SINGAPORE: No doubt about it, women today face a lot of challenges, what with the need to juggle the demands of motherhood with the pursuit of a satisfying career. However, according to one Singaporean woman who has led a successful business through not one but two global crises for more than two decades while raising three children, women can have it all.
When Miki Hay, the founder and managing director of the events company HDFX Pte Ltd, sat down with The Independent Singapore (TISG), the whole vibe was alive with possibility. Her spirited, dynamic character was more than enough to make believers out of us.
Ms Hay answered our questions gamely, and our conversation was peppered with bursts of laughter and frequent nods at her nuggets of wisdom. It’s hard to believe that she’s been in the business of events for the past 22 years, as she had so much freshness, and her energy was infectious.
“I’m adventurous,” she told us with another laugh, “and I’m actually quite a rebel.”
All this, in light of what she’s been through, is doubly admirable. The business owner’s background is in finance, which meant that the global financial crisis that began in late 2008 made perhaps a bigger impact on her than on others.
But if anyone tends to see the silver lining among the clouds, it’s Ms Hay. She told us that weathering that crisis prepared her and her team for when the COVID-19 pandemic rolled around a decade later.
“It made the Covid crisis less difficult,” she told TISG.
Another crisis, a far more personal one this time, came about after her second pregnancy, when postpartum depression hit hard. The fog began to lift after a friend began praying with her, for which she is very thankful.
“That was the first miracle,” said Ms Hay. “The second one was having the vision to keep on going.”
She has also developed a philosophy for getting through hard times: “There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Keep walking, and the light will come. The tunnel will end.”
As a result of making it through crises, she and her team at HDFX aren’t just standing but thriving. The business has since expanded into Myanmar and has plans to go into markets in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, and the Philippines.
Ms Hay’s adventurous spirit took her out of the four walls of finance and into the world of event planning, which takes her out of the mundane. With event planning, it’s impossible to get bored, as there’s always something new.
Even for clients that she’s had since 2003, the challenge is coming up with something fresh, which pushes HDFX to do more.
In her own words, “There are no limits.”
As for HDFX, something new for them is the CSR initiatives they’re looking into in Myanmar after Ms Hay paid a visit to an orphanage in that country. She’d like to help with programmes that would make sure children such as the ones she met have not just food and potable water but a good education. Because she’s been given so much, she wants to take the opportunity to give back.
This mum of three believes in the value of hard work. After all, in her industry, people pull in 12 to 16-hour days, sometimes seven days a week. When kids, aged 10, 11, and 16, reach a certain age, they have to come and work for her company (her oldest son has already started), no matter what marks they bring home.
“Poor grades don’t excuse them from working; they’ll just have to find the time to study harder,” she told us firmly.
When asked if her long working hours make motherhood a challenge, she was thankful for the privilege of owning her own company, which means she can manage her own time and be there for her offspring.
And so, yes, Miki Hay believes women can have it all.
“We just have to believe that we are enough,” she added. /TISG
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