She Rises The Stories of Women Entrepreneurs
Author: Penny Choong
Company: Penny Essentials | VitaChocs | The Ski Resort Report (Coming Soon)
Profession: Entrepreneur, Community Builder & Wellness Advocate
Position: Founder
People often smile when they hear what I do.
“You run a wellness community, a healthy chocolate brand… and now you’re hosting ski trips?”
It does sound like an unusual combination.
But to me, they’ve never been separate businesses. They’ve simply been different chapters of the same story.
That story didn’t begin with entrepreneurship.
It began in a dark room.
There was a season in my life when I measured my week by the number of days I could get out of bed. If I had three or four good days, it felt like a victory. The rest of the time, I was recovering from another migraine.
The attacks never arrived with certainty. They often began with blurred vision, dizziness and an overwhelming sensitivity to light. Sometimes I had an hour before the pain came. Sometimes only minutes. I never knew if it would happen while I was driving, crossing the road or sitting in a meeting.
Eventually, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and TMJ disorder. But what affected me most wasn’t the diagnosis. It was the feeling that I had lost control of my own life.
With a background in Accounting and Finance, a career in Business Process & Systems Audit, and a Master’s in Information Technology, I had always believed every problem could be solved through logic, perseverance and hard work.
For the first time, I had no answer.
So I did something completely against my nature. I stepped away from work for a year and gave myself permission to focus on one thing: getting well.
Looking back, that decision changed everything.
As I searched for answers, I discovered holistic wellness, essential oils and preventative health. Slowly, my health returned. But something even more important happened—I began to see wellness differently. It isn’t something we think about only when it’s missing. It shapes every part of our lives: our relationships, our confidence, our purpose and our ability to dream about the future.
That belief became Penny Essentials.
I never set out to build a wellness business. I simply wanted to share what I had learned, hoping someone else might find hope a little sooner than I did. Over the years, our community has touched more than 40,000 people. Today, it remains a close-knit community of around 3,000 people who continue learning, supporting and growing together.
As my journey continued, I found myself asking another question: why should living well mean giving up life’s simple pleasures? That question became VitaChocs—a healthy indulgence inspired by one simple idea:
What if vitamins came in the form of chocolate?
Another lifelong passion eventually found its place in the story.
I’ve always loved the mountains—not only for the skiing, but for the perspective they give us. Today, I host curated ski journeys across China and Japan, bringing people together through adventure, culture and shared experiences. Those journeys have also inspired the next chapter I’m building: The Ski Resort Report, a platform that will help skiers choose the right mountain through trusted, experience-based insights.
People sometimes ask what connects everything I do.
To me, the answer has always been people.
Whether I’m helping someone improve their health, enjoy chocolate without guilt or experience the magic of snow for the first time, I simply want to help people make choices that allow them to live fuller, richer lives.
Looking back, I realise none of us rises alone. I’m grateful for the people who believed in me when I couldn’t yet see the full picture myself—especially my husband, Andrew, whose quiet encouragement has been a constant through every chapter of this journey.
Looking back now, I no longer see illness as the chapter that interrupted my story.
It was the chapter that introduced me to myself.
And perhaps that’s why those businesses have never really been separate businesses. They’ve always been different chapters of the same story.
A story built on one belief that continues to guide my life today:
Wellness is Everything, And in Everything.