Her World Young Woman Achiever Annabelle Kwok was often underestimated because of her age
Find out what the 26-year-old founding CEO of NeuralBay does to change other people’s perspectives about her age
By Tatiana Mohamad Rosli -
22 Aug 2019
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Even the poster girl for Singapore’s artificial intelligence (AI) and tech industry needs to disconnect at some point.
For Miss Annabelle Kwok, founding CEO of AI start-up NeuralBay which offers AI-driven solutions for multinational companies, that involves unplugging in extreme fashion.
The 26-year-old, who was named Her World Young Woman Achiever 2019 at an awards ceremony last Friday (Aug 16), practises vipassana, a form of traditional meditation that focuses on spirituality and awareness.
She extolled the virtues of attending 10-day meditation retreats in 2016 and 2017 at St John’s Island and Johor Baru, where talking, smart gadgets and any form of interaction was not allowed.
Miss Kwok, who graduated from Nanyang Technological University with a degree in applied mathematics, told The New Paper: “Meditating really taught me a lot of lessons. With vipassana, you train your mind to handle pain and adversity within the framework of your body.
“Your mind is like an elephant – if it’s wild, it will endanger you, but if you tame your mind, it will be in your favour.”
During such silent retreats, participants are given assigned seats in dining rooms where two simple meals are served at 6.30am and 11am daily.
At other times, they will meditate for up to 12 hours a day.
Miss Kwok, who is single, said: “For some people, booking a villa in Bali is a way of relaxing, but vipassana works for me. It’s a useful outlet to express myself and to understand my body and not over-amplify frustrations. You’ll learn to be more conscious of subtlety.”
She added: “Days four to six were really tough. At one point, I felt the misery of all the participants in the room. It was uncomfortable and something I wasn’t used to, but the teacher advised me to focus on myself and to have courage to thread through the days.”
As a young technopreneur, Miss Kwok admitted she is often underestimated because of her age.
She said: “In Singapore, people usually associate age with wisdom and experience. When I go for meetings, I can immediately tell when people ‘switch off’ seeing a young kid who is trying to talk business with them.
“I can’t change my age, so I decided to embrace it.
“From then on, I just wore sweatshirts and jeans to show them that I’m young and cool. I think that changes their perspective.”
For the 49-year-old mother of four and founder and CEO of eco-packaging firm Greenpac, it was her gender that posed challenges when working in a male-dominated industry.
Ms Chong recalled how she once instructed a group of male subcontractors to drive away a parked forklift vehicle as it was blocking a pavement, only to be ignored.
She said: “I was pregnant at the time and I just climbed up and started to drive away the forklift. I told myself if I could drive a car, then I can drive a forklift.
“Some men may think less of you because you’re a woman. But show them that you mean business, then they’ll respect you.”
We sum up the 2019 Her World Woman of the Year Awards in pictures
A night of fun and laughter
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The Her World 2019 Woman of the Year awards opened with a bang (if you missed it, read all about it here). Our Guest of Honour, Minister of Manpower Josephine Teo, shared many insights on what being a woman means in this century. Jennie Chua, 1999 Her World Woman of the Year and the chairperson of the Her World Woman of the Year judging committee, also delivered humorous and heartfelt speeches before she announced the winners.
When dinner was served, there were nods of approval and we saw glasses being constantly filled up. Other than that, local singer Rriley hit the stage with insane dance choreography and strong vocals.
We’re immensely grateful that our guests enjoyed the gala, so swipe for more happy faces.
WOTY From left: Nellie Lim, Jade Seah, Oon Shu An, Savina Chai, Ginette Chittick, Wendy and Constance Lau
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We announced our new winners
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From left: SPH Deputy CEO Anthony Tan, SPH Magazines Group Editor-in-Chief Caroline Ngui, 2019 Woman of the Year Susan Chong, Minister of Manpower Josephine Teo, 2019 Young Woman Achiever Annabelle Kwok, SPH Magazines CEO Maureen Wee and SPH CEO Ng Yat Chung.
From left: Ng Yat Chung, Susan Chong and Josephine Teo
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Annabelle Kwok, our 2019 Young Woman Achiever
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<p><strong>ALSO WATCH: <a href=”https://www.herworld.com/features/women-now/meet-2019-her-world-young-woman-achiever”>MEET THE 2019 HER WORLD YOUNG WOMAN ACHIEVER</a></strong></p>
From left: Ng Yi Lian, Annabelle Kwok and Anthony Tan
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The winners getting their group shot with SPH representatives and our GOH
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From left: Ng Yi Lian, Ng Yat Chung, Susan Chong, Josephine Teo, Annabelle Kwok, Anthony Tan, Jennie Chua, Maureen Wee
Our Guest of Honour, Minister of Manpower Josephine Teo, gave a strong speech
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The Minister of Manpower shared about her time as a university student in London to her thoughts on family.
Charmaine Yee, our lovely host of the night
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We knew we could entrust Charmaine with the host duties for the night and she was such a great host.
Local actress Oon Shu An catching up with friends
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We are totally digging our August cover girl’s edgy new look!
In the foreground, Amanda Lee Koe – her first book Ministry of Moral Panic: Stories is a familiar text to lovers of local literature, and she released her debut novel, Delayed Rays of A Star, earlier this year.
Seated next to her is Kirsten Tan, our 2017 Young Woman Achiever. When she shared with us why she loved filmmaking so much two years ago, we were wowed by her passion.
RRiley put on a great show
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Local singer Rriley jazzed up the event with her powerful voice and energetic beats.
Past winners graced our event
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2013 Her World Woman of the Year Professor Lim Swee Hia, and SPH Magazines CEO Maureen Wee posing at the photo wall.
Past winners graced our event
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Ng Ling Ling was our 2018 Woman of the Year.
Her past work with Comchest inspired many of us last year and at this year’s celebration, she was all smiles and sporting a glamorous look.
The more the merrier
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Our past winners gather for a photo.
From left: 1999 Woman of the year Jennie Chua, 2018 Woman of the year Ng Ling Ling, 2019 Woman of the year Susan Chong, 1999 Young Woman Achiever Kit Chan.
Everyone looked stunning
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From left: Sarah Benjamin is a cook, food writer and host, Radio DJ Charmaine Yee was our amazing host for the night and Radio DJ Maddy Barber looked pretty in pink.
Swipe on to check out photo of all our other guests.
Suhina Singh
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Yumika Hoskin and Sarah Benjamin
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Claudia Lim and Jean Yong
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From left: Cheyenne Chesney, Xixi Lim, Cheryl Chou
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From left: Brenda Lim, Lysan Chew, Mary-Ann Soh, Doreen Chia, Cherish Koh
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From left: Gillian Tyo, Jessica Fun, Nora Lim, Stephanie Tan
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From left: Yu-Foo Yee Shoon (WOTY winner 1995), Ching Lin Ho, Trina Liang-Lin, Grace Ban
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Yvette King
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Kit Chan
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Jennie Chua
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From left: Anna Haotanto, Rachel Lim, Tinoq and Dylan Chan
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From left: Dylan Chan, Kirsten Tan, Amanda Lee Koe, Tinoq, Trina Liang-Lin and Tan Kheng Hua
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The plaques for Her World Woman of the Year and Young Woman Achiever awards
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Hush Candle had a pop-up booth where guests could create their own botanical scented tablets
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Martell created two bespoke cocktails specially for our guests that evening
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The bespoke cocktails were called Curious Punch and Curious Julep
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The main of the evening was guinea fowl truffle velvet with pumpkin savoy cabbage ragout, crisp potato and arugula cracker
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The sumptuous dessert bar featuring delights like passion fruit crème brûlée and Hawaiian vintage chocolate crunch bar was a real treat for guests
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Guests went home with Her World's September issue, spa vouchers from SK-II Spa, and fragrances from Interparfums