Asia Pacific HQ Admin Office

Irrepressible cosmetics sales-turned-millionaire beauty queen Phyllis Tan Grown up in a Kampung in Paya Lebar, Phyllis would freeze sour plum syrup or bandung – rose syrup in milk – in plastic bags and sell them to neighborhood children for 10 cents an ice lolly and selling 40 cents a pail of peanuts with broad beans to Joo Chiat factory. The money she earned paid for her school fees, as well as kiwi shoe polish, Bata slippers and tidbits she was fond of buying for her two younger brothers and one younger sister. She remembers how , when she was 10, She took 1 ½ hours to walk home from school, just so she could use 30 cents bus fare to buy herbal tea. She had heard from an aunt that it would cure the mouth ulcers that often afflicted her siblings.