158 318
LIFE&FAMILY
158
May15
#1
PREVIOUS CAREER:
Stay-at-home mum, writer and student in Mumbai
and Singapore.
Best part of the job:
The flexibility to care for my
firstborn full-time, while studying towards a degree
and writing short stories.
Biggest challenges:
The distractions and isolation
of working at home, plus feeling I wasn’t working
to my full potential. Lacking the headspace to get
going with any of my entrepreneurial ideas was
very frustrating.
Inspiration for career change:
After my second child
was born here in 2013, and with the tremendous
help at home, I realised I had a lot of dreams and
thoughts; but a lot of it revolved around wanting to
get out of the house, to have somewhere to go to,
to “work”. I knew other women felt the same way,
and that the way forward would have to involve
some kind of shared office space.
NEW CAREER:
Founder, Woolf Works, a shared workspace for
women; opened July 2014.
This is a growing community of small business
owners, writers and company executives who have
chosen to ditch the home office and work from our
space for productive, focused work time.
Reason for choice:
I had never heard of “coworking”
until I started researching shared offices. The
movement is booming in Singapore, where there
are a lot of options, but I felt there was room in the
market for a space that was low-key and would
appeal to “mumpreneurs”, or women with home-
based businesses.
Best part of the job:
Is it terrible to say that I love
leaving my kids in the morning to come to work? I
am very proud of the space, our high retention rate,
and our open, supportive community of women.
Most satisfying achievement:
Among the amazing
press coverage, my cover-girl gig for the ANZA
magazine was a career highlight! I was also
honoured to speak on a panel at the recent
Coworking Unconference Asia.
Old job versus new job
:
I enjoyed my time as a
stay-at-home mum, but I definitely feel more fulfilled
and creative now, and I know that everyone in my
household benefits from me being happier!
Michaela Anchan, New Zealander
Career
Are you struggling in your current career, or looking to
re-enter the workforce, but wondering which new job
might be the right one for you? We asked six brave
women to explain how they went about transforming
their working lives.
Change
USEFUL ADVICE
If you want to get something off the
ground, treat it like a fulltime job. Work
at it from nine to five, not just in bits and pieces
between household jobs. Commit 100 percent.
Also, when I was trying to make up my mind
what to do, I focused on which option I would
regret not doing ten years from now.
How six women upped the ante
Photo: Karen Lucas.
By Katie Roberts; Photography by Emily Cornelius