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CHEF'S WIFE DIARY

the chef’s wife with a corporate career who doesn’t have to cook

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    • Digital Illustration
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CHEF'S WIFE DIARY

the chef’s wife with a corporate career who doesn’t have to cook

  • Reflection

How to start the week strong as a working mum?

Working Late Night at Home

A working mum's honest take on tight deadlines, stretched teams and why a little preparation before Monday is worth the late Friday night.

  • chefswifediary
  • October 14, 2026
  • Reflection

Small wins for working mums: why school pick-up saved my week?

school pick up, working mum

Fifteen minutes before I was due to switch off for the weekend, my boss’s request landed in my inbox. Review the major planning document. Deadline: 11.30am on Monday, well before the meeting. I did the sums in my head and…

  • chefswifediary
  • October 8, 2026
  • 1 Comment
  • Reflection

Working mum career dilemma: stay or leave?

Work travel to Denmark in August

A working mum on whether to stay in a steady job or chase ambition, while selling a home and raising two children in a squeezed economy.

  • chefswifediary
  • October 1, 2026
  • Motherhood, Reality

Workplace fairness: when female bosses lack empathy.

empathy

I was three sentences into a routine business travel request when I saw it: the team get together trip had been brought forward to the exact week of my son’s 3rd birthday. Not near it. Not around it. On it…

  • chefswifediary
  • August 28, 2026
  • 1 Comment
  • Motherhood

Working mum guilt: what one late pick-up taught me about setting boundaries.

home made chinese traditional porridge

It was supposed to be ten minutes. I told myself that walking into the call, an intern on my team who’d asked to talk, thirty minutes before I needed to leave for camp pick-up. Ten minutes, I decided, wouldn’t hurt…

  • chefswifediary
  • August 11, 2026
  • Motherhood, Reflection

Why modern motherhood’s “silent hardship” is our greatest power.

Working mother taking a quiet moment of reflection at the kitchen table over coffee

I came across a social media post yesterday reflecting on the concept of silent motherhood hardship. It got me thinking, why is it so often ‘silent‘? As a full-time corporate employee and a chef’s wife, my days are a constantly…

  • chefswifediary
  • July 22, 2026
  • 1 Comment
  • Motherhood, Reality

How one late-night decision ruins a working mum’s entire tomorrow.

Tired mother working up to late night.

Let’s be honest for a second: if there is one piece of advice I want to shout from the rooftops this week, it is this: think twice before you decide to switch on your “work brain” after dinner. Of course,…

  • chefswifediary
  • July 16, 2026
  • Reflection

Why I stopped trying to make friends at work.

An Asian corporate professional woman working on her laptop at a desk in a London office, looking out towards a rainy city street with a red double-decker bus.

Six years ago, I landed in London. It was the absolute peak of the pandemic, and I was stepping into a new world with a job transfer in hand. Moving across the world is daunting enough, but doing it when…

  • chefswifediary
  • July 10, 2026
  • Reflection

The reality of the corporate climb: ghosting, rejection, and guilt.

A thoughtful working mum sitting at a desk with a laptop open to an email, reflecting on corporate life next to a framed picture of her child.

The email I had been waiting for finally arrived at the exact moment I least expected it. The interview process, which began back in early April, had been an intense journey spanning three rounds of escalation. Because I hadn’t received…

  • chefswifediary
  • July 1, 2026
  • Reflection

The myth of the quiet worker: how to claim your worth in a corporate world.

The Myth of the Quiet Worker: How to Claim Your Worth in a Corporate World

Keep your head down, do the work, and let your results speak for themselves. It’s an unspoken mantra carved into the roots of many traditional Asian upbringings. Growing up as the only daughter and a middle child, I was an…

  • chefswifediary
  • June 19, 2026
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chef's wife diary
Welcome to Chef's Wife Diary!
I’m a full-time corporate professional, a proud mother of two beautiful whirlwind kids, and married to a creative chef. This is the diary of a modern woman navigating the high-stakes corporate ladder, the erratic rhythm of the restaurant industry, and everything it takes to keep a busy home happily running behind the scenes.
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  1. How to start the week strong as a working mum? | Chef's Wife Diary on Small wins for working mums: why school pick-up saved my week?October 14, 2026

    […] I started this week strong, but it did not come without sacrifices. Friday night was one of them. Again,…

  2. Small wins for working mums: why school pick-up saved my week? | Chef's Wife Diary on Workplace fairness: when female bosses lack empathy.October 8, 2026

    […] had arrived with no reasonable timeline, and who now criticised my work in the meeting without any self-awareness at…

  3. Working mum career dilemma: stay or leave? | Chef's Wife Diary on Why “organisational fit” matters more when you’re raising kids?October 1, 2026

    […] there’s work. Thirteen years in the same organisation. I’ve had several job offers, the kind that feed your ambition,…

  4. Workplace fairness: when female bosses lack empathy. on Balancing the Scales: Motherhood and CareerAugust 28, 2026

    […] about supporting women and what actually happens when a woman is the one holding the calendar. The empowerment language…

  5. Working mum guilt: what one late pick-up taught me about setting boundaries. on Why modern motherhood’s “silent hardship” is our greatest power.August 11, 2026

    […] me more than a late fee: it cost me the porridge moment I’d spent all morning making. The silent…

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