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Make It Work

Make It Work

By: Sarah Wong
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Summary
 I'm Sarah, a working mom of three 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦🇸🇬† If you're seeking work-life balance inspiration or wondered, "Can you have it all?", this podcast is for you. Join me as I uncover stories of modern moms in Asia redefining success at work, home, and everything in between. Follow along and let's Make It Work together! 💪 Connect with me, join our mommas community and more here 👉🏻 https://linktr.ee/makeitwork.podcastSarah Wong Parenting & Families Relationships
Episodes
  • Why There Is No "Best" Way to Parent (And How to Stop Kiasu Burnout) | Yi Ling Teng | Ep 45

    Why There Is No "Best" Way to Parent (And How to Stop Kiasu Burnout) | Yi Ling Teng | Ep 45
    Nov 11 2026
    She read all the books before her first baby arrived. Then the baby came home, and nothing went according to the book.For 5 months, she and her husband struggled at home, sleep-deprived and arguing like never before. At their lowest, they even wondered whether they could go back to life before the baby.Today, they have three kids and Yiling, a former Singapore Exchange scholar, is in the business of helping other moms navigate the tricky waters of postpartum life. She is a certified postpartum doula (she calls herself a “stay-out confinement nanny” because more people understand the term) and the founder of Baby Planner SG. She goes into parents’ homes to help with breastfeeding, sleep, the return to work, and everything in between, all through the first thousand days.She started Baby Planner SG by accident. What began as helping friends and family through their first babies became a business she runs on one principle: never exploit parents when they need help the most.This episode is about letting go of “the best,” and finding what works for your family.What we get into:🌑 The darkest season of her life after her first baby, and what got her and her husband through it📚 Why no parenting book could prepare her, and how she used her corporate skills to find what actually worked🛤️ Growing up on Singapore’s “one-track” path, and realising being a working mom is not the only option🤝 Why parents resist asking for help, and how she mediates when grandparents and parents can’t agree🧮 “Mom math” and how to plan breastfeeding and pumping around your return to work🏠 The 10-year conversation that led her family to choose a single income and an HDB flat for life📉 What she believes will actually move Singapore’s record-low fertility rate, and why we need to see the joy in parenting, not just the costIf you’ve ever felt like you’re failing because parenthood isn’t going “by the book,” this episode was made for you.🎁 Make It Work listeners get 5% off anything at babyplannersg.com with code MIW5.—------------------CONNECT WITH YI LING TENG👋 Baby Planner SG: https://babyplannersg.com👋 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/babyplannersg/👋 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yilingteng/—------------------CHAPTERS00:00 Introduction02:30 Nothing Went According to the Books07:30 How Baby Planner SG Started12:45 The Sabbatical That Changed Everything16:55 There’s No Such Thing as the Best22:05 Why Parents Don’t Ask for Help26:30 The First 1000 Days and Mom Math30:00 How They Chose a Single-Income Life35:15 What Will Really Move Singapore’s Birth Rate44:40 Primary 1, First Day, Home Alone—------------------Watch more: Laid Off One Month Before Giving Birth: How Make It Work Was Born | Sarah Wong on Community At Work : https://youtu.be/7hSFhFEnyAE?si=faDH71EgOAGGtxoA—-----Follow Make It Work! ⁠https://linktr.ee/makeitwork.podcast⁠📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makeitwork.asia/💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/make-it-work-asia-podcast/🎵 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Make-It-Work/61566472637714/🍏 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/make-it-work/id1701442085🎵 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/78ulY0B27nYxGB6jPCABPI?si=abfc48d037d943be📥 Email: makeitwork.asia@gmail.comJoin our free Mommas Making It Work WhatsApp community: https://bit.ly/MIWcommunity—-----➤➤ Like the video and subscribe for more honest conversations with working moms across Asia!🔔 Hit the bell so you never miss an episode, and share with a mom who needs to hear this.💬 Drop a comment, we read every single one.#WorkingMoms #PostpartumSupport #NewParents #SingaporeMoms #Matrescence #SingleIncomeFamily #MakeItWorkPodcast
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    44 mins
  • Laid Off One Month Before Giving Birth: How Make It Work Was Born | Sarah Wong on Community At Work

    Laid Off One Month Before Giving Birth: How Make It Work Was Born | Sarah Wong on Community At Work
    Oct 7 2026
    I lost my job one month before giving birth.It was 2022. I had just moved back to Singapore from the US with an 18-month-old and a second baby on the way. I still remember sitting in a half-furnished flat in the heat, eating instant noodles in my singlet with my hair in a messy bun, wondering who I was now that the job was gone.My career had been such a big part of who I was. When it was ripped out, I felt lost at sea.So I started talking to women who were a few steps ahead of me, one conversation at a time. Those conversations became Make It Work.This time, I'm the one in the guest's chair. I joined Brandon Lee on Community At Work to talk about how Make It Work began, what our community of moms is really looking for, and where I think communities like ours are heading.For the first time, I opened up about the actual pains of building this community. Like anything worth doing, it's taken a lot of late nights and tears. I'm thankful I got to share honestly about what keeps me up at night trying to keep this going.What we get into:🌊 Getting laid off one month before giving birth, and the "period of wilderness" that followed🎙️ How a handful of honest conversations turned into a podcast heard in 40 countries🤫 Our mystery question feature, and the "selfish" things we carry as moms but rarely say out loud🇸🇬 Why the tension between career and motherhood looks so different in Singapore compared with my experience in the American South🧩 Why moms join asking for a 4-day work week script, and why that's never where the conversation ends🌙 The real cost of keeping a community going: editing videos at 9pm, hunting for venues, and one very dodgy yoga studio🧠 Matrescence, and why your brain literally rewires after becoming a mom🤝 What institutions can do to back grassroots communities, including showing alternatives like job sharing🤖 Our AI Moms Party, and why human connection matters even more in the age of AI🪜 Why seeing your career as seasons will serve you better than seeing it as a ladderIf you've ever wondered whether the thing you're building on late nights and very little sleep is worth it, this one is for you.—------------------CONNECT WITH COMMUNITY AT WORK👋 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033Od5jlHNcZl5P1L7nz9r?si=4cbf8151f55f4033👋 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WorkinFutures👋 Brandon Lee on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonleetb/—------------------CHAPTERS00:00 Introduction01:10 Who Am I Without My Career?01:39 Laid Off One Month Before Giving Birth04:28 How a Few Honest Conversations Became Make It Work05:53 The Selfish Things Moms Never Say Out Loud07:19 Why Can't You Just Go Back to Work?08:44 It Was Never About the 4-Day Week14:02 What Keeps Me Up at Night21:04 Why We Need Each Other More in the Age of AI—------------------Watch more: Millennial vs. Gen X Motherhood: A Conversation with My Mom | Ep 39 - https://youtu.be/a27TFPm7lIM—-----Follow Make It Work! ⁠https://linktr.ee/makeitwork.podcast⁠📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makeitwork.asia/💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/make-it-work-asia-podcast/🎵 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Make-It-Work/61566472637714/🍏 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/make-it-work/id1701442085🎵 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/78ulY0B27nYxGB6jPCABPI?si=abfc48d037d943be📥 Email: makeitwork.asia@gmail.comJoin our free Mommas Making It Work WhatsApp community: https://bit.ly/MIWcommunity—-----➤➤ Like the video and subscribe for more honest conversations with working moms across Asia!🔔 Hit the bell so you never miss an episode, and share with a mom who needs to hear this.💬 Drop a comment, we read every single one.#WorkingMoms #MomCommunity #AsianMoms #Matrescence #WorkingMomsAsia #CareerPivot #MomGuilt #MakeItWorkPodcast
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    23 mins
  • What Healing While Parenting Actually Looks Like (Therapist Explains) - Jen Loong-Goodwin | Ep 43

    What Healing While Parenting Actually Looks Like (Therapist Explains) - Jen Loong-Goodwin | Ep 43
    Aug 24 2026
    She grew up believing she was the least qualified person to become a mother.Childhood was difficult. The parenting she received was not the kind she wanted to pass on. And for a long time, she thought that past would follow her into the room where she would one day raise her own child.It did not.Jen Loong-Goodwin is a venture capital professional by day, a clinical therapist by night, and a content creator who refuses to let the working mom struggle stay silent. She founded LifeLoong Therapy after years inside high-performing corporate environments and time spent sitting with the clients those environments had quietly worn down. She also created Long Long Tales, a bilingual cartoon series helping mixed-race children find belonging in Chinese culture.She has worked across six countries. She navigated postpartum depression while completing her master's degree, clocking clinical hours, and flying for work. She pumped breast milk in cars in emerging markets, carried frozen milk through customs, and did almost all of it without saying a word about how hard it was.Because she was raised to believe that silence was a virtue.This episode is about what happens when you finally stop being quiet.What we get into:🧬 Why she almost did not become a mom and the one thing her husband said that changed everything🌊 Going through postpartum depression as a therapist and what it actually took to move through it🤱 Her first day back to work after maternity leave was a 2-hour flight + 6-hour car ride + pumping 2L of milk per day away, and why she stopped doing it silently🔇 The cultural weight of Asian silence and what it really costs working moms who never learn to advocate for themselves🧠 What she means when she says your career might just be one big trauma response🤖 How she uses AI not to do more but to protect the hours that matter most with her son🌏 What it actually takes to raise a mixed-race child to feel like they belong💼 Why women hit their creative peak between 45 and 55 and what that means for how we design our careers right nowIf you have ever stayed quiet about how much you were carrying because you were raised to believe that was strength, this episode was made for you.—------------------CONNECT WITH JEN LOONG-GOODWIN👋 LifeLoong Therapy (Book a call): www.lifeloongtherapy.com 👋 Bilingual Chinese culture cartoons: www.yotuube.com/@longlongtales 👋 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/loongstoryshort👋 LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jenloong—------------------CHAPTERS00:00 Nobody Warned Her About This01:13 Introduction03:34 When Motherhood Hits Differently07:35 The Cheapest Tool Nobody Uses12:25 The Cost of Staying Silent22:24 Healing and Parenting at the Same Time23:39 What If Ambition Is Just Survival26:59 How AI Buys Working Moms More Time33:55 What Does a Full Life Actually Look Like40:57 What Works at Work Fails at Home—------------------Watch more: A Single Mom Who Rewrote Her Story And How You Can Too - Elise Tan| Ep 42 - https://youtu.be/7WkbLCbP8fY?si=brYJUbn0uYL8fDEq—-----Follow Make It Work! ⁠https://linktr.ee/makeitwork.podcast⁠📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makeitwork.asia/ 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/make-it-work-asia-podcast/ 🎵 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Make-It-Work/61566472637714/ 🍏 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/make-it-work/id1701442085 🎵 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/78ulY0B27nYxGB6jPCABPI?si=abfc48d037d943be 📥 Email: makeitwork.asia@gmail.comJoin our free Mommas Making It Work WhatsApp community: https://bit.ly/MIWcommunity—-----➤➤ Like the video and subscribe for more honest conversations with working moms across Asia!🔔 Hit the bell so you never miss an episode, and share with a mom who needs to hear this.💬 Drop a comment; we read every single one.#WorkingMoms #HealingWhileParenting #AsianMoms #MomGuilt #WorkingMomsAsia #MentalLoadMoms #BreakTheCycle #MakeItWorkPodcast
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    45 mins
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