Never too young: Meet the young women under 21 already making their mark

When we were teenagers, most of us were busy worrying about exams, organising video game playdates and figuring out what we wanted to be when we grew up. It’s not every day you come across a teenager who’s a violin prodigy, a racer before they’ve even gotten their driving licence, or an entrepreneur interviewing Shark Tank investors. 

But these Singaporeans aged 21 and under are already breaking records, making history and building impressive careers of their own. Here are the young talents proving that you don’t have to wait until adulthood to do something extraordinary. 

Kareen Kaur, 16, first Singapore female Formula 4 driver

Kareen Kaur made history as the first Singapore female Formula 4 driver, the first step on the ladder to Formula 1, all while balancing her studies at CHIJ Secondary. Starting karting at just age 9, she’s since progressed into single-seaters and is working towards her goal of joining the Formula 1 academy. She’s even had her racing helmet and trophies on display as part of the recent Formula 1 exhibition that landed in Singapore.

Earlier in July, Charles and Keith had also partnered with Kareen as part of their latest incubator initiative aimed at championing the next generation of boundary-pushing individuals.

Surina Bharwani, 16, founder of The Entrepreneur’s Equation

At just 14, Surina launched The Entrepreneur’s Equation, a podcast and YouTube channel driven by the question: What actually drives entrepreneurial success? 

Unsatisfied with vague and predictable answers from adults around her and searching online, she successfully cold emailed founders from around the world, securing guests including Nas Daily, Forbes 30 Under 30 honourees, unicorn founders, and Shark Tank investors in her videos. Her hours of conversations with these founders led her to build the The Entrepreneur’s Equation handbook for entrepreneurial success. 

Come August 23, the now 16-year-old will host Singapore’s first entirely youth-run entrepreneurship summit at SCAPE, featuring six youth speakers from across the region; food and drink sponsorship from Guzman y Gomez and Yochi; and workshops by a Neuro-Linguistic Programming-trained mindset coach and Lego.

At the summit, she will launch her handbook for the first time with proceeds going to the Character and Leadership Academy.

Chloe Chua, 19, violin prodigy 

At age 4, violin prodigy Chloe Chua began her violin studies at Singapore’s Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) School of Young Talents. At 11, she won 1st Prize at the 2018 Menuhin Competition and has since performed worldwide with leading orchestras, including Konzerthausorchester Berlin and the Singapore Symphony, and starred in television series Great Performances by Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

Chloe also served as the Artist-In-Residence of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) during their 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons – the youngest ever to be appointed to this role and a position typically reserved for experienced performers. 

Her music releases have also topped charts, including her debut Vivaldi/Locatelli album which earned 1.6 million streams, as well as her sophomore release of the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto and Paganini No. 1 which debuted at No. 4 on the UK Official Classical chart, No. 6 on Billboard Classical and reached No. 1 spot on Apple Music’s Classical Top 100. 

Amanda Yap, 16, record-breaking gymnast 

The 16-year-old Amanda Yap recently broke records claiming Singapore’s first medal at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in the women’s balance beam final on July 28. 

The youngest in the eight-gymnast final featuring three world championship medallists, Amanda had scored 13.233 to finish behind Australia’s Breanna Scott (13.933), with Canada’s Lia-Monica Fontaine taking bronze. 

Amanda also had a standout performance at the 2025 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Jakarta, where she qualified for the balance beam final and placed sixth while sitting her O-level examinations.

Danelle Tan, 21, footballer and top goal scorer

The 21-year-old Danelle Tan is the youngest and all-time top goal scorer for the Singapore women’s national team, making her the 5th youngest goal-scorer in the world at 14-years-old.

Danelle was also the first Singaporean to play in a European League when she made her debut for the UK’s London Bees, as well as the first Asian to play for Borussia Dortmund’s women’s team. At the age of 6, she already started to play football and scored 12 goals on her first day at the football academy. Now, the Singaporean footballer plays for Tokyo Verdy Beleza in Japan’s WE League. 

Julia Yeo, 15, record-breaking backstroke swimmer

Julia made waves after helping her team clinch gold in the 4x100m medley relay at the SEA Games 2025 in Thailand as a last-minute replacement, just days after she had broken the women’s 200m backstroke national record set at 2min 16.51sec, which was previously held by multiple Asian Games gold medalist Tao Li. 

And in March this year, the Singapore Sports School student did it again – breaking her previous 200m backstroke record at 2min 15.03sec, at the Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships.