How This Mum Built a Wellness Ecosystem After Hitting Rock Bottom

It’s hard not to feel the chill when news breaks of young female founders in their 30s who have died by suicide. In Singapore’s close-knit entrepreneurial community, these recent tragedies remind us that behind glossy headlines of success, there’s a quieter, lonelier truth. Mental health support can’t just be another hashtag, app, or helpline—it has to be woven into the everyday fabric of how we live, work, and care for one another.

Enter Michelle Ngiam, 38. Founder of MEURAKI, mother of two, daughter, wife, sister, friend—and as she describes herself, “dreamer, doer, mother, wife, daughter, founder, friend and everything in between.” Her journey isn’t a polished pitch deck. It’s raw, deeply human, and profoundly relevant for any parent trying to stay afloat in an always-on world.

A Childhood of Sensitivity

Michelle grew up in a traditional Singaporean household as the second of four siblings. Sensitive, thoughtful, and sometimes struggling to find her footing, she learned early what it meant to carry emotions quietly.

After graduating from NUS with a degree in Sociology in 2009, she tried on different hats, including customer service, secretarial assistant, project management, and financial planning. She eventually spent over a decade in financial planning, where she noticed a common thread: “People seem overwhelmed, disconnected, and silently struggling behind the facade of having everything together.”

Sound familiar, parents? That façade is everywhere—from parent-teacher conferences to Instagram feeds. Michelle didn’t just notice it in others.

She felt it in herself too.

Motherhood, Grief, and the Unravelling

When Michelle became a mother in 2018, she felt a shift. She wanted to be a better role model for her daughter, but the pressure of balancing identities soon compounded. Then, in 2022, tragedy struck: she experienced a miscarriage. She shared, “Even though I come across to people that I’m very happy-go-lucky, I realised I may be able to put on this face for people, but many others might not be able to. They visibly can be struggling as well.”

Source: Michelle Ngiam

Pregnant again soon after, she gave birth in 2023 to her rainbow baby. But instead of joy, she was plagued with anxiety and sadness. No formal diagnosis came, but Michelle knew she needed help. Counselling gave her space to breathe, to grieve, to stop rushing through the pain.

“I gave myself permission to grieve, to rest, and to not bounce back immediately. It wasn’t on anybody else’s timeline—it was on my own.”

Building MEURAKI from Breakdown to Breakthrough

Source: MEURAKI

From those ashes came MEURAKI, launched in July 2024 without a grand plan but with a gut conviction. “I didn’t wait for a perfect plan. I didn’t have any. I started with basically the why. I trusted my gut. I trust my gut a lot,” she said.

MEURAKI—a word she crafted from the Greek “meraki” (essence of yourself) and “eudaimonia” (a flourishing life)—isn’t another wellness gimmick. It’s a whole ecosystem.

“MEURAKI is a gamified wellness app. It’s actually a 360-degree wellness ecosystem. It brings together the community and makes well-being engaging, accessible, and meaningful. It blends technology, immersive storytelling, and real-world experiences to help people explore and grow their inner universe—all while having fun.”

She adds, “You know, essentially, you are the hero of your own journey. You go on an adventure and then you explore different areas of yourself.”

The Courage to Create Wellness

Where did she find the courage?

Michelle puts it in two buckets: her daughters and her pain. “I wanted to create something whereby the next generation can live knowing that they can take their own well-being into their own hands. And I realised that if I can turn this pain into purpose, I can actually help other people out there.”

Source: Michelle Ngiam

Her lived experience is the proof. Grief. Miscarriage. Postpartum anxiety. Exhaustion. Burnout.

“If I could take those experiences, my own knowledge and background, and build something for people that could even help just one person feel less alone—I think I would have made it.”

On Juggling Motherhood and Dreams

Parenting while founding a startup? Michelle doesn’t sugarcoat it.

“I would say it’s a constant juggle. We always have to juggle so many balls, and sometimes one or two or three all drop at the same time. I’ve learned to let go of perfection. I cannot do everything on my own. I have to delegate and I have to trust the process.”

Balance, she says, isn’t about giving equal weight to everything—it’s about knowing what matters in the moment.

“When I’m being a mother, I have to focus on being a mother, when I’m a founder, I have to focus on being a founder, and when I’m a dreamer, I have to focus on dreaming.”

That intentionality, she insists, is the key. “Motherhood has taught me that time is the most precious resource. The keyword is intentional because I need to know how I spend my 24 hours.”

Redefining Success and Asking for Help

For Michelle, success isn’t money, titles, or speed. “My success actually is not about the money, the titles, or how fast I do things. It’s about creating impact without sacrificing who I am, and that I can still have time for my family and still create that impact.”

Her other big lesson? Asking for help. “Many of us grow up being conditioned to believe that when you ask for help, you’re failing. But asking for help is not a weakness; it’s actually a strength. We cannot do everything on our own.”

That reframing is something every parent can take to heart. We don’t have to hold it all together alone. Sometimes the bravest thing we can do for our children—and ourselves—is to admit we’re human.

Why Michelle’s Story Matters to Parents

Michelle’s journey isn’t just about entrepreneurship. It’s about how wellness is not a luxury but a lifeline. In her words: “Healing isn’t about erasing the pain that I went through, but it’s more like carrying it along with me. We have to embrace every aspect of ourselves, including our feelings.”

For parents, that’s a radical reminder. Between carpool lines, work deadlines, and sleepless nights, we all juggle too much. But if we pause—if we permit ourselves to feel, to rest, to ask for help—we model something profound for our kids: that wellness is not about perfection. It’s about presence.

Wellness is All of Us

Source: Michelle Ngiam

Michelle’s story is a mirror held up to our own lives. The entrepreneurial tragedies that shook Singapore remind us what’s at stake. As parents, we can’t just outsource wellness to schools, apps, or social campaigns. It starts with us. It starts with giving ourselves grace, asking for help, and creating a culture where our children see wellness not as an afterthought, but as centre stage.

So here’s the invitation. Take a breath. Call that friend. Step outside for a walk. Share the messy parts of your story. Because the truth is, none of us is meant to do this alone.

Wellness isn’t just Michelle’s journey. It’s yours too.