Theresa Shan
Executive Business Leader | Author of SOFT Leadership
Executive Leader | Commercial Operator | Investor
Consumer Wellness · Fitness · Experience-Led Businesses
Author of SOFT Leadership
Fifteen years running fitness, wellness and lifestyle businesses across Asia. I've turned losses into profit, ran multi-location businesses across 2 countries, and turned burned-out teams into high performing ones. I lead with heart and numbers, a human-centred way to get real commercial results.
Currently open to full-time executive leadership roles (COO / MD / GM) in regional wellness and lifestyle businesses or adjacent industries.
In addition to advisory, consulting, and speaking engagements.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Frequently asked questions
Where I Create Value
I step into businesses at their most demanding moments — start up, a turnaround, a scale-up, a restructure, a transition — and lead them through to the other side.
Restructures, transitions, and the hard calls nobody else wants to make — held with clarity and care.
LEADERSHIP
Building teams that stay and cultures that outlast a single leader. I led a business through COVID without letting one person go.
TEAM & CULTURE
Taking what works and building the systems, people and culture to repeat it. Sustainable growth, not growth on adrenaline.
SCALING & GROWTH
Reading a struggling P&L, finding the real problem under the obvious one, and leading the business back to health — without losing the team on the way.
STABALISATION
I lead businesses through the hard parts — start up, turnarounds, scaling, and growth. Sustainably.
What Clients Say
Client Testimonials
CATALYST PERFORMANCE
Theresa has been a stable support for us first time entrepreneurs. She helped to guide us how best to set up the company, structure our business and handle lease negotiations.
MOVE REPEAT GROUP
Theresa was able to hit the ground running and understand the ins and outs of the business quickly. Helping to solve firefighting, manpower problems, and create structure.
PURE GROUP
Theresa is always looking out for what could be done differently, and she is not afraid to try. The rule book was not made for her.
ABSOLUTE GROUP
Theresa was always looking out for new opportunities and new ways to tackle business challenges. She is resourceful and creative, and helped to get us through COVID-19.
Who I Work With
Client Profile
BUSINESS STAGE
Start Up, Founder-Led, SME, PE-backed
REVENUE STAGE
USD 5M - 30M annually
SECTORS
Fitness, Wellness, Lifestyle, Longevity, Recovery, Hospitality
GEOGRAPHY
Asia & Europe
What Makes It Different
The Difference
Commercially Anchored
Every recommendation is grounded in business viability. Strategic, but always tied to what the numbers can support.
Foundations First
Results are the outcome of good foundations. I build structure, systems, and clarity that allow commercial performance to follow. No vanity metrics.
Operator, Not Consultant
I've held the P&L, managed the teams, closed the leases, and built the systems. This is not advisory from the outside, it is leadership from within.
How I Work
HOW I LEAD
In an industry that runs on vibes and passion, I've always led with both heart and numbers — because the best operators never forget they're dealing with people.
I'm half Singaporean, half Dutch: I understand Asian culture intrinsically, and I can be brutally direct about what isn't working. I hold an MBA and a Master's in Counselling & Psychotherapy — an unusual pairing, until you've had to turn around a burned-out team in the middle of a declining business. Then it makes complete sense.
I call my approach SOFT: leading from presence, not pressure. It's the subject of my forthcoming book, SOFT Leadership, and it's how I've run businesses for fifteen years.
REAL RESULTS
WHERE I DO MY BEST WORK
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S$7M annual loss → breakeven in 14 months
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Multi-location management
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Fast growth: 1 → 6 studio locations in 5 years
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Revenue S$120K → S$3M
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Profitable through COVID — zero layoffs
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Teams led across Singapore & Hong Kong
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MBA · MA, Counselling & Psychotherapy
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Stage — founder-led, SME, PE-backed
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Revenue — around USD 5M–30M
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Sectors — fitness, wellness, lifestyle, longevity, recovery, hospitality — and adjacent lifestyle industries
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Markets — Asia & Europe
Advisory
Alongside a full-time role, I take on select advisory and consulting work in startup, turnaround, scaling, and leadership support for wellness, lifestyle and adjacent businesses.
In addition to speaking engagements on human-centred leadership and SOFT Leadership. Tell me what you have in mind and we'll see if it's a fit.