SINGAPORE

Who was your support system that encouraged you to pursue your dreams?

My parents were my earliest support system, and they defined my values. My mother raised four strong daughters. She taught us to speak our minds, stand up for ourselves, and fight for our dreams. Our father taught us to pair that strength with integrity and never to fear hard work.

How did Life Beyond Grades come about and what were some lessons you learned through setting it up?

Life Beyond Grades was founded as a movement by parents for parents, concerned by the rising stress, depression and mental health issues among students in Singapore. We wanted parents to understand that not all children are academic, and that there are many paths in life. Education is important, but grades are not everything, and your grades do not define you. With our campaign, we highlighted successful people across all walks of life, with varying PSLE scores - some high, and some low. The objective was to share that success and happiness has little to do with an academic score you get when you’re 12 years old; there is life beyond grades.

How can we encourage young girls to dream big and believe in themselves to achieve their fullest potential?

By being examples. It’s important that young girls have female role models who can inspire them, to show them that anything is possible!

What are some important skills/tools young women should equip themselves with to lead their best life?

Soft skills are more important than any grade you can get. It’s well-known among futurists that knowledge-based learning is over, as computers and AI can learn anything you can teach. More important is empathy, creativity, caring for others, teamwork, how to solve problems - these are skills often not taught in classrooms.

In your opinion, what is the power of education for young girls?

The power of education helps girls find their interest, passion and strengths. Every child is different, there is no one size fits all. Once they unlock what they love, they’ll be able to unleash their talents and abilities. Be open minded with curriculum, instead of channeling your child to a specific stream, eg science over arts - education is unique for each child, and school should be the place they grow to love learning, not a place for pressure and competitive parenting.

What do you think is the best way women can help other women?

By lifting others up. Collaborate, don’t compete. Women often grow up with a mentality of scarcity, that we have to fight or put others down in order to get ahead. I prefer the mentality of abundance, the belief that there is enough for everyone. If we all work together, we can grow the pie, and increase everyone’s share. Instead of building walls to keep others out, let’s invite more women to sit at the table.

SINGAPORE

Who was your support system that encouraged you to pursue your dreams?

I didn’t have many people around me growing up. My mom was a single mother bringing me up with the help of my grandparents and she has always been my strength and pillar of support. I saw first hand how she managed our lives and despite the circumstances, she lived hers to the fullest, not a slouch in any department, and definitely not in the sartorial one. She has unwittingly programmed me to be the person I am today! My love and eye for the finer things in life, for detail and craftsmanship, definitely came from her. A kind of superpower I will not trade for anything else in the world.

I wasn’t a star student in school, not academically successful in any way, but being the almost avant- grade parent that she is, was always left unfazed with the report cards I bring home, because she taught me that life is more than getting good grades. And it gave me room to grow in the area that would not have been measured by our standard school system and would create my life that I know today, and she never once judged it through tiger parent eyes. Her constant support and approval gave me fuel to become all I am today.

My mom and my group of close friends always believed in me and saw the spark in me from a young age, and they would never let my tremendous self-doubt and the harshness of society get in my way. Would not have been possible without them.

How can we encourage young girls to dream big and believe in themselves to achieve their fullest potential?

I don’t think it is about dreaming big per se. There is something down to earth about simply following your intuition to what you love, and not deny it because of pressure from an unforgiving society. Perhaps the little girl’s dream may not be big and fashionable by society’s standards. (I.e. be an astrophysicist) I think I will hope to see the future with an eco system in place to allow a little girl’s love for something blossom into a blessing for the society at large, whatever it may be. Even if a little girl who wants to grow up to be a stay home mother to care steadfastly for a brood of children, one of them may become the next Elon Musk or may not, or a little girl who is so super obsessed by making iron man costumes she forgets to do her homework but she ends up being a kick ass aeronautical engineer. Or a little girl who might want to go into plumbing. Who knows! This society could start by never discrediting a little girl’s dreams, and allow space for any of that to happen. We should ascribe respect and dignity to every single one of the Little Girl’s dreams and encourage it. Lofty or not. Because it is when she is most in love with her work, that she can be the most useful to the people around her at large. We need to change our idea of what desirable work is. All work is useful and all work is desirable because it is useful.

What are some important skills/tools young women should equip themselves with to lead their best life?

I think with what we know about mental health these days, we can safely say it makes or breaks a person. Our experiences especially from childhood, either taints our reality or propels us to become the best that we ever be. So learning about the importance of resilience and nationwide outreach on positive psychology on wellbeing helps to educate children to arm them with coping strategies to take charge of their realities, whether it may be privileged to a point of a fault or fraught with obstacles towards their betterment of their lives. Also, changing our relationship to failure is important. I feel Singapore can do better in its mental health education.

In your opinion, what is the power of education for young girls?

The power of education in its most basic form is when a parent/care giver speak lots to a child. A lot of research has proven that the more language-rich interactions a child has through her childhood, the better outcomes the child has in terms of her career and relationships. This study is known as the 30 million word gap. A child from lower socio-economic background hears 30 million words less than a higher SE class. The difference is not the income but because they just had more social interactions, more books read to them, more ideas were conveyed to their minds etc. So the education of a child is way more than just sending children to school passively, leaving the best of our generation to Ministry of Education. Of course that is so important and our system in Singapore has done an amazing job. The next step for Singapore would be about educating them with intent, with feedback from them, they ought to take charge of their own education from a young age, designing their own passion projects, enjoying choice range of books and taking in cultures from our shores and beyond. That kind of love for learning, I feel it starts at home. It gives a little girl such a good base for a literacy and consequently the ability to convey ideas eloquently, opens up her mind to so many possibilities and thereby guaranteeing very positive outcomes.

A little girl who do not have the privilege of all these, may only have domestic duties in her world. Where talking about ideas and passion and reading may bring a scorn to the faces struggling to just simply feed her and keep her alive.

What do you think is the best way women can help other women?

Since young, we all have mean girl friends who have a penchant for “friending” and “unfriending” us. The world of females can be fraught with backbiting and double faces and judge-y attitudes. But on the other hand, the superpower is that we are blessed with the knowledge and ability to deftly manoeuvre and cruise through many of life’s complex situations. Hanging out a day with our husbands will prove this point to be so. A wise woman always knows what to do. And we need to use that power for betterment not strife. So I say ladies, be kind to one another and believe in one another, dispense with the judgement and use this superpower for our good instead.

HONG KONG

Who was your support system that encouraged you to pursue your dreams?

It was a mix of family, my team at Mini Mandarins and my friends. I'm so blessed for a supportive husband who always believed in me and my dreams. My team never doubted my visions and put their 100% effort to their work, especially during the covid year when we constantly have to change our business model. Friends are always my comfort zone and eases my stress with many silly laughs and good times！

How did Mini Mandarins come about and what were some lessons you learned through setting it up?

Mini Mandarins fulfills my edu-vision to make learning Mandarin more engaging and effective. By using role play as part of our teaching methodology, children not only gain the interest but confidence to practice conversational Mandarin. A valuable lesson I learned during this process is that you must learn to delegate to others wisely as you cannot finish everything by yourself. It will take a good team to succeed, but once you get the hang of it, you realize that you can get more done in a short time, sometimes done with quality even better than yourselves.

How can we encourage young girls to dream big and believe in themselves to achieve their fullest potential?

"Sometimes a dream almost whispers… it never shouts. Very hard to hear. So you have to, every day of your lives, be ready to hear what whispers in your ear." – Steven Spielberg. This is the quote that I always stand by to, don't let anyone tell you that your dream is not doable, always be true and listen to that little voice within.

What are some important skills/tools young women should equip themselves with to lead their best life?

A creative but resilient mindset I will suggest they equip themselves with, both for careers and facing different stages of life.

In your opinion, what is the power of education for young girls?

Education not only opens you to an array of knowledge but helps you to see the world from different perspectives.

What do you think is the best way women can help other women?

Simply need to care. Everyone has their own issues and problems that often you won't have the answer to, but simply by being there to show that you care, listen and mentally support them is what matters.

HONG KONG

Who was your support system that encouraged you to pursue your dreams?

My friends from the same college student organisation, whom I'm extremely grateful for! Smart, thoughtful and with a clear vision of goals in life, they're always around for advice and support whenever i need them.

How can we encourage young girls to dream big and believe in themselves to achieve their fullest potential?

Be bold to dream big, and ready to commit to the effort required through the milestones. If Elon Musk can dream of going to Mars, anything is possible.

What are some important skills/tools young women should equip themselves with to lead their best life?

Professional communication and public speaking skills! Being a confident and clear communicator allows you to be a good storyteller and build relationships. It also expands your professional network, opening doors that bring you closer to your dreams.

In your opinion, what is the power of education for young girls?

Education allows us to learn about the past, embrace the present, and dream about the future. It also equips us the knowledge and skills for us to achieve our goals.

What do you think is the best way women can help other women?

A strong bounded women community that's supportive of one another! Whether it’s a career consulting support group or an artist support group, I’m sure we face many similar challenges every day as a female. It’s great we can turn to other females with similar experiences for advice, a chat, or sometimes just a hug. #WomenLiftingWomen can strengthen our personal and social development.

PHILIPPINES

Who was your support system that encouraged you to pursue your dreams?

My mother has always supported my dreams. We didn't have much when I was growing up, but she always taught me that I could work towards a brighter future. She was a housewife for a long time, but when I got bigger, she went back to school to take a master's degree and become a professor of education. One of our favorite books when I was a kid was "He Bear, She Bear". It talked about the different paths kids could take, like builders, teachers, astronauts, writers, firefighters, athletes: "We can do all these things, you see, whether we be he or she."

How did your advocacy for women come about and what were some lessons you learned?

When I was starting out as a sports reporter, I learned of the gender gap in sports. Many people still see some sports as "for boys" and some as "for girls", and on average, our society has underinvested in girls' youth camps, women's leagues, and media coverage of women's sports. I decided to make the exploration of gender equality in sports the focus of my career, and this has grown into an advocacy for women's rights in different fields. One big lesson is we need to move past thinking "that's just how it is", and reject it when others use that to justify the gender gap. Whether in sports, or in other fields, change for women requires us to look beyond how things are imagine how things could be. The second lesson I've learned is that you need to find your tribe. It can be difficult to pursue an advocacy by yourself. I've been lucky to meet wonderful, strong women who also push towards the same goal. We're stronger together! Something people don't know about me is that I almost didn't go to Ateneo because my parents weren't sure if they could afford it. I didn't come from a wealthy family, but they always encouraged me to do my best, because they knew that a good education would change my life. Because of their hard work and sacrifices, and through a scholarship I earned as a campus journalist, I was able to achieve that dream. Now, I can use my voice to advocate for women in sports and in the wider world. Every girl deserves that chance.

How can we encourage young girls to dream big and believe in themselves to achieve their fullest potential?

It starts in childhood, because the way we're taught to see the world as a child is very hard to overcome as an adult. Girls need to hear that they can excel, that they deserve equal opportunities, and that we believe in them. They need to have access to books and other media that show them how important the contributions of women are. By the same token, we also need to teach our boys to see girls as their equals in every way. Achieving equality isn't just a women's issue but a shared mission.

What are some important skills/tools young women should equip themselves with to lead their best life?

Young women must have the courage to chart their own path and the perseverance to continue even when that path isn't easy. It helps so much if girls learn about gender issues from a young age so that they can begin to imagine what empowerment means to them personally. On a concrete level, activities like public speaking and writing go a long way in giving girls the confidence to use their voices.

In your opinion, what is the power of education for young girls?

Education opens doors. My mother is a professor of education who has done research about high-achieving women from underprivileged backgrounds—the ability to complete their education is a game-changer not just for themselves but for their families.

 What do you think is the best way women can help other women?

he word "advocacy" comes from the Greek for "to call to one's aid". This tells us that advocacy always involves others. Women empowerment doesn't stop at become empowered in one's own life. Whatever freedoms or privileges we enjoy, we must use our voices, time and resources to extend those freedoms to the women who don't.

AUSTRALIA

Who was your support system that encouraged you to pursue your dreams? 

My husband! Sheryl Sandberg said in her book one of the most important decisions a woman can make is who you marry and if you will marry at all. My husband has been an encourager, supporter as well as a challenger and “butt-kicker” to help me achieve my goals. 

How did The Dream Collective come about and what were some lessons you learned through setting it up? 

The Dream Collective is a global diversity and inclusion consultancy helping companies attract and advance female talent, came about with my own lived experience seeing gender inequality in the corporate world and the perpetual gender gap in leadership representation. 

A key lesson I learnt was that every set back is an opportunity to not just bounce back but bounce forward and take you further. We have learnt more from failures and setbacks than successes – in fact every time we overcame a failure and challenge it has taken our business to the next level. Every setback is an opportunity to pivot, grow and accelerate. Welcome, embrace and learn from every setback has been the biggest lesson I learnt. 

How can we encourage young girls to dream big and believe in themselves to achieve their fullest potential? 

I think we grow up being told what we should start doing, but my encouragement for young girls is to actually not change and to STAY the way they are. Stay curious, stay ambitious, stay imaginative and stay unrealistic. Kids actually grow up dreaming big, thinking sky is the limit – it’s the society that keeps on putting boundaries and limitations around us that took that innocence and that belief away. So my encouragement for young girls is to stay the way you are and don’t let people tell you otherwise!
It takes the same amount of energy to dream big vs dream small – so why wouldn’t you dream big anyway! 

What are some important skills/tools young women should equip themselves with to lead their best life?

I think it’s the ability to not care too much about what others think of you. We can care about other people without caring about what they think of us. Don’t aspire to be liked by everyone – it’s not possible and it’ll become a distraction. Aspire to be respected for who you are instead. Focus on your craft, be the best you can be, stay true to your values and respect will follow!

In your opinion, what is the power of education for young girls?

Education is the most powerful thing for any human being but particularly so for young girls – education brings knowledge, wisdom, ability to decipher information and make decisions. It is the start to independence, to owning your own future.  

What do you think is the best way women can help other women?

Women are naturally more collaborative and numerous research has uncovered that when women have resources and money, they give back to the community more than man. Therefore all the more important we make sure women are equipped and supported by men and women alike.