Armed with a deeper understanding of working mothers since giving birth to her first child this year, Half The Sky founder and CEO Sabrina Ho shares how she is empowering more women professionals
Sabrina Ho admits that motherhood was never something she wanted for herself until recently. The high–flying Singapore–based Hong Kong native has always seen herself as a career woman, having built a successful recruitment profession for more than a decade before venturing out as an entrepreneur in 2019 to start Half The Sky (HTS), a career platform that connects female professionals with equal opportunity employers.
“Some people just know that they were born to be mothers, but I was never that way,” says 38-year-old Ho. “I’ve always been a go-getter and my focus has always been on my career.” But with the passing of her father a few years ago and the Covid-19 pandemic, family became more important to her and she decided to start one of her own. This April, she and her husband Kevin Matthews, the chief officer of HTS, welcomed a baby girl into their family.
“It took me a while to come to terms with this new identity of being a mother,” says Ho, who had her daughter a month earlier than expected. “It felt like a big role change from being a career woman. It was definitely an adjustment, but then I realised that actually, these two roles are not mutually exclusive.” That said, she adds that “motherhood is very rewarding, but it’s still way easier to run a business.”
Read more: Building A Rock-Solid Relationship: Sabrina Ho & Kevin Matthews
The name “Half The Sky” was inspired by Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong’s famous proclamation, made during the Cultural Revolution, that “women hold up half the sky”. With more than 100,000 community members across 14 countries as well as partner companies including industry giants such as Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, JP Morgan and DBS Bank, HTS is not only levelling the playing field for women in the workplace but also fast establishing itself as a go‑to career platform for women, especially in Asia.
While HTS has always had all women in mind, including mothers, by only partnering companies that offer its candidates work based on its 12 policies and initiatives, such as flexible working arrangements, paid parental leave and other return-to-work programmes, Ho wants to increase the support for working mums.
“I’ve realised in my motherhood journey that women can have it all: a career, a family, children—everything. But not always at the same time. Sometimes, you have to give up certain aspects for a period of time, but not forever. So you need to have a good support system in your family, clients and employees,” says Ho. “As a working mum, having a deeper understanding of these challenges, I’m even more determined to ensure we get more companies on board to offer our required policies, so we can help more women and mums.”
Additionally, Ho would like to create an app catered to working mothers that includes not only a full-fledged career platform but also capabilities such as finding childcare, content for new mums, a community space, as well as training and coaching. “This way, they can always go back to HTS for anything and everything that they need,” she says.