Leading with Purpose!
Women’s leadership continues to be an essential focus across industries as organizations recognize the value of diverse perspectives in driving progress. With the growing influence of women in business, there is an increasing emphasis on building communities that uplift and support female leaders. These initiatives aim to address the challenges women face in leadership roles, offering guidance and fostering personal and professional growth. The shift toward making spaces where women can connect, share experiences, and mentor one another plays an important role in encouraging the next generation of female leaders to step confidently into their roles.
Kim Underhill, CEO and Founder of She Brilliance demonstrates the qualities of a leader who prioritizes the growth and development of others. Her leadership is rooted in a deep commitment to empowering women to thrive both personally and professionally. Through her coaching and mentorship, Kim cultivates an environment where women are encouraged to embrace their authentic selves and lead with confidence. Her focus on building relationships, offering constructive feedback, and inspiring women to take initiative has shaped a community where collaboration and personal development are at the core.
She Brilliance, established by Kim and Co-founders El Kwang and Kate Sibbett in 2021. While El Kwang and Kate Sibbett have stepped down due to repatriation overseas, Kim continues to manage the platform dedicated to supporting women through mentorship programs, learning and development sessions, and initiatives that give back to the community. By connecting women in various industries, She Brilliance creates opportunities for collaboration and growth while also emphasizing the importance of social impact. The organization’s mission is to provide a supportive environment where women can develop their leadership skills, advance their careers, and contribute to causes that uplift others. Through its initiatives, She Brilliance continues to make a meaningful impact on women’s leadership development.
Let’s explore Kim’s strategic leadership journey:
Addressing Superficiality in Leadership Conferences
Kim was already an entrepreneur running her own consultancy and executive leadership coaching business alongside her corporate career prior to establishing She Brilliance in 2021. Her current journey started when she began exploring coaching some 20 years ago as her leadership journey entered senior management roles, and she wanted to learn and become a better, more influential, and effective leader.
Through the years, the thought of “Life After” (not after-life) got her thinking about how she would like to retire and still live a fulfilled life. Hence, she called her current phase “Pretirement,” doing something meaningful, truly enjoying the freedom of choice, and deciding how busy she wants to be (own time, own targets).
What inspired her to start She Brilliance was simply because she found many Women Leadership Conferences too superficial, with great women leaders she called “Goddesses of MNCs” sharing their success journeys and stories but never truly or personally connecting with the audience. It was all about them. She wants She Brilliance to be different—one that focuses on the audience, the women who are truly seeking guidance and support on their development journeys.
Building a Supportive Women’s Community
Her key responsibility is to ensure the community embraces the company 5Cs mission, which means “We CONNECT to COMMUNICATE, find opportunities to COLLABORATE, and most importantly, step up to CONTRIBUTE before we CELEBRATE as ONE.”
Building a community that encourages more business and professional women to come together to advance other women through its Mentorship Programme, Learning and Development sharing sessions, and Do Good Together, raising funds to help the less fortunate is essential.
Getting to know each member is a large part of her work, ensuring as best as possible that everybody is supported in one way or another.
Supporting Career and Professional Development
Kim’s leadership style is very “Coaching,” hence the name the community has given her, “Mama-Bear.” Her focus is on empowering as many women as possible to shine through building confidence, helping them bring light to their personal brand visibility, and creating an ecosystem to support their career and professional development.
Her continuous work is to cultivate a Coaching Leadership style in the women as well. This requires the willingness of these women to build strong relationships, encourage open communication, set clear goals for the community/mission, provide constructive feedback, and foster independence by empowering members to take the initiative and step up to lead special interest groups/projects.
She encourages continuous learning and provides opportunities for development.
She aims to be a role model and demonstrate the behaviors she wants to see in the community.
Involving People in the Change Process
She emphasizes the importance of having a clear vision and the ability to articulate a compelling vision for change to align the organization’s goals and provide a sense of purpose for transition through effective communication.
She always involves her people throughout the change process, soliciting input and feedback from them to help increase buy-in and reduce uncertainty and anxiety about the unknown. She believes that change is constant and must focus on people—how she cares for, leads, and develops them—so they can accept and have a voice to question some of her change strategies.
She often encourages people to “Be the Change before change changes YOU.” This involves a simple process to influence people’s behaviors through “Embrace the UNCOMFORTABLE,” being extremely CURIOUS, always staying CONNECTED, practicing CONSCIOUS decision-making, and allowing no CARPING.
Kim is intentional and conscious about ‘I Walk the Talk’ to influence change. She believes people follow leaders who care, have good relationships with them, are inspiring, have successful stories in their personal and professional journeys, and are leaders they respect.
Matching Mentors and Mentees Effectively
Kim understands the strengths, personalities, and needs of the mentors and mentees, which helps her shape the way she matches each mentor/mentee pairing.
She Brilliance uses the “Befriender” approach to mentorship, meaning while the cohort lasts for 3 months, all pairings are encouraged to keep the relationship beyond the stipulated timeframe. Kim’s personal mentor has been with her for 30 years, and she still seeks his advice every now and then.
As for the monthly masterclasses, the focus is to raise awareness of the subject experts from within the community. She Brilliance focuses on inviting women leaders and entrepreneurs to step up to conduct classes for the community. The subjects range from personal to professional development and often include lots of interactive and fun out-of-the-box topics.
Supporting Smaller Non-Profit Organisations
Social impact for She Brilliance is about identifying the smaller, less visible non-profit organizations and causes to support.
Every year, She Brilliance selects a different platform, and this year, the focus is on “Sewing Mums,” a campaign supporting single mothers with chronic illness or caring for a sick child. Through home-based sewing projects, they can earn a livelihood.
Kim’s focus remains on supporting women-related initiatives and leading and encouraging the community to step up to jointly create and raise funds. Just this week, a beneficiary from a local charity passed suddenly, leaving behind a 7-year-old daughter. She Brilliance immediately stepped up to raise funds to help with funeral costs and the little girl’s future living expenses.
Balancing Work-Life Integration Through Choices
Balancing work-life integration for her is all about the choices she makes and how she manages her time. Her clear vision was simply to have more quality time with her family, continue to support women’s leadership development, volunteer her time for non-profit activities, and use her years of corporate experience to keep working so that she could travel as far as she could and for as long as she can.
Having been a single mother for the last 30 years, raising two young kids, then aged 8 and 4 years old, building resilience came automatically (no time for tears nor excuses) and getting things done with minimum concerns of the ‘what ifs’ helped her stay focused and forward.
Today, her time is evenly shared between these objectives. She is independent in pursuing her professional career in Management Consultancy, Executive Leadership Coaching, and Keynote speaking, where she can be selective on the projects she takes on, allowing her time for She Brilliance, her passion project. She also finds time to volunteer in women-related social spaces such as Daughters of Tomorrow, Singapore Business Professional Women Association, Global Women in Public Relations, etc.
Staying Updated on Leadership Trends
Methods Kim uses to stay informed about the latest trends in leadership development and personal branding are:
Keeping abreast of what’s going on locally, regionally, and globally through industry publications, listening to podcasts, social media, and networking with industry-related groups helps her stay updated.
Continuous learning is key, and she is very intentional in participating in development programs to ensure the work she does remains relevant.
Ensuring her social media is updated with the key projects she is involved in helps build focused brand visibility both personally and professionally.
Empowering Women to Lead with Confidence
Her advice to women aspiring to take on leadership roles in their careers is:
“Stop Whining and Start Winning in Heels,” her next book title, reminds women that they can have it all. Women just need to be clear on what they want and how badly they want it and be very hungry to pursue a career in leadership without constantly finding excuses or reasons why it cannot be done. A mindset shift from questioning to positivity is essential. Here are some tips shared by Kim for women aiming for their next major role.
Believe in Yourself: Confidence is key. Trust your abilities and be proud of your accomplishments. Know that you deserve a seat at the table. Just because you are between jobs does not make you a nobody. Think transition. Acknowledge and appreciate what you’ve done and how far you’ve come.
Seek Guidance: Find mentors who have successfully journeyed the career you wish to pursue to guide you, share their experiences, and provide valuable insights. Network with women leaders who inspire you and share the same values.
Skills Development: Continuously improve your skills and knowledge relevant to your field. Consider taking courses, attending workshops, or pursuing certifications that can enhance your expertise. Get involved and/or volunteer your time to support and learn new skills.
Build/Strengthen Your Visibility: Don’t shy away from putting yourself out there. Share your ideas, participate in discussions, and take on visible projects to showcase your talents. Check out what and how your social images are being perceived. Are they telling the stories you want and truly representing who you are?
Embrace Challenges: Take on difficult tasks or leadership roles that stretch your abilities. Demonstrate resilience and problem-solving skills to differentiate yourself.
Build a Strong Network: Cultivate relationships across your organization and industry. Networking can open doors to new opportunities and collaborations. Your network can be your net worth.
Effective Communication & Presentation: The ability to articulate your thoughts clearly, structurally, and confidently is essential in leadership roles.
Be Authentic: Stay true to yourself and your values. Authenticity fosters trust and respect, which are crucial in leadership positions.
Support Other Women: Lift others as you climb. Supporting fellow women in their journeys can create a strong network and encourage a culture of empowerment. It also shows how you “Walk the Talk” in women’s leadership development.
Stay Resilient: Face setbacks with resilience. Learning from failures and maintaining a positive attitude can help you navigate challenges.
By following these tips, women can position themselves for success in leadership roles and make a significant impact in their careers.
Developing Future Leaders for Brand Growth
She Brilliance is 420- members strong and will be celebrating its 3rd Anniversary this October. Kim’s future aspirations for She Brilliance include continuing to grow the membership with focus and improving on its 3 key pillars: Mentorship Programme, Monthly Social Masterclass, and Socially Impactful Networking.
Regional expansion is one of the focuses for 2025, with plans to expand reach regionally through collaborations with other women leadership platforms in the region. Discussions are already in place for Malaysia, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and South Africa.
She Brilliance will also launch the “She Brilliance Public Speaking Academy” to help women build brand visibility through better communication and presentation skills and to increase their speaking opportunities at events, corporations, and conferences.
Additionally, developing potential leaders to take on key leadership roles will help grow the brand presence and community.
