[Applause]
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
hi everyone
did you enjoy my parkour video hi flan
to be the oldest practicing parkour
woman in Singapore okay the purpose of
showing that you the video besides
feeding my ego release to let you know
you know you always want to find a place
to grow where you’re least expected and
it really reads rich rewards for you I
left the good corporate life for 20
years
enjoying good money clients who became
friends white stewardesses who addressed
me by name
I stayed in fancy hotels I couldn’t
afford on my own and I climbed to you
know they they took notes when I talked
to them like you know just that sort of
life was really interesting but the
problem was when I woke up one morning
and the disruption came through the mind
first and this
was the question that popped up like do
you want to do the same darn thing for
the next 20 years of your life and at
that point I was 46 so I was thinking if
I continue doing that I would be 66
before I realized it and was looking
back and saying you know not much change
in my life so no matter how good that
right was it’s um you know the thought
that the learning would be marginal just
incremental at the very most did not
sound attractive to me the vision looked
very narrow and I thought I need to stop
it then then even though it was a good
run um and so then it was you know the
discovery that I had a higher propensity
for change and even at that age that
sense of adventure came in and the
willingness to be seduced into an
unknown world became very irresistible
so this is a picture of the food truck
that we built we affectionately named it
Kirby and I came here to share with you
two key encounters in this journey
towards building the food truck uh that
launched me into a journey of learning
which you know I I which I I never
learned in the classroom and I never
learned even talking to a lot of
knowledgeable people you just really
have to put yourself out there and and
experience it firsthand so then the next
question was of course you know if I
didn’t want to do the corporate job then
what was I going to do and just the
process of getting to that answer was
really interesting in itself
um just sitting down and saying okay
just for a moment I have no financial
obligations that free children I’ll put
aside for a while
elderly parents are just put aside just
for a while
the mortgage the bills everything like
just give yourself a clean sheet of
paper and say you know what what do I
really really want to do and so that
that question and that the thing that to
allow yourself to just be still keep
quiet like shut out all the noise and
clutter from society and the pressures
that are on you always and and just
think so actually for nine months I I
basically just said then kept thinking
like I never did things with my hands I
had no output to show I had no tangible
results to show um I mean we live in a
world where we have even a wonderful
tool called KPI key performance
indicators Tata Tata you know show show
this show that and the hands always have
to be busy doing something so for me the
nine months was the hands were still
hence we’re not moving literally did
nothing other than lift up a cup of
coffee but just the mind was racing like
at lightning speed and everyday ideas
were bubbling the creativity was coming
in and you know I had ideas that got
myself so excited in a way my heart was
just jumping out of my chest
so lots of things happening here but
just nothing here and and this is really
against the norm in society of always
having to show something and even a
casual question from a concerned mom who
you know who just walks fast it’s also
why you’re planning to do you know that
just a casual comment like this can
throw you off and just shake your
confidence but then you just have to
again just then firm and just believe
that there’s a lot of things brewing
inside here even if you had nothing to
show on him so the stubborn refusal to
move the arms and the legs and my nine
months of sitting around doing nothing
gave me actually the power to come up
with one big idea for myself and this
idea opened the doors for me for the
next four years of my life which was the
last fall we found a way to be in the
food and beverage industry without
paying high rentals the landlord’s and
in fact became a landlord ourselves
renting the truck to companies who saw
value in it so you know I can really I
think stand here and tell you I am
really the only FMB operator for is
charging rentals which you know it’s a
game changer for me in my little
business so right up to last month we
were invited to participate in an
international food shop festival
um and you know just Pitt we pitted our
skills against the top ten street food
truck vendors from London we were
invited to the UAE for that we spent
three cities three weekends and we were
selling food or representing Singapore
um against the some of the best street
traders were talking about in the world
and I’m really happy to say that you
know we came out top three in terms of
sales performance I mean this is someone
with no FMB background working with a
contractor who has no experience
building a foot truck and this power
really came from the wasting time
so I mean you if you if you go away from
this talk and say oh yeah I don’t know I
can go very spike then of obviously
you’re taking in the raw spirit what I’m
saying is while the hands are not moving
and resist the urge to just give in to
pressures from society make sure there’s
a lot of things happening in here that
will result in finally output that has
impact the other thing that I wanted to
share with you that was really
eye-opening for me is in the course of
trying to get a food truck license and I
don’t know if you are familiar with that
you know you’re really up against the
regulators and the bureaucracy in
Singapore
I had to deal with numerous government
agencies whose job mainly is to say no
to me if you come to them with anything
outside the norm I had the opportunity
to learn really more about the Singapore
mindset through these interactions I
found out that um to the regulator’s the
word no are means a lot of things it
means don’t ask me for something that
I’m not familiar with don’t ask me to
say yes to you when I don’t even know
which form to pass to you to to fill up
there’s no template there’s no process
this is out of the norm I’m not going to
stick my neck out for you just just come
to me where it’s straightforward like
don’t make me thing don’t make me have
to answer to my boss like there are no
means all those things so there is you
know there’s really no reward for them
for any creativity their job is to say
no and I’ll typically tell you the story
of I went to a meeting with a government
agency there were four people in the in
the meeting and you know after an hour
of just going round and round trying to
get them to give me something that I can
move forward in the business and trying
to get the license it suddenly occurred
to me when I look around the room that
nobody in the room is authorized to say
yes yeah like why am i meeting these
people are you I’m wasting the time and
they’re wasting mine
so I actually asked them like who who
who in this room can say yes and they
started okay I don’t like actually
nobody so they also use delay tactics um
on you and say things like why don’t you
email my supervisor you know because
that buys them time I said how long will
your supervisor take the respond oh four
to six weeks to acknowledge and then we
don’t know once of the death so I’m like
supervisor your supervisor you mean the
one that’s sitting over there and I
basically just got up and talked to the
supervisor hello supervisor I need to
talk to you about this like
you know from the photo six weeks is it
became for the six minutes of getting to
someone who had that authority to say
yes so you know just that Singapore
mindset of you know I I don’t get fired
for hiring IBM sort of mentality like
anything that straightforward come to me
anything that’s out of the norm I’m
going to say no so that you know others
so false healing and perceived
boundaries um we had to cut through in
this journey so we finally got our
license um against a lot of naysayers
you can’t really see but this is all the
I mean the press was basically all over
us so on the day we launched the foot
truck Straits Times Business Times Asian
Wall Street Journal Channel NewsAsia and
all of them so it was a good vindication
to all the naysayers even business
mentors like famous business mentors in
Singapore who told us this was not
possible you know just having all this
recognition was was a good vindication
but I’ll tell you what the greatest
reward is um in this journey and I’ll
end on this note my you know we set this
up as a social enterprise based on BAM
game buy a meal give a meal so I know we
do all the good work like sharing good
food and bring nutrients to needy
families in Singapore we also pick up
excess food from a five-star hotel and
send them to families but the real
reward came for me when my daughter who
is sitting amongst you today uh 18 years
old she came to me saying she felt
really suffocated living in a place like
Singapore in tears she told me she could
not even breathe it’s not uncommon for
teenagers to say that but here’s the
clincher
she felt she could tell me because she
saw how I started a food shop you know
allowing ourselves to challenge the norm
question authorities constructively
responsibly that opened the door
all for her to confide in her mother and
reveal her innermost fear she saw mother
who would be able to accept if she said
something was wrong in society and
honestly I could not ask for better
vindication but to impact the next
generation to soul a seat in her heart
that something like this was possible
such that this seat could germinate and
impact her next generation then this is
the reason why I do the work and and why
I count the work that I do so with that
I’ll end um
I mean my daughter plans to order baby
on eBay
so I don’t know how she will impact a
generation but I believe that with the
seat in her heart there is a potential
for that to grow and impact the next
generation thank you very much
[Applause]
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
hi everyone
did you enjoy my parkour video hi flan
to be the oldest practicing parkour
woman in Singapore okay the purpose of
showing that you the video besides
feeding my ego release to let you know
you know you always want to find a place
to grow where you’re least expected and
it really reads rich rewards for you I
left the good corporate life for 20
years
enjoying good money clients who became
friends white stewardesses who addressed
me by name
I stayed in fancy hotels I couldn’t
afford on my own and I climbed to you
know they they took notes when I talked
to them like you know just that sort of
life was really interesting but the
problem was when I woke up one morning
and the disruption came through the mind
first and this
was the question that popped up like do
you want to do the same darn thing for
the next 20 years of your life and at
that point I was 46 so I was thinking if
I continue doing that I would be 66
before I realized it and was looking
back and saying you know not much change
in my life so no matter how good that
right was it’s um you know the thought
that the learning would be marginal just
incremental at the very most did not
sound attractive to me the vision looked
very narrow and I thought I need to stop
it then then even though it was a good
run um and so then it was you know the
discovery that I had a higher propensity
for change and even at that age that
sense of adventure came in and the
willingness to be seduced into an
unknown world became very irresistible
so this is a picture of the food truck
that we built we affectionately named it
Kirby and I came here to share with you
two key encounters in this journey
towards building the food truck uh that
launched me into a journey of learning
which you know I I which I I never
learned in the classroom and I never
learned even talking to a lot of
knowledgeable people you just really
have to put yourself out there and and
experience it firsthand so then the next
question was of course you know if I
didn’t want to do the corporate job then
what was I going to do and just the
process of getting to that answer was
really interesting in itself
um just sitting down and saying okay
just for a moment I have no financial
obligations that free children I’ll put
aside for a while
elderly parents are just put aside just
for a while
the mortgage the bills everything like
just give yourself a clean sheet of
paper and say you know what what do I
really really want to do and so that
that question and that the thing that to
allow yourself to just be still keep
quiet like shut out all the noise and
clutter from society and the pressures
that are on you always and and just
think so actually for nine months I I
basically just said then kept thinking
like I never did things with my hands I
had no output to show I had no tangible
results to show um I mean we live in a
world where we have even a wonderful
tool called KPI key performance
indicators Tata Tata you know show show
this show that and the hands always have
to be busy doing something so for me the
nine months was the hands were still
hence we’re not moving literally did
nothing other than lift up a cup of
coffee but just the mind was racing like
at lightning speed and everyday ideas
were bubbling the creativity was coming
in and you know I had ideas that got
myself so excited in a way my heart was
just jumping out of my chest
so lots of things happening here but
just nothing here and and this is really
against the norm in society of always
having to show something and even a
casual question from a concerned mom who
you know who just walks fast it’s also
why you’re planning to do you know that
just a casual comment like this can
throw you off and just shake your
confidence but then you just have to
again just then firm and just believe
that there’s a lot of things brewing
inside here even if you had nothing to
show on him so the stubborn refusal to
move the arms and the legs and my nine
months of sitting around doing nothing
gave me actually the power to come up
with one big idea for myself and this
idea opened the doors for me for the
next four years of my life which was the
last fall we found a way to be in the
food and beverage industry without
paying high rentals the landlord’s and
in fact became a landlord ourselves
renting the truck to companies who saw
value in it so you know I can really I
think stand here and tell you I am
really the only FMB operator for is
charging rentals which you know it’s a
game changer for me in my little
business so right up to last month we
were invited to participate in an
international food shop festival
um and you know just Pitt we pitted our
skills against the top ten street food
truck vendors from London we were
invited to the UAE for that we spent
three cities three weekends and we were
selling food or representing Singapore
um against the some of the best street
traders were talking about in the world
and I’m really happy to say that you
know we came out top three in terms of
sales performance I mean this is someone
with no FMB background working with a
contractor who has no experience
building a foot truck and this power
really came from the wasting time
so I mean you if you if you go away from
this talk and say oh yeah I don’t know I
can go very spike then of obviously
you’re taking in the raw spirit what I’m
saying is while the hands are not moving
and resist the urge to just give in to
pressures from society make sure there’s
a lot of things happening in here that
will result in finally output that has
impact the other thing that I wanted to
share with you that was really
eye-opening for me is in the course of
trying to get a food truck license and I
don’t know if you are familiar with that
you know you’re really up against the
regulators and the bureaucracy in
Singapore
I had to deal with numerous government
agencies whose job mainly is to say no
to me if you come to them with anything
outside the norm I had the opportunity
to learn really more about the Singapore
mindset through these interactions I
found out that um to the regulator’s the
word no are means a lot of things it
means don’t ask me for something that
I’m not familiar with don’t ask me to
say yes to you when I don’t even know
which form to pass to you to to fill up
there’s no template there’s no process
this is out of the norm I’m not going to
stick my neck out for you just just come
to me where it’s straightforward like
don’t make me thing don’t make me have
to answer to my boss like there are no
means all those things so there is you
know there’s really no reward for them
for any creativity their job is to say
no and I’ll typically tell you the story
of I went to a meeting with a government
agency there were four people in the in
the meeting and you know after an hour
of just going round and round trying to
get them to give me something that I can
move forward in the business and trying
to get the license it suddenly occurred
to me when I look around the room that
nobody in the room is authorized to say
yes yeah like why am i meeting these
people are you I’m wasting the time and
they’re wasting mine
so I actually asked them like who who
who in this room can say yes and they
started okay I don’t like actually
nobody so they also use delay tactics um
on you and say things like why don’t you
email my supervisor you know because
that buys them time I said how long will
your supervisor take the respond oh four
to six weeks to acknowledge and then we
don’t know once of the death so I’m like
supervisor your supervisor you mean the
one that’s sitting over there and I
basically just got up and talked to the
supervisor hello supervisor I need to
talk to you about this like
you know from the photo six weeks is it
became for the six minutes of getting to
someone who had that authority to say
yes so you know just that Singapore
mindset of you know I I don’t get fired
for hiring IBM sort of mentality like
anything that straightforward come to me
anything that’s out of the norm I’m
going to say no so that you know others
so false healing and perceived
boundaries um we had to cut through in
this journey so we finally got our
license um against a lot of naysayers
you can’t really see but this is all the
I mean the press was basically all over
us so on the day we launched the foot
truck Straits Times Business Times Asian
Wall Street Journal Channel NewsAsia and
all of them so it was a good vindication
to all the naysayers even business
mentors like famous business mentors in
Singapore who told us this was not
possible you know just having all this
recognition was was a good vindication
but I’ll tell you what the greatest
reward is um in this journey and I’ll
end on this note my you know we set this
up as a social enterprise based on BAM
game buy a meal give a meal so I know we
do all the good work like sharing good
food and bring nutrients to needy
families in Singapore we also pick up
excess food from a five-star hotel and
send them to families but the real
reward came for me when my daughter who
is sitting amongst you today uh 18 years
old she came to me saying she felt
really suffocated living in a place like
Singapore in tears she told me she could
not even breathe it’s not uncommon for
teenagers to say that but here’s the
clincher
she felt she could tell me because she
saw how I started a food shop you know
allowing ourselves to challenge the norm
question authorities constructively
responsibly that opened the door
all for her to confide in her mother and
reveal her innermost fear she saw mother
who would be able to accept if she said
something was wrong in society and
honestly I could not ask for better
vindication but to impact the next
generation to soul a seat in her heart
that something like this was possible
such that this seat could germinate and
impact her next generation then this is
the reason why I do the work and and why
I count the work that I do so with that
I’ll end um
I mean my daughter plans to order baby
on eBay
so I don’t know how she will impact a
generation but I believe that with the
seat in her heart there is a potential
for that to grow and impact the next
generation thank you very much
[Applause]
Please follow and like us: