I got onto BBC World News LIVE!
Thank you for all the support every one! Watch in full screen for best results!
We Shouldn’t live life fearing Death, but fear that at Death we realise we have not truly Lived
Thank you every one for your kind words. In the past 2 days, we have been receiving numerous emails and phone calls about our wedding shoot. Wow, we never expected our photos to go viral. We are both still very dazed with the attention, but let me take this opportunity to pen down my thoughts about the shoot: Read more…
Our fabulous shoot is on The Straits Times!
We are really proud of our photoshoot! Click the picture to read the full article! 🙂
Jenny’s Life Has Changed
Please click on the full screen button for best results (:
Jenny Tay
Hi! I am Jenny Tay, the daughter of Singapore’s philanthropic undertaker Roland Tay and currently I’m managing Direct Funeral Services Pte Ltd. Just a few years ago I was working in an advertising firm and had no idea I would ever step into this industry. Read more…
Have A Little Respect
Just hours before the turn of an era, the heavens wept. As the sun rose the very next day, a nation mourned. Our founding father has ascended. My father was visibly saddened and tired. He was up the whole night as calls poured in from our hotline to ask about what can be done if anything happens to Mr Lee Kuan Yew.
Mr Lee Kuan Yew was his hero. He was in fact THE hero of their generation. Gone were the days of the 32 door containers that used to make its rounds picking up the neighbourhood’s excrements. No longer did our grandparents have to rely on kerosene or wood fire. From a plethora of languages, Read more…
8 Days every day!
Thank you 8 days for the feature! I’m very proud to be able to bring more attention to my industry. Nothing makes me more proud than to bring us to greater heights!
Direct Life Foundation 2nd Event!
Today we brought out the residents of Metta Welfare Association. These residents are handicapped and bound by wheelchairs hence it is difficult for them to get around or for their families to bring them around.
We decided to surprise them by bringing them out on an excursion to S.E.A Aquarium! Together with our strength of 100 volunteers, we brought them to see the beautiful marine life.
We are really proud of our volunteers for being so passionate and patient with the residents. It wasn’t easy getting around but with every one’s efforts, they made it happen.
It was such a joy to see the smiles blossoming on all their faces.
We look forward to doing more! Next destination: Gardens By The Bay maybe?
Our 2nd Book is out!
Remember i have always been talking about transparency in my industry? Look! Myself, Darren, Alfred Chia of Singcapital & Rayney Wong of Vision Law LLC have published a book on planning for the end of life.
It’s our small effort to bring transparency to our industry and to raise our industry image.
Get it at popular book store, Kinokuniya or from my company!
Stop Taking Advantage Of The Bereaved Families!
A friend of mine recently wanted to engage our services, but her relative quoted the family a much cheaper price. While in their bereaved state, my friends’s family chose to engage the relative.
A week later, she came back to me angry and frustrated. The bill in the end went up to double the initial quote! Her family was at a loss of words. Especially when the service provider was introduced by the relative. Services was slipshod, the food was bad and the whole experience was further ruined when they found out why the relative was pushing so hard for his undertaker: he actually got a cut from the money collected.
As it turns out, this is actually quite a common story in Singapore. There are many people who claim to provide casket services but actually have no inventory, no staff and no product knowledge. Yet these vultures are just praying on the fact that when people are grieving, they tend to make misinformed choices.
One of my goals this year is to bring about a change through my own efforts of transparency. To show every customer that upon signing the initial quote, there will not be any hidden costs; to list down every thing in black and white. I hope my efforts can help educate the community that you always have a choice to choose a more reputable service provider.
To Make The World A Better Place
My dad has always been helping the poor elderly who live by themselves with their afterlife affairs; I thought to myself, why not help them while they are still around?
Our Mission is simple: no matter how big or small our efforts are, we just want to help make their lives a little better with our acts of kindness. We want to connect volunteers with the elderly who live alone.
We started Direct Life Foundation to achieve this. As of now we aim to do an event at least once a quarter but we aim to do them monthly!
Our very first event was a free hair cut, hair dye and a Lou hei lunch for the elderly of Marsiling. They were all super happy. My dad dropped by and it was so heartwarming to see the elderly flocking to him, telling him that they want him to help them when their time comes.
You can see more pictures on our Facebook page and help us by liking the page! Spread the love!
I Made It As A Cover Girl!
I am so honoured to be featured on the cover of The SME Magazine by business times! I’m really proud that with feature I can bring more attention to my industry and bring it to greater heights! Please grab a copy if you have not!
My Big Day!
I’m finally Mrs Cheng! Actually I’ve known Darren for half my life and today we finally tie the knot. Who knew that the geeky boy next door who became my best friend is also my soul mate. I feel very blessed that I am able to marry my best friend and spend the rest of my life with him.
My wedding vows are simple:
- To always love you and be there for you
- To always settle our disputes before bed And never leave them for he next day
- To always take joy with you in the simple things in life like movies at home and digging ears (disgusting I know but extremely therapeutic)
- To never forsake you in troubled times and to be your pillar of strength as we ride the waves of life.
We are so fortunate to have all of our friends and families in our lives who stood by us through thick and thin, especially in our earlier year in the business when we struggled to grow it.
过大礼！
Did you know that 过大礼 is the most important aspect of a wedding in the Chinese Culture? Apparently missing out on ingredients will affect the couple’s future lives! Gosh!
Darren and his buddies got together every thing and came to my house! And his very first words were “Uncle & Auntie, 我带着些来换您的女儿！”. I never knew the price of a Daughter is a suckling pig and cans of preserved food 😂.
Where Did Grandpa Go is finally out!
Where Did Grandpa Go? Was finally published. I’m so proud of Darren. It took him 3 years to finally write the story and when I read it, tears welled up in my eyes.
It’s a simple yet touching story of love beyond worlds. We were very fortunate that these 2 prominent celebrities borrowed our parlour for a drama shoot and we could give them a copy each.
We launched the book in a small cafe called the Bravery (best coffees by the way) and invited a few friends.
Darren aread the book and shared the concept behind it. Turns out when darren wrote it, it was paying homage to his own grandpa.
Unfortunately, bookstores are not willing to sell the book because it is too thin. I had no idea there was such a requirement. As such, we decided to give all our customers each a copy,to help bring closure to them.
Chinese Cultural Lesson
Today we were educated in the what it means to be Chinese. As a funeral director, I am well versed in the rites and customs of death. Yet when it came to weddings, I had no idea there were so many things to look out for!
So, just like the end of life, wedding customs are split by Dialect group & the permutations between the guys and girls. Oh my! There are just so many permutations!
We visited this shop in Chinatown and the auntie was sweet enough to give us a lesson on the things to look out for. Darren was so excited he specially requested for the red bundle of ribbons to be tied on him when he 过大礼.
It’s these customs that gives us a cultural identity as Chinese people. I’m really motivated to try and keep a record of all these to help preserve our culture, both of life and death. After all, as a custodian of lives, it is my duty.
Jenny Tay 