Chow Keat Yeng, or Keat for short, is a two-timer. By day, she works hard at her marketing job. By night (and weekends), this energetic 30-year-old hangs up her power suit and slips into the role of Principal of Artistic Expressions, a speech-and-drama school, of which she is the owner Nanz Inc gets in on the act with this superwoman.

By: Audra Lim

Most people either run a business, or are employed in a full-time job. You do both. You either have great time management skills, or have 48 hours a day. Which is it?
I guess it’s the former as I would probably end up working more if the day was longer and that would be suicide! It’s all about time management and prioritizing.
List the things you need to do in order of priority before the start of each day and stick to the list. Focus wholeheartedly on completing each task, one by one. There is always a tendency to want to do everything all at once, in the shortest possible time.

Why did you set up Artistic Expressions?
In 2002, my alma mater, Holy Child Speech & Drama, closed its doors. My students were stranded and wanted to continue their Speech and Drama lessons. It was then that I decided to open my own school and take them under my wing.

What were some challenges you faced as you built up your business?
I was 23 when I started the school – some were skeptical about whether I had the business acumen, or if I was able to teach their children. I also wanted to stand on my own feet, so loans from family or the bank were out of the question. The lack of funds turned out to be a good thing because it challenged me to think of creative (and cheaper) alternatives to get the word out.

I believe that the school needs to have integrity, and I wanted the school to hire teachers who were experienced and equipped with the right certifications. However, many of these teachers then were engaged in prior teaching engagements. So I decided the school could also be a training academy for those who had the passion and were willing to be trained in this field.