Jennifer Yeo — child, spouse, mom, attorney, business owner, girl

• Posted on Dec 15, 2019

This Overseas female’s time, we hear from a female whom lives more or less all areas of womanhood.

We came across Jennifer Yeo on a Monday afternoon regarding the floor that is 21st of Monetary Authority of Singapore building. Occupying almost all of it would be the offices of Yeo-Leong and Peh — A singapore-based law practice she began 30 years back, which she now chairs.

In a seminar space having a floor-to-ceiling rack trying out one wall surface, lined with austere-looking appropriate games, we discover though she had a very busy morning, which included a trip in and out of Johor Bahru, into the office, chiefly to meet us that she has cleared her entire afternoon for “a very important personal appointment” — even.

We must additionally add that ab muscles mild, soft-spoken Yeo met us minus the faintest concept that which we will be speaking with her about.

But her gentleness, down-to-earth humility and persistence will be the very first three items that strike us — some body like her should otherwise have a loaded routine of tasks and appointments; she ended up being just in Singapore for approximately a week on her guide launch (more info on that later) before going back into hong kong, where she along with her spouse are now actually based.

When you look at the a couple of hours we invested together with her, we came to know the fulfilment associated with the proven fact that two different people in a married relationship or even a long-lasting relationship are more like one another while the years pass. Anger or frustration at some body like Yeo would virtually have been impossible because she had been simply therefore soothing and calm become around.

But all that said, we ought to have the elephant into the space out of the way first.

Odds are, you’re wondering — if it is Overseas Women’s Day, why, of all female CEOs, big-name general public numbers or politicians you can find in Singapore, are we interviewing a girl that is most commonly known to be her husband’s spouse?

Then again again, you could be on the list of number of individuals who learn more about her than just that.

Just about Superwoman

Right right Here she actually is being held by her very own together with her spouse and a lot of big title dudes at their guide launch a couple of years back. (Mothership.sg file picture)

For starters, Yeo-Leong and Peh has about 240 staff, with another working office in Shanghai.

After her 3rd and youngest son, Frederick, ended up being clinically determined to have leukaemia at age three, she fought for pretty much decade for their success, also using months off strive to go the U.S. with him for the bone tissue marrow transplant, and sticking to him till he recovered completely.

We’re letting you know this as it ended up being following this experience that she began Viva Foundation, that has made great strides in children’s cancer tumors therapy in Singapore by way of ties founded because of the building blocks involving the nationwide University Hospital and also the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Tennessee, that was instrumental inside her son’s recovery.

And she did these two while being the spouse of a foreign minister — which designed juggling work, visits and conferences all over the globe with worldwide dignitaries.

Oh, and yes, it’s likely you have noticed — she recently composed a written guide concerning the guidelines associated with wedding.

But as well, Yeo, who’s now 58, admits to us instead candidly she had never excelled at any of the roles she has been playing that she feels.

“I think i usually felt I happened to be rather mediocre… you can find simply a lot of hours into the day, therefore I constantly felt I became perhaps perhaps not the very best mum and neither was we the very best attorney. You have to accept that, you know so it’s a trade off and. You have to make your alternatives. I desired to be legal counsel and I also wished to be described as a mum and thus, individuals assisted to really make it take place. for me,”

Jennifer Yeo, lawyer mother and entrepreneur

The Yeos, plus matriarch Mary Ho, aka the Grandma of Rock (take a look at her YouTube page pls) in Taipei on the year-end. Photo from George Yeo’s Twitter web page

In a job interview six years back, Yeo said she began her own training in 1987 away from a aspire to “do one thing outrageous”.

It had been just couple of years they came one almost immediately after another: Edwina came first in 1989, then Edward in 1990, William in 1991 and Frederick in 1994 after she started Yeo-Leong and Peh that the Yeos started having children — and.

This isn’t planned, though, describes Yeo — in the 1st four several years of their wedding, these people were unable to conceive and even though both of these actually wished to have kiddies. While they had been both Christians, they are able to maybe not explore choices like in-vitro fertilisation, either.

“We prayed for 36 months become endowed with one, therefore by plenty of time the first one arrived, I happened to be therefore overjoyed, plus it had been this kind of pleased time… and if you have ever been through a situation where you wanted so much to have a child but somehow you didn’t have one, I think, you know, life takes on a different meaning when you finally have your first child although it was a lot of work. Therefore, I happened to be therefore overjoyed as well as that time, i needed many, a lot of young ones.”

Here’s a thought of that which was taking place in Yeo’s very very early years along with her brand brand new firm: she had been growing the business, having children, after which her cousin and brother-in-law started having young ones at across the exact same time as well —

“once I (had been) having my infants, my partner, Adrian Peh, would make it possible to fill the part… there have been instances when i possibly couldn’t come to the office because i recently needed to sleep and throughout the maternity leave, so he would keep every thing going, and also this occurred exactly the same too for his or her own wife, my sis, and she had three young ones — I experienced four — throughout the exact same time.

When it comes to first five, asian mail order bride six years, we were having infants. In 5 years, there were seven children.

But we had been additionally very committed. So for instance, we used to have two months’ maternity leave, not four, but I only took one for myself, in those days. Therefore after a month, i might get back to work, since there had been just therefore things that are many be achieved.”

Yeo is preparing to share that she had, and might pay for assistance — three helpers, become exact — along with her household just paid down the amount to two following the young ones completed additional college. Once they spent my youth and started going abroad to review, and specially following the Yeos relocated to Hong Kong, they will have only one helper in the home.

Jennifer Yeo, spouse

Picture from George Yeo’s Twitter web page

Not to mention, no tale about Yeo could be complete without having a substantial dollop of details about her wedding to the previous Foreign Minister, George Yeo.

You could already know just the tale of the way the plucky Yeo, then a new NUS Law graduate, went as much as the air-force major within the earliest phases of the courtship and asked him, “Are you single?”

But just what you don’t understand is the fact that Yeos would not register their wedding in Singapore — it was done by them in 1984 when you look at the U.S., where they exchanged their vows in the St. Paul Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“So then, I was already a lawyer at the time I married my husband, and I knew the law, and the law recognises this foreign marriage because the foreign marriage was celebrated according to the local laws if you do a search in the ROM in Singapore, you’ll think, ‘I don’t see their names here, these two people are single with four children!’ Oh, but (by.