Dedicated Mentors


ERNEST CHEN, DTM

Ernest Chen is an extraordinary Toastmaster and torchbearer for TMCS, where he served as club president for five times. He also bears the distinction of founding 20 Toastmasters clubs, including the first Community Centre Toastmasters club in Singapore, and the world’s first Mandarin Toastmasters club. Ernest Chen served as the District Director in 2019-2020, the highest Toastmaster office in Singapore. Outside of Toastmasters, he organised the first Speech Marathon – for 50 hours of speaking non-stop by 800 speakers – to celebrate SG50, and introduced World Speech Day to Singapore in 2016. Ernest is also an international speaker, trainer and author of books such as Earnestly Speaking and Rhetorically Speaking and Writing.


LAWRENCE LEE, CTM


Lawrence has been with TMCS since 1988 and served as club president in 1995. During his corporate career, he worked as regional manager at MNCs like Johnson & Johnson, SmithKline, Gillette, and America Optical, covering territories like Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan & Korea. Lawrence is an amputee but he does not let his disability define him or slow him down. He believes that life is about breaking limits and challenging yourself to do things that you think are impossible.


BRANDON LIU, DL5 VC1

Brandon’s passion for speaking started since he was in primary school when he represented his school public speaking competitions. He believes that practice makes progress and that public speaking is a lifelong journey. Brandon’s experience in sales has given him opprtunities to preaent to people from different walks of life. He currently teaches enrichment classes for young children, including public speaking.

Brandon has been a member of TMCS for over 5 years and has served as a VPE at TMCS. Grateful for the many mentors that have helped him along his journey, Brandon seeks to give back to the club. He hopes to inspire and guide aspiring speakers.


JACKY LIM, DTM

Jacky is an internationally renowned professional speaker, sales coach and NLP trainer who has transformed the lives of countless from 13 different countries over the past 15 years. He has also conducted several workshops on public speaking and worked with clients such as BMW, Canon, Samsung, Siemens, UPS, ING Bank, AIA, among many others. He has been a member of TMCS since 2005 and served as club president in 2008. He has competed and won several speech competitions, emerging 1st runner up at the District Evaluation contest in 2019. He is also a bestselling author and has written 2 books in the past 9 years.


NG CHER KHIM, DTM

Cher Khim has been a member of TMCS for over 20 years. In the term 2003/2004, he served as the Club President and led the club to President’s Distinguished Club scoring 10 out of the 10 Distinguished Club Program goals. He also served in different District Officer roles and was the District Director of District 80 (Singapore) in the term 2020/2021. Cher Khim took part in many speech contests and has won contests at Club, Area, Division and District levels.


WEE PENG HO, CC


Wee Peng joins Toastmasters back in 2006 and rekindle his passion with Toastmasters Club of Singapore in 2012. It has been an interesting journey. He has many ups and downs, a lot of self discoveries in this public speaking. He believes that everybody has a special message or live experiences to share with others, therefore he took on a public speaking training to further his public speaking skills. He believes a great life experience cannot be delivered well if the public speaking skills are not there to convey the message well to the audience. He would love to share his skills with you and grow together in this public speaking journey.


GAREN TEE, DTM

Garen is a public speaking champion, effective communication coach, and international speaker who empowers, motivates, and inspires people to speak up and stand out. He was 2021 District 80 Humorous Speech Champion and 2022 District 80 Evaluation Contest Champion. Renowned for his dynamic, humorous and engaging training and speaking style, Garen also serves and upskills the local community and the people around the world including Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Malaysia and other regions. He also has extensive experience in working with various organizations including Mizuho Bank, Analog Devices, UPS, ITE East, Singapore American School etc. He also shares public speaking and communication skills on his YouTube channel too.


LESLIE LIM, VC5 EH5

Leslie is a finance professional who has lived and travelled around the world. He is passionate about Toastmasters, and about writing and making speeches. He is a budding enthusiast at speech competitions and won the division U international speech contest in 2023. Having benefitted tremendously from Toastmasters, he looks to pay it back. He previously served as VPPR and club president (2019/20) at TMCS. Now, he is excited to play the role of mentor to guide new members on their Toastmasters journey.


JOWYN GOH , DL5 VC1

Jowyn embodies a dynamic and unwavering commitment to personal growth and meaningful contribution. As a seasoned healthcare corporate professional, she blends her expertise with a passion for international career leadership coaching and an aspiration as a motivational speaker.
Having joined TMCS in 2021, Jowyn’s journey has been marked by notable achievements. In the same year, she clinched the prestigious 1st runner-up position in the Area International Speech Contest, showcasing her eloquence and command over impactful communication. Jowyn made history as the first representative from TMCS to grace the stage of a popular storytelling show at The Projector.

Jowyn is deeply invested in the growth of her Toastmasters community. Her dedication is evident in her role as Vice President of Public Relations for the term 2022/23, where she leveraged her communication skills to elevate the club’s public image and engagement. Jowyn’s commitment extends to mentorship, where she eagerly anticipates guiding and empowering new Toastmasters on their journey to confidence and effective communication.
In her leisure, Jowyn finds joy in travel, fitness pursuits, and cherished moments with family and friends.


WATANA CHONG, DTM

Watana is a project manager by profession. Born in Bangkok, she studied, lived and worked in Sydney for over 35 years, before relocating to Singapore for work in 2012. She joined TMCS in Feb 2017 and completed the bronze level under the old system. Under Pathways, she completed her DTM in May 2023.

Watana served TMCS as VPM & Secretary a few terms in the past. She has served Astro @Radin Mas CC as Club President & Secretary for a few terms too. She also served as Division D Director 2022-2023.

Throughout her toastmaster’s journey, she had been helped by a few mentors, and in return she would like to help new TMCS & Astro members.


ANJALI GROVER, IP5

With 25-years of experience in consulting in brand strategy and change management, Anjali brings forth wealth of knowledge in communicating and connecting with the audience. She has presented to the C-suite and to senior government leaders in her career and conducted innumerable corporate workshops. She joined TMCS to learn to speak to larger audiences. She has been a TMCS member since 2019 and Vice President – Education in 2021. Anjali believes that the tools of delivering a good speech are readily available for all to apply. The magic is created when the speaker is able to connect with the audience at both heart and mind level. Anjali’s identifiable style of speaking is “inspiring and thought provoking” and her goal as a mentor is to help her mentees develop their own unique identifiable style!


Lee YY, CTM


Joined TMCS in 1982, served as President in 1986 & 2011. YY helped set up SIA Toastmaster club in 1984, together with Andrew Tan CTM, and also the club’s mentor. He’s an Industrial Engineer by training. He worked as a trainer with Asian Productivity Organisation, Japan International Cooperation Agency and Motorola University. Currently he is an English coach for children and working adults in the corporate world. His life long hobby is photography. Editor of Toastmasters Club of Singapore 48th anniversary book.


ADELINE NG, VC5


“Playing all in” is Adeline Ng’s motto in life . As an entrepreneur, business mentor, and Toastmasters, Adeline challenges herself and her mentees to give that little bit more. Always Engaging, often Entertaining, and sometimes Enraging, Adeline loves experimenting with new presentation ideas. She draws on her professional experience in consumer marketing and leadership to help new Toastmasters learn the art of connecting with their audience. She has previously served TMCS as VP Education and social director.


IRINA LASHVILI, PM3

Meet Irina, a dedicated career and life coach and trainer who has made a positive impact on individuals from over 40 different countries. Irina specializes in guiding people toward personal and professional fulfillment. With over 7 years of experience in Toastmasters, she has excelled, winning contests at Club, Area, and Division levels. She also served three years in various roles, including the position of District PR Manager while living in Europe.

Irina thrives on helping others find humor and confidence while on stage. With a commitment to empowerment and effective communication, Irina is your ally in navigating the journey to inspire your audience.


ANITA NAIR

Anita has 25 years of experience working with multinationals ( Market Research and Life Science sectors) in different regions in Asia and Middle East in various functions viz. Insights, Analytics, Client Service, Business development, Process Improvement, Operations , Strategy and currently looking for her next challenge!


Ana Sousa Gavin

Ana Sousa Gavin


Ana Sousa Gavin joined TMCS in May 2021, right after her first meeting as a guest! Since her first meeting, she continues to experience a safe space to grow as a speaker and to make friends. Ana enjoys analysing speeches, finding the messages in the personal stories, and making visible a speaker’s strengths. She is looking forward to giving back what she has gained from TMCS, as a mentor, and help other members grow their confidence as speakers. Professionally, she is a coach in public speaking and storytelling skills, with a varied background in social and organizational psychology, fitness coaching, early years education, storytelling, and improvisational theatre.


Thomas Chen

Thomas Chen

Thomas began his public speaking journey back when he was in University. Since then, he has the opportunity to speak professionally and internationally.

While running a successful wealth advisory business, Thomas has been regularly invited to train and speak to fellow professionals and entrepreneurs. He has spoken at different companies and organisations as well as collaborated with multiple World Champions of Public Speaking, Certified Speaking Professionals (Top 12% globally) and other luminaries to deliver immense value.

Be it speaking on stages to thousands, engaging in seminar-format trainings or immersing into one-to-one consultations, he strives to deliver highly transformational services and programs