Sassy Co-Founder Maura Thompson: Moving From HK to SG

‘I have an anxious personality so I thought when I had kids I would go overboard looking for tips. Funny enough, it never did. I didn’t second guess my decisions and trusted my instincts in the baby days. Now that my kids are older I find myself wanting all the parenting tips I can get!’

Have you ever wondered about the founders of our brand, Sassy Mama? Our That Mama this month is one of our co-founders, Maura Thomspon. Maura is a mama of two and is fairly new to Singapore (and we love that she has been able to use Sassy Mama Singapore as her go-to for information!) Having lived in Hong Kong for 15 years, Maura and her family are now happily settling into life in the little red dot. We chat with Maura about her life in Hong Kong, what gave her the idea to start Sassy Media back in 2009 and how she is finding her feet in Singapore.

Read our past That Mama interviews here.

Tell us about yourself and your family

I was born and raised in Philadelphia, USA. I’m a Xennial who was born in the 1970’s (I made it by 6 weeks!). I moved to Hong Kong in 2008 which was two days after I got married so it was a lot of life changes at once. I am kind of a typical expat story in that my husband and I planned to be in Hong Kong for 2-3 years. I told my mom we would wait to have kids until we moved back to the US. That promise quickly went out the window upon stepping foot in Hong Kong and falling head over heels in love with our new life there. 15 years and two kids later (a 10-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son) we packed our bags to move to Singapore 6 months ago.

What gave you the idea to start Sassy Mama? 

We started Sassy (in Hong Kong) in 2009 as a way to make friends and know what was happening in the city. We wrote about all the latest restaurant openings and events that were going on and we became a go-to website for knowing where to go and what to do around town.

When my business partner became pregnant with her first baby we realised that many of our Sassy readers would also be starting families at some point and would also have that same need for information and connection but with a family-friendly twist. So Sassy Mama Hong Kong was born in 2011 followed by Sassy Mama Singapore in 2013.

What’s your current involvement with Sassy Mama SG/HK?

Over the past 15 years of running Sassy and Sassy Mama, I have had the opportunity to scale my time up and down as needed and I am very much aware that it is nice to be able to do this. I was pretty full time in the business up until my son was born and then over the past 8 years I have scaled back at various levels.

The most significant scaling back I did was in 2021 when we promoted our CEO into her role which in a way was replacing me. It was a move I wanted and needed and I also knew the business needed things that she could bring that weren’t my strong suit. I like to think I don’t have an ego when it comes to these things and I’m proud to say that I don’t need to be in a specific position within the company as long as I know I can be of support as and when needed.

I am still involved in the business though and work closely with our CEO, CFO and HR/office managers and I attend the team meetings in Singapore and Hong Kong (virtually) every other week. My hours are way less than they were which has been helpful as I navigated a move to another country. I am thankful that we have an amazing team in both Singapore and Hong Kong and I am so happy that I get to work more closely with our Sassy Mama team in Singapore now that I live here.

Tell us about your Hong Kong life 

I lived in Hong Kong for 15 years. We were newly married when we moved and we had 5.5 years living a kid-free life there. I love that we were able to experience life in Hong Kong pre and post-kids. We moved for my husband’s job and prior to that we were able to do a preview trip to see if it was something we would be interested in. We did that trip in November and the weather in Hong Kong is just amazing at that time of year so it was a nice selling point for us. I was a bit unsure about the move prior to that trip but once we landed it just felt so right for us. Fast forward six months later when I officially moved in May 2008. It literally rained the entire first month I was there. Totally different from the November weather that sold us on the move.

The funny thing is, I moved to Singapore during the rainy season and it rained so hard the first month of being here. I just took it as a sign of good things ahead as that is how my time in Hong Kong started.

Favourite things about HK?

I love so many things about Hong Kong. One thing I love is that in one day you can wake up and go for a morning hike, followed by a day at the beach and then end up at an amazing rooftop bar overlooking the incredible lit-up skyline. Another thing is the junk boat trips that are so popular there. There is nothing better to me than coming back into the harbour after a lazy day on the water and seeing the sun start to set.

I also love my friends who became family during my time there. I spent a bit of my 20s, 30s and 40s there so these friends have seen me through so many of my major life milestones. It was hard for me to leave Hong Kong and I am positive it was these friendships that made it emotionally hard to leave. It’s hard having to say goodbye but I am convinced that the strength of these friendships extends beyond where we live.

How are you and your kids finding life (and school) in SG? Anything you find better here?

I’m not going to lie, I was nervous about how we were going to transition. It wasn’t that we weren’t happy and excited to be moving to Singapore. It was just that we were sad to be leaving Hong Kong. But I always said if we ever left Hong Kong I wanted to be sad because it represented so many happy times in my life. It sounds a bit strange to want to be sad but I always loved the Winnie the Pooh quote that goes “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard”.  I wanted exactly that and that is what I got.

So I kind of thought we were going to have a bit of a bumpy start to Singapore life but we are doing more than ok here! Our kids love where they go to school and they came off the bus after the first day with huge smiles on their faces and it has been so wonderful to see them thrive at their new school.

After living in a condo our whole time in Hong Kong we decided to settle on living in a landed house here in Singapore for something a bit different. We have a pool so we are loving that and it’s now a go-to family activity for us on the weekends. Also, our kids never learned to ride a bike in Hong Kong so I am happy they can forever say they learned to ride a bike in Singapore. We all have bikes here and are enjoying taking them for a bike ride which is something we never did in Hong Kong. And I love all the green that surrounds me every day. Green has quickly moved up to the top of my favourite colour list since moving here!

Moving is hard but it does come with these moments of new possibility. There absolutely have been hard days but I am happy to say that this move has been a good one for our family. My hope is that we have a strong connection to Singapore as we did with Hong Kong. I have to say I think we are off to a good start.

Where is home for you?

Home for me is where we live and work. Where our kids go to school. Where our dog lives. Home is where we come to sit on the couch and watch tv after a long day. And for me, right now, that place is Singapore. If you were to ask me this question last year I would have answered Hong Kong.

I have however made it a big point to always stay connected to our family in the US and our kids definitely know they are American and are so close to their grandparents, aunts/uncles and cousins despite living so far away. I said from the very beginning I wanted to make sure I saw family twice a year if we were to live abroad. With the exception of the Covid years, we have done a really good job of making that happen.

Walk us through your career pre-kids

When I was living in the US I worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 6 years. Upon moving to Hong Kong I decided to take some time off work. I took the time to do yoga teacher training and volunteer. I loved doing both of those things but I also started to really miss having a job. So, I decided to go back to work and got my resume ready. I made that decision right at the start of the financial crisis in 2008 when no one was hiring. In a way, all those closed doors brought me to the door that opened when we started Sassy as a hobby in early 2009. We turned a hobby into a business and I found myself back in the working world doing something totally different than what I did back in the US. Talk about learning on the job!

Your kids grew up with Sassy Mama Hong Kong. How differently do you rely on Sassy Mama articles for parenting tips now as compared to when your kids were smaller?

I have an anxious personality at times and so I thought when I had kids my anxiety would come out in how I parented them and I would be going overboard looking for all the tips. Funny enough, it never did. I didn’t second guess my decisions and I trusted my own instincts in many things that I did in the baby and toddler days. So when my kids were younger my go-to articles on the site were things like our Weekend Planner so I could keep them occupied and happy (and then tired post-activity).

Now that my kids are older I find myself wanting and needing all the parenting tips I can get! I devour any content we have on the site relating to parenting tweens and teens. I love reading articles from parents who are navigating similar stages in parenting or reading up on milestones that are ahead of me. I also have always loved our That Mama/Cool Dads/Singapore Mama Abroad series.

And I know I am biased when I say this but I am loving Sassy Mama Singapore for helping me become comfortable in my new home. Whether it is finding a birthday party venue for my son, a new go-to cupcake shop or a family-friendly restaurant it has helped us transition quicker knowing well-researched info is just a Google search away.

If you could give advice to yourself before Sassy Mama took off, what would you have said?

You aren’t expected to know it all. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Just because you are starting a business doesn’t mean you need to know the answers to everything. I would tell myself that I would save more time and make less mistakes if I admitted to not knowing it all earlier than I did.

What do you love most about Sassy Mama?

I love that Sassy Mama can be there for parents when they need it. Whether that’s to find out about the latest happenings in Singapore or to help someone realise they aren’t alone in how they may be feeling.

I love that it can be various things to many people and serve many needs at different times. It can help parents feel in the know (and save time while doing it!) but it can also be that virtual “friend” for those who need to feel less alone and overwhelmed.

What’s your definition of success?

My definition of success is becoming comfortable in who you are and what you want out of life. For me, success is when you don’t try to imitate what other people define as success. You define what it means to you and you work hard to make it happen even if it doesn’t live up to what others define as successful.

Quickfire questions:
I wish I had more time for… Perfecting a DIY manicure.
I always feel saner after…. A Pilates session at Vaura (formerly known as Vive Active)
As a mama I wish I were better at… keeping artwork. I love a good decluttering session so don’t keep things around for long. I think I may regret that someday!
I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about…. Honestly, lately, I have been sleeping pretty well and I think it’s because I just started to wear a sleep mask.
My favourite moment of the day is… 7am. We recently adopted a dog from ASD so I am starting to fall in love with my early morning dog walks.

Thank you so much Maura, it has been so fun hearing about your life in Hong Kong – especially how the idea for Sassy Media was born 15 years ago and how Sassy Mama Singapore is now helping you navigate your new life in Singapore – feels like a full circle moment! 

Read our past That Mama interviews here!