Life After... a journey of single parenting, building a bling empire – she now gives back to society

SINGAPORE – She is an entrepreneur, a jewellery designer, a mother, a grandmother and a philanthropist.

But Ms Esther Ho, 60, did not start out that way.

“I did not complete my secondary school education. In fact, I dropped out in Secondary 2 and got married at 22. He was a former schoolmate and an Indonesian. We were very young when we got married, and got married for the wrong reasons. He was returning to Indonesia so we tied the knot, but the marriage did not last,” she said.

In 1990, her husband left her, leaving her stranded and struggling to care for her young daughter on her own. Until the divorce, she had never worked a single day in her life.

“I was not even allowed to let others, my relatives included, know I was divorced because, at that time, it was considered a source of shame. I told myself that as long as I was willing to work hard, I could raise my daughter on my own.”

Ms Ho has stayed single since.

With a little mouth to feed, Ms Ho quickly found a job as a junior apprentice learning the ropes in sales and marketing.

“Back then, there weren’t any courses or degrees in this field. I had to learn everything on the job. The company I worked for was dealing with Japanese tourists, who were a major market for Singapore in the 1990s. Through sales interactions with them, I picked up the language,” she said.

Seeking to improve her situation, she scanned the newspapers and saw a job posting for a buyer at Italian luxury brand Prada. It was 1992 and the brand was making its entry into the Singapore market.

“At the time, I had never even heard of the brand. I must have impressed them because I was hired not only as a buyer but also as the boutique manager,” she said.

A carefree childhood

“I was a dreamer then – I still am – and being a dreamer, I never did well in school. I was not even serious about school,” she said.

Although she didn’t excel academically, Ms Ho fondly recalled looking forward to school every day because she made friends easily and enjoyed spending time with them.

She told The Straits Times that it took her three sittings of the Primary School Leaving Examination and guidance from a relief teacher to make it to secondary school.

Her playful nature and lack of interest in studies eventually led her to leave school in Sec 2. However, this did not hinder her from soaring when it came to building an illustrious career.

After being appointed boutique manager and buyer for Prada in Singapore, she found herself immersed in a glamorous lifestyle – dressing well, attending parties, travelling frequently and essentially living “the high life”.

However, she admitted that such a lifestyle wasn’t sustainable for her, as she had to prioritise being a responsible mother to her child.

While considering resigning from Prada, an opportunity arose with TSL Jewellery, a large Asian company founded in Hong Kong in the 1960s.

“It is known for its craftsmanship, innovative designs and high-quality materials and I learnt a lot from the company. It needed a Singaporean to manage its branch here so I remained with them for the next 11 years,” Ms Ho said, adding that being able to speak Cantonese made her an asset.

With her substantial experience and expertise in the industry – initially at TSL and later at Thai-based Lotus Arts de Vivre – she launched Zenith Affair, a jewellery consultancy business, in 2005. The company specialises in introducing gemstone brands to the Asian market, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong and China.

However, when Raffles Hotel’s Arcade, where her shop was located, shuttered for renovations in 2016, Ms Ho needed to pivot her business.

Believing there was a gap in the industry for more affordable jewellery, Ms Ho and her daughter Zoie Teo, who was then 29, established Carat 55 – a bespoke jewellery brand that specialises in fine jewellery to attract a younger crowd.

Caring for mum with dementia

Adding to her already demanding life, Ms Ho took on the role of caregiver when her mother, the late Madam Ng Wan Hup, was diagnosed with dementia.

Managing her mother’s dementia became a daily routine, profoundly shaping her own life in the process.

“It took a lot of effort, patience and love to care for her. My mother experienced memory loss and I engaged her through regular conversations. We also used old photos to jog her memory,” Ms Ho said.

After her mother died in 2019, Ms Ho returned to Raffles Arcade and opened a retail boutique called MUS Zenith Affair, also known as MUS.za, selling “museum-grade gemstones” and offering a jewellery design service.

She also wanted to do something meaningful in her mother’s memory, and while trawling the internet, she discovered Dementia Singapore.

“I was impressed by the work it does for both the elderly living with dementia and their caregivers and made up my mind to raise funds for the organisation,” she said.

Ms Ho launched MUS.za’s first fund-raising initiative for Dementia Singapore in 2020 despite the Covid-19 pandemic, and raised $100,000 that year and $133,000 in 2021.

In 2022, through a charity auction gala dinner, the kitty grew to $210,000 and MUS.za also donated the proceeds from all sales storewide in November that year.

The amount raised continued to increase – $210,000 in 2023 and $312,000 in 2024.

For her efforts, her company was presented with the Agency for Integrated Care’s

Friends of Community Care Award

in 2023.

Help for young people with poor mental health

News on mental health issues among teens and young adults caught Ms Ho’s attention.

She believes she may have undiagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, reflecting on how this could explain her difficulty concentrating on studies or completing long-term projects in her youth. She has decided that MUS.za will concentrate its corporate social responsibility on the mental health of young people for the next five years by raising funds in support of ResiL!ence by Shine Children and Youth Services.

ResiL!ence is the youth mental health service of Shine, providing a range of programmes for those aged 12 to 25 with mental health needs.

“We want every young person to know that they are not invisible or alone, and they will be taken care of. By championing this cause, we want to reduce stigma and make mental health support for young people more approachable,” Ms Ho said.

According to the

2024 National Youth Mental Health Study

by the Institute of Mental Health, about one in three people aged between 15 and 35 experiences severe mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, yet only one in five has sought medical help.

“It is not easy for young people to admit they have a mental issue or to come forward to seek help,” Ms Ho said.

MUS.za’s five-year fund-raising initiative for Shine will kick off with a gala dinner on Nov 9 and aims to raise $300,000.

“This is an opportunity for my friends and clients to come together to contribute by donating pre-loved jewellery, volunteering as performers, and even offering other products and services for this year’s charity auction,” Ms Ho said.

The dinner is also an opportunity to get younger members of the community to take charge.

“My granddaughter Victoria and her friends had come together to plan part of the gala and they will also be performing. Through this event, they will be gaining experience in fund-raising and advocacy for mental health,” she added.