International Womens' Day Special: A Miracle Child, Untold Stories, and Mental Health with Queenie Chan

A special Parents in Tech episode celebrating International Womens' Day.

Against all odds, Queenie had a miracle daughter after many years of waiting, defying a medical diagnosis that meant she wouldn't have been able to have a child. Queenie narrates how she was blessed with Angela but then she faced a number of post-natal challenges along with the start of the pandemic.  

This challenging ordeal inspired her to share her story to help and uplift others who may be facing a similar situation, motivating her to create the platform "Untold Stories", a series of inclusion stories from employees of different facets of life.

She also describes the mental well-being aspect of her ordeal. She explains the relevance and importance of mental health in the work place and her efforts as a Mental Health First Aider to improve how people perceive mental health and to remove stigma.

Born in Hong Kong, raised in Australia, and now based in Singapore, Queenie is the Executive Director at Standard Chartered Bank, heading strategy and transformation. She has almost 2 decades of experience working with different banks as head of technology and digital transformation leader. She created a platform at Standard Chartered for inclusion stories to be told. She is a Diversity & Inclusion and mental health champion and has a 2-year-old daughter, Angela.  

Queenie explains in detail how she associates emotions with objects as a tool to help her child regulate her emotions in the "Terrible Twos" period. She also notes that while the pandemic has been quite a tough time, it afforded the opportunity to spend more time with her family and experience those pivotal moments in her baby's development. Her earlier challenge was adapting to the mindset of motherhood and "mom guilt" of combining work with raising her kid. To accomplish this, she set boundaries using the "Golden Time" concept to allow herself times of flexibility and family during the day. In raising her child Queenie has learned empathy, how to focus on what is important, and ability to let things go; all tools required that made her a better leader today. She encourages leaders to be intentional about the wellbeing of the employees planning to return to work by keeping them updated on new changes in the workplace and roles available. She discusses the role of a Mental First Aider and the effort and resources the organization has invested to support employees towards early identification and tackling of mental health challenges.

She is grateful for her husband for role modeling shared responsibilities within the household and supported her career aspirations. As the best role modeling for children starts from home, for the next generation to understand what equality truly means.

Queenie encourages mothers; “Be kind to yourself, it takes a village to raise a kid. You are amazing because it is one of the hardest jobs. Pat yourself and appreciate those who have helped you”  

To get in touch with Queenie, find her on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/queeniechan1?originalSubdomain=sg

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