Professor Dr Sushila K Chang, Yap Sue Yii and Viviantie Sarjuni are shaping Malaysia’s female leaders of tomorrow

Overcoming these structural challenges informed her ultimate insight: true empowerment occurs when institutions nurture the complete individual. Her mission through AWLUC is to equip future female leaders with both systemic problem-solving capabilities and internal fortitude. Reflecting on her aspirations for the next generation, she states, “I want women to be fearless, authentic and resilient, rising above all odds without losing their inherent attributes and traits.”

Recipient of the Founder Award, Yap Sue Yii is the co-founder and CEO of Komuniti Tukang Jahit (KTJ), a certified social enterprise that empowers underprivileged women and single mothers from B40 communities. Her initiative addresses a fundamental structural challenge: enabling women to achieve financial independence without forcing them to abandon their domestic and familial responsibilities. KTJ accomplishes this by combining technical sewing training, structural sales support, and consistent corporate production orders.

Yap’s primary strength is her capacity to align creative design with sustainable economic ecosystems. Her journey began with a creative childhood and evolved through navigating funding grants and business pivots. She acknowledges that managing an enterprise presents a constant challenge to personal well-being, admitting that founders often struggle to prioritise self-care. “We can’t go at 100 percent if we are burnt out,” she notes, advocating for healthy professional boundaries.

Her driving insight is that female empowerment must be tangible, dignified, and rooted in substance rather than external validation. Highlighting her approach to building an inclusive, female-forward supply chain, Yap shares, “Work should create value beyond profit, and life should not be lived shrinking yourself to fit expectations. I value consistency over noise, purpose over recognition, and impact over perception.”

Recognised with the Front & Female Social Impact Award, Viviantie Sarjuni is the chief executive officer of Institut Keusahawanan Negara (INSKEN) and the former CEO of the Sabah Creative Economy and Innovation Centre (SCENIC). Her lifelong mission centers on strengthening inclusive economic participation and decentralising entrepreneurial resources to support underserved communities, particularly across East Malaysia.

Sarjuni’s strengths include a rich, multi-decade background in leadership and an unwavering advocacy for grassroots social entrepreneurship. Growing up with sisters within a societal structure that frequently undervalued the potential of young girls, she recognised early on the deep-seated challenges confronting aspiring women. Even as an accomplished Chevening Scholar and the recipient of the World Economic Forum Public Social Innovator Award, she notes that institutional bias remains a persistent hurdle.

“Today, as a woman leader, I still encounter moments of scepticism,” Sarjuni reveals. However, her core insight is to reframe adversity into a catalyst for systemic change, viewing doubt as fuel for progress. “Rather than seeing this as a barrier, I see it as a responsibility to help challenge the status quo and open more doors for the women who will come after us.”

By tackling the distinct domains of higher education, economic sustainability, and social innovation, Dr. Sushila, Yap Sue Yii, and Viviantie Sarjuni embody what it truly means to be unstoppable. Their initiatives prove that the female leaders of tomorrow are built when today's leaders dismantle barriers, cultivate resilience, and intentionally leave the door open for others to follow.

This empowering interview series, conducted in conjunction with Chery, found its perfect backdrop within the innovative and sophisticated cabin of the Chery Tiggo 7 PHEV. Just as the Tiggo 7 PHEV represents a seamless blend of sustainable plug-in hybrid power, progressive technology, and steady forward momentum, these three trailblazing women embody the drive required to accelerate meaningful change in society. As they shared their journeys on the move, the powerful synergy between innovative engineering and female-forward leadership became unmistakably clear: both require a visionary mindset to navigate the road ahead, steering Malaysia toward a more inclusive, sustainable, and truly unstoppable future.

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