With the launch of Company of Wellness, beauty entrepreneur Cheryl Wee reflects on the challenges and resilience needed to get her here.
When Cheryl Wee, daughter of beauty and wellness entrepreneur Jean Yip talks about her maternal grandmother, her eyes mist over. “She was the wisest woman ever,” she says softly. “She was my mother’s greatest supporter and would wash towels in the early days so my mother didn’t have to spend money on laundry.”
Cheryl is referencing her grandmother in the context of a simple golden necklace and pendant that was left to her, which her mother gave her during her wedding tea ceremony. Unfortunately her grandmother passed before Cheryl got married. “It’s a very simple design, but I carry it with me on important days, like the launch of [Company of Wellness] for example, because it reminds me of how much she and my mother have given me. They have made me who I am, who I want to be and even what kind of mum I want to be. I don’t think I would have this resilience or set of values if not for them.”
Resilience has played a huge role in Cheryl’s life. After suffering from an eating disorder, she started her own wellness brand and became a mum of three. Now, she is rebranding her consumables, formerly Cheryl W, into Company of Wellness (CW), or as she calls it, her “latest baby”, which offers sachets and powders designed to help busy women.
A desire to perform
Since she was a child, Cheryl knew she wanted to be a performer. It was a belief that never wavered from the age of six when she insisted on performing in her mother’s company dinner-and-dance. “I remember asking to perform and I wasn’t afraid or anything,” she laughs at her own excitement. “I can even recall the green suit with bell bottoms I wore and the steps. I was so sure that this was what I was going to do.”
At 18, Cheryl applied to New York’s Broadway Dance Centre, where stars like Britney Spears and N’SYNC had taken classes. Her parents allowed her to attend a three-week summer programme but when they found out she had not applied to university, her mother put her foot down. “She was so upset with me,” recalls Cheryl. “My mom is a real tiger mum, she has that real ‘boss lady’ aura. Finally she said, ‘Whatever you do, you have to finish university first.’”
Cheryl had her sights set on Taiwan. “I was just so sure in my head that Taiwan was where I wanted to be,” she says, recalling her singular focus. But when she did eventually get there, it wasn’t at all what she expected and the stress led her to develop an eating disorder. Even as her success grew and her dream of being an actress realised, Cheryl took no joy in it. “I was very fortunate, and yet I couldn’t fully enjoy it because I was in jail in my head. My eating disorder was so bad that I just wanted to go home every day and try every single diet.” In 2016, her parents intervened. Her father, who she would cry to on the phone whenever she ate a proper meal, asked her to join the family business. Her mother suggested she head up the slimming department.
The family way
At first, Cheryl was adamantly against the idea, feeling that it hit too close to home. But her mother believed her interest in nutrition would benefit the company. “She said, ‘I think you can do this the correct way’.” Her mother also insisted Cheryl put her name to the business – which is how Cheryl W was born. “I really didn’t want to!” Cheryl says with a laugh. “But my mum said I had to put my money where my mouth was.” But even as she threw herself into learning the ropes of the family business, she still felt the effects of her eating disorder weighing her down.
The mother-of-three credits her first pregnancy with helping her to resolve her eating disorder. “I could no longer eat irregular portions at irregular hours,” she says. “I had to eat my three main meals and they had to be healthy.” She found that this actually helped her lose weight after her pregnancy, and she continues to keep healthy food habits now.
After the birth of her first child, her husband Roy Fong presented her with a sapphire ring – a tradition he has continued after the births of their next two children. Cheryl notes how this has brought him closer to her mum on many levels. “My mum has always been a jewellery girl, so my husband would talk to her about what he should buy and then with every child, he’s bought me a different stone.” She now has a sapphire, ruby and a pink diamond (her favourite stone). “I think this is his way of saying he’s done [having children], since there’s no topping the pink diamond,” she says with a laugh.
For Cheryl, jewellery is tied to important moments in her life and symbolises the people who are dear to her. Now married seven years, she recalls the surprise engagement Roy planned for her in Kyoto, which included the diamond ring he bought with her mother’s advice. “I didn’t know he basically emptied his bank account to orchestrate it,” she says.
“He paid for the hotels and everything as a thank you to the friends and family who helped.” It was a grand gesture (that obviously worked).
Wellness reborn
The launch of Company of Wellness coincides with Cheryl’s healthier outlook on life. It is the culmination of her interest in nutrition and belief that “you are what you eat”. CW’s mission is to present a wide range of products including new innovations and formulations to suit women from all walks of life. Cheryl took inspiration from some of her family’s old slimming recipes, and modified them, working closely with her uncle, who was originally in-charge of the slimming department. Their products are designed for challenges such as weight gain, insomnia, ageing skin and low immunity and range from teas, powders and jelly sachets. But Cheryl wants to be clear that CW isn’t just about losing weight. “To me it’s more about sustainability.
Because yes, you can lose weight very fast if you do certain things, but it’s easy to get addicted to these quick fixes, and ultimately it’s so bad for you mentally and physically.” Cheryl works with a range of experts to ensure the formulations and science behind the CW is concrete, from their in-house nutritionist to endocrinologists and gynaecologists.
Company of Wellness has been four years in the making, during which Cheryl also had her third child and got her health coach certification. In honour of her accomplishments, her mother reset a five carat diamond and gave it to her in a form of a ring. The diamond was the first her father ever bought her mother once he could afford it. “I told her I couldn’t take it, but she insisted I wear it to my son’s kindergarten graduation,” Cheryl shares. “This piece in particular feels very different for me, because it’s something my dad gave to her. It’s the meaning behind the pieces that carries me.”
Cheryl often sees herself more as a custodian of her family pieces and looks forward to passing them on to her children. “My mother didn’t always have time to spend with us, and she enjoys being a grandmother to my kids. So I would want my children to have her pieces, because they know and love her and have that relationship. There is already an emotional connection. To me that’s the most important thing.
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TEXT BY: KAREN FONG
PHOTOGRAPHY: ZULFADLI RAHMAN
MAKEUP AND HAIR: ANGEL GWEE (USING ARMANI BEAUTY AND HANZ DE FUKO)
