Chit Chat with Aunty Mary

In this episode of Chit Chat with Aunty Mary, Jerilyn shares her evolution from actress to content creator to podcaster, building a meaningful online career while raising four kids. She opens up about the realities of balancing motherhood with creative work, why authenticity matters more than ever in the digital age, and how embracing vulnerability and community shaped her voice both online and off. Key Takeaways: • Authenticity and vulnerability build trust in content creation. • Balancing ...

Join Aunty Mary as she welcomes Harmony Tee, an inspiring entrepreneur and funeral home director, to discuss her unique career journey and insights on life and death. Harmony shares her transition from a corporate auditor to leading a third-generation funeral business, offering a fresh perspective on finding purpose in unexpected places. Her story is a testament to courage, resilience, and the pursuit of meaningful work. Key Takeaways from the discussion: - Harmony's bold c...

Ever chased the next promotion, title, or pay raise and to only wonder, “Is this it?” In this episode of Chit Chat with Aunty Mary, I sit down with my ex-manager Justin Halim. He has spent over 20 years in corporate life, from working in global tech giants to becoming Partner at a top management consulting firm where we both worked, to leading large regional teams. Despite checking every box of traditional success, Justin realized that titles and promotions alone don’t bring happiness, and th...

From corporate lawyer to café founder, Denise’s journey isn’t your typical career pivot. In this conversation, we explore the deeper reasons behind her choices: why she walked away from a stable job, how she built a restaurant business from scratch, and what it really means to lead with purpose. We talk about: •⁠ ⁠Redefining success beyond scale and validation •⁠ ⁠Learning through experimentation instead of a business plan •⁠ ⁠Holding emotional boundaries while leading with...

In this episode, I sit down with Bebe Ding — co-founder of Singapore’s cult fitness brand CRU — to talk about what happens when the dream you’ve built no longer fits. At just 23, Bebe and her siblings launched one of the country’s most recognisable boutique spin studios. But what most people don’t know is that she was never a fan of school and she almost dropped out of college to start a food truck in LA, and has always been a rebel at heart. Ten years later, after building a brand that bec...

What really happens when you get laid off three times? In this episode, Ariel shares her honest journey through three back-to-back layoffs — how the first shook her identity, the second left her angry and disillusioned, and the third finally gave her space to reflect and heal. We talk about tying self-worth to career, the emotional rollercoaster of job loss, and how coaching helped her reset her mindset. Ariel also shares how she went from being overly invested in work to finding a middle gro...

In this second episode of Chit Chat with Aunty Mary, I sit down with my husband Jeff to talk about something we don’t often admit out loud — what it feels like to be stuck in a negative mindset. For years, Jeff saw the world through a pessimistic lens. In this honest conversation, he opens up about where that came from, how it affected his energy, and what finally pushed him to start shifting towards a positive mindset. If you’ve ever felt like you’re stuck in your own thoughts, this one’s ...

In this very first episode of Chit Chat with Aunty Mary, I’m sharing the raw, unfiltered story behind my layoff — and the identity crisis that followed. From battling imposter syndrome to questioning my entire career path, this episode is a heart-to-heart about what it really feels like to "start over" in your 30s. I talk about the pressure to chase titles, the fear of not being enough, and the surprising wisdom that comes from being completely lost. This isn't a success story (yet). It's a m...