At StartUp Terminal, we believe our diversity is our strength. As International Woman’s Day grows near, we celebrate the achievements of women around the world.
To kick off our celebration, we’ve asked Singapore-based Marine Lim, CEO at absolute PR, few questions on her experience achieving success in the field of PR and Marketing, and what advice she has for women entering the workforce today.
Excerpts:
ST: Please tell us briefly about you.
Marine: I am the founder of absolute PR, an award winning lifestyle PR agency in Singapore established since 2005. A mother of two lovely teenagers, I am also a pawrent to my two furbies (dogs). As a mumpreneur, time is always precious and scarce. But no matter how busy life gets, I will still find time to pursue on worthy causes and indulge on personal interests such as hiking, volunteering in homes, hospitals, schools and occasionally the shelters for dogs.
ST: Who is a woman that inspires you the most and why?
Marine: There are many to begin with, but the one who had strike a chord with my values and deeply inspires me has got to be Mother Theresa. Her kindness and charitable acts from the heart had touched many and inspired millions. My way of life had been shaped by her values on how one should treat one another with kindness and spread love everywhere we go. Even in our own limited capacity and means, if we can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.
ST: How are you celebrating this year’s International Women’s Day?
Marine: I want to celebrate this International Women’s Day close to the people I know and love for this year. Many a times, we tend to neglect people who are the closest to us.
Due to the Covid-19 restrictions for the past year, we have not been able to meet and catch up more. Hence, I hope to stay connected, send out virtual hugs and have deep conversations to acknowledge one another’s efforts for the past year and encouragement for the year ahead.
ST: What is the most important message you want to send out to all the women around the world on this occasion?
Marine: To celebrate every moment and always take a moment for self-encouragement and self-care. In the midst of our busy lifestyles, a lot of things are taken for granted. We tend to forget to celebrate sometimes the simple joys in life and take a moment to appreciate it. Spread love, spread joy.
ST: What according to you is ‘women empowerment’?
Marine: Women’s empowerment to me can be defined to promoting women’s sense of self-worth, one’s ability to determine their own choices, and their right to influence social change for themselves and others, for a better cause.
ST: What would you say are the main challenges facing women at present globally?
Marine: The stigma of women being referred to as secondary or inferior as compared to their male counterparts be it at work and or at home.
Women are not treated fairly for equal opportunities and deemed to be of weaker roles. Though through the years, the stigma had gradually been reducing globally as we see the rise of more female leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, and market disruptors, more could be done to allow women more opportunities in the workforce and easy access to education in some parts of the countries in the world where education is still considered not necessary for the women.
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