The Nurts Founder Rachel Tan on Life as a Working Mompreneur
Being a parent is a full-time job in and of itself. The hours are long and unpredictable, often stretching into late nights and early mornings, with no weekends or holidays off. From the moment a child is born, parents face the unending journey of caregiving, guiding, and nurturing.
For Rachel Tan, founder of the Malaysian parenting-based card game The Nurts and Director of Marketing at Klook, every second counts. Despite her busy life as an entrepreneur and a career woman, she still manages to take care of her family through her unwavering dedication. This path, of course, has not been without its hurdles.
In an exclusive interview, The Beat Asia chatted with the multi-hyphenate mompreneur about The Nurts — how it has been helping struggling parents, her own debacles, and how she continues to overcome all of the challenges that come her way.
How does this superwoman do it? Read on to find out!
Establishing The Nurts
“There is no one way to parent.”
This idea was what brought Rachel’s brand, The Nurts, to fruition. Given that parenting is a multi-faceted endeavor and their family's fondness for games, she decided to create The Nurts card game — the brand's first product — as a simulation to guide parents like her.
“The idea of it was to simulate parenting and what comes with parenting: decision-making, resource management, whether you have enough time [for your kids], and whether you have enough money to raise your kid,” she shared.
After getting great feedback from their peers and customers for their card game, The Nurts went on to release the book “A Parent’s Promise,” which contains a narration of the various roles that parents play in their children's lives. The book sold over a thousand copies, making The Nurts a well-known brand for parents in Malaysia looking for tools to help them through their parenting journey.
Today, the brand offers several products, including their best-selling card game Heart-to-Heart, the financial literacy-themed game The Money Genius, and the science-themed card game BonDing, as well as activity books and play kits, some of which were developed in collaboration with medical professionals and child development experts to better address learning gaps in children.
Life as a Working Mompreneur
Rachel wears many hats. Just a few months ago, she also took on a new role as the Director of Marketing at travel booking platform Klook, adding to her many responsibilities.
Thanks to her “hands-on” and “go-getter” personalities, Rachel manages to juggle everything gracefully. At home, she caters to the varying needs of her three kids, teaching them important values and playing with them, among many others.
As she shared her experiences with her kids, Rachel gave a motherly smile, “[My kids] are quite young. They have different needs at different life stages. So as a parent, I feel like I have to be quite adaptive to the different needs of [my] child... I have to play different roles. I have to be a teacher, a dancer; I have to be everything they want when we’re playing together.”
“I hope that when they grow older, they will look back and appreciate the time that we spent together,” she added.
When it comes to work and business, Rachel gets a little bit more serious. According to her, being fast and adaptive has helped her brand grow, her team at The Nurts to flourish, and elevated her career as a marketing professional. But even with all her successes, the learning never stops for Rachel.
“As an entrepreneur, I’m still learning. I’m very grateful for my team because I realized, as an entrepreneur, you can’t do everything on your own.”
When asked how she balances work, business, and motherhood, Rachel chuckled at the familiar question. For her, it is all about “quality over quantity,” making sure that she puts her best foot forward in everything that she does, even with spending time with her kids.
“I have had to constantly prioritize, constantly also remind myself to make sure that whatever time I spend, I need to put my heart and soul into it.”
Motherhood: The Highs and Lows
Rachel has experienced a lot of ups and downs, five years into motherhood. For her, missing important milestones with her kids was the hardest part of such a venture. She also shared that, in the beginning, she had a hard time balancing her career and family. Eventually, she decided to take a break at the peak of her career to focus on her budding family.
Thankfully, Rachel was surrounded by people who would become her support system. About three years later, she was able to pick it up and kickstart her career once again.
Among everyone to be grateful for, Rachel is most thankful for her kids for understanding her being a working mom. This, according to her, is a result of her and her partner’s constant communication with their kids.
“We always chat with them (the kids) very openly. We talk to them like they’re adults. I tell them, 'Oh, I’m starting a new role soon. I’m quite excited about it, but I'm also sad because I don't spend much time at home.’ I will tell them things like that.”
She added, “Hopefully, sharing and being open about how I feel as an adult and them understanding how it feels [will] guide them to manage their emotions eventually when they grow older.”
While parenting and working at the same time can be tiring, for Rachel, it is especially rewarding when her kids hug her and welcome her home at the end of each day.
Despite her busy life as a working mompreneur, Rachel remains grateful for what she has and hopeful for the things coming her way. In the next few months, she and The Nurts are set to launch a new product focusing on nutrition, among other projects. This, along with being able to watch her kids grow before her very eyes, is what keeps her going.
Leaving some advice to other struggling parents and mompreneurs, Rachel noted, “If you are thinking about something, just do it. I think if you worry too much, you will never do it. Just follow your heart."
Learn more about Rachel Tan by following her on Instagram. You can also check out The Nurts’ offerings and future events by visiting their website and social media pages.
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