A Personal Struggle
Having children was always part of the life plan - a milestone I wanted to hit before I turned 30.
So, 2 years into my marriage, we started casually trying - when I was 28 and my husband was 30. But, unlike what Hollywood made us believe was incredibly easy, we just could not get pregnant.
And with each late period, I experienced such a rollercoaster of emotions - from cautious hope to utter disappointment. I blamed the work stress - so I took a 2-month sabbatical off work at Uniqlo in 2021. It did not work out.
(Note to future self: Don't put yourself on a clock if your goal is to reduce pressure haha.)
My husband and I went for fertility tests at National University Hospital (NUH) in 2022 under Professor P C Wong to figure out why. And after multiple tests (with the last fallopian tube test truly being the most traumatic), they still couldn't figure out why we were unable to get pregnant.
This was when it finally dawned on me that I had absolutely no control of the situation. So, I let go. I convinced myself that I never really wanted kids anyway. And that with my career ambitions and workaholic personality, I didn't have what it takes to be a good mom.
But, God had other plans - unbeknownst to me, I was pregnant when filming this Instagram reel below.
Never-ending Curveballs
Looking back, I was rather foolish to think that getting pregnant was the toughest part of the journey.
Pregnancy itself was no bed of roses. Because it took awhile to get pregnant, I would stay up anxious that I would lose the baby. I would also spontaneously puke everywhere, even when I was crossing the road (everyone at work knew I was pregnant before I even announced it).
I had a risk of pre-eclampsia so I had to take aspirin regularly, and was also diagnosed with gestational diabetes (GD). As a pregnant woman with heightened emotions and intense food cravings, having to control my diet proved to be an uphill battle.
So, when I finally gave birth, I was ecstatic! I thought - hey, now that the baby's out, I can experience a semblance of normalcy again. My first meal after giving birth was 100% carbs - carrot cake (chai tao kway), and it was heavenly.
Then, the newborn phase hit and it was inarguably the toughest period of my life. My son, Eze (short for Ezekiel, although as a newborn he was anything BUT easy), had colic and nothing I gave him seemed to soothe him. And it got to a point where I was afraid to be alone with my son, which killed me inside because he's my biggest blessing and an answered prayer.
I almost had a panic attack every time the clock hit about 6pm because of witching hour, where he would start crying without fail and it’ll last all the way till 12am. It got so bad that even when I was taking a quick shower, I could still hear his screams ringing in my ears. But, thankfully, things got better after the first trimester so if you’re where I was in the journey - there’s light at the end of the tunnel!
This was a reel I created in memory of the first year of becoming a mom:
The Journey Of Building The Business
As soon as I got out of the newborn fog, I had to go back to full-time work and boy was I not ready. I recall my first week back being the launch of the 2023 KAWS x UT Collection and the pace was intense, to say the least.
And after a few months of being the last to pick my son up from Infant Care, I decided to leave Uniqlo with a really heavy heart because it was very much a second home to me for the past 7 years.
But, I couldn't stop thinking about this business idea I brainstormed with my colleague and fellow mom friend, Tracy. Incidentally, Tracy was the first person who came to my rescue after my confinement nanny left, and I was struggling desperately to understand my son's cries.
We saw firsthand the truly high standards that the Japanese held themselves to, even one as fast-moving as Uniqlo - including recalling products that didn't make the cut, multiple levels of QC checks and the in-depth detail that was required for every project.
Even when their product was rigorously tested and certified to solve problems, they were very careful in how they worded it - under promising and over delivering is a way of life for them.
And to us, this was such a breath of fresh air from the way products were being pushed in the marketplaces - I've bought so many products that promised so much, only to do so little.
So, when we couldn't easily find high quality Japanese brands in the kids and baby market in Singapore, it was deeply frustrating. We found this particularly to be the case for baby food, where products in the market were filled with emulsifiers and unnecessary ingredients that we didn't feel good feeding our kids.
And as time-pressed working moms, we found it so difficult to find the time to prep meals for our kids and asked ourselves - "Who can we trust (sometimes even more than ourselves), to prepare clean food that our precious babies will love?" And that question eventually led us to look for solutions in Japan.
So, while Tracy flew to specialty stores for kids and babies to observe customer habits in Japan, I studied Rakuten's site and read hundred of pages of listings and reviews to narrow down products that we wanted to bring to Singapore. And we brought these products back to Singapore to test them for ourselves. What was interesting was that the Japanese brands that were readily available here weren’t the top sellers back in Japan.
So, we then cold-emailed and pitched ourselves to these Japanese companies, many of whom have never ventured out of Japan, to convince them to trust us with their homegrown brands. And after multiple zoom calls in Japanese, some of them graciously agreed to allow us to help them expand out of Japan for the first time.
A slide from our pitch deck can be seen below:
Kinchan's Mission
After having kids, we've never been so filled with the desire to give our kids only the best. And somehow, if we're unable to, the mom guilt that hits is so real and raw (amirite ladies?)
We want to help lessen that guilt in whatever way we can, by providing products, especially in the ready-to-eat food category, that are as clean and pure as possible. Because let's face it, Japanese moms will not accept products that are subpar for their kids.
We also want to make life easier for parents - curating both newborn and everyday household products that can help with overcoming everyday problems.
For instance, super absorbent sponges that soak up spills, hair trimmers that make haircuts at home easy and safe, and built-in tongs containers that are a hygienic way to hand out snacks.
We also carry the world's first formula cubes from Meiji that make feeding babies so much more convenient, and first-of-its-kind swaddle mats and quick-to-wear bodysuits that make caring for newborns so much easier.
Join Our Community
This is just the beginning of our journey, and we’d love for you to be part of it.
We don't want to be just product pushers - we'd like to be a safe space that parents can turn to if they have questions or just need a listening ear.
So, we'll be hosting community outreach events where parents have a chance to connect and support one another. An upcoming one will be one where we invite Early Childhood Educators to share more about how to support a child's social emotional development in this complex digital world.
If you're interested in our community events, please sign up for our email newsletter (scroll to the bottom to leave your email) - we'll be sharing signup forms through this channel. You can also follow our journey on Instagram (@kinchanofficial).
I acknowledge that others have had much tougher journeys to parenthood, but this is mine and I hope it can help you feel like you're not alone!
Thank you for taking the time to read our story and for being on this journey with us <3!
Love,
Rachel on behalf of Kinchan