"Be Yourself. Everyone Else is Taken"

-Oscar Wilde-

There is a lot of buzz about being authentic and true to yourself. In a world where everyone has expectations of a public figure, how can a person who is revered as a Pastor can be true to oneself?

This month of December, I spoke to Rev. Aries Zulkarnain, an Executive Pastor of City Harvest Church about his definition of being authentic especially as a pastor and an Indonesian in Singapore. His candid response and positive outlook in life shone brighter even as the organization went through a tough period of public scrutiny. 

It's a lighthearted and insightful conversation that transcends any title or expectation.

A background of him:

Rev. Aries Zulkarnain is the one of the founding pioneers of City Harvest Church, one of the biggest chuch with 16,000 members and he has played a vital role in helping Rev. Kong Hee to grow the church for the past 30 years.

He is also Executive Pastor in City Harvest Church, overseeing 5 zones of more than 1400 youth and adults. Other than pastoring the English congregation, he is also the pastor of City Harvest Indonesian Church. To date, he has trained more than 150 cell group leaders and is still actively involved in leadership training and discipleship. He also heads the TV and Internet Media department in the church.

He is  Currently he is also serving as a member of the CHC Management Board and sits as one of the directors in Suntec Holdings. 

No Ordinary Stories with Hellen Lie uncovers the story of people who have overcome challenges and contribute back to society in an inspiring way. We will dig deep into how they started, their struggles, and the mindset that led them to succeed.

Hellen Lie is the founder and Creative Director of Rosette Designs & Co, a wedding planning and decoration company in Singapore, started in 2010. Rosette Designs & Co has been voted Top Wedding Planner and Top Stylist in Singapore by various media.

Rosette Designs & Co: www.rosettedesigns.com

Instagram: @rosettedesignsco @hellenlie

" If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life"

That quote rings true for people who make a living out of their passion and I believe it's the dream for most of us.

During my conversation with Brenda Lee, she unveiled the process of her passion discovery that started Fiore Dorato 25 years ago. 

Today, Fiore Dorato is one of the most respected floral design boutiques serving clients all over the world and brands like Harry Winston, Rolex, and Cartier. Brenda herself is listed among Singapore Tatler Best Florist since 2006 - until now. An impressive feat of 15 years at the top of her game.

During the pandemic, where events and the wedding industry are badly affected, she is faced with a business dilemma, and yet she persevered. In this interview, she reveals her process and mindset that keeps her at the top of her game.

But beyond her amazing accolades, she is a friendly and warm personality that makes everyone at ease in her presence. We have worked together on projects and I am so glad to call her my friend and I hope to dig a little deeper into her perseverance mindset. Especially during Covid when every business is affected including her. She has to make a bold move forward and she is coming up with her second flower book.

Instagram : @fioredorato

https://fioredorato.com.sg/

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No Ordinary Stories with Hellen Lie uncovers the story of people who have overcome challenges and contributed back to society in an inspiring way. We will dig deep into how they started, their struggles, and the mindset that led them to succeed.

Hellen Lie is the founder and Creative Director of Rosette Designs & Co, a wedding planning and decoration company in Singapore, started in 2010. Rosette Designs & Co has been voted Top Wedding Planner and Top Stylist in Singapore by various media.

Rosette Designs & Co: www.rosettedesigns.com

Instagram: @rosettedesignsco @hellenlie

Our discovery in life often comes from the pain we experienced in the past. 

Cindy Leong had many relationship failures in the past that she sought to emerge herself in the study of this topic. As a graduate with Bachelor's Degree in Psychology, she realized that mindset and personality play a critical part in having a successful relationship.

Which led her to start Relationship Studio and Enneagram Academy, a fast-growing Enneagram training in Asia.

What is Enneagram and what makes her choose this tool over the other, find out in my conversation with Cindy in this episode.

Cindy is an Enneagram Personality Coach and Corporate Trainer, founder of Relationship Studio and Enneagram Academy. She is an Accredited Professional with the renowned International Enneagram Association (IEA) and the Associate Certified Coach with the International Coach Federation (ICF).

She is also a member of the Singapore Psychological Society (SPS) and an accredited dating practitioner with the Singapore Social Development Network (SDN).

She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology (majoring in Communications), has done in-depth research and studies in the areas of Organisational Behaviour and Gender Communications, both in Singapore and Taiwan.

She has published  2 books about marriage. Suffering or conquering:  happy marriages in Singapore and  "The Heart of an Adulterous Woman".

She is currently the Resident Relationship Expert on Mediacorp Class95 FM.

@relationshipstudiosg

https://theenneagramacademy.com/

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No Ordinary Stories with Hellen Lie uncovers the story of people who have overcome challenges and contribute back to society in an inspiring way. We will dig deep into how they started, their struggles, and the mindset that led them to succeed.

Hellen Lie is the founder and Creative Director of Rosette Designs & Co, a wedding planning and decoration company in Singapore, started in 2010. Rosette Designs & Co has been voted Top Wedding Planner and Top Stylist in Singapore by various media.

Rosette Designs & Co: www.rosettedesigns.com

Instagram: @rosettedesignsco @hellenlie

Kelvin Tan is the pioneer of the local indie bands and one of Singapore's most prolific artists, musicians, writers, and arts educators.

He’s written two novels, a few short and full-length plays, a film script, and has produced over 150 albums for more than 20 years, some of which are available on Spotify and Bandcamp. He is also the lead guitarist for seminal homegrown rock and roll band, The Oddfellows.

For 16 years, he was an adjunct lecturer for the LaSalle College for the Arts, teaching a whole range of subjects, and helping set up the Puttnam School of Film.

What makes him so special is his never-ending creativity to produce albums and impacting the life of the youths in the art scene. He stood out as someone whose passion is not marred by popularity contest and continue to pursue his craft at its purest form.

Already in his late 50s, he doesn't stop learning and creating music.

While his peers chosen job security, he chose to be true to himself, a self-sustaining artist.

No Ordinary Stories with Hellen Lie uncovers the story of people who have overcome challenges and contribute back to society in an inspiring way. We will dig deep into how they started, their struggles, and the mindset that led them to succeed.

Hellen Lie is the founder and Creative Director of Rosette Designs & Co, a wedding planning and decoration company in Singapore, started in 2010. Rosette Designs & Co has been voted Top Wedding Planner and Top Stylist in Singapore by various media.

Rosette Designs & Co: www.rosettedesigns.com

Instagram: @rosettedesignsco @hellenlie

Kelvin Tan's Music at Spotify

Instagram: @metiokos

Pearlyn Koh uprooted herself in the midst of the popularity of her wedding stationery brand, Pearlyn and Paper, to follow her husband to Seoul, Barcelona, and now Sweden. Blooming where she is planted, Pearlyn had two beautiful children while maintaining her business presence in Singapore.

She is now pivoting to corporate clients and illustration work while working as a full-time digital designer in Sweden. 

Join me as I talked to Pearlyn virtually about her journey of being a solopreneur to giving birth overseas and choosing what's best for the family at each different season of her life. How running your own business might not be the destination contrary to the popular belief.

No Ordinary Stories with Hellen Lie uncovers the story of people who have overcome challenges and contribute back to society in an inspiring way. We will dig deep into how they started, their struggles, and the mindset that led them to succeed.

Hellen Lie is the founder and Creative Director of Rosette Designs & Co, a wedding planning and decoration company in Singapore, started in 2010. Rosette Designs & Co has been voted Top Wedding Planner and Top Stylist in Singapore by various media.

Rosette Designs & Co: www.rosettedesigns.com

Instagram: @rosettedesignsco @hellenlie

Pearlyn's Website: https://www.pearlynandpaper.com/

Instagram : @pearlynandpaper

@pearlynkmin

This June 2021, we are reminiscing the time where we can easily travel around the world and talking about countries to visit with Jason Ang. He brought us to Paris, Santorini, Japan, Canada, Antarctica and described Northern Lights so vividly.

Jason Ang is a veteran in the travel industry with more than 30 years of experience, he has been leading groups in up to 85 countries since 1990. Pandemic has severely affected the travel industry but it didn't stop Jason to venture out to the world social media and become co-host in Facebook Live show, Taitaigram.

We had a fun chat sharing the travel stories and bouncing back from the funk in the hope of better results with vaccination!

Connect with Jason Ang at

https://www.facebook.com/jason.ang.963

Watch Jason live at Taitaigram

https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=taitaigram

No Ordinary Stories with Hellen Lie uncovers the story of people who have overcome challenges and contribute back to society in an inspiring way. We will dig deep into how they started, their struggles, and the mindset that led them to succeed.

Hellen Lie is the founder and Creative Director of Rosette Designs & Co, a wedding planning and decoration company in Singapore, started in 2010. Rosette Designs & Co has been voted Top Wedding Planner and Top Stylist in Singapore by various media.

Rosette Designs & Co: www.rosettedesigns.com

Instagram: @rosettedesignsco @hellenlie

"Being a mother is learning about strengths you didn't know you had and dealing with fears you didn't know existed." -- Linda Wooten

This month of Mother’s Day, I spoke to Lisa Chong, founder of Stillen Maternity, a homegrown work-friendly maternity wear label designed to cater to new moms and moms-to-be needs in the corporate world.

She is also a senior banking executive in a multi-national company

Stillen Maternity was born out of a dark period of her motherhood journey. As a first-time mother, she had to go through a mother's worst nightmare of losing her baby. Subsequently, she gave birth to two beautiful boys.

Yet, something is not settling. Depression and self-identity crisis overwhelmed her.

That's when she went on a self-discovery journey and came out with a brand new vision of helping mothers cope with the chaos of motherhood.

This is the first, Lisa shared in public on that incident of her first son, being open about her feelings. Breaking the taboo, and giving her voice to the world, is a courageous act only a mother could do.

Stillen Maternity can be found in Www.Stillen.com.sg

FB: Stillen

IG: @stillen_sg

Lisa's IG :  qqsawmoi

No Ordinary Stories with Hellen Lie uncovers the story of people who have overcome challenges and contribute back to society in an inspiring way. We will dig deep into how they started, their struggles, and the mindset that led them to succeed.

Hellen Lie is the founder and Creative Director of Rosette Designs & Co, a wedding planning and decoration company in Singapore, started in 2010. Rosette Designs & Co has been voted Top Wedding Planner and Top Stylist in Singapore by various media.

Rosette Designs & Co: www.rosettedesigns.com

Instagram: @rosettedesignsco @hellenlie

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" 

-Lao Tzu

Every business has its beginning and the story of how it started could inspire anyone to start one. Melvin shared his serendipitous route to Wedding Photography and how it blew up on social media after one incident in 2012. It changed the course of his business and started the movement of influencers.

Melvin Lau is the Founder of Multifolds Productions, a wedding photography company that has been running for 10 years with a strong presence in the wedding industry and collaborating with influencers like Melissa. C. Koh

They are also one of the most popular photography companies with almost 50 thousand followers on Instagram. Not only that, he has successfully built a team of photographers that have the same vision as him.

No Ordinary Stories with Hellen Lie uncovers the story of people who have overcome challenges and contribute back to society in an inspiring way. We will dig deep into how they started, their struggles, and the mindset that led them to succeed.

Hellen Lie is the founder and Creative Director of Rosette Designs & Co, a wedding planning and decoration company in Singapore, started in 2010. Rosette Designs & Co has been voted Top Wedding Planner and Top Stylist in Singapore by various media. In 2021, she launched her second brand, Seasons of Rosette, an e-commerce gifts & flower

Rosette Designs & Co: www.rosettedesigns.com

Instagram: @rosettedesignsco @hellenlie @multifolds @melvin_multifolds

"If there ever comes a time when the women of the world come together purely and simply for the benefit of mankind, it will be a force such as the world has never known"

-Matthew Arnold-

This is the quote that motivates Lilian Ong to start a self-funded women empowerment community, Women of Courage Asia. Since its inception in 2018, over 800+ women have been impacted through their pro-bono Monthly Empowerment Meeting. The community was built by volunteers who have benefited from the meeting and then giving back through their own sharing and expertise.

Lilian Ong is also the author of Women of Courage: Breaking The Fear Barrier Book. She is a Courage Coach, Mentor, and Speaker who has shared her stories locally, here in Singapore, and overseas. Not just theory, Lilian has helped the host, Hellen Lie passed the mental barrier and fear to start a podcast. It is only apt that Lilian Ong becomes the first guest on this podcast. 

This first episode traces back to Lilian's first encounter with destiny and the steps that she took to get out of her depression, suicide attempts to self-awareness, and empowerment.

No Ordinary Stories with Hellen Lie uncovers the story of people who have overcome challenges and contribute back to society in an inspiring way. We will dig deep into how they started, their struggles, and the mindset that led them to succeed.

Hellen Lie is the founder and Creative Director of Rosette Designs & Co, a wedding planning and decoration company in Singapore, started in 2013. Rosette Designs & Co has been voted Top Wedding Planner and Top Stylist in Singapore by various media. In 2021, she launched her second brand, Seasons of Rosette, an e-commerce gifts & flower

Rosette Designs & Co: www.rosettedesigns.com

Instagram: @rosettedesignsco @hellenlie

Women of Courage Asia: https://womenofcourage.asia/

Facebook: Women of Courage Asia

"Courage is contagious, and inspiration is fuel for our dream."

With this belief, Hellen Lie, the founder and Creative Director of Rosette Designs & Co, started a quest to dig deep into stories of courage from entrepreneurs, artists, designers, leaders of organizations. What makes them tick, and how others can be inspired by it.

Launching in March 2021, subscribe to this bi-weekly show.

Follow her at IG: @hellenlie and @rosettedesigsnco