Author: Rehneel Leow
Company: SPIC International College
Profession: Beauty Industry Training
Position: Founder
Does anyone truly know how many times they will fall in a lifetime?
Most motivational stories teach us how to persevere.
Most mentors encourage us to stay strong and keep moving forward.
But very few people tell you what to do when you fall so deeply that you no longer have the strength to stand.
This is the reality behind a generation of women who were taught to be strong, but rarely given the space to be vulnerable.
When you are exhausted, even positive words can feel like pressure.
It is not that you are not strong enough.
It is simply that you have been expected to carry too much, for too long.
And this truth has nothing to do with gender.
It is simply part of being human.
I grew up in a family shaped by poverty, violence, and gender bias.
From a very young age, I believed that if I became stronger, more independent, and more competitive, I would be less likely to be hurt.
But life does not always follow logic.
By the age of ten, my sense of security had already collapsed.
The experience of violence left me extremely sensitive, cautious, and disciplined.
Looking back, it also shaped the determination that carried me through life.
My journey was never smooth.
There were painful relationships, betrayal from employees, business partners who deceived me, and countless challenges that seemed to arrive one after another.
Yet every setback quietly built something within me:
judgment, boundaries, and responsibility.
In 2010, my life reached a turning point.
I became a mother, and at the same time began my journey as an entrepreneur.
From that moment, my thinking changed.
I was no longer simply trying to survive.
I began making decisions for life itself — for responsibility, for the future.
In 2017, another difficult chapter unfolded.
Family and marriage both faced enormous pressure, and my emotional and physical strength reached its lowest point.
That was also the year I experienced depression.
But sometimes life also sends unexpected lessons.
Through discipline, exercise, reflection, and support from my mother and doctors, I slowly rebuilt my strength.
In just three months, I began to see light again.
That experience taught me something powerful:
Having work, purpose, and responsibility can become a person’s greatest foundation.
Over the next years, I poured my energy into the beauty and education industry.
I built my own beauty business and founded a training academy.
I continued learning, developing teams, and building systems.
Step by step, this journey eventually led me to serve as Malaysia’s national beauty expert and chief judge in international competitions.
Our training institution also became the only government-recognised five-star beauty training academy in Malaysia.
Our students have represented the country on international stages, winning medals in ASEAN, Asia, and WorldSkills competitions.
In 2025, I completed fifteen years of entrepreneurship.
And at the same time, I closed a fifteen-year chapter of marriage.
Life teaches us that gain and loss often walk together.
Today I understand something very clearly.
True strength is not the absence of breakdown.
True strength is the willingness to take responsibility for your life, even after you have broken.
You do not need to be positive all the time.
You only need to be honest with yourself.
Allowing yourself to be vulnerable is not weakness.
It is the beginning of standing up again.
Not everyone who falls has failed.
The real failure is never daring to live once for yourself.
And the nights you have survived were never meant to trap you in pain.
They exist so that one day, you may become the light for someone else.
So remember this:
You may move slowly.
You may feel tired.
You may not shine every day.
But you never need to doubt your own worth.
Because the real rise in life is not becoming what others expect you to be.
It is the moment when you finally begin to live the life you truly choose for yourself.
Penang Elite Womenpreneurs Association – Founder President (2023-2027)
Malaysian Association of Artificial Intelligence Technology & Innivation – Vice President (2023-2026)
Penang Chinese Entrepreneur Association – Vice President (2020-2022)