288: Believe In Your Abilities With Janine Teo

Janine Teo is currently the CEO of Solve Education, a not-for-profit Education Technology company with the mission to make quality education accessible to everyone. Janine is a passionate entrepreneur who started her first business at 22 in the beauty industry. She continued to create other profitable companies in the beauty, technology, and consumer goods industries.

Janine used to doubt her abilities thinking she wasn’t good enough for her job and was comparing herself to other people. The moment she started to believe in her own abilities, that is when she gained the confidence to be the person that she is today.

Bio

Janine Teo is currently the CEO of Solve Education

Cultural Background

Janine is of Singaporean descent.

Favorite Self Confidence Quote

You can do more than you think you can.

Definition of Self Confidence

Self confidence is to be able to love yourself, know your strengths, and acknowledge your weaknesses.

Her Life Before the Discovery of Self Confidence

Janine remembers growing up thinking that she was ugly. Her first job out of school, was in Paris, France as a software engineer. And prior to that, she had spent almost her whole life in Asia. She was really self conscious and doubted her abilities. Even though she had represented her school for programming competitions and published research papers on IEEE, she still felt inferior to her colleagues. It didn’t help that she was smaller than most people and spoke french with a funny accent.

The “AHA” Moment

Perhaps Janine was lucky to be in the tech field, where one’s competencies can be measured clearly and that neither her size nor her accent mattered. With commitment and hard work, it was soon evident to the team that she was able to perform, and she never looked back or questioned my abilities since.

Her Life After the Discovery of Self Confidence

Janine felt that she could achieve anything she set out to do, and that her limiting beliefs is the only obstacle stopping her to do what she wants to do. After a few years in software engineering, she followed her love for travelling and jumped into the hospitality industry.

After a enriching career and having travelled 40 countries, Janine started thinking about her purpose in life. She wanted to make a difference and contribute to the society. And that is when she left her corporate career and took up the challenge of leading Solve Education!, a not-for-profit education company, which combines her tech background, her experience in training and working with emerging markets.

The One Self Confidence Tip For the Listener

Have faith in yourselves. No one has a straight and smooth road to success, so if things are not looking well for you at the moment, know that it is a temporary state, as long as you continue to push towards your goals.