Day in The Life: Nadia Chan, co-founder of Maiko Singapore

What does your daily routine look like, mamas? Tell us, we want to know!

In the series “A Day in the Life“, mamas submit snapshots of regular moments that occur throughout their daily routine. The idea is to show the wide variety of lives mamas lead in Singapore, whether you’re in the office, staying at home, or something in between.

Anyone else a big fan of Australian organic beauty brand CANVAS? We are equally obsessed with their essential oils! We’ve all got Singaporean mama Nadia Chan to thank for bringing CANVAS to the Little Red Dot, as she’s the co-founder of Maiko Pte Ltd (the local of distributor of CANVAS), and handles CANVAS’s marketing efforts and communication activities, as well as creatively developing new ideas to grow the brand and educate consumers on the importance of skincare. In her “spare” time, Nadia also serves as general manager of a local public relations agency, and she also packs in heaps of quality time with her 4-year-old son, Callum! We caught up with this supermama to find out how she makes it all work.

Want to know what her daily routine looks like? Check out our gallery! 

If you’d like to be featured in this series, mama, drop us a line at [email protected] with “Day in the Life” in the subject line!

Callum gets up at around 7am and we get a little bit of cuddle time. I believe in starting our day right and I make sure he knows that his mummy will always be there for him. He tells me about the cute little dreams he had the night before, which really makes my day. Most days, they are about chocolates and ice-cream falling from the sky.

After washing up, we have breakfast together on the balcony. It’s not always easy getting him to finish his breakfast but we try and encourage him to, by giving him a choice of what he can eat.

We get to do a little bit of playtime in the morning before we get ready for our day. Sometimes with our little hamster – Fluffy!

We start getting ready for work/school. Usually Callum squeezes in a bit more play time while waiting for me to be ready.

Usually this 20-minute drive is the most precious time I have with Callum. We have conversations about everything; from trucks and cars to sometimes really sentimental topics like him dreaming of having his very own sibling one day. It really is an eye opener for me to see how a 4-year-old sees the world.

Callum reaches school at about 9am and I am in the office by 9:30am. My day as the agency’s general manager begins and I start clearing emails before a quick coffee run.

9.30am to 1pm 
I am in and out of client meetings, meeting the team and building strategic plans for our clients. Sometimes, I get on the phone with my sister, who is currently based in Japan, to discuss about CANVAS. No time to waste!

I head out to pick Callum up from school and we will go for a quick ice-cream or snack fix before heading home.

I have a quick lunch at home which is usually relatively light and then zoom back into the office for an afternoon of meetings, client events etc.

Around this time, I’m usually out of the office and I’ll head home to spend some time with Callum. Unfortunately, I never make it home to have dinner with him as he eats right after play time at about 6pm. When I am home, I have half an hour of interaction time with him, so we’re either colouring, baking, playing or reading a book before its time for him to go to bed.

I have a shower, a quick dinner, and I’m either back on my computer working, fulfilling orders for CANVAS or stocktaking. Some days, I take it easy and will either get a quick workout or switch on Netflix to relax.