Supermoms @ Lazada

1. Superhumans – Mothers @ Lazada
Mums are synonymous with resilience and dedication, and
those at Lazada are among the best! This Mother’s Day we
catch up with some of these awesome ladies

2. 1
Rushed, But Not Crushed
Asked what her typical day is like, Dao Nguyen replies firmly in caps: “RUSHED”. The
mother of two girls, 6 and 4, has just celebrated her third year with Lazada as the
Associate General Counsel in charge of Lazada Vietnam’s legal department.
For Dao, the rush starts when she wakes the children up at 7am and runs them to
school within half an hour. “I’m a sleepyhead in the morning because I stay up to 1am
to clear my work,” she shares. “Thank God I don’t have to take care of their breakfast,
as that is served in school!”
Anecdotes follow, including how she ended up in the school’s bad books when,
once—closing a deal—she was two hours late to pick the girls up. She says, “Both the
teacher in charge and the nanny would not even look at me as I said a thousand
Sorry’s to them, and I understood how truly mad they were.”
Determined to keep weekends for the family, Dao refuses to open her laptop, doing
all in her power to clear her tasks on weekdays instead.
She recalls her early days helping Lazada’s commercial branch office in Hanoi. Unable
to leave her younger daughter for days at a time, Dao would fly back and forth daily
for several weeks. Looking back, she wonders how she stayed strong without falling
ill, but now she is able to say with confidence: “Being a mom is the toughest job in
the world, and it’s never finished. Hardworking moms are not only strong, but
invincible!”

3. 2
“Time management in this dynamic and fast-growing industry is my biggest
challenge,” Priscilla admits. Lots of meetings and regular travels—a daily
commute from Hong Kong to Shenzhen, plus frequent work further afield—
mean the young mother is always pressed for time. Up by 6am to get Joshua,
4, and Faith, 1 ½, ready for the school bus, Priscilla gets little sleep, especially
as Faith still needs a nightly 3am feed. Supplying the tot with mum’s milk is a
task that Priscilla undertakes come what may, even if it entails pumping
during a teleconference. She quips, “Time is limited—be efficient!”
Priscilla tackles logistic problems in and out of work. When she needs to
travel outside South China for days at a time, one of her challenges is storing,
freezing and transporting breastmilk back to Hong Kong. Itineraries include
good hotels with freezers, and pack-lists show big ice bags at the top.
Head of Sortation, Crossborder, Priscilla Wong takes her work managing the sortation centres in Korea, Malaysia and China
seriously. From monitoring performance to setting up new centres and implementing automation, she has her hands full. Still,
there’s humour to be found when her role includes directing milk-runs, not least because the mother of two has to cope with
expressing breast milk during her work day and while travelling.
It all adds to the pressures of the job, but Priscilla is unruffled. She reminds all mums, “Our emotions might be affected by
challenging tasks, but remember to stay calm with the kids.”
Managing Milk and Milk Runs

4. 3
Being engaged is certainly her forte. Her son has special needs and Nicole
makes sure she reaches out to him and his caregiver throughout the day,
despite her busy schedule. Her 16-year-old was diagnosed with autism when
he was two, and finding time to bring him to school and therapy sessions is
one of Nicole’s major challenges. The single mother says, “I’m the be-all and
end-all in my family!”
However, she is thankful for a job that gives her flexibility. “Being with Lazada,
and the nature of our e-commerce business, means that I can actually do my
work even when I’m out of office,” she explains.
“I bring my son to school but am still able to give directions to my team or
clear emails before I get into the office. The beauty is that I can fulfil both my
work and parental obligations at the same time.”
A typical day sees Nicole home past 9pm, and mother and son then spend time together on his favourite activities until 1am. When
campaigns are on and work ends later, Nicole ensures she is constantly in touch, whether via Facebook messenger or phone calls.
She tells other mums that it’s possible to stay on top of things at work and at home. “Utilise technology,” she urges. “Make it work
for you so you can have a balance.”
In the four and a half years that Nicole Villanueva has been with Lazada Philippines, she has seen the company grow from strength
to strength. As head of the Fashion cluster, Nicole has helped execute strategies from onboarding sellers to onboarding brands,
and now engaging sellers more.
Staying Flexible with Tech

5. 4
“Juggling three kids is no easy feat,” laughs Cecile Courbon, who leads the Mother
& Baby, Health & Beauty, and Groceries categories for Lazada Singapore. The
FMCG Category Director recalls her first 11.11 Online Revolution mega campaign,
which kept her up all night trying to fix two big bugs—one affecting a key product,
the other making her daughter vomit in bed.
Challenges like these are par for the course for Cecile. “In a young and fast-
growing environment like Lazada, you must impose your own rhythm,” she tells
other mums.
This includes suggesting early meeting times so she can get home by 7pm to be
with the family. It doesn’t hurt, either, that she has an understanding and
cooperative husband who covers for her when needed, and whom she can relax
with at night. For Cecile, taking ownership of her time means she stays 100%
centred on her work when she’s on it, and, in the evenings, 100% focused on the
children. As she reads to and plays with her 6-year-old, 3-year-old and 3-month-
old, she does her best not to look at her mobile phone to ensure quality time with
them.
Wholehearted, at Work and at Home

6. 5
In the six years that Thanh Doan has been with Lazada Vietnam, she’s helped grow
the Mothers, Babies, Toys & Games category, defining strategies and adapting to
the market day by day. Now, she’s growing her own babies—twins—and has
already worked out her winning strategy for work-life balance.
She says, “As a pregnant woman, I manage two full-time jobs: as Category
Manager, and as mom-to-be.” These are her tips on maintaining top performance
at work and for her yet-to-be-born babies’ development.
1. Share your health status with your line manager and HR, to benefit from
prompt support and special policies.
2. Don’t hide this happy time from your colleagues—let them plan ahead and
adjust for your expected absence.
3. Don’t feel shy or guilty about asking for support from your colleagues or
family. You’ll be surprised how willing they are to help.
4. Be well prepared: take care of your health, your schedules, finances, work
plans… All this helps you avoid worry during your pregnancy so that you can
enjoy working up to your due date.
5. Get frequent health checks, and exercise to maintain good mental and
physical health.
6. Leave work at the office, even if it’s easier said than done! Make time for
sleep, time to eat, time for relaxing your body and mind.
A Mom-to-be’s Positive Approach

7. 6
What’s a nursing mom to do when her schedule is packed with meetings and the
nursing room is booked up? Hoe Shuhui, Head of HR and Admin for Lazada
Singapore, shrugs off any hitches. “I express at my desk to save time,” she says. “Not
everyone may be receptive to it, but fortunately my colleagues in the vicinity are
understanding. Some are young parents themselves.”
Shuhui is thankful for her capable team —“Lazada is brimming with energetic
talent,” she says—which she can trust to run the show when she leaves the office at
day’s end. Knocking off on time is important to the mother of 6-year-old Xinrui and
6-month-old Zhenxi. Her baby “sleeps like clockwork” and Shuhui wants to be there
at bedtime.
There’s no shame in asking for help when you need it, she recognises. A strong
support system can offer tremendous relief, from grandparents willing to step in to
care for the kids to an understanding boss.
When Shuhui does get home to “put on my mommy hat”, it is to spend time with the
family. Her advice to other moms is not to sweat over small things like whether the
floor has been swept. With children about, the house is bound to be messy. She
counsels, “There’s no need to feel like you’ve neglected any of your duties as a mom,
wife, daughter-in-law—just do your best!”
No Nursing Room? No Sweat

8. 7
“I cannot join many of his school activities as I see other parents do,”
Paranrasa laments. Instead, she makes it a point to attend two or three of
the more important events each semester, especially if he is performing.
Paranrasa makes the most of whatever time she does have, squeezing
minutes with him in the early morning and driving him to school before her
own hour-and-a-half commute to work. After a busy day at Lazada and
another long drive home, she finds Than staying up late to wait for her.
Mother and son then go through his homework and catch up with each
other.
Weekends are when the two really get to enjoy family time. “I spend the
whole day with him,” she enthuses. “We go to the playground or the zoo,
and I take him to his piano and art classes.” While this means she has to
juggle medical appointments or lunch with friends, she still makes sure that
these are planned so that Than is with her too.
Making Every Moment Count
As Vice-President of Finance for Lazada Thailand for the last three years, Paranrasa Vibulyasek keeps a close eye on monthly KPIs,
monitoring and analysing results against budgets and plans. It is a challenge, though, for her to keep as close an eye on her 5-year-
old son, Than, given her heavy workload.
“Being a working mom isn’t easy,” Paranrasa concedes, noting it takes a lot of effort and dedication.
To other working moms she says, “You are superb! We are doing our best for both our kids and our careers. I wish you every
success.”