Name : Karen Tok

Website : www.karentok.com

Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/karentok

Instagram : karentok1234

A New Way To Win | Entrepreneur | Speaker | Start-Up Mentor | Social Change Maker |Personal Transformation Enthusiast | Boundary Breaker

"I'm inspired by opportunity and

motivated by adversity."

Karen is an Inspirational Speaker, Thought Leader on A New Way to Win, and Founder of award-winning biotechnology recruitment firm, ScienTec Consulting Pte Ltd.  A highly dynamic individual and forward-thinking business leader, Karen was nominated for the Great Woman of Our Times Award 2018 by Woman’s Weekly Magazine and a recipient of the merit award for Shell LiveWire Young Business Start-up Award 2005.

Karen is a visionary self-starter who attained outstanding entrepreneurial success despite being written off as an academic no-hoper with a learning disability. With a seed capital of S$10,000, she built a thriving business valued at S$10 million dollars at the time of trade sales some 12 years later.

Karen start-up weathered the storm of two recessions: she first started her business during the 2001 recession post-dot-com bubble crash and was further hit by the Global Financial Crisis in 2009 during the scale-up stage. Tons of near-fatal business mistakes were made with six-figure sums spent on an expansion that went down the drain. With escalating overheads, fierce competition, high staff turnover, and unfavourable economy, they didn’t just weather the storms, they thrived. Under her helm, ScienTec won over 20 prestigious industry awards and expanded its Biotech and Pharmaceutical  headhunting services to other verticals and related services. To think that Karen had no prior industry knowledge nor sector expertise when she started the company!

“Belief is the first step to transform adversity into possibility”

A pioneer in the biotechnology recruitment industry, Karen quickly became a much sought-after opinion leader for the industry and was often quoted in Singapore’s mainstream media on the pulse of the industry. Her entrepreneurial success story was featured in many media outlets including The Straits Times, Her World, Forward – Shell LiveWire’s book on entrepreneurship, 938Live! Money FM 89.3, to name a few. Her thought leadership articles have also been extensively published in The Sunday Times, and industry publications such as Human Resource, HRM and BioSpectrum.

Karen is an avid lifelong learner and a firm-believer in personal transformation. She believes that with the right tools, anyone can achieve their life goals.  Based on the many triumphs, challenges, peaks and troughs of her business and personal experiences, Karen developed a winning formula on A New Way to Win – one that is designed to help people overcome their setbacks and fear of failure, to reinvent a life they truly desire. She is passionate about sharing this formula to positively impact as many people as possible through speaking engagements, coaching and mentoring. 

“Live to learn, not learn, in order to live”

She regularly gives motivational speeches, both to the student community and business corporations. She was one of the inspirational female speakers for Lancôme’s Find Your Light 2018 event in Singapore, African Women Leadership Forum and panel speaker for Women’s Weekly Great Women of Our Time 2019 Forum and ITE Entrepreneur Forum 2016.  She also provides start-up mentoring and career coaching to individuals and social enterprises. Karen volunteers at Young Founder School, Asia Institude of Mentoring, various personal transformation programs and organises community workshops on overcoming the fear of failure, mental health and personal empowerment.

Karen believes her purpose in life has always been, and still is, to experience life itself – a tireless and rewarding journey to LEARN, CREATE and INSPIRE.

Karen is born in Singapore and happily married with a daughter. Her love for adventure, culture and competitive sports led her to take up whitewater rafting, skydiving, bungee jumping and motor-cross.  She had travelled solo, and with friends to off-the-beaten-track places such as Peshawar Pakistan, Nepal, Rajasthan India, Port Hardy, Vancouver. Karen also has numerous trophies to her name in swimming, canoeing, basketball, volleyball and sailing.

“Make education for living and not education for making a living”

Credits: SPH http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/cant-keep-a-good-woman-down (SPH Journalist of the Year 2016 and Best Use of Online Video at the 2015 World Digital Media Awards)