Community Spotlight: Karen Yiu, Entrepreneur

1VssJEc9YpsAQ7 D mbmrQw

Curious about what volunteerism and Time Auction events are all about? Meet our community who has shared their memorable experiences in their volunteering journey and meetings with our featured guests!

Meet Karen Yiu!

1rKJaoc8ZpSwLTc1d1Hcnzw scaled

Karen joined the advertising industry after graduation. After contributing in the customer marketing field for more than a decade, she decided to step out of her comfort zone and start her own business 4 years ago. Her company operates as a franchise with other partners, focusing on the anti-aging beauty industry. On top of running her business, she volunteered with Food Angel, Hong Chi Association and World Vision.

Karen’s Volunteer Journey

Karen first volunteered with Food Angel once a month. She prepared lunch boxes for elderly homes and community centres, where the food was cooked with remaining ingredients donated from restaurants and markets.

After switching her work environment, Karen began to serve in the Hong Chi Association where she was given the opportunity to take care of mentally disabled adults who were mostly orphans. The change of her role from an employee to a self-employed worker was a significant turning point for her. It allowed her to realize her aspiration and enjoy flexible working hours.

She decided to take advantage of this flexibility to volunteer and bring young adults from the Hong Chi Association to explore a world unknown to them and help them blend into society. It was Karen’s first time to have such close interaction with the mentally disabled and built a deep bond with them. The experience altered her initial perception which was the same as society’s that they were challenging to get along with and heavily relied on external support. To her amazement, she spotted that they mastered a high level of self-discipline, abidance to rules and life skills. They may have certain limitations in expressing their feelings and thoughts to the outside world, but with persevered patience, love and care they can be understood.

Society’s deep-rooted mindset attributed to the discrimination against these young adults. Karen appealed that they should be treated with fairness and equality as everyone else. Special attention was unnecessary, redundant and unfair to both parties. In contrast, society should accept and join hands to welcome these young adults inclusively as they bravely stepped into the community and lived their own lives. Apart from banishing the traditional views towards these youngsters, Karen pointed out that she was repeatedly impressed by their sincere smile and heartening touch which reminded her of the simplicity of the world that everyone once shared and was at the edge of vanishing.

What did Karen learn from Time Auction Experiences?

17uVJYmx4Q38BSLUh2MrnqQ scaled
1NIBDsuaHbtONTLrgeGgMgQ scaled

Karen first joined Time Auction with her friends’ recommendation. She attended the Time Auction event with Alex Fong, Actor & Singer, and Colin Grant, Founder of The Pure Group, who both shared relatable experiences.

At the dinner with Colin Grant, he shared business management skills. Karen recalled that Colin emphasized the significance of the members in the group. He mentioned that it was essential to establish their sense of belonging to the company community to ensure a healthy relationship, fostering positive growth in the business environment. Members of the group are the true assets of the company.

“Make your members proud.” — Colin Grant, Co-Founder of The Pure Group

Colin also added that motivation was a critical factor leading to achievement. It served as a timely reminder for Karen who just started her own business and was recruiting new members and expanding her community. One of her motivators was joining a marathon and it drove her to optimize the robustness in operation and maintain her level of confidence in the face of myriads of obstacles.

Karen personally enjoyed participating in the Time Auction events. She believed the idea of using volunteer hours to bid for the opportunity to meet up with mentors was superb in the sense that it added value to the services. Not only did society benefit as a whole, but the volunteers also gained and learnt simultaneously.

Thank you so much to Karen for contributing 20 volunteer hours and participating in 2 of our events!

To see our upcoming experiences, head over to the Time Auction website!

Interviewed & written by Gloria Ip| Edited by Fleur Hui

This article originally appeared on our blog on Medium: https://timeauction.medium.com/community-spotlight-karen-yiu-entrepreneur-3d49d9dd99c9

Updated on 8 April, 2021
Share on

Volunteer Your Skills for Worthy Causes

Ever thought you could volunteer with your skills?

Discover volunteer projects where you can use your skills to support causes – all while building your resume, gaining references and making a difference!
Discover Projects
【2024義工活動】點樣加入義工行列?5大義工服務種類推介
你對「做義工」嘅認識有幾多?好多人都未必熟悉除咗賣旗籌款同探訪老人院之外,仲有咩其他類型嘅義工服務。究竟坊間有邊啲做義工嘅途徑,可以搵到適合自己嘅義工機會呢? 其實香港大大小小嘅慈善團體或非牟利機構  (NGO) 都會招募義工,而非牟利機構嘅義工服務範疇亦非常多元化,包括技能義工 (Skilled-volunteers),善用義工嘅個人技能同專長服務社會。你可以根據唔同嘅服務種類,或者按自己嘅喜好、關心嘅社會議題選擇義工機會。以下係5種常見嘅義工服務範疇同機構簡介畀你參考: 目錄 (一):動物福利 (二):長者服務 (三):青年發展 (四):環境保護 (五):社區服務 技能義工配對平台推介 常見嘅義工服務範疇(一):動物福利 如果你係狗奴、貓奴,或者鍾意動物,不妨考慮做動物義工!除咗有機會親身接觸毛孩之外,仲可以利用自己嘅一技之長,支援NGO嘅日常運作。雖然根據政府公佈的數據,動物棄養嘅數量有持續下降趨勢,但因近年的移民潮影響,保護動物慈善協會表示棄養寵物個案兩年升近三倍。因此,很多關注動物福利的團體都十分需要義工加入服務行列。 義工服務性質:清潔籠舍、照顧動物、活動推廣等 香港動物基金 Hong Kong Paws Foundation 香港動物基金係一間完全依靠慈善捐款同義工支持嘅動物福祉組織,希望拯救被虐待、遺棄同走失嘅動物。 香港愛護動物協會 SPCA (HK) 香港愛護動物協會係本港首間兼顧動物福利各方面嘅慈善團體,提倡善待動物,同時打擊同防止虐待動物。 Bring Me Home (Suppaw) Bring Me Home (Suppaw) 係一個寵物社交網站,亦係香港首個無償動物領養平台。 嘉道理農場暨植物園 Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden 嘉道理農場暨植物園為需要支持的農民提供農業援助,幫助他們過上獨立嘅生活; 並為公眾提供休閒同教育體驗。  Team for Animals in Lantau South (TAILS) 南大嶼山動物保護隊為有需要的貓狗提供救援、醫療、絕育、養育、庇護、寄養同領養服務,包括那些 流浪、被遺棄、受傷、虐待同忽視既貓狗,大力提倡動物福利,相信教育可以創造有利於香港動物嘅變革。 立即發掘更多! 常見嘅義工服務範疇(二):長者服務 隨著香港長者人口上升,越來越多關注老人家嘅機構都招募緊義工,希望為老友記送上更多關懷。 義工服務性質:家居維修、網頁設計、文字翻譯等 […]
How The New Normal Expands and Localises to Hong Kong's Community | Skilled Volunteering Case Study
The Challenge The New Normal was originally founded in the UK in 2018 and was expanding into Hong Kong in 2022. Being in a completely new region and specialising in grief and mental health support, they recognise the urgent need to localise their services and marketing materials. With only 1 English-speaking staff, they were seeking […]
Matchmaking between Talents and NGOs — Introducing Time Auction’s New Program
74% of Hong Kong people don’t volunteer. Over the years, I’ve heard many reasons why people don’t get involved. Too busy, no time. Am I really making a difference by going to a beach cleanup when the trash accumulates again after all that hard work? If I make HK$1,000 per day at my job, wouldn’t […]
,
New Feature Launch: Announcing Project Templates & Volunteer Invitation
Attention: NGO & SE Partners! Our team was grinding in secret to make your dreams into reality — Meet your 2 new favourite features on our platform: 📝  Objectives and Project Templates 📩  Invite Volunteers to Projects We heard your feedback, and we have made big changes! We can't wait to tell you all about […]
How to Get Started as a Skilled Volunteer
We hear you’re interested in donating your skills and time to a non-profit! While volunteering has obvious personal benefits and there are tons of projects available on our own matching platform, we know that going into your first volunteer position can be daunting.  But not to worry!  Here are a few tips on getting the […]
【想支持藝術與文化?】Time Auction搵到符合你專長嘅義工服務
平時放假有咩做?香港人生活節奏急速,有時候都需要各種消閒活動調劑身心。藝術同文化活動就可以陶冶性情,暫時放開煩惱,豐富我哋嘅生活。你有冇諗過喺欣賞藝術或創作嘅同時又可以做義工呢? 近年香港興起各式各樣嘅義工服務,包括技能義工(Skilled-volunteers),大家可以利用自己嘅專長同興趣回饋社會,當中不乏「藝術與文化」類型嘅義工機會。 以下就係本港一啲從事藝術與文化(Arts & Culture)嘅非牟利機構(NGO),你可以了解一下佢哋嘅服務同理念,參與其中: 亞洲協會香港中心 Asia Society Hong Kong Center 亞洲協會係一所非牟利、非政府嘅團際教育組織,提供多元化嘅活動俾大眾參與,當中包括演講、表演、電影播放同展覽等。 Arts for Good Foundation Arts for Good Foundation 係一間以價值為本嘅教育社企,旨在透過藝術與文化活動,促進下一代嘅社會融合 (social inclusion)。 陸續出版 Under Production HK 陸續出版致力提供一個讓青年或半職創作人透過實戰去展示技能嘅創意平台,服務包括平面設計、書籍出版、創意數碼科技、原創音樂創作及主題微電影等,希望為本地創意產業注入新血,推動業界蓬勃發展。 飄雅活藝 Crafts on Peel 飄雅活藝係一間本地慈善機構,致力於振興、重新詮釋同延續傳統工藝。機構會舉辦展覽、工作坊及工藝師駐留計劃,讓大眾認識屬於我哋嘅文化遺產和增強集體身分認同。 香港管弦樂團 Hong Kong Philharmonic Society 香港管弦樂團獲譽為亞洲最頂尖嘅古典管弦樂團之一。喺為期44週嘅樂季中,樂團共演出超過150場音樂會,將音樂帶俾超過20萬名觀眾。 以上幾間同藝術與文化相關嘅機構都不時招募技能義工支持運作,如果你喜愛藝術同文化活動,又想為呢啲機構出一分力,可以考慮以下嘅義工服務: 義工服務(一):詩詞作家(Poem Writer) 唔少展覽會將藝術品結合場地佈置、故事同詩詞,讓參加者更易感受其中,激發佢哋嘅無限想像,同時可以提升生活品味,甚至表達同分析能力。 鐘意寫作、熱愛文字創作嘅你,不妨發揮你嘅長處,推廣詩詞同藝術普及! 【立即申請】 義工服務(二):樂器/歌唱導師(Music / Vocal Coach) 香港唔少小朋友都琴棋書畫樣樣皆精,因為學習藝術有助腦部神經同心理發展。不過,並唔係每個家庭都負擔得到買樂器同上課外活動嘅費用。為咗俾低收入家庭嘅小朋友都有學習音樂嘅機會,有幾個熱心嘅非牟利機構 (NGO)都為基層小朋友提供免費同長期嘅音樂訓練,藉此培養佢哋對音樂嘅興趣、發掘潛能和建立自信。 如果你對音樂充滿熱誠,並已經考獲 ABRSM / TRINITY […]
4 Organisations Supporting Animal Welfare in Hong Kong
Are you an animal lover like us? While some animals are lucky to have found loving and caring owners, there are still many abandoned and stray animals living in harsh conditions on the streets of Hong Kong. According to The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD), they are handling between 5,000-7,000 stray dogs annually, but […]
Top