Success rarely looks like a straight road to the top
Take it from two of the boldest young women to ever inspire us through our annual Girls’ Brigade Singapore Leadership Conference!
356 Secondary three Girls and 45 facilitators attended the second iteration of the “Born to be Special, Born to be You, Born to be True” Leadership Conference on 19th February 2022 to hear from Guest speakers Annette Lee (Media personality) and Yeo Jia Min (National badminton Player).
Looking at our speakers, you would be forgiven if you’d assumed (like dozens of clamoring Girls) that sheer talent and beauty had catapulted both young women to fame. Yet Annette and Jia Min’s stories spoke to everyone, everywhere.
From overcoming the pain of self-doubt to the joy of growing through every setback, both speakers inspired new generations to dare to be special and true to who they are.
Jia Min Yeo (Left) and Annette Lee (Right)
Hope and Purpose will get your through the hardest times
“I tried harder than anyone, why couldn’t I compete?”
Having played badminton competitively ever since she was 8, Yeo Jia Min holds the 16th best world rank in badminton. This was a position she had fought hard to achieve through sticking to a grueling 6-day training schedule and a strict diet (to the point where she does not crave bubble tea).
But when the 23-year-old suffered a series of injuries that hampered her performance and even threatened to remove her from the long-awaited Tokyo 2021 Olympics, Jia Min wondered if she was meant to play badminton.
Amidst her fears, Jia Min found peace in the middle of her struggle by looking to her personal faith for purpose and hope instead of focusing on all that was going wrong.
“If you have this mindset to always look at things positively, you’ll be able to overcome, and you’ll be able to come out of it stronger.”
Grow through failure – it helps you improve
“Be thankful for your strengths, but also your weaknesses”
Before she became the CEO of cutting fruits and one-half of the famous “cai fan” song (economic rice in mandarin), Annette Lee was a teenager bursting with dreams and project ideas – one of these was to be a singer. But when her band went for a performance one day, the manager requested to swap her out because he didn’t like the sound of her voice.
Like any budding artiste, Annette was stung by his words, but accepted his feedback and worked hard to improve her vocal ability, accepting her past failures as a stepping board to success.
“Be humble and willing to start small. You’ll get better when you get started. Don’t be afraid of failure. It’s the thing that helps you improve.”
