Our first episode, and Rouge celebrated with a salute to inspirational women. These are the women around us – mothers, sisters, aunts, bosses even – who never give up, never say die.

 

Women like the Pink Paddlers, who have survived  breast cancer, and who took up dragonboating to keep fit.

Only they found more than muscles; they found friendship and a “family” of like-minded people. Eva, Esther, Wendy and Rosalind are 4 of the Paddlers who engaged our audience with their stories of their trials and their determination to get on with life. Learn more about the Pink Paddlers at http://pinkpaddlers.wordpress.com/.

 

Another group of feisty women were the Singapore Women’s Everest Team (SWET)! Initiated in 2004, by team leader Jane and friend, Yi Hui, SWET is now a six member team together with Joanne, Li Hui, Peh Gee and Esther. They truly play hard, work hard and train hard all in the name of passion。Log onto http://www.womenoneverest.com/ where you can read their travel logs and experiences!

 

Denise Phua is known as the MP for Jalan Besar and the Supervisor of Pathlight School for children with autism. But how many know her reason for leaving the corporate world to become a full-time volunteer? The Rouge audience listened enthralled as Denise revealed her motivation: her son, who is autistic. Highly passionate and eloquent, Denise gave a valuable insight into her life, and into a little-known segment of society which she is trying to do so much for. Take a cyber trip to Pathlight School at http://www.pathlight.org.sg/main/ and the Autism Resource Centre at http://www.autism.org.sg to find out how you can help!

 

Jane Lim is a wife and mother. She is also an entrepreneur, the Jane of Jane’s Cake Station. She now only shared her philosophy on how to balance a career with having a family, but her delicious chocolate cake with the Rouge audience. Taste her creations at her shop at 265 Jalan Kayu.

 

And last but not least, we had Mary Ho, a 71 year old grandmother with a rock and roll soul. At 60, she started learning the guitar, and since then, she’s been jamming away to the tunes of Santana, her favourite guitarist!

 

Rouge: It’s red hot!