"What's in My Life Bag?" Featuring Grace Chan

by / Apr 23, 2020

Grace Chan stars in the first video in SENREVE's latest "What's in My Life Bag?" campaign

BY GRACE CHAN

At SENREVE, we are constantly in awe of the strong, multifaceted women that make up our Octopi community. SENREVE women are elegant, sophisticated, inspirational, and bold. In celebration of our first standalone pop-up at Pacific Place in Hong Kong later this year, we wanted to feature some of the inspiring women in our Octopi community. 

We're so proud to share our "What's in My Life Bag?" series featuring women we admire, with each clip giving you an intimate look into everything they carry – physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Their SENREVE bags are daily companions that allow each woman who does it all to truly carry it all, too. 

About Grace Chan
As one of the first partners we collaborated with during our Asia launch in late 2019, we knew from the beginning we wanted to include Grace in our campaign. A bright and passionate supporter of everything we stand for as a brand and as a company, Grace exhibits so many of the qualities we admire in the modern SENREVE woman, and we’re thrilled to be able to share an in-depth view into her life in our “What’s in My Life Bag?” series.

An actress, television host, pageant winner, and now a budding entrepreneur as well, Grace has spent years battling adversity and negativity in the public eye as she worked to achieve her childhood dream of representing Hong Kong in the pageant world, first as Miss Hong Kong and then Miss Chinese International. Though it hasn’t always been an easy journey, she’s come out on the other end a stronger, more resilient, and patient person – a journey that’s represented beautifully in her video.


WATCH GRACE'S FULL VIDEO

After filming, we sat down with her to learn a little bit more about the topics she touched on in her video, and how she’s gotten to where she is today.

SENREVE: You’ve always been involved in TV and pageants and now, you’ve decided to step into the world of business and entrepreneurship. When did you decide to start your beauty line, Snow Queen, and what made you take the leap?
Recently I’ve had more time to do some reading and felt inspired by women like Michelle Obama and Sheryl Sandberg who seem to be doing it all. I feel like women can be as many things as they want and even though it seemed I had a bit on my plate already – with adjusting to motherhood and being an actress – I felt compelled to try my hand at business too.

I knew however, that whatever business it was going to be, I needed to feel 100% about it, involving myself with the entire process. I also wanted to create a brand I believed in; Snow Queen was born because I truly believe in self-care. To me, you can’t take care of others if you can’t take care of yourself first. For now we’ve developed our first product – facial pads – but we’re hoping to continue expanding in personal care. I can’t wait to show everyone what’s next!


WATCH GRACE'S FULL VIDEO

SENREVE: You talked about the importance of courage and resilience. What has been the most challenging part of your career so far, and how did you overcome it?
I feel like I always go back and forth about my experience in the pageant. It's easy to just say that I had a great time learning how to present myself, making new friends and courageously standing on the stage and making it to the end. But that's not the whole truth.

Having grown up in Canada, I never experienced or even heard about the media in Hong Kong. Little did I know that joining the pageant was my first step in exposing myself and my entire family to the public. I didn’t know that so-called “dirt” would be looked for, and if that didn’t work, malicious gossip would be made up about me. At the time I couldn’t handle these rumors and judgement against me and my family. I felt as though I had betrayed them by allowing the press and audience to go after them. It was only when I finally confessed to my parents about my guilt that I realized they were completely understanding! They even offered me comfort in return and as always, unconditional support. 

Since then, I feel like I’ve grown up a lot in this industry. Although negative and cruel comments can still sting, it doesn’t hurt me the way it used to, and I don’t feel ashamed either. What I’ve learned to do is to listen only to what’s constructive and ignore the rest. I’m much happier now too.


WATCH GRACE'S FULL VIDEO

SENREVE: Despite the challenges, being Miss Hong Kong and becoming an actress are two goals you've often spoken of as dreams come true for you. What advice do you have for others who are in pursuit of their dreams?
You never know what’s going to happen unless you take the first step. Honestly I didn’t plan on joining the entertainment industry but when the opportunity presented itself, it felt right...it’s all about timing, right? 

I didn’t want to feel any regrets because I was afraid of making the wrong decision and I’m glad that despite some skepticism I’ve made the choices that I made. No matter what career you decide to pursue, life will give you moments of joy and of defeat too. But I do believe that it’s this balance of the two that keeps us fighting hard for what we want. 

If your calling is to be in the spotlight, don’t be afraid of some negative voices along the way. Show your bullies what you are capable of and hopefully that will motivate others in the same position too.

"Women need to shift from thinking, "I'm not ready to do that" to thinking, "I want to do that – and I'll learn by doing it." 
- Sheryl Sandberg


SHOP GRACE'S MINI MAESTRA IN MIMOSA WISTERIA



READ MORE FROM OUR "WHAT'S IN MY LIFE BAG?" CAMPAIGN:

"What's in My Life Bag?" Featuring Victoria Tang-Owen

"What's in My Life Bag?" Featuring Margaret Chung

"What's in My Life Bag?" Featuring Jenn Lam & Tawnia Lai

"What's in My Life Bag?" Featuring Ines Gafsi