Hi, I am Theresa!

Once upon a time I was a TV producer who walked into a yoga class and that was it. I quit my well-paying job at Lucasfilm to become a yoga teacher, and somehow ended up running multimillion dollar fitness businesses across Asia. Life is funny like that.

Over 15 years I've led teams of many sizes across Singapore and Hong Kong. I've scaled businesses, restructured them, turned around multi-million dollar businesses, and on occasion had to make the hard calls that nobody else wanted to make. 

Before all of that I built two businesses from scratch. A yoga retail brand I grew for 5 years before selling, mostly because I was completely exhausted by it. And a wellness marketing and events platform that became Singapore's first yoga festival before I walked away for personal reasons. Neither ended the way I originally imagined. Both taught me more than any MBA. Starting something from zero, making it work, and then knowing when to walk away. That turned out to be the most useful education I've ever had.

In an industry that often runs on vibes and passion, I've always led with both heart and numbers. I believe you don't have to choose between being a good human and a good leader. In fact I'd argue the best leaders are the ones who never forgot they're dealing with people.

I am half Singaporean, and half Dutch. Which means I understand Asian culture intrinsically and can be brutally direct about what's not working. I've lived between cultures my whole life and it turns out that's actually useful when you're leading diverse teams across markets.

I hold an MBA and a Masters in Counselling & Psychotherapy, which sounds like an unusual combination until you've tried to turn around a burned-out team in the middle of a declining business. Then it makes complete sense. One of the things I'm most proud of professionally is leading a fitness business through COVID without letting a single team member go. We moved fast, pivoted hard: online streaming, equipment rentals, a spinning class in a nightclub. We kept the business profitable and the team intact. That's what being quick on your feet actually looks like.

My book SOFT Leadership encapsulates everything I have learned throughout the years with honest reflections on what I think it actually takes to lead businesses and people without losing yourself in the process.

I am working on launching more tools, courses and an online workshop that will covers content from the book - SOFT Leadership. Join the newsletter to get updated!

I am so glad you are here. 

- Theresa