Cover Founder and managing director of Hysses, Cheryl Gan
Founder and managing director of Hysses, Cheryl Gan
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Hysses founder Cheryl Gan may be a busy working woman but nothing fazes this gutsy mum from chasing her goals
Mothers are known to wear many hats—from being a caregiver to a chauffeur, they can do it all. For founder and managing director of homegrown aromatherapy brand Hysses, Cheryl Gan, it is no different—except that on top of being a mum of four, she is also a busy entrepreneur.
Gan’s maternal love can be seen in everything she does. “Do you have water? Have you eaten something?”, Gan asks while making sure everything is in order even before sitting down for the interview.
From taking care of her kids at home to taking care of her “kids at work” (according to her), Gan is constantly on top of things. Yet, when asked about how she stays motivated to continue as a mum and an entrepreneur, she smiles warmly and replies cheerfully: “It’s my passion.”
“I don’t see it as a challenge. In fact, it gets me excited. When you enjoy doing something, you will just have the energy to actually just move forward. You will be happy to see that you are learning, seeing and developing new things,” she continues.
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Lessons at work
With over 15 years of experience in the aromatherapy business, Gan’s passion for the industry is as strong as ever. While she is currently building her aromatherapy empire, Gan wasn’t always in this business. After graduating with a bachelor's in computer engineering, she worked as a civil servant job before deciding to make a mid-career switch at 29.
“To me, it was okay, it wasn’t hard [to switch careers]. I guess it was because I knew I wanted to start a business all along,” explains Gan. She continues to explain how she joined a massage training programme while working as a civil servant. During this time, she found a gap in the market for high-quality natural aromatherapy products. There, she began to develop her own range of massage products.
Naturally, starting a business comes with multiple obstacles. “Particularly in the early stages, I had to take on multiple roles and handle a wide range of tasks on my own. I had to be my own HR manager, marketer, operations specialist, and financial analyst, among other things. Looking back, there were a lot of difficulties… but [I learnt that] when there is an obstacle, we just have to find a way out of it,” she reminisces.
Today, Hysses has 15 outlets in Singapore, with plans to expand across the globe. On top of massage oils, the homegrown brand also currently offers a wide range of products made with natural and plant-based ingredients, including essential oils, home scents and body care products. While ingredients are sourced from all around the globe, the brand’s products are made in Singapore.
Her experience starting Hysses taught her to adopt a growth mindset and to prioritise time—something that she continues to practise today, especially when it comes to being an entrepreneur while raising a family.
When it comes to being a mum and an entrepreneur, she explains that they are essentially “the same”. Over the years, Gan has learnt that managing a team of employees and managing a family requires many of the same skills. “Ultimately as an entrepreneur, what you have to handle is people… and kids are also the same. It’s a matter of understanding their needs and their desires,” she explains.
She also emphasises the importance of communication skills as both a mum and an entrepreneur: “As mothers, we need to communicate clearly to understand the needs of our children and at times, negotiate with them. This same set of skills is also critical when it comes to managing a team to ensure alignment to the objective and goals of the organisation.”
Gan continues to share that raising a kid and running a business both require hard work and dedication. It also teaches and exposes women to the value of “persistence, resilience and determination”.
Lessons at home
It’s clear that when Gan is at the office, she puts in 110 per cent—it’s also clear that she puts in the same amount of time and effort with her kids when she’s at home.
After being a mum-preneur for over 10 years, she has learnt the importance of disconnecting from work and focusing on spending quality time with her kids on the weekends. “I think I’m a workaholic mum. But honestly, I hope that in the eyes of my children … they would think that I’m a cool mum,” she says.
At home, she continues to prioritise her children by bonding with them whenever she can.
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One of her fondest and most challenging memories with her kids was during a family trip to Japan. “[As my kids are all of different ages], it is hard to manage everybody’s expectations [of places to go]. But there was one common place everyone loved: the convenience store,” she shares. While being at the convenience store wasn’t particularly special, Gan treasured being able to spend quality time with her children.
Having to take care of four kids is definitely no easy feat. Gan explains that the age difference between her and her kids is big, especially with her youngest two. However, she shares that regardless of the age difference, it is still important to understand their interests.
Gan continues: “Understanding small things, such as their interests, can also improve the interaction between each other.”
While being a mum and an entrepreneur is nothing short of admirable, Gan also expressed her admiration for full-time mums, like her own mother. Looking back, Gan was able to see the sacrifice her mother had made to be able to stay devoted to her kids.
“Even now, when I’m in my late 40s, she still worries about me as if I am only eight years old. But now that I’m a mum, I understand her worries—no matter how old you are, you’re still a baby in your mother’s eyes. My mother’s devotion towards her kids is so high and it’s something I admire her for and something I want to be for my own kids,” Gan explains.
While being a mum and an entrepreneur has its good and bad days, Gan continues to look at every situation in a positive light, with excitement and with motherly love—and maybe that’s her secret to success. In Gan’s own words: “Every time there is a down, there will be an up. So always be positive and look on the up side. As long as you are focused and think, a solution will come.”
Amanda Goh was the former senior writer for Tatler Singapore.
