Molly Lives On... In The Molly Lee Appeal

I'm writing this a little bit prematurely but... I'm too excited to care!

Those of you who have followed and loved Vanilla when it was alive, will remember the winner of our Singapore Woman Award (hey Pam you are right - it may not be us anymore this year but hey, it's still a great idea worth supporting).

Molly Lee was a beautiful, gentle young woman who was a cancer sufferer. When her husband Josef Lee first emailed me to feature her, I was blown away a) by the portfolio he sent of his wife and her blog and what she had done via WeAreWonderWomen.Com. b) by Josef's deep love for Molly, which even as I write this, touches me deeply.

Molly beat over 40 other nominees to be unanimously selected by the panel of judges (Laura Hwang, Prof Ivy Ng of KKH, Saw Phaik Hwa of SMRT, and Alan Nementchik from Guardian) as the winner. 

Molly passed away on 29 May 2008, two months after she won the Award.

Josef and I had been in touch since - he wanted to do something to keep alive Molly's passion for other young women cancer sufferers. We discussed a few project ideas but it all came back to the fact that we needed to create a Fund, and ideally, name it after Molly.

A week after I left MediaCorp (no Vanilla, no Theresa, haha) I emailed Laura and Ivy - and I tell you, these two women are super, ultra, mega amazing and they will be my heroes forever. Immediately they expressed their support for a fund, and Yvette Thomasz from KKH's corporate comms, met up with me and Ong Soh Chin (my former boss and a big supporter of Molly too).

Almost instantly Yvette said, "We can name it after Molly!"

So I am very proud and happy to announce that there is now The Molly Lee Appeal, in aid of the KK Hospital Endowment Fund. This Appeal is specifically for women aged 18-50 who suffer from women's cancers. We are currently discussing if this Appeal should also cover HIV/Aids sufferers who are women.

I am now planning our first fundraising event for the Appeal, together with my good friend Edwin Ho, a super talented photographer based in New York. Edwin has recently lost two female friends to cancer too, and this is a cause that is so close to both our hearts.

Stay tuned for news of our photo exhibition/auction fundraiser!

Singapore Woman Award lives on...

The Singapore Woman Award is back again, and nominations are now open! 

I was surprised to hear about it on the radio - the familiar ring of those words. And I was pleased to learn too that it continues to celebrate the ordinary woman who has done extraordinary things. 

Of course, I can't help but feel a tinge of sadness that it's now helmed by Channel NewsAsia and not Vanilla. But I guess if MediaCorp has decided to keep it going, and if another BU were to take over the Award, I'm glad it's Channal NewsAsia. So it's all good! *grin* 

I still remember going through the piles of nominations last year, reading what each nominator said about the special woman in his/her life, writing summaries for each nominee, meeting with the judges for the shortlisting process, and finally the Big Night itself where Molly Lee won. The memories are still fresh for me. 

I hope I get to attend this year's Singapore Woman Award ceremony. Or better yet, to interview the new winner on The Living Room. Let's try to lend our support still, girls!