Work-Life Harmony with High Achievers

How Singapore’s boldest women entrepreneurs stopped chasing balance — and built something better

Singapore ranked first in Asia for work-life balance in 2025, according to Remote.com’s Global Life-Work Balance Index. For the city’s female founders, that statistic lands with a certain irony. They built their companies through pregnancies, school runs, midnight product launches and investor calls in different time zones. “Balance” is not the word they would choose. Harmony is closer. And it looks different for each of them.

Rachel Lim, Love, Bonito — fashion empire built on self-awareness

Rachel Lim is the co-founder of Love, Bonito, Southeast Asia’s largest omnichannel womenswear brand. In 2016, she was listed on Forbes Asia’s 30 Under 30, and Tatler Asia named her Most Influential two years running, in 2021 and 2022. She started the company selling pre-loved clothes online while studying to be a teacher. Today Love, Bonito operates across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the United States. And she has done much of that growth as a mother.

Her philosophy on time is blunt: “When I’m at work, I give my 100%. And when I’m with my son and my family, I give them my fullest attention too.” Full presence over perfect scheduling. What changed her approach was not a wellness retreat or a coach — it was nearly losing her life. Rachel experienced an ectopic pregnancy that ruptured her fallopian tube, an emergency that forced her to reckon with what the relentless pace was actually costing her. After that, she became deliberate about recovery in a way she hadn’t been before.

“If you want to be first-rate at your work, work can’t be all that you are. You need to be able to explore and find growth, excitement and adventures in different parts of your life.” She now hosts a personal growth podcast, RachReflects, and speaks openly about mental health — subjects still largely absent from Singapore’s entrepreneurial culture.

She is clear that balancing work demands and motherhood is genuinely hard, and that taking care of your wellbeing is not optional — it’s the job.

Rhonda Wong, Ohmyhome — proptech founder who took her company to Nasdaq

Rhonda Wong co-founded Ohmyhome in 2016 with her sister Race, with the goal of making property transactions simple, affordable, and accessible. In March 2023, Ohmyhome became the first Singapore proptech company to list on the Nasdaq. The numbers are striking. Ohmyhome operates with 23 property agents and ranks fifth in total volume sales in Singapore — in a market where most agencies have over 3,000 agents.

Wong’s work ethic is not something she apologises for. When Ohmyhome went public despite difficult market conditions, she was unfazed — as a small company with very large ambitions, the IPO was about securing the runway to grow for the next three to five years. That kind of conviction requires a certain relationship with pressure. She is also a mother, and describes the challenge plainly: “We are mums, wives, daughters, sisters, friends, bosses, and teammates.” The list is long. The point is not that she manages it all seamlessly — it’s that she has stopped pretending any one version of herself can be switched off.

Lynsey Lim, Handmade Heroes — kitchen-made brand now a bestseller on Amazon

Lynsey Lim started Handmade Heroes in her kitchen in 2014, making natural vegan skincare products for her own sensitive skin. The brand is now stocked at Isetan, Takashimaya, and major retailers across Asia and America, and has won awards from Harper’s Bazaar, Women’s Weekly, and CLEO. Its Ultra Sexy lip scrub holds the number two spot on Amazon’s best-selling lip scrub list. Not bad for something that started with kitchen ingredients.

On the question of balance, Lim is practical rather than philosophical. “I make a conscious effort to set boundaries and prioritise self-care. This means scheduling time for exercise, hobbies, and spending time with loved ones.” She describes her work not as a job or a career, but as a chance to redefine beauty standards and promote self-love in a fast-paced, self-critical world. Through skincare, she wants to remind people to take time for themselves. The irony of running a self-care brand while learning to practice it herself is not lost on her.

Her advice for mothers running businesses is simple and specific: squeeze in a chat or a moment of play before and after work. Bond with your children in ways that make sense for your family and your lifestyle — not someone else’s.

What actually holds

These three women run very different businesses — fashion, proptech, beauty — but the pattern is the same. None of them found a formula. Each of them went through a moment that forced a rethink: a health crisis, a child growing up faster than expected, a company outgrowing its founder’s original pace. What they share is a refusal to perform harmony they don’t feel, and a willingness to be honest about the cost of ambition. That honesty, it turns out, is also what makes them credible leaders.

Singapore’s work culture has long celebrated the grind — two in five Singaporeans wake up feeling tired on a daily basis. The women building the next generation of companies here are quietly, methodically doing something about that — not by working less, but by working with more intention.

For anyone paying attention, that is the real luxury.