Amy Chen

WIFE | DAUGHTER | LAWYER | FITNESS FANATIC | HEALTH AND WELLNESS ENTREPRENEUR | SELF-CARE ADVOCATE |

We’re here today to talk about “The Modern Day Woman Movement” and allowing women to embrace their multiple identities, what are yours?

I am a full-time lawyer working in a commercial law firm by day and a collector of beautiful and inspiring health and wellness brands as part of running my health and wellness subscription box website, Bare & Wilde, by night (and early mornings and weekends!).  I am also the editor of Bare & Wilde’s seasonable magazine “Dimensions of Wellness”.  Through Bare & Wilde, I recently ventured into running and hosting wellness events and retreats as a means to connect with our online community face-to-face. 

Outside of the corporate world and my health and wellness website, I am a fitness fanatic (always up for trying something new in the fitness world), book nerd (always needing another book shelf), sister to two younger sisters, daughter to two loving and generous parents and recently became a wife to a very supportive husband. 

Have you always had a creative side?

I think I’ve always had creative tendencies from a very young age.  I was a curious child which led me to trying many different creative pursuits as a child.  I loved going to dance class, gymnastic class, calligraphy class and piano class.  Thankfully, my parents were supportive of me pursuing all these different things.  For a long time in my childhood, I was determined to become a fashion designer.  I think my love of art as a child is one of the reasons why I am so drawn to the marketing and branding aspects of running a business, which are aspects I absolutely love. Designing beautiful products and spaces are my absolute favourite pass time.   

What made you choose law?

I think it was a combination of different reasons which led me to study law straight out of high school – my tendencies to want to solve problems (everyone’s problems, I was the “busy body” in primary school and some may say even now ha!), my interests in international trade and commerce and in hindsight, my tendencies to be an activist for things I’m passionate about so I thought law would be a challenging yet fulling career path for me.  And it definitely has been.  Even though it may be not fulfil the creative side of my brain in the same way as Bare & Wilde does, it is definitely still a creative career that trains you to think analytical and quickly, which I personally find really useful in running a “side” business. 

What was your defining moment that inspired you start a wellness business?

This is an interesting question.  I don’t think there was a defining moment but rather it was an idea that had been in the works for a while subconsciously and then one night my thoughts about what I loved doing, what I wanted to do for the community and problems I faced as a consumer all blossomed into a beautiful business idea.  

I have always had a passion for all things health and wellness related, originally starting with fitness, then nutrition and eventually yoga/meditation and natural skin care/home products. I began to realise how consumers, including myself, were increasingly seeking knowledge on how to live a cleaner and healthier life, but did not have the time or resources to do the necessary research, purchase the products from multiple suppliers and simply enjoy them without any guilt.  At the same time, I really enjoyed discovering new health and wellness small businesses constantly popping up.  These brands are small but their stories are so inspiring and they also produce amazing natural products that have a positive impact on the world.  When I purchased these products for myself, I noticed that hardly any of my family and friends knew about these brands (mostly because these brands don’t have the budget and time to focus on marketing) despite the results I was seeing to my mind, body and soul.  

From this, I grew a strong desire to build a community that connects the many health and wellness enthusiasts with the many inspiring small businesses making natural health and wellness products and be an advocate of self-care and empowering people to life their best life.  I was intrigued in the subscription box business model for a while and thought it would be such a beautiful platform to bring all my ideas and thoughts together.  At the time, based on my research, there was no luxe health and wellness lifestyle subscription box business serving the Perth community, so I wanted to create it to fill that gap. 

What is your secret to managing your multiple identities?

I am still trying to manage my multiple identities and learning how be better at it every day but some things I have learnt along the way are: 

- Although this might not work for everyone, I am an early riser (usually around 5 am) and will dedicate the early hours to fitting in some exercise, meditation and planning-time: During the first hour of being awake I use exercise to increase my alertness, meditation to ground myself and for clarity and then do a bit of planning so that I am ready to tick off my to-do list as soon as other businesses start operating/everyone else in the home wakes up.

- Prioritise what is important: I became so much more productive when I started consciously making effort to distinguish important tasks from urgent tasks.  Important tasks are those are contribute towards a long term goal or mission, whereas urgent tasks are things that need to be done now (tasks that require you to put out a fire and be reactive).  Sometimes important tasks are also urgent and I will address those tasks first.  

- Time block your calendar: I am a big believer in the mantra that what gets scheduled in is what will get done.  

The key secret is really simply just embracing your multiple identities without inhibition (especially when you are managing two careers).  So many women (and men) nowadays are “multipassionate” (a term coined by Marie Forleo which I absolute love because I definitely relate to it) and not only is it manageable and possible, it absolutely leads to a more fulfilling life when you can live a life true to yourself. 

What is your advice for other women who are contemplating starting a new pursuit?

I still consider myself relatively new to this, so here are a few of my favourite pieces of advice that I’ve gathered over time from others I admire.  

- Don’t over-contemplate and just get started.  Amazing things happen once you get the momentum going, so the sooner you start taking baby steps the better.  There are so many reasons not to start something so over-contemplating will most likely lead to you talking yourself out of it.  

- Remember the quote: self-doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will. Self-doubt is a natural human reaction to protect ourselves from perceived failure or risk ie. when you get out of your comfort zone, which is the only place where magic happens. So just really believe in yourself and give it a go. 

- It is okay to be stubborn with your goal/mission but you need to be flexible with your method ie how you get to your goal.  When you’re open minded and flexible, new opportunities will come your way that you might not have anticipated and when problems arise, you will find solutions.  Just make sure the new ‘methods’ are consistent with your overarching goal. 

- You don’t need to quit the day job. This is different for everyone but personally I enjoy being a lawyer and my creativity flows a lot better when I am not under stresses in other areas of my life.  Doing both is a good way to ease into it, test out your idea and see what works for you. It also certainly makes you a lot more efficient and conscious of how you are using your time.