Babes Your Friend
Melisa Wong
Executive Director
Melisa joined Babes in December 2020. She has a Bachelor’s in Social Work from NUS and is a Registered Social Worker with the Singapore Social Work Association.
Being in the sector for more than 20 years, she has been involved in various community and social service programmes for arts, environment, seniors, children and family both as a volunteer and her career. Prior to Babes, Melisa was at SPIN, a pilot programme with NCSS supporting single parent families, this coincided with her transition to motherhood.
There’s a saying “As we create light for others, we naturally light our own way, just as we make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.”
One will never be able to understand the pains and struggles of others, but we can empathise and support them in their journey. Melisa believes that there is always a way to do things better and with that she always takes small steps to improve situations. She hopes to continue to make a difference and impact the community.
Noor Haslinda Hj. Md So’od
Senior Social Worker (RSW)
‘The youth of today, are the leaders of tomorrow’ – Nelson Mendela
Haslinda left the media industry to join the Social Service sector in 2008. Her first stint in the sector was an eye opener as she was exposed to working with ex-offenders and managing volunteers who are highly qualified and very experienced in the sector. Despite the challenges, she has never looked back. In 2011, Haslinda received the National CSSP Award for co-spearheading The Community Befriending Project in collaboration with Singapore Prisons Service. The rich experiences and various trainings she received during the five years of working with volunteers and ex-offenders in the after-care sector gave her the drive to advocate further for the less fortunate group in the community.
Haslinda joined Babes in 2013 with Outreach as her main portfolio. However, while completing her Social Work studies, she realises her true calling in case management. With the blessing and encouragement from the Executive Director, she joined the casework team in 2016. Her tertiary education in two very different fields; Mass Communications and Social Work has somewhat given her the edge to be in this sector. A strong believer in the impact that youths have on society, Haslinda is passionate about youth capacity building and wants to do more for youths at risk. An animal lover, she wants to study animal therapy in hopes to introduce alternative therapy as part of her counselling and case management in the future!
Siti Fatimah Binte Abdul Karim
Senior Social Worker (RSW)
Siti joined Babes as a Community Partnership Executive back in December 2014. Coming from a finance background, Siti decided to make that switch to social work and join Babes. She has a bachelor’s degree in Communication from Singapore University of Social Science. With support from Babes and her family, she then pursued her Graduate Diploma and successfully completed her Master of Social Work in 2017.
With her accreditation as a social worker, Siti continues to journey with our service users, families, friends and volunteers. To Siti, seeing lives being empowered and witnessing the positive change in them is such a beautiful experience and that kept her going till today. She strongly believes that with right guidance and support, our youth has the capacity to build resilience and grow from adversity.
On a personal level, Siti hope to pursue her PHD one day on an issue/topic that revolves around our youth of today.
Santhiya Subra
Partnership Executive
Santhiya is the Outreach Executive at Babes. Her role at Babes includes educating and working collaboratively with other agencies and schools in Singapore. Being professionally trained in Applied Theatre, Santhiya believes in the unique capacity drama has to empower individuals and incorporates the collaborative processes of drama with the outreach work at Babes.
Santhiya graduated from The Royal Central of Speech and Drama, London in 2013. Her interest in social issues associated with girls in particular started while working at HEEALS, Delhi where she educated and helped girls in slums about sanitation and hygiene issues. Since then, she has worked and volunteered with various non-profit organisations and charities working closely with young girls addressing issues of poverty, abuse and more. She strongly believes the importance of building a strong community for young girls to grow and thrive in.
Pearlyn Tan
Marketing & Communications Executive
Pearlyn is the Marketing & Communications Executive at Babes. She spearheads content creation and manages Babes’ online presence as well as work with volunteers and partners to co-create collaborative events/programs to empower youths.
Everyone has a story to tell and all our narratives are valid. Pearlyn is passionate presenting the stories of individuals to shed light on complex issues. She is also an avid believer in building meaningful relationships not just with external organisations, volunteers but also service-users to partner with them and create purposeful programs that can help empower and build a strong community.
In her free time, she reads, draws and attempt to pet strange cats.
Pearlyn graduated from NUS Business School in Business Administration in 2016.
Zeenatunnisa d/o Mohd Haniff
HR and Finance Executive
Zeenat has more than 20 years of experience in the HR and Finance department having vast experience in different industries. She has also managed her own Building Maintenance company for over a decade.
She joined Babes in March of 2019 and manage all aspects of HR /Admin and finance functions and Corporate Governance. Every industry is a learning journey which expands to more opportunities.
Patsy Ang
Volunteer Management Executive
Patsy started volunteering since 2012. After many years in the corporate world, she makes the big move to leave her career and embark on a trip to Myanmar.
Volunteering with the Children of Tomorrow Youth Centre, she has experienced days without electricity power and water. These simple necessities to us, is a luxury to them.
When COVID 19 started, Patsy joined the SG Healthcare Corps to serve in the frontline supporting the swab operations. Her passion to help and support the underprivileged and needy was ignited, prompting her to join the non-profit sector.
In August 2021, Patsy joined Babes as a Volunteer Management Executive. She has a BSc (Hons) in Psychology and is a Certified Human Behaviour Consultant.
Tan Ban Cheng
Knowledge Management Executive
Cheng is the Knowledge Management Executive at Babes. He works with the team to enhance the capture, access and sharing of knowledge within the organisation with the aim to support the functions and work processes of Babes. One area of the work will involve the structured organisation of digital knowledge content for easier access and sharing.
Cheng joined Babes in 2021 after more than 30 years of work in the land transport sector. He is a civil engineer by training. He had witnessed the rapid growth and acquisition of knowledge and capability in the sector. In the later of his career in the sector, he worked in areas and projects on the sharing, exchange and capture of knowledge on land transport.
Ixora Amyra
Social Work Associate
Ixora joined Babes in July 2021. She is a fresh graduate, who completed her Diploma in Social Sciences (Social Work) from Nanyang Polytechnic.
She chose the working route before continuing her studies in undergraduate level so as to gain experience and be in field. She feels that experiential learning will allow her to experience greater gratification in honing her skills and knowledge in social work.
Despite her young age, her supervisors and mentors have commended her with high independent learning and good analytical ability to engage in self-relfection.
She has a passion and aptitude towards research. She hopes to pursue a thesis work in her undergraduate study.
She enjoys doing graphic designs and explores new technology for leisure!