Karen Tay is a Singaporean transplant in San Francisco, USA, and a mom of two. She is the founder of Inherent, a platform dedicated to supporting women through career transitions and workplace challenges. In our intimate conversation, Karen shares her journey from being a senior public servant in the Singapore government to joining corporate America and becoming an entrepreneur. We discuss her viral Her World article entitled “Modern Motherhood: The Blessings of Not Having It All”, revisit some of her darkest times in her personal and professional life, and explore the lessons she's learned since then.

Join us as we reflect on her work supporting women through workplace adversity and uncover enduring wisdom about navigating difficult transitions, career breaks, and making impactful comebacks. Tune in!

Karen also opens up on:

🌟 Navigating the challenges of balancing career aspirations amidst limitations in moving to the US as a young family

🌟 Her personal journey through burnout during COVID

🌟 The importance of healing and nurturing personal relationships during times of strain

🌟 Lessons from providing first aid to women in workplace adversity through Inherent

🌟 How to navigate career breaks and make a comeback

Connect with Karen on:

👋Karen's linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenzytay/

👋Inherent website: https://www.linkedin.com/company/inherentjourney/

Other resources mentioned:

📚White Paper with Princeton University on Supporting Women Leaders through Workplace First Aid: Pilot Findings - https://drive.google.com/file/d/11rbHF6CGh5_6jj7H7cMg7Kt2M0CvqUTd/view

📚Couples That Work by Jennifer Petriglieri

Chapters

01:09 Hello Karen

02:34 A Day in the Life of Karen

03:47 My Productivity Hack: Calendar Blocking

04:45 The Pottery Connection

06:49 From Optimising Life to Learning To Enjoy Limitations

13:03 Having The Freedom vs Giving Yourself The Freedom

18:17 Struggling with Burnout: A Personal Journey

19:10 Healing and Rebuilding Relationship with My Spouse

21:06 Inherent: Providing Workplace Adversity First Aid

31:12 Navigating Career Breaks and Making Comebacks

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Follow along! We’d love to hear any feedback, comments, or suggestions from you.

➡LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/make-it-work-asia-podcast/

➡Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makeitwork.asia/

➡Email: makeitwork.asia@gmail.com

Amra Naidoo is an Australian mother of an 18-month-old, currently based in Bangkok, Thailand, after years of living and working in Singapore. She is also the co-founder and General Partner of Accelerating Asia, a leading early-stage venture capital fund in Southeast Asia. In our conversation today which is full of personal and professional inspiration, Amra shared openly about many areas including how, despite her priding herself being an avid fitness enthusiast (practicing Muay Thai, Brazilian Jujitsu, aerial arts, AND yoga sometimes 6 days a week), her pregnancy, recovery and a miscarriage later literally stopped her in her tracks and taught her some of life's toughest lessons. 🥋🤰🏽✨

In our conversation, Amra also opens up on:

🌟How Accelerating Asia’s 4 day work week and unlimited leave has impacted productivity

🌟Why she decided to move to Thailand from Singapore whilst pregnant and cultural differences observed

🌟Her unique philosophy in hiring nannies

🌟Her story of a difficult pregnancy, recovery and miscarriage later on

🌟The importance of consciously designing one's life and career.

Connect with Amra on:

👋Amra's linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amranaidoo/

👋Amra's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amranaidoo/

👋Accelerating Asia website: https://www.acceleratingasia.com/

👋AA's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/accelerating_asia/

Chapters

0:00 Episode and Guest Introduction

01:06 Hello Amra

02:39 Daily Routine and Productivity Hacks

06:50 Why The Move to Thailand

13:09 My Company’s 4 Day Work Week & Unlimited Leave Policies

16:47 Becoming A Mom: What I Didn't Expect

25:08 Why I Hated Pregnancy... And Lessons Learnt

33:34 Final Thoughts: Not 1 but 2 Takeaways For Listeners

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Follow along! We’d love to hear any feedback, comments, or suggestions from you.

➡LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/make-it-work-asia-podcast/

➡Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makeitwork.asia/
➡Email: makeitwork.asia@gmail.com

#MakeItWorkPodcast #Resilience #MotherhoodJourney #EntrepreneurLife #PregnancyJourney #ProfessionalGrowth #GlobalCareers #Inspiration #WomenInBusiness #CareerDevelopment #VentureCapital #StartUp

Carolina Yeo is a Singaporean mom of two living in Germany, and founder of &ahead, a talent platform that has enabled more than 4,000 professionals who have taken career breaks to relaunch their careers. Our episode covers a wide range - Carolina reflects on her early corporate life in talent management that brought her all around the world before becoming a young mom in a country where she could barely speak the language- whilst working on her startup. Drawing from her experience of working with thousands of career relaunchers in Singapore and Germany, Carolina also shares about how the two countries' societal contexts impact career and family choices, and why she thinks fathers need more support as caregivers.

In our conversation, Carolina also opens up on:

🌟Her global journey from Singapore to Germany

🌟Simultaneously managing the zero-to-one phase of baby and startup

🌟Finding community and family overseas

🌟Empowering career transitioners through the &ahead platform

🌟How policies in Germany and Singapore affect career and parenting choices

🌟Her Takeaway Lesson: The importance of cheerleaders in your journey

Connect with Carolina/ &ahead on:

👋Website: https://andahead.com/

👋LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolinayeo/

#MakeItWorkPodcast #WorkingMoms #CareerTransition #Inspiration #FamilyFirst #Entrepreneur

Chapters

00:00 Episode and Guest Introduction

01:02 Hello Carolina

01:13 Carolina's Global Journey: From Singapore to Germany

02:31 The Birth of an Entrepreneur: Starting a Business Abroad

09:34 Navigating Career and Motherhood: A Personal Tale

11:56 Building a support network overseas

19:47 Germany and Singapore: structural differences impacting parents

24:31 The Need: More Progressive Parental Leave Policies

27:30 Advice for Returning to Work: Overcoming Fear and Finding Support

30:48 The Importance of Cheerleaders in Your Journey

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Follow along! We’d love to hear any feedback, comments, or suggestions from you.

➡LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/make-it-work-asia-podcast/

➡Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makeitwork.asia/

➡Email: makeitwork.asia@gmail.com