YWLC x Luxasia Headstart - Starting Her Career Right

The year for the CE sub-committee concluded with Headstart: Starting Her Career Right, our first-ever joint initiative by YWLC and Luxasia Foundation that seeks to empower our young girls to kickstart their careers. The event kicked off with an address by Ms Kelley Wong, Vice-Chairperson of YWLC. We had the honour of Ms Karen Ong, Regional Managing Director and Country Manager for Luxasia Singapore, to share about the organisation and its commitment to giving back to the society at large. The participants, together with our facilitators and volunteers, then engaged in exciting icebreakers to get to know one another better.

Personal Development Having warmed up, the girls sat through a session on self-reflection and confidence facilitated by Ms Sheena Ling, Head of Training & Curriculum Development, The Inside Space. Many personal experiences were shared. A key takeaway from this session was to always be your authentic self and never be afraid to pursue your goals. Career Skills Following that was the Human Career Library involving inspiring young women and even men across diverse careers from YWLC and Luxasia. This was particularly well-liked by the participants as they got to hear first-hand on navigating first jobs, the workplace and discovery of interests.

Thanks to Luxasia, participants were treated to in-depth workshops on interview skills and personal grooming. Ms. Lance Foo, Head of Talent Acquisition (APAC), covered the common mistakes in job search to avoid and of course, tips to create a power resume. As a rule of thumb, every candidate has only 15 seconds to impress their employers. We were also blessed to have Ms Elaine Lim and Ms Mashita as beauty trainers for Luxasia to take the girls through a hands-on makeover session which they truly enjoyed. Key Insights The event was nicely summed up by our Guest-of-Honour, Ms Angeline Oh, YWLC Mentor and Head of Group Human Resources at CapitaLand. As always, she never fails to leave us with key takeaways, what were termed as the 3Cs:

• Confidence - Master your skills, knowledge and take control of invincible voices

• Community of Advocates - Embrace people such as your peers, colleagues or mentors who open doors of opportunities for you

• Courage - Say NO to harmful things that approach you and YES to opportunities that helps you grow

We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to our sponsors Luxasia Foundation and Textile & Fashion Federation (TaFF) and all partners from the non-profit sector as well as institutes of higher learning for their generous support to make this event a success. This would also not have been possible without the support of YWLC members. Last but not least, a well-deserved shoutout to the organising team as well as talented emcee from the CE sub-committee - Minerva, Ziyi, Elyse, Helena, Adila, Yinting, Jezamine, Miya, Elle, and Serene for all their hard work and dedication to bring this to fruition!