Rebecca Eu is on a mission to empower and serve the underserved. The founder of social enterprise Mei’s Own tells Annabel Tan how she is doing her best to pay it forward.
To most people, she is Rebecca Eu, the only daughter of Richard Eu, chairman of prominent Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) company Eu Yan Sang, and the great-granddaughter of late businessman and philanthropist Eu Tong Sen. At home, she is the youngest of four children and affectionately known as “Mei Mei” (little sister in Mandarin). On Instagram, she is @becseu, a social media influencer with 10.3k followers. And as of six years ago, she is also the founder of a social enterprise supporting underprivileged women and children in the Philippines.
Rebecca is all of those things and more. While she struggled with reconciling her privilege as well as public and private personas growing up, the 28-year-old is feeling more comfortable in her own skin. “I’ve always felt like I had to prove myself a lot – especially when starting that journey into high society,” she says. “But my perspective has shifted from worrying about what people are going to say about me, to focusing more on what I can do for others.”
In 2015, she started Mei’s Own (formerly known as Love, Mei), a social enterprise that works with a community of weavers and artisans in the Philippines to create homeware and lifestyle products. Proceeds from the sale of these items go towards preserving local art and heritage, as well as helping survivors of sex trafficking gain education and employment.
“There was no grand vision,” Rebecca candidly admits. In fact, she acknowledges she was naïve when she first founded the company as a wide-eyed university student on a volunteer stint in the Philippines. Witnessing first-hand the effects of the sex trafficking trade, she saw young girls who were badly injured, ridden with developmental issues because of the abuse they suffered. Some were suicidal. It was a rude awakening.
“The amount of trauma these girls carry was difficult to comprehend for me, coming from a very stable background that has such a big emphasis on a healthy family life. But I couldn’t cry in front of the girls because they didn’t need my pity. They needed my help,” she says. “The thing that makes me different from them is my place of birth, and the fact that I was born into such a privileged home convinced me that I should make an even greater effort to bridge this gap.”
She adds, “Many of them never had any sense of family life. Mei’s Own was born out of finding a way to efficiently help them. ‘Mei’ evokes a sense of family and the word ‘Own’ implies a sense of belonging to someone who protects you.”
The real world
When Rebecca brought up the idea of moving to Manila to start Mei’s Own, her parents were concerned about her safety. She was 21 then, with no family or close friends in the city. “At the time a lot of my friends were enjoying university life, dating, going to parties, and I think my mother just wanted the same ‘normal’ life for me,” she says. “But at the same time, she knew this was very important to me, and thankfully, trusted and believed in me enough to let me go.” Her parents showed their support by walking Rebecca through the legalities of setting up the company, then stepped back for her to execute it.
In the last two years alone, Mei’s Own has helped to put more than 400 students into school, and is well on track to reaching its goal of 1,000 children. It all sounds peachy, but she has no illusions about the harsh realities of her work.
“I feel strongly about what I do, but this is not a passion project; it is not fun and it can be pretty grim,” Rebecca asserts. “This is something really important to me and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I chose to do anything else.”
For instance, starting a social enterprise in the Philippines was a lonely path fraught with many challenges in the beginning. Looking back, Rebecca realises she lacked the maturity and understanding to handle those situations properly. “I got way too emotional about the girls that I was working with and it was just not easy for me,” she recalls. “I felt selfish even admitting that because their life is a lot harder than mine so why should I feel sorry for myself ? Learning to rationalise these things was difficult mentally and emotionally.”
A particularly hard pill to swallow was accepting that survivors of sex trafficking often return to the trade. “I’m in touch with some of these girls on Facebook, and the reality is they worry about their next meal and they have no one to go to. So even after they are rescued and rehabilitated, a lot of them go back to trafficking because it’s all they’ve ever known,” she explains.
“That’s very hard to confront because it feels like I failed. But I’ve also had to realise that they choose their own path. I can’t force them to go to school unless they convince themselves that this is something that they want to do. I just have to focus on the people who want to go to school and do the best I can help them. At the very least, I hope they each met someone who showed them kindness.”
More to give
Since the Covid-19 pandemic struck, Rebecca moved back to Singapore and not being on the ground has affected her work with the foundations and shelters in the Philippines. She does as much as she can to help remotely but has had to rely a lot on her team there. As frustrating as these circumstances are, it has opened opportunities for Rebecca to channel her efforts to Singapore.
Last year, she launched a baby wear collection on Mei’s Own in collaboration with The Art Faculty (TAF), a social enterprise by Autism Resource Centre (Singapore) that supports Singaporean artists on the autism spectrum. The artists’ works are printed on products like bibs and swaddle cloths made from organic cotton muslin personally sourced by Rebecca. “With each piece sold, the artist receives royalties and it is also a great way to recognise them as artists,” she says. “This is something that I’m quite proud of and that I will continue to do.”
Alongside this journey of empowering others and philanthropy, Rebecca has also been on a path of self-discovery, constantly questioning her role and her purpose. There is a lot more she wants to explore, like working with communities in Singapore, write a children’s book and continue to send more children to school. “I feel like I have a lot more to say and I want to share that with my community,” she says. “I want to support more Singaporeans and I always want to do right by my community, so I think whatever’s next for me will be exciting.”
At the core of all her pursuits, Rebecca says she just hopes to do good and be kind. “It has always been important to my family to be involved in non-profits and make contributions to society,” she says, referencing the meaning behind the Chinese words “Yan Sang” in Eu Yan Sang: caring for mankind. “Being a philanthropist isn’t about your net worth; it’s about doing good for the community. Where and if you can, pay it forward. Whether it’s a monetary contribution or simply giving your time, the world would be better because of it.”
“I owe everything I have today to my family. If we didn’t build this trust with the community and help those around us generation after generation, I don’t think there would be Eu Yan Sang or a Eu Family left. We owe it to everyone, and in a way, I am just paying my dues as a person. I don’t have a great plan to change the world, but serving the underserved and underprivileged is probably the best thing that I can do with my time,” she adds. “We have to do better as a global society and I hope I can inspire others who are able to help, to do the same.”
Fashion Direction: Johnny Khoo | Art Direction: Audrey Chan | Photography: Cher Him | Fashion Styling: Jacquie Ang |
Hair: Rick Yang, using kevin.murphy | Make-up: Wee Ming, using Chanel Beauty | Photography Assistance: Lip Chin
This story first appeared in the March 2022 issue of Prestige Singapore.
The post How social entrepreneur Rebecca Eu is answering the call of duty appeared first on Prestige Online – Singapore.
