In this special column called the “TLC x Fempreneurs Series”, we will be featuring inspiring Female Entrepreneurs (Fempreneurs) in short. You will be able to have a sneak peek at their mindsets and their daily habits.
Believe in the power of community. On some days when you feel big goals are impossible, or when you feel like giving up, you need to lean on your like-minded community. You can even “borrow” motivation, and in turn “return” with your own inspiring stories to pay it forward.
Meet Rebecca Kane (Evexia Collective)
TLC x Fempreneurs Series: Rebecca Kane (Evexia Collective)
Tell us a little about yourself. What is your business/brand about?
I’m originally from the UK and I moved to Singapore during the pandemic in 2020, which wasn’t the easiest time to move continents. But I love a challenge and that’s what motivates me on a daily basis. I am also an empath and it’s those two aspects of my personality that have triggered me to pursue entrepreneurship; I want to help people same time solve tough problems.
I could see huge gaps in the corporate Mental Wellness market from my previous professional experience. So Evexia Collective is about filling those gaps with mental fitness for workplace productivity. Through Evexia Collective, we are able to make mental fitness tangible by allowing organizations to measure the well-being of their employees and make long-lasting changes.
Our Evexia Mental Fitness app enables you to measure your mental fitness, including scores for these 3 pillars, through regular questions. This is based on the premise that if you can’t measure something, you can’t really understand and then improve it. So by seeing your scores for each of these pillars, you can understand your own mind better and see how those scores change over time. We then highlight where you can bring up those scores with the tools we provide through the app.
What got you started on your business?
I worked in investment banking for 8 years in London, and whilst I was there, like everyone around me, I suffered from stress. I could see that every one of my fantastic colleagues, who were incredibly motivated, hard-working, intelligent, and high achieving, was displaying symptoms of stress too. It was considered completely normal. So I decided to do something about that. I helped set up an employee-led network that operated like a startup within the organization and provided additional support and information for employees on mental health.
I left in 2020 to study for an MBA at INSEAD and upon graduating it was obvious what I needed to do. I had experience in delivering corporate mental health solutions and I had also seen the huge gaps in the market that were not being met by existing solutions.
Specifically, existing solutions focus on recovery from mental health illnesses or conditions, rather than true preventative care. There are stigmas associated with mental health care and so often people disengage with solutions before they start, even if they can be beneficial to them. Therefore I saw an opportunity to create a solution that preventatively encourages engagement in mental health solutions in a proactive and positive way so that individuals don’t get to the point of illness, and so that people can learn how to optimize their mind and their performance. At the same time, I could see a way to give businesses more tangible ways of understanding and benefiting from employee wellness.
Before you started on your business, what did you do on a full-time basis?
I worked for a private investment bank in the UK and was involved in Global Operational Business Engineering where I managed strategic projects across a number of different business areas. I enjoyed my job as it was varied, heavily problem-solving focused, and involved understanding complex systems in detail and communicating them in a simple way to resolve issues. It’s those skills that have helped me as an entrepreneur as I spend my time juggling different topics, projects, and problems. I worked there for 8 years until I decided to leave in 2020 to do an MBA at INSEAD.
Fempreneur Rebecca Kane
What were some difficulties you faced in your life and how did you overcome them?
I have experienced mental wellness issues myself, including anxiety and high levels of stress. At first, I felt ashamed and like it was some sort of weakness, meaning I “couldn’t cope”. But it took me a while to realize how misconceived that really is; everyone will experience these types of symptoms if they put themselves under enough stress for a long-enough period of time. It’s a natural human reaction given our hectic pace of lifestyle these days if we don’t give ourselves a break. I learned how to look after myself, how recognize the warning signs, and give myself a restful break when needed and it’s enabled me to see the strengths this gives me. The skills I’ve learned through this experience have led me to be incredibly hard-working and driven as well as highly resilient to whatever life can throw at me. I wanted to teach other people about these skills to help them too.
Who inspires you?
There are women both near and far that have inspired me, a couple that specifically jump to mind are Payal Kadakia (founder of Classpass) who managed to found a unicorn whilst starting a family, helping prove that women don’t need to stop or even slow down their careers to have families. And Jingjin Liu who is a mentor and founder of Zazazu here in Singapore and supports female founders with honest and raw advice – she never sugarcoats things but gives real and practical guidance and I can’t thank her enough for that.
Fempreneur Rebecca Kane
What excites you most about your industry?
The opportunities to make a real change, especially here in Singapore and across Asia. We live in a hectic, exciting and vibrant city here in Singapore and we have a very high achieving society where we push ourselves to work hard and achieve as much as we possibly can, which is fantastic but there are also some side-effects. 92% of Singaporeans report being “stressed” which is a fair amount higher than the global average of 84%. This translates to over 700,000 work days missed each year due to stress alone in Singapore, so it costs our businesses and economy as well as our health system and individual quality of life. So the need for mental fitness can’t really be understated.
What is your vision / personal motto?
My personal motto is a combination of two:
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” Maya Angelou
“If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.” Steve Jobs
This helps me to live by the view that hard work and doing the “right” thing can get you to where you want to be. My vision is that everyone has the skills and knowledge to harness their own mental strength whenever they need it and that it reduces the occurrence and impact of avoidable mental wellness issues.
Do you have any words of advice for other ladies who are starting their business/ starting to pursue their dream?
Don’t let self-doubt or fear prevent you from getting started, everything big starts with that first step. Often we hold ourselves back because we don’t think we’re good enough or make it, but you’ll never know if you don’t try and the surest regret you can ever have is to have not given something a good shot.
What have you learnt recently that you hope the other ladies can take back?
Try, try and try again – if you succeed at everything the first time, then you’re not pushing and challenging yourself hard enough. Learning only happens in those in-between moments and tough times, so keep learning and keep pushing yourselves and you’ll be so much further than you ever thought you would be without even realizing it. Also, learn to enjoy the journey – it’s not all about the destination. If you don’t enjoy the process then you may well be disappointed by the time you get to the end and then what’s the point?
How do you think you can help ladies to feel confident and empowered?
Firstly, nobody feels 100% confident all the time. So let’s stop being so hard on ourselves! Getting used to stepping outside of our comfort zone and challenging ourselves will help your confidence grow and before you know it, you’ll be feeling it more often than you’re not. And learn to harness nerves as a superpower – check out our courses on that via the Evexia Mental Fitness app.
Find out more here: www.evexiagym.com
Evexia Mental Fitness app.
What is one thing you are grateful for?
My family, both here in Singapore and back in the UK.
What do you do in your free time as self-care? How do you unwind?
I love to walk my dog, he always calms me and reminds me to focus on the here and now. Other than that I love to de-stress with exercise and spending time with loved ones as well as using some of the exercises and activities we have on the Evexia Mental Fitness app.
Evexia Collective Brand Logo
Let us know more about what you do!
Evexia Collective builds Mental Fitness for workplace productivity. We measure Mental Fitness through regular questions. By seeing your own scores and data you understand your own mind and where to boost it with the tools we provide through the app. We then enable businesses to better track their employee well-being.
You may also find us featured on CNA938 live radio interview and The Vent Machine.
Connect with Evexia Collective!
Website: www.evexiagym.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/evexia.collective
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/evexia-collective
iOS App Download: www.apps.apple.com/gb/app/evexia-mental-fitness/id1627163777
Android App Download: www.play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apps.evexia
Are you a Fempreneur too?
Connect with us – we’d love to feature you! Say hi to us at [email protected] or reach out to us via our social media.