Health x Wellness
Wellness Day Out launches inaugural event in Singapore
The inaugural Wellness Day Out is Singapore’s first ever event championing body positivity and self-confidence
The event will be packed with activities focusing on helping the public better understand what a healthy body is and can be. Topics will touch on how people can gain confidence in how they look and feel. There will also be booths at the event promoting and selling health-related items.
The Wellness Insider online platform and the Wellness Subscription Box will also be introduced at the event. The Subscription Box, valued at over $150, contain various products such as perfumes, healthy snacks, self-help books and spa vouchers. The box will be available exclusively online at S$20 after the event.
We spoke with Melissa Fann, founder of The Wellness Insider about her journey starting the company and the challenges she faced.
Active Age (AA): What started you on your journey towards creating and building The Wellness Insider?
Melissa Fann (MF): There have been a few key incidents throughout my life that have slowly shaped the creation of The Wellness Insider.
I’ve always been made conscious about my weight since I was young and it was only when I was older did I realise how it had affected me psychologically – always chasing the latest diet trend, wasting money on weight loss programmes or massages and feeling guilty if I had eaten something ‘decadent’. It didn’t help that I only received compliments whenever I lost weight.
The tipping point came when I discovered that I had endometriosis and had suddenly gained 10kg within a few months, had to go for emergency surgery and while I was worrying about my health, I had heard that an ex-colleague had passed a remark that I probably went for surgery due to complications with diet pills. The hurt and anger from that comment fuelled my determination to work hard on my mental health while I also started researching on food and fitness. It was there that I realised that there were so many people who are constantly body shamed, bullied and embarking on diet fads – just like me. Thus, I wanted to create a platform to properly educate people about holistic health, give sustainable advice from the experts themselves while promoting body confidence because it is that with which we can then embark on a health journey.
AA: What was the biggest challenge you faced?
MF: Just like any start-up, getting customers and making the business sustainable are always difficult. I’m still learning every single day and I like to tell others that I wish I could clone myself (haha)!
AA: What was the best milestone achieved to date?
MF: How quickly we’ve grown in terms of followers and readers. In barely 6 months, we had hit 5,000 views per month on our website, over 2,000 followers on Instagram and more than 3,000 ‘likes’ on Facebook. This is heartening as it shows that we’re on the right track and it motivates us to churn out quality content while also engaging our followers through offline events such as our inaugural Wellness Day Out!
AA: In your opinion, what are the top 2 activities over Wellness Day Out for people over 35YO to attend?
MF: Basic Self-Defence and the Adult Batik Workshop.
The former is because we’re never too old to learn techniques on how to defend ourselves if the situation arises. I’m currently taking lessons with the instructor, Zackiee Ng, on self-defence and I must say that the class is really fun too!
We’re also very fortunate to work with aNERDgallery to bring in artists from Komporseni, an arts community-based in Yogyakarta, and those who are more interested in refining the mind would find this workshop an outlet for their creativity. Attendees will also discover the meditative side of Batik making through canting.
Event details:
Event details and the registration can be found on http://dayout.thewellnessinsider.sg/. Tickets can be purchased online at https://www.eventbrite.sg/e/wellness-day-out-tickets-34269362586?aff=microsite.
Interested participants can purchase an individual festival pass for S$40 on Saturday and S$30 on Sunday to attend the workshops available on that day. Workshops will be limited to 30 persons on a first come first serve basis.
Attendees will also be able to purchase their tickets during the event day.
