Hello and welcome, mama!

Becoming a mother for the first time in 2019 has changed my life, but becoming a mother for the second time in 2021 has shaken me to the core and made me redefine who I am and what I want in this season of my life.

As a millennial born in Luxembourg to a Singaporean mother, I grew up believing that I could have everything I wanted and that I could have it all. And for a long while, I did. I lived in France and the UK during my studies. I started my career in journalism, and then held some exciting positions as a communications and media specialist in diplomacy and politics.

In March 2019, my first son was born. The first year with a tiny human was not too bad. I was tired - but I was also very lucky that my son slept really well. I was anxious about looking after the baby, that something could happen to him. But as I had a decent amount of sleep, the anxiety was manageable. 

When my baby was three months old, I decided that I did not want to go back to my previous employer and stay home a bit long with my baby. I was working in a male environment at that point with a very patriarchal boss and while he had good intentions, it had already been challenging during pregnancy.

This was absolutely the right decision for our family - and I was lucky to be contacted three months before I was due to return to work by a former partner who has a temporary opening in her team, which ended up leading to a three-year-contract).

In March 2020, I went back to paid employment. My husband and I had discussed this before becoming parents. I would work 60% and stay at home two days with the baby, he would work 80% and stay at home one day. I never really questioned this - this was the best of both worlds to me and I was lucky to be able to find employers who gave us these opportunities.

Two weeks into my new job, the pandemic hit. (I won’t go into the details of that…)

And a year later, we decided that our family was not complete. Our second son was born in December 2021. Becoming a mother the second time was a very different experience. The birth - while easier in certain aspects - was mentally challenging for me. Our baby wanted to sleep close to us, he hated being placed on his back and only slept a bit longer stretches on his tummy or next to us - everything that we had been warned would be dangerous! My anxiety levels were high and my energy very low.

It took me time to trust myself and our family journey, to accept that my baby was different from his brother and what was described in any books or blogs I’d read. It challenged me to the core, finding ways to truly support myself when I was running low on energy, having to ask for help. 

Looking back, the first two years with two kids were the hardest in my life. But at the end of it, I had grown so much as a mother, as a woman, as a human - a transformation that hadn’t been possible without my children. I worked with coaches, therapists, massage practitioners, osteopaths, tried ayurveda and TCM. What supported me the most was learning about mindfulness and self-compassion in a Mindful Parenting course (based on the book by Susan Bögels). Giving myself the space to just sit, meditate and be present with my children has been a beautiful gift that is compatible with the busy lives of mothers. 

That and working with my life coach, attending workshops to reflect and learn new tools, making time for regular yoga classes & massages. 

I now spend my days either with my family, or working on this business - mainly writing for my blog or on Substack (coming soon!), after rediscovering this passion of mine. I love reading books (my to-read list is too ever growing and too long - I’m considering taking a month off just to read, ideally by the beach), having dinner dates and honest conversations with my girlfriends, swimming outdoors in summer, going to yoga classes and spending time with family and friends in Singapore. You’ll also find me in Luxembourg a couple of times a year, where I grew up and my parents still live - and you might even hear me on the local radio station as I’m a foreign correspondent based in Switzerland. 

Becoming a mother has been the beginning of a beautiful transformation for me that is still ongoing. I didn’t learn in depth about matrescence until my Mama Rising training in 2024 and it’s impacted my identity, my values, my beliefs. Every mother deserves a safe space to explore her own identity, her needs and her hopes and dreams in matrescence.

Here’s a couple of things about me you might want to know:

• I’ve been living in Switzerland for more than 12 years now, but I’m originally from the little country of Luxembourg, where I grew up and lived until I was 19.

• Singapore will always hold a very special place in my heart: it’s the country where a big part of my family and some close friends live, it’s where I met my husband, it was the first long flight for both our boys and it will always be one of the places that I call home. Whenever I’m away, I miss kaya toast and chicken rice, they just don’t taste the same anywhere else in the world!

• My husband and I met in Singapore through a mutual friend from Luxembourg. We got married in July 2015 at the former air traffic control tower at Zurich Airport, before celebrating with friends and family in Singapore and at the end of the year in Interlaken (on a lovely and sunny winter day).

• The ocean is my happy place. I could sit by the sea for hours and just watch the waves. Ironically I moved from one land-locked country to another…

• I am fluent in English, French, German and Luxembourgish and coach and write in the four languages. I also took Spanish classes in secondary school and though my skills are quite rusty these days, they are enough to get by during a holiday in Spain.

My qualifications and experience:

- In March 2025, I am completing my Mama Rising Facilitator training with Amy Taylor-Kabbaz.

- I’m an accredited life coach (Animas Centre for Coaching).

- I have in the past supported clients with setting and pursuing goals, setting up action plans, reflecting on a career change, navigating imposter syndrome, returning back to work after maternity leave.

- I have more than 12 years of experience being employed in journalism, communications and politics.

- I hold a Master in International Event Management from the University of Brighton as well as a Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA).

If you’ve been curious about coaching and how it could benefit you, why not get in touch with me!