Lu Liu, Co-founder and COO of JustCo, focused her sharing around the importance of diversity in running a successful business in a multicultural region. By thinking globally while acting locally, she was able to build the businesses leveraging strategic local partners to amass over 100,000 members across eight countries. She also shared that she placed emphasis on integrity, attitude and experience when hiring talent for her growing workforce.

In contrast, Choo Oi Yee, Chief Commercial Officer of iSTOX shared the major influencers and drivers that shaped her career journey. From her conscious choice of dedicating more time on social activities in University to the serendipitous moment when she was able to correctly answer an unexpected and irrational interview question, we were taken through the milestones and her reflections at each of these pivotal moments. While she has had to endure misogynistic comments, she also, by actively networking with colleagues and clients, built up “a village” of supporters who today are also notable leaders. Oi Yee generously summarised her hard-earned lessons into a few key points for us to consider, while also pointing out that there was still much to be done. The sobering fact was that the female representation in Singapore boardrooms was lower than those in China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Indonesia.

Wee Su Lin opened her story with an adorable drawing by her son of his mommy in a construction helmet. With a master’s degree in architecture, she started her career in the Urban Redevelopment Authority before moving to private sector. She showed us photos of her experience working on notable developments and the real struggles of bringing drawings to life. Throughout her career, she was constantly working in a male-dominated environment and is accustomed to it. She learned that while there may be an expectation for a woman to fit into a certain mould, she chose to focus instead on developing herself by diligently applying herself towards her goal, to keep an open mind while surrounding herself with smarter people, and to be mindful of egos along the way. She shared that there is a degree of luck involved in attaining success which can only be realised if one is ready to work hard to seize that opportunity.

We thank these amazing ladies for their candid reflection and for inspiring us, male and female, to #ChooseToChallenge obstacles, bias and self-doubt so that we can collectively create a more inclusive world for ourselves and for the next generation of industry and community leaders.