While other teens were going online to play games or watch videos, Michelle Ng at 13 was running her first online business selling vintage Polaroid cameras.
“It was trending at that time. I found a reliable source and resold them online.”
The business lasted three years.
In polytechnic, she tried her hand at selling boat shoes online.
“I sold a few but it wasn’t good enough to be sustainable.
“I still have some left in the cupboard to remind me of my failure,” says Michelle, now 27 and owner of Kléo, an online store that specialises in wearables that are functional yet special to the artisans making them.
Aside from her efforts to earn extra pocket money, the leap from secondary school to polytechnic was a big one. “Not a fan of the kind of environment in school,” the Banking and Finance student almost dropped out – until she joined the track and field team.
“Generally, sportspeople can be very showy and self-centred. It’s all about I, me and myself.
“But this team was different,” she said.
“The seniors leading the team created a culture where they invested in people.
“They were very genuine.
Michelle (front, fourth from left) with 10 generations of track and field teams from the polytechnic.
“I was attracted to the culture they brought into the sport, especially when track and field is mostly an individual sport.”
As she became more curious about them, she also started thinking about their faith.
Michelle, who thought of herself as a self-made woman was very averse to the idea of God and the idea of God loving us unconditionally.
“I found the idea of such love new and cringey. It was something that made my hair stand.”
“Maybe it’s my personality but I found the idea of such love new and cringey.
“It was something that made my hair stand.”
She was also known to be “very opinionated”. She thinks people may have been too afraid to tell her about God.
“I would say my piece if it’s not something I believe in. Either that, or it shows on my face.”
Michelle (top photo, third from left, and bottom photo in blue) at the Christian sports camp. After participating in 2012, she served at the camp the following year.
But when her seniors invited her to a Christian sports camp they were organising, Michelle accepted.
“I was there for the people and the sports, definitely not for God,” she said.
At the camp, her friends shared about Jesus’ love with her and prayed for her, but she was unmoved.
However, over her three years in poly, she found her heart softening to the idea of Jesus.
One day in her final year, Michelle was struggling to complete a particularly brutal workout during training. Desperate, she prayed: “I’ll go to church if You help me complete this workout.”
“I was there for the people and the sports.”
She said: “I said it casually but He did help me finish the workout.”
To fulfil her end of the promise, she asked to accompany her teammates to church. After the service, her friend prayed for her.
“I remember crying like crazy. I was touched.
“Why would someone invest their time to pray for me? I don’t even remember what she prayed about.”
Though she did not consider herself a Christian then, she joined a Bible study class. She also studied the Bible one-on-one with a senior from her team. She even went to church every week.
Michelle at her baptism.
“It was the community’s genuineness that drew me,” says Michelle who eventually got baptised.
After graduation, Michelle had planned on becoming a teacher. But was rejected by the National Institute of Education (NIE) – not once but twice.
NIE is the only educational institute for teachers in Singapore.
The first time, she blamed God for the first major failure in her life.
“I continued going to church to avoid being questioned by my friends but inwardly I was angry with God.”
“I took it out on God. I didn’t want to talk to Him. I continued going to church to avoid being questioned by my friends but inwardly I was angry with God.”
Nearly three years and two jobs later, Michelle tried for NIE again and failed.
This time, she sought God, asking Him if she should return to school. Desperate for an answer, she went to the altar after service to pray.
When the answer came back “yes”, Michelle cried because she did not want to go back to school. Three different people even came up to her and confirmed what she had heard.
The Economics and Finance course she chose at the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) turned out to be the most difficult one.
“It was super hard. A lot of people switched out or dropped out.
“I was crying almost every other day and had many sleepless nights dealing with anxieties.
“My little brother looked at me and said, ‘Maybe I don’t want to go to university because of how things turned out for you.’”
She failed a math exam which meant that a two-year course stretched into three.
“It also broke me and humbled me, and made me lean more closely on God.”
“Right before leaving for my second attempt at the exam, God prompted me to bring along a Christian book I had shelved away for some time. I found it ridiculous but I obeyed anyway.”
As Michelle waited to enter the exam hall, reminders of her first failure made her increasingly anxious.
“Then, God told me to flip to this particular page of the book that reminded me of His character. I didn’t know what to expect but peace filled my heart and that was sufficient for me.”
Michelle ended up getting an A.
She also topped one of her exams internationally.
“That really showed that God’s hand was in this. It gave me a lot more confidence.
“But it also broke me and humbled me, and made me lean more closely on God.”
During the holidays after the end of her second year at SIM, Michelle decided to start an online business because she “needed the income” since she was supporting herself through school.
Kléo was the result.
On each pair of Kléo espadrilles is the verse Habakkuk 3:19. It was chosen in the hope that the wearer will find strength and encouragement in the promise that there is always more to life, something worth looking forward to.
But the going was tough.
At one point, she was studying, doing an internship, training as an athlete, giving tuition and running Kléo – all at the same time.
“Once, a friend asked me out for dinner. I had to go to the ATM to withdraw money but I didn’t even have the minimum balance in my account to make a withdrawal.
“I realised that God was always using this platform to provide jobs for stay-at-home mums.”
“All my money had gone into the business.”
She went home instead.
But despite the difficulties, “God always provided just enough”.
Michelle says that God has given her a joy that is “inexplicable and independent of the situation”. Even when she accidentally tossed her office keys into the rubbish dump and had to climb in to search for them.
She has also felt God guiding her business plans.
When a department store approached her to put her accessories in the store, she did not have enough products. A friend happened to have a jewellery business that she no longer wanted to run and sold the accessories to her. That gave her a large enough product line to partner the department store.
Though unplanned, Kléo provides employment for women, especially stay-at-home mums. Even the one who helps with the photos of products is one.
She saw God’s hand even her plan to open a store in Katong. It provided an avenue for her mother to work. (In 2020, Michelle’s mother lost her job.)
“I realise that God was always using this platform to provide jobs for stay-at-home mums,” says Michelle.
Michelle often employs stay-at-home mums to run her pop-up stores and had one who did administrative work. Even her suppliers abroad hire mostly stay-at-home mums and grandmothers.
In 2021, Michelle was diagnosed with Stage 1 ovarian cancer.
“It’s a very rare type and doctors don’t have a lot of experience with this type of cancer.
“It’s so rare, there are not enough statistics to have a prognosis.”
Though the diagnosis came as a surprise, Michelle believes that God had been “preparing me for this”.
“I’m aware I’m living on extended playtime and it seems like I’m running low on tokens.”
“I’m aware I’m living on extended playtime and it seems like I’m running low on tokens.”
It is an important reminder that helps put things into perspective.
“Nothing much has changed except that the period (full stop) in my life is now in bold, waiting to find its place … What becomes prominent is that the only time I have is now.”
So, for now, Michelle intends for her business to uplift people, especially women, and create jobs.
On Kléo’s website, she writes: “We believe that God can use our faith as small as a mustard seed to edify women in our midst.”
This is an excerpt of an article that first appeared in Salt&Light.
