t ready to tell it, especially to me, a complete stranger, until only a few weeks ago.

Kieran was a contact in my LinkedIn network. I can’t remember if I was the one who added him or if it was the other way around. What I can recall is that we connected around the time he was nominated as Privacy Lawyer of the Year for our 2023 Asia Legal Awards. His category was evaluated by an external guest judge on our panel, so I wasn’t too clued in on his work and credentials. Kieran ended up winning his category and I only took note of his career highlights when I looked at his submission after he had won.