Melissa Kwee as a child
It’s easy to see that Melissa is kind, polite, easy-going, down-to-earth, eloquent and someone who would turn ideas into action—and the 36-year-old has always been that way, say her friends and family. She’s a dear friend, a filial daughter and a singleton who would be quite a hit at speed-dating events, where first impressions matter. Goodness comes easily to her, and she wants for nothing.
Her humble spirit comes from her maternal grandfather, she says, recalling how she use to watch him work a room full of business and political leaders and how he was exactly the same man when he spoke with clerks or cleaners. In 1994, he created the Aratani Foundation in Los Angeles to help non-profit organisations that serve the Asian-American community. “One of the best lessons I took away from my grandfather was how he never treated anyone with disrespect. He used to say that every human being deserves the same kindness.”
Her youngest sister, Stephanie, 31, vice-president of the Kwee’s West Paces Hotel group, thinks Melissa is a gift herself. “Melissa is God’s gift to my family!” she gushes. “Recently, I watched her deliver one of her many graduation speeches and sat in awe of how my amazing sister exemplifies integrity. This witty, intelligent and inspirational keynote speaker on stage was the same Mel whom I was chilling out with on the sofa the night before! She is kind, compassionate and funny, regardless of where she is or who she is with.”
Raising funds and encouraging volunteerism are a big part of this social entrepreneur’s daily routine, because the organisations she runs are not for profit. “Sometimes my family makes donations but they don’t ‘fund’ me per se. My youngest sister Allison, for her last birthday, took a collection from her friends and gave it to Beautiful People. I followed her example and did the same for my last birthday,” she adds.
No, she doesn’t get an allowance from her family either; her income comes from business corporations who consult her on community engagement strategies.
Clearly, the matter of her wealth threatens constantly to overshadow what she does, but she is unfazed. “Having access to influential people and encouraging them to find an area where they feel they can positively contribute is a win-win for everyone.”
As children, Melissa, her two sisters and brother Evan learned the value of money through sensible parenting—she worked as a drugstore cashier during the summer holidays and her sisters worked as waitresses. “Money has great power to help others, invest in lives, and alleviate suffering to an extent. That is to me a more important application of money than acquiring ‘stuff’—which you can’t take with you anyway.”
She also comes up with programmes that can be self-funded too, say through government grants for school workshops.
In March, she visited India to meet the youth alumni of Halogen’s regional programme, One Degree Asia, which she also initiated, to bring together regional social innovators from different sectors to “share ideas and sow seeds for future collaboration” to solve social problems.
In April, “a few friends and I will start The Kindness Exchange online, to create an online marketplace to find and match professional pro bono skills. It will allow charities and social causes to find skilled volunteers and vice versa.”
This infinite string of duties are a world away from the chic lifestyle that her family can easily afford her: Her brown leather organiser is not peppered with entries on parties and balls to attend but meetings with social workers, troubled teens and of late, foreign workers at construction sites. The amount of property development her family is involved in calls for a compassionate touch on the ground, she feels, including treating workers with mini celebrations, such as one held in Sentosa recently.
“More than anything, I am a mobiliser and a catalyst,” she surmises of her life’s work so far. “I tap on talent, passion and energy to make things happen,” she says. It comes as no surprise then, that in her resume, alongside wandering in parks and listening to the cello, she lists among her interests: “Dreaming the impossible.”
