Jennifer Heng

Jennifer Heng is the founding Executive Director of Safe Place, a Singapore-based organisation she established in 2018 to support women facing crisis or unsupported pregnancies. Through temporary shelter, counselling, life-skills training and ongoing relational support, Safe Place works alongside women during pregnancy and beyond, helping them navigate circumstances including financial hardship, difficult relationships and incarceration.

Heng's commitment to this work grew from her own experiences as a teenager, when she went through two unsupported pregnancies and abortions. For years, she carried the experience quietly. As she later spoke to other women facing similar circumstances, she began to question why support was not more accessible and decided to build the kind of help she had wished existed.

Since its founding, Safe Place has supported more than 750 women. Its model is supported by more than 200 volunteers and corporate partners, while an alumni community of around 150 women who once came to Safe Place in crisis now return as volunteers and advocates for others.

For Heng, the work is about more than providing immediate assistance. She sees care as a community effort that can affect families across generations, with each woman supported having the potential to shape the lives of her children and those around her. Her leadership philosophy similarly centres on enabling others rather than positioning herself at the top. “The greatest satisfaction,” she says, “is when I see those I lead become confident in living out their purpose.”

Heng is also the author of Walking Out of Secret Shame, a memoir about her experience and journey towards healing. The book has been translated into Mandarin and Mongolian, extending her advocacy around women's experiences and choices to a wider Asian audience.

In 2026, Heng was recognised with the Tatler Front & Female Social Impact Award for her work supporting women through crisis and building a community-based model of care around them. Her work also reflects her belief that motherhood should not be treated as a barrier to women's ambitions. She advocates for stronger support systems that allow women to navigate parenthood and their careers without having to choose between the two.