Ordinary people matter and they deserve to be remembered – just like various prominent personalities, who get extensive biographies published when they pass on.
JustNeverForget was founded in 2018 to fill this exact niche – we help craft digital tombstones to commemorate the average person. so that families and friends can now always look back at wonderful memories they shared.
Founder: Barani Krishnan
Barani began his journalistic career in 1988 with newspapers in his Malaysian home city of Kuala Lumpur, before turning correspondent for wire services Agence France Presse and Reuters. A writer on political risk and financial markets, he moved to New York in 2006, where he helped Reuters expand its coverage of the investment story in energy and commodities, before leaving for stints in content marketing and satellite data gathering.
A financial journalist most of his life, he also loves telling stories about people. Over the years, he has written dozens of stories about ordinary people who left the world after making an extraordinary impact on those around them. Whether it’s a postman, plumber or portfolio manager, his maxim is: “Everyone has a story to tell”. When the Covid19 struck later, Barani realised that it also deprived many of the opportunity to say even proper goodbye to their loved ones. In such times of distress, it was hard for people to coalesce, organise and create the memories that would do justice to the departed.
It was this empathy which led Barani originally in 2018 to found NeverForget.cloud (which has subsequently evolved to JustNeverForget.com) to ensure that everyone, regardless of circumstances, could have their story told — and never be forgotten.
Malaysia editor: Francis Nantha
Francis has been a journalist since 1990, starting with feature interviews for The Sunday Times in Singapore and thereafter as a financial writer with New Straits Times in Malaysia. Having found the knack to focus on business trends and tech providing benefits to both corporates and consumers at large, he was a contributor to UK-based Informa Group while also helming a health and wellness magazine. After a short stint as editor of an aviation monthly, handling interviews with CEOs of global giants from Airbus to Raytheon, Francis became an editor with the revitalised Malay Mail daily. He went on to become business editor at news portal Rakyat Post before eventually becoming its overall manager.
Continuing to write stories, especially touching on what affects the common man-in-the-street, Francis does his best work in presenting in simple language when most others prefer to rely on jargon or spout platitudes. In the current fast-moving social media era with swipes leaving many behind, Francis aims to preserve attributes that many continue to treasure and help others to help themselves.
Thanks
Some of the people we’ve helped have gone one step further to record their appreciation for the work we continue to do. Here are their stories.
- The tales of America’s immigrants are usually the stuff of legends. The story of Norma Yolanda, or Normita, wasn’t as much the American Dream as it was the dream that her children attain what she couldn’t. Read her full narrative at Normita: The Ecuadorian Who Never Stopped Believing In Her Children’s Tomorrow.
- As a kid, Perry was a lovable rascal more than anything else when it came to baiting the opposite sex. He was also maddening to his teachers and classmates. The “real” Perry emerged in his adult life. His wondrous humanity was a facade of steel – one that could never be stood down in a dare. Therein was his inimitable self: While many wished to live like him, few had the gonads for it. Read more at Perry Tan: An Untiring, ‘Lovable Rascal’.
- A final word from our founder Barani Krishnan.