5 Female entrepreneurs share their tips for achieving success
Breaking the glass ceiling
For many of us, the idea of establishing your own business seems like a faraway dream. Sure, you have a passion or interest in a specific field and often fantasize about quitting your corporate job for the entrepreneurial life. But when considering the research, capital, and manpower that are needed to get a business off the ground, it’s enough to intimidate anyone from ultimately taking the plunge.
However, five inspiring women took on such risks and showed that dreams don’t have to stay that way and anything is possible if you put your mind to it. With their sheer will, tenacity and courage, they have smashed through the glass ceiling and proved that you can have your cake and eat it too—all the while fighting gender bias, the occasional mansplaining and the demands of motherhood along the way.
How do these girl bosses do it? Ahead, we speak to five female founders to glean their secrets to success such as tips on achieving a productive lifestyle, balancing life and work, navigating their industry as a woman, and more.
Joey Tan
Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Joey Mattress
Tell us briefly about yourself and what you do.
As a co-founder and the CMO of Joey Mattress, I spearhead our growth and marketing initiatives. Alongside my co-founder, Winson, I also delve into product development, ensuring that we stay at the forefront of the mattress industry with innovative designs and customer-first approaches. Our mission is to help Malaysians sleep better.
What are some of the challenges you face as a woman in leadership and how did you overcome them?
As a female leader in a traditionally male-dominated industry, I’ve encountered several challenges, including not being taken seriously by peers, having my decisions and leadership style scrutinised for being not assertive enough, and facing stereotypes about women’s abilities in leadership roles. Overcoming these challenges involved consistently proving my competence, leading with conviction, and cultivating an environment of mutual respect and inclusivity.
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Walk us through what your general day-to-day work life looks like.
My day starts at 7 am to avoid the traffic jams in Malaysia. A typical day involves:
- Beginning with a daily huddle with my marketing team to align our goals and marketing strategies.
- Overseeing our performance marketing, monitoring sales, and the effectiveness of our ads.
- My tasks vary widely from hiring, product development, and managing product launches, to hands-on marketing strategies and web development efforts.
What are 3 healthy habits that you personally practice for a productive lifestyle?
While not claiming to lead an exceedingly healthy lifestyle, I place immense value on mental health, carving out time for personal activities like painting and reading. Travelling frequently, I gather fresh marketing insights globally, which serves as a significant source of inspiration.
What is a leadership lesson that you’ve learned that is unique to a female leader?
Conventional leadership wisdom often equates aggressiveness with effectiveness. However, I’ve found my strength in empathy. It allows me to connect deeply with my team, fostering an open, trust-based culture. This empathetic approach has been invaluable in our success.
How do you set boundaries between your personal and work life?
Balancing work and personal life with my co-founder, now husband, has been a journey. We’ve learned to switch off from work after hours, allowing us to step back into our personal roles and deepen our relationship outside of work. This practice has been crucial for our well-being and happiness.
What is your advice to aspiring and ambitious women on how they can achieve the same type of success as you?
Entrepreneurship is challenging and is not as glamorous as it’s often portrayed. The journey is tough, but the outcomes are rewarding. A personal mantra that has guided me is, ‘To have what others don’t, you must do what others won’t’. It’s a testament to the power of perseverance.
What is something you’re particularly proud of at your job recently?
Recently, collaborating with notable figures like former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin and Shahril from the Keluar Sekejap podcast has been a highlight. Their endorsements significantly boosted our brand’s visibility and growth, a testament to our team’s hard work and innovation.
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How do you foster creativity and maintain good spirits in your team?
Our core company value, “Give trust, earn trust,” underpins our culture. By placing unwavering trust in our team, demonstrated through benefits like Unlimited Paid Leave, we’ve cultivated a disciplined, yet creative and driven workforce, enabling us to scale from selling a mattress a month to one every hour.
What is your personal philosophy on what it means to be a leader?
My philosophy is simple: give your best, trust in your abilities, and understand that not everyone will share your vision. Leadership is about inspiring others through your actions and beliefs, even in the face of disagreement or adversity.
Shermaine Wong and Lina Esa
Co-founders of Cult Creative
Tell us briefly about yourself and what you do.
Shermaine: I’m the CEO and I founded Cult Creative, Southeast Asia’s leading creator economy platform. I’m currently focused more on developing the product and steering the company’s operations. I come from a sales and events management background and have always been passionate about the journey of a creative career.
Lina: I’m currently the Chief Talent Officer and I’m working mostly on go-to-market as well as handling job placement and fulfilment. I was in publishing for 10 years before this.
What are some of the challenges you face as a woman in leadership and how did you overcome them?
Even though we’re in the tech sphere, we haven’t faced any outright discrimination being women in this space (so far!). But in any situation, we do get the occasional “mansplain” for things we already know. Or we’ve been told that we “wouldn’t understand” a certain thing, but our backgrounds and logic guide us otherwise. It’s minor but it does happen.
What we notice is the reverse, sometimes people are way more open and accepting of female founders and we get a warm reception. Between founders too, there’s a lot of support and solidarity.
Walk us through what your general day-to-day work life looks like.
Shermaine: As a mother of three children, my schedule is always chaotic. To keep everything organized, I use a colour-coded Google calendar that separates my activities into five categories: work, family, friends, personal, and reminders. My day usually begins early, as I have to get my kids ready for kindergarten. Once our children are taken care of, I head to Colabs Coworking at The Starling Mall for team and client meets. On remote days, I try to squeeze in some time between school runs and baby classes with my youngest child.
Despite having a hectic schedule as a mother of three and running a growing startup, I prioritize my health by consuming daily green juices, taking supplements, and engaging in strength training. I also try to balance my life with occasional sound healing, guided meditation, and holistic retreats. I find that reframing it as work-life integration instead of work-life balance helps me stay focused and grateful every day for my health, family, and the opportunity to build something impactful.
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Lina: Things have changed a lot for me in my season currently as a new mom (again! I have a 10-year-old and now a 4-month-old). I get up early because of the baby, and I tend to things needed in the home. In this early morning moment to myself, I find time to organise my thoughts and what to accomplish in the day ahead. If I can, I organise my week on Sunday evenings too as I’ll take a moment to myself to do this—important if you’re a mother!
From there on we have weekly scheduled meetings but I also organise further meetings and emails that need to go out and when we’re in the office, face-to-face chats to settle things quickly.
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What are 3 healthy habits that you personally practice for a productive lifestyle?
We always think of the outcomes/results first. We imagine what would be the best likely scenario that we’d like to achieve and work backwards and plan accordingly. We also ‘eat the frog’ to get difficult tasks out of the way first. Doing it early in the morning or even early in the week can really help everything stay organised.
We also prioritise and divide time according to what matters most – balance is integral to our work and for us to function at our peak and best. We try not to “polish under the bannister” too much and focus on the things that will result in the most impact.
These three habits are what we learned from our late Co-Founder, Manisha Jagan, who was an inspiration to us and always the organised, prioritised one. She would be proud of us.
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What is a leadership lesson that you’ve learned that is unique to a female leader?
We think that it’s important to listen to your co-founder’s gut. As women we find our intuition is tuned in stronger. It’s something that you can’t really place your finger on but you know you have it… Like when something doesn’t feel right, or just doesn’t feel aligned with you or your business, you have to take the unpopular risk to say no.
We’ve had some deals in the past fall through and then something comes out in the news about the parties we dealt with. It’s happened more than once!
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What is your advice to aspiring and ambitious women on how they can achieve the same type of success as you?
First of all, it’s important to embrace all the different parts of who you are. As women, we often have a lot on our plates, but that doesn’t mean we’re weak. It just means we’re strong and adaptable!
Also, always believe in yourself no matter what. Even when other people doubt you, you know deep down that you’re capable of great things. And don’t forget to surround yourself with people who lift and support you. We all need a little help sometimes, and that’s okay!
Remember, success is a journey, not a destination. Keep pushing yourself to learn and grow, even when things get tough. Kknow that you’re not alone—we’re all in this together!
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How do you set boundaries between your personal and work life?
It’s tough to say since we’re close friends and founders, and a portion of our lives integrate with work. We even have family working with us! It works for us because we find that it’s a positive thing. And honestly, even when we’re in our personal capacities, we still feel like we advocate for our job when it arises.
We have to say it’s about finding that fine balance between what matters and what works—for the greater good of the company as well as our well-being. We make sure that weekends are dedicated solely to matters outside the business.
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What is something you’re particularly proud of at your job recently?
Those around us knew that sometime mid-last year, we almost failed as a business. We were in a really difficult position: money was burning fast and we were not making nearly enough to cover those costs. It took us some hard decisions and a few months of really being lean (and leaning on each other!) but it was imperative to change things and pivot the business.
We knuckled down and examined the business to discover what worked and what didn’t. We had to leave certain things behind. We leveraged the company’s actual strengths and tripled down on them to provide new services to clients who really took to it.
Our big wins were becoming profitable in the last six months, securing funding from The Hive Southeast Asia, becoming a CIP Sprint recipient from Cradle Fund, getting leading brand partnerships, and finding product-market fit. We are excited to announce that we have increased our revenue by eight times compared to this time last year!
How do you foster creativity and maintain good spirits in your team?
We foster an environment where asking questions and exploring new ideas is not only welcomed but also encouraged. We believe that curiosity drives innovation, and we provide opportunities for learning and growth to our team members. Further, collaboration is at the heart of our culture. We create spaces and platforms for team members to collaborate across departments, share insights, and co-create solutions.
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We also highly value first-principle thinkers who are non-conformists, challenge the status quo, and seek to understand problems at their core. Such individuals bring fresh perspectives and innovative solutions to the table, driving our creativity and problem-solving capabilities forward.
We prioritize psychological safety, ensuring that every team member feels valued, respected, and heard. Lastly, we foster an experimentation mindset, where failure is seen as a natural part of the creative process. Team members are encouraged to take risks, try new things, and learn from both successes and failures.
What is your personal philosophy on what it means to be a leader?
Being a great leader is not just about directing others towards a common goal, but also about building strong connections, showing empathy, and being vulnerable. Leadership is like a dance between strength and compassion, courage and vulnerability.
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It’s all about empowering your team to reach their full potential by creating a culture of trust and authenticity, where everyone feels valued and heard. We believe it’s essential to create a safe space where people can bring their true selves to work, embrace their strengths, and recognise their weaknesses without worrying about judgment. As leaders, we always lead with empathy and listen actively to our team’s needs and concerns.
We believe in leading by example and demonstrating integrity, resilience, and a willingness to admit when we don’t know everything. Vulnerability is also key to true leadership, as it allows us to connect on a deeper level with others and embrace our imperfections. Ultimately, our philosophy on leadership is that it’s about inspiring and empowering others to become their best selves. It’s about creating positive change within our organizations and beyond.
Shirmy Chan
Co-founder and owner of Bar Terumi
Tell us briefly about yourself and what you do.
I’m a cocktail bartender with over a decade of experience. I’m also a proud co-founder and owner of Bar Terumi, the tender bar which has been a delightful space for people in the past year and a half. Creating memorable experiences with exquisite cocktails is what I do day to day.
What are some of the challenges you face as a woman in leadership and how did you overcome them?
As a woman in leadership in the cocktail industry, I’ve encountered several challenges, including:
- Breaking through stereotypes about women’s roles in the bar industry was challenging.
- The lack of representation of women in leadership roles was not common in the industry, making it harder to find mentors or role models.
To overcome these challenges, I focused on:
- Building confidence by believing in my skills and abilities despite any doubts.
- Establishing credibility through consistently delivering exceptional service and innovative cocktails.
- Networking and connecting with people such as other leaders in the industry who provided valuable advice and support.
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Walk us through what your general day-to-day work life looks like.
In my day-to-day work life as a cocktail bartender and bar owner, my responsibilities are:
- Planning: I kick off my day by reviewing inventory, analyzing sales trends, and strategizing for upcoming events. This involves creating timelines, setting goals, and coordinating with suppliers to ensure smooth operations.
- Strategy: With a pulse on industry trends and customer preferences, I develop strategic initiatives to keep our bar dynamic and competitive or enhance our cocktail offerings to cater to evolving tastes.
- Direction: As a leader, I provide clear direction and guidance to my team, fostering a collaborative and supportive work environment. I delegate tasks, conduct regular check-ins, and offer mentorship to help team members grow and excel in their roles.
- Mentorship: I share my expertise in mixology, customer service, and business management. Through hands-on training and constructive feedback, I empower them to improve their skills and reach their full potential.
- Cocktail Programme Development: One of my key roles involves developing and refining our cocktail programme. This includes creating new recipes, experimenting with innovative ingredients and techniques with my team, and ensuring consistency and quality.
What are 3 healthy habits that you personally practice for a productive lifestyle?
- Having regular exercise in my routine, whether it’s hitting the gym before work or enjoying outdoor activities during the day, helps me stay energized and focused.
- Despite working at night, I make a conscious effort to get sunlight exposure during the day by waking up early. Sunlight helps regulate my body and boosts my mood.
- Practicing mindfulness and meditation techniques from time to time helps reduce stress, and promote mental health. It’s a vital component of my self-care routine.
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What is a leadership lesson that you’ve learned that is unique to a female leader?
The lesson I’ve learned as a female leader in the cocktail industry is the power of empathy and emotional intelligence, which helped me build trust and connections with people. I’ve found that empathy allows me to truly understand the needs and concerns of my team and customers, leading to more effective communication, collaboration, and problem-solving.
How do you set boundaries between your personal and work life?
I make a point not to discuss work matters when I’m spending quality time with family and friends. This ensures that our interactions are focused on personal connections and enjoyment.
While it’s important to have a support system, I also avoid constantly venting about work-related stress to friends and family. Instead, I strive to maintain a positive attitude and address challenges constructively.
Lastly, I make time for self-care activities such as exercise, relaxation, and pursuing hobbies. These moments of rejuvenation are essential for maintaining my well-being and preventing burnout.
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What is your advice to aspiring and ambitious women on how they can achieve the same type of success as you?
Success at the highest levels of business requires hard work, dedication, and perseverance. There are no quick fixes or shortcuts to achieving long-term success.
Cultivate a strong sense of determination and resilience. The path to success is rarely smooth, and setbacks and challenges are inevitable. It’s essential to remain resilient in the face of adversity, learn from setbacks, and keep pushing forward toward your goals.
Stay focused on your vision and consistently work towards your goals, even when progress feels slow or obstacles arise. Small, consistent efforts over time can lead to significant achievements and lasting success.
Lastly, stay true to yourself and your values as you pursue success. Authenticity and sincerity are essential in building trust and leading with integrity. Embrace your unique strengths and perspectives, and let them guide you as you navigate your career journey.
What is something you’re particularly proud of at your job recently?
Recently, I’ve been particularly proud of achieving my dream of owning a bar. It’s been a journey filled with hard work, determination, and countless challenges, but seeing my vision come to life has been incredibly rewarding. Not only does owning a bar allow me to pursue my passion for mixology and hospitality, but it also provides me with a platform to inspire and uplift others.
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How do you foster creativity and maintain good spirits in your team?
I create a culture where team members feel comfortable sharing their ideas and opinions without fear of judgment. I empower my team to express their creativity and contribute to the collective success of the bar and individually.
I also organize regular brainstorming sessions and encourage collaboration among team members to generate new ideas and solutions. Further, I never skim on recognising and celebrating the achievements of my team members. Whether it’s a successful event, a creative cocktail recipe, or exceptional customer service, acknowledging their efforts boosts morale and encourages continued creativity.
What is your personal philosophy on what it means to be a leader?
My philosophy on leadership revolves around two core principles:
- “Miles to go, keep going”: Leadership is not a destination but a journey of continuous growth and improvement. It’s about embracing challenges, learning from experiences, and consistently striving to be better. No matter how far we’ve come, there’s always more to achieve, and the key is to keep moving forward with determination and resilience.
- “There is always a solution for problems”: As a leader, I believe in approaching challenges with a solutions-oriented mindset. Instead of dwelling on obstacles or setbacks, I focus on finding creative and practical solutions to overcome them.
Clarisse Leong
Co-founder of Cliff & Max
Tell us briefly about yourself and what you do.
I am the co-founder of Cliff & Max, a wellness lifestyle brand that designs and curates products that promote mindful living, minimalism, and self-care rituals in our community. The brand focuses on ethical craftsmanship and the use of natural, organic ingredients. We strive to create collections that go beyond the goods and tell the story of our beliefs, ideas, and lifestyles.
What are some of the challenges you face as a woman in leadership and how did you overcome them?
As the brand focuses on craftsmanship and wellness rather than commercially mass-produced products, striking a balance between quality and creativity can sometimes be challenging. But, at the same time, it has been rewarding as the process has allowed me to learn, reflect and think out of the box constantly. The biggest takeaway from challenges like these is to remain calm and keep an open mind to different solutions and feedback.
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Walk us through what your general day-to-day work life looks like.
I always start my day with a calming skincare routine and my morning 10-minute yoga stretch. These rituals set a healthy mindset and a natural boost of energy for the day. My workday is unique and different every day, and that’s what makes it interesting. My role crosses over from
PR marketing to brand design, R&D, operations, finance, etc. I oversee every part of the business. You’ll find me packing orders, creating formulations and crafting scents for our collections.
What are 3 healthy habits that you personally practice for a productive lifestyle?
Plan ahead, slow down, and be present. Planning helps me prioritise my tasks and allocate my time effectively. I’ll always include tea and incense rituals in my daily routine to allow me to savour life at a slower pace and focus on the present. At night, the ritual of lighting a candle or using essential oils keeps me relaxed, winds me down, and prepares me for the next day.
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What is a leadership lesson that you’ve learned that is unique to a female leader?
I believe leading with mindful intentions is essential for both female and male leaders. I’ve learnt that being mindful of our words, emotions, and purpose helps nurture a healthy working environment. The ability to regulate our emotions before we react, the phrases we choose to express, and the principles and values we adhere to are the mindful practices we embrace as leaders.
How do you set boundaries between your personal and work life?
Honestly, running a business makes it challenging to maintain a healthy boundary between personal and work life. Having a clearly defined schedule and effective time management really help set the boundary. Furthermore, incorporating self-care practices into my daily routine takes care of my physical, mental, and emotional well-being, which is essential for a healthy work-life balance.
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What is your advice to aspiring and ambitious women on how they can achieve the same type of success as you?
As we grow into who we are as a brand today, what we really learned as brand owners is the need to run business ethically alongside our personal values and internal compasses. At Cliff & Max, we greatly emphasize the quality of our products, the lifestyle concept and the overall integrity we uphold as a brand. We hope this will serve as advice for future female leaders to create with an intentional purpose, to live by values and to be an ethical leader.
What is something you’re particularly proud of at your job recently?
Wellness lifestyle has always been at the core of the brand. The recent brand collaborations have allowed us to bring wellness experiences and scent curation to new heights. We can translate our brand ethos using creative approaches to provide an exclusive sensory experience and lifestyle for the community to be immersed in rather than just retailing products.
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How do you foster creativity and maintain good spirits in your team?
By fostering a collaborative culture in our team, it guides us to constantly self-reflect, listen and respect each other’s thoughts and ideas in an environment in which they know their input is encouraged and valued.
What is your personal philosophy on what it means to be a leader?
To be a leader, we should have the balance of allowing the natural ebb and flow of inspiration to take place, be deeply in tune with our emotions, and think carefully when presenting creative ideas and solutions. This allows us to express ourselves in the truest light to lead with confidence and ease.
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