2025 has been a year of unlearning and rebuilding what work means to me.
When I moved to Singapore last year, I expected a smooth professional transition. I had spent a decade leading strategy, operations, and culture, helping scale organisations and managing complexity across teams. I assumed my next step would be joining another mission-driven organisation, just in a new geography.
But Singapore had other plans for me.
The first few months here were disorienting. I was in a new country with no professional network, balancing the beautiful chaos of life with a two-year-old, and trying to figure out what “work” might look like in this new season of life.
I met several incredible people and organisations. Founders, non-profits, and operators. Everyone seemed to be building something exciting. I started thinking about how I wanted to shape the next decade of my career. I had loved being a Chief of Staff and working at the centre of strategy, systems, and people. Yet every time I thought about going back to full-time work, something in me resisted.
That’s when the idea of working as a Fractional Chief of Staff began to take shape.
It wasn’t a decision I had planned. It emerged from a mix of curiosity and practicality: the desire to stay close to meaningful work while designing a schedule that worked around my family.
Still, the idea of launching my own business was terrifying. The thought of putting myself out there, selling my work, and operating without the safety net of an organisation was uncomfortable. I also wondered if the Chief of Staff role could even work in a fractional capacity.
Eventually, I stopped debating and told myself one thing: just start.
Building a new identity
For years, my identity had been intertwined with titles, teams, and institutions. Going fractional felt like stepping off a well-paved highway onto a winding trail. There was freedom, yes, but also a deep sense of uncertainty.
Still, I knew one thing clearly: I wanted to create value without burning out.
The more I explored, the more it became clear that this model wasn’t just a personal compromise; it was part of a broader shift in how work itself is evolving. Across industries, leaders are realising that not every problem requires a full-time hire. Many need experienced operators who can jump in, solve complex problems, and set up systems for long-term sustainability.
Also Read: 3 pivotal AI trends driving tech innovation in 2026
So, I took the plunge. I began by designing my own website, updating my LinkedIn, and started circulating my offering among the founders I knew. The first few times were a total miss, with founders telling me within five minutes of the call that I am not the one they are looking for, or that the Chief of Staff can never be a fractional role for them.
And that’s where I found the beauty of this model. A rejection only meant that the client was not right for you. Unlike a job rejection, it didn’t make me question who I was and if I was good enough. It only told me which kind of clients would find me valuable. And with this belief, I persisted.
For four months, I kept at it. I kept writing on LinkedIn, meeting people with a new introduction, and refining my value proposition. The first ones to take a chance on me were my previous employers. And I will always be grateful to them.
In the last 45 days, I have spoken to 10+ prospective clients. I am now on one project and hoping to convert 2 more by the end of this month. If everything goes well, I might even be fully booked by the end of the year. It’s wild to think that I did not consider this before.
And as I speak to more people, I am realising two things:
- There is demand for fractional work because organisations and founders come in all shapes and forms.
- While it may sound great on paper (yay, part-time work only!), building a fractional business and selling yourself is gruelling.
The shift toward fractional work mirrors a broader transformation happening globally. More leaders are choosing flexibility over hierarchy, expertise over titles, and contribution over control.
Also Read: Why 2026 will be the year AI finally delivers on its promise for finance
Singapore, and Asia at large, with its thriving startup and social impact ecosystem, is at the crossroads of this change. The region is full of builders, people who are ambitious, global, and open to new models of collaboration. That’s where the fractional model thrives. It allows for agility, experience, and balance, values that will come to define the next generation of work.
Personally, it also aligns with how I want to live and lead: present for my child, engaged in meaningful work, and continuously learning. It’s not about doing less; it’s about doing what matters most.
A lesson I’ll carry forward
If I had to distil this year into one takeaway, it would be this: your career (and identity) doesn’t have to fit the form it once did to have meaning.
We’re conditioned to measure success through stability. One job, one title, one ladder. But meaning often lives in the transitions: the quiet experiments, the bold pivots, the messy middle where identity and ambition wrestle.
Choosing the fractional path taught me that reinvention doesn’t mean starting over. It means carrying forward what you’ve built, the skills, relationships, and the clarity, and applying it in a way that fits the season you’re in.
As 2026 begins, I’m excited to deepen this journey by doing new projects and learning more about how founders and organisations operate in different ways. At the same time, I am excited for anyone who is choosing this treacherous path of putting themselves out there and exploring the fractional model for themselves.
This year wasn’t about doing it all. It was about doing it intentionally.
And that, I’ve learned, is the real freedom.
—
Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.
Enjoyed this read? Don’t miss out on the next insight. Join our WhatsApp channel for real-time drops.
Image credit: Canva
The post From full-time to fractional: How I redefined work, identity, and freedom in 2025 appeared first on e27.
