Grace Chong is the founder of Active Grace skincare. In her free time, she loves to spend time with her daughter.
What’s your story?
I am Grace Chong, founder of Active Grace Pte Ltd.
Along the way to who I am today, life was full of drama and miracles. I grew up in a highly educated family. At a young age, I learnt piano, ballet and drawing arts. I was involved in choir and drama performances. I loved to be creative in my performances. I have a Bachelors in Music and a Masters in Drama.
Before I got married, I was active in the educational field as a music and drama lecturer in University, at the same time, I cooperated with TV station, acting agency, film production company, stage troupe and children’s troupe as a playwright, artistic director, director as well as the music composer. Teaching piano to age 4 to adults also a part of my life. Once married, I gradually focused myself on family, especially after my daughter’s birth.
However, a dramatic storm came across my family and the result brought out a great reversal to my normal life. I became the sole breadwinner of my daughter who was just about two years old in 2011. Without hesitating, I took all my energy and courage to start a new life. Thank God! The more hardship I encountered, the more I knew I must stand up for my daughter to be a role model for her. I made a decision to live life elegantly and beautifully with passion and love.
Although I wear a lot of hats, I know these hats serve a bigger purpose to equip me to be an inspiration for not only women but also men. That’s the reason I run Active Grace and my products help women and men to be beautiful inside and out!
What excites you most about your industry?
We’re not just a shop selling clients products, we’re people who genuinely care. Clients can see us as their friend. All we want to do is help and guide clients on their journey to a healthier and happier lifestyle.
The highlight of my industry is that all of my skincare products are established under the foundation and background of Aesthetic Medicine. Therefore, every product we provided, we guarantee: safe, alcohol-free, artificial fragrance-free, none SLS or SLEs, and the most beneficial outcome goes to our dear clients. The ingredients of our product are all approved by SGS and GMP certification. Origin of the ingredients is what we cared for. The sources and origins of the ingredients are strictly chosen from all around the world with health approved, considering that it would not only help restore our skin, it is also harmless to the earth.
Our target is to provide safe and comprehensive products that people may use every day. Therefore, “Very Impressive!” is the amazing outcome we receive from our client’s feedback. I love to see that no matter women or men, they value, love and respect themselves, thus taking good care of themselves.
What’s your connection to Asia?
I used to live in Malaysia and Taiwan for many years and now staying in Singapore and started my business here. I am also serving as the community leader of Soul Rich Woman.
Favourite city in Asia for business and why?
I’m grateful for starting my business in Singapore because Singapore is situated in the heart of Southeast Asia, it provides more chances and opportunities to expand my business into neighbour countries.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?
“and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.” -Deuteronomy 33:25 (Bible)
“Alone you are strong, Together we are unstoppable.” – Soul Rich Woman
“Each of us has a personal calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint – and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and allowing the energy of the universe to lead you.”
Who inspires you?
My mother’s whole life is a great inspiration to me. She always reminded me “All things are possible with God!”, her prayers and strong belief gave me the strength to seek God and I have experienced many miracles and turning points in my journey.
What have you just learnt recently that blew you away?
“You’ve got just as much opportunity as everybody else. It just depends on what you’re willing to believe and how you’re willing to live.” -Joyce Meyer.
Indeed, I have just learnt more about growing business from offline to online with SoulRichWoman.com so that I could have more quality time to spend with my daughter and my family. If you can’t learn to enjoy your life when you have problems, you may never enjoy it because we’ll always have problems. There are many ways to live my life but once I realized that right thinking is vital to victorious living, I got more serious about my thoughts and choosing my thoughts carefully.
If you had your time again, what would you do differently?
If I were to start all over again, I would travel to more countries, touching more lives and spread more love to those in need. But I am grateful to who I am today and cherish the journey I have gone through because, without any part of it, I would not be able to respond to my calling.
How do you unwind?
Catch a movie with my daughter, bringing her to visit Arts museum, admiring a good musical theatre, listening to concert, enjoying good food together in a beautiful restaurant, hanging out at the beach, participating in any form of interesting workshop, planning trips for school holidays, even playing music together (she played the violin and I did piano accompany for her) etc. As long as we are together, we cherish every single moment and have fun.
Favourite Asian destination for relaxation? Why?
My daughter and I have many precious memories and great holidays while we visited Shanghai, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan last few years. We enjoyed these countries with their beautiful culture, people and they are food heaven.
Everyone in business should read this book:
The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters – Priya Parker (Author). The result is a book that’s both journey and guide, full of exciting ideas with real-world applications. The Art of Gathering will forever alter the way you look at your next meeting, industry, conference, dinner party, and backyard barbecue–and how you host and attend them.
Shameless plug for your business:
Happiness in life is a choice. We are happy to provide a platform and let you know you yourself can make a positive change to your lifestyle and habits. It doesn’t have to be big – most big things start small from scratch.
Beauty is not only how we look, but also how we enrich our spiritual lives. Travelling, reading, arts, good food are what we need to look for which balancing us as human beings. We have the right to give ourselves a better lifestyle, it definitely is not about money, it’s about the attitude. Let’s start today. Start now. Elegant Life and Beautiful Life with Active Grace. Whenever you are in need, let’s start a conversation that will calm your chaos with Active Grace. I am here to serve you and encourage you.
How can people connect with you?
You can connect with me through the following channel:
Website: www.activegrace.sg
Facebook: www.facebook.com/activegracesg
Instagram: www.instagram.com/activegracesg
Email: [email protected]
Twitter handle?
@ActiveGrace1
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This interview is part of the ‘Callum Connect’ series of more than 500 interviews
Callum Laing is an entrepreneur and investor based in Singapore. He has previously started, built and sold half a dozen businesses and is now a Partner at Unity-Group Private Equity and Co-Founder of The Marketing Group PLC. He is the author two best selling books ‘Progressive Partnerships’ and ‘Agglomerate’.
Connect with Callum here: twitter.com/laingcallum linkedin.com/in/callumlaing Download free copies of his books here: www.callumlaing.com
