Jenny Tay, Managing Director, Direct Funeral Services Pte Ltd, Singapore

Jenny Tay is an entrepreneur from Singapore taking on the world of funeral services with a zestful and innovative spirit, no pun intended. She is not afraid of challenging norms and stereotypes about the deceased, death and dying. As the Managing Director of Direct Funeral Services Pte Ltd, she is transforming the funeral services industry - usually dominated by rough-talking men and surrounded by superstitions - one taboo at a time. To Jenny, the funeral services business is a hospitality business. When she married in 2015, she made the front page news as she and her husband decided to take unusually daring wedding photos - she was photographed in her wedding finery lying in a coffin and sitting on the coffin! Jenny and her husband worked to revamp society's shoddy perception of funeral services and raise the bar for funeral directors.  Jenny approaches this business with deep respect for the deceased. She recognizes the equalizing nature of death, emphasizing our shared humanity beneath societal roles and gender differences. In her determined way, Jenny revolutionized the industry, pushing forth innovative ideas as she was dissatisfied with outdated practices in the industry. Despite facing resistance, she believes families deserve a compassionate and personalized approach during times of grief. She introduced uniforms and name tags for her team, redesigned funeral settings and backdrops to reflect calm and elegant spaces and even humanized the departed by creating biographies for guests at the wake and funeral to know them even in death. Her ideas didn't stop there. Concerned after overhearing how an adult explained death inappropriately to a child, she and her husband decided to author a children's book that approached the topic in a non-morbid yet respectful manner.  This episode is sponsored by Redbox Studio. For more information, show notes and links, visit WomenpreneurAsia.com