by Zu Anjalika Kamis Gunnulfsen
As GalUP™ celebrates its fourth anniversary, I had the pleasure of sitting down with two of its founders, Laila White and Maxine Deveraux, for an intimate conversation about the journey, the dreams and the determination behind the brand. Beyond the achievements lies a story of passion, perseverance and the courage to turn an idea into something meaningful.
As we look back on their four years of growth and evolution, we also look ahead to what promises to be an exciting new chapter.
Happy 4th Anniversary, GalUP™ – here’s to the women, the vision and the journey ahead.
Let’s go back to the beginning. How did the idea for GalUP™ Singapore first come about and what made you feel there was a need for something like this?
Laila : GalUP™ came from somewhere very personal. I went through a divorce and raised two daughters as a single parent. I know what it means to keep working, parenting and making decisions while trying to find your own footing. Being capable doesn’t make you immune to feeling lost.
Maxine and I began talking about women going through divorce and how important it was to have people around you who understood what you were experiencing. What began as a conversation eventually became something we decided to act on.
But my intention was never simply to create another support group. It was to take away fear. Fear of starting again, of being judged, of believing that where you are today is all LIFE has left for you.
A divorce, a mistake, a setback or your age should never become a permanent verdict on your future.
I’ve always believed, If you want to change your life, change your story, one narrative at a time. And that’s a belief that extends far beyond divorce. As GalUP™ has evolved, so has our understanding of who we can serve. Support matters, but what matters just as much is what people become capable of doing with that support.
Maxine : GalUP™ started with a conversation between Laila and me. We were talking about women going through divorce and realized we didn’t know anyone who had gone through it and really had a support system. Laila said, “We should start one.” So we did. We started throwing around ideas, and one of her girlfriends suggested the name GalUP™. It stuck. Once we had the name, I started creating logos and through a process of elimination, Lailachose the one she loved. And that became GalUP™.
There was no big master plan. We saw a need and decided to do something about it.
What does GalUP™ stand for? Beyond the name and the organisation itself, what values or purpose did you want it to represent when you started?
Laila : Get UP. Dress UP. Show UP.
That was my personal mantra long before GalUP™ existed. When things were bleak, I didn’t always know how I would get through them. But I could get up, get dressed and show up. And sometimes that was enough to get me through another day.
Showing up matters, but so does the energy you bring. Be a presence that lifts the room, not one that weighs it down.
Those three simple actions have carried me through some of the most challenging periods of my life.
“Be Better NOT Bitter” came from Maxine. The way she approaches life, including her experience with cancer, embodies those words. Mine was about getting into motion; hers was about choosing how we respond to what LIFE brings us.
We had both lived those words before they became part of GalUP™.
There’s also something I love about the name itself. When I hear GalUP™, I hear “gallop” – a horse in motion. And movement creates change. You don’t have to gallop on your first day. You just have to begin.
That’s the spirit of GalUP™: RISE. REBUILD. RENEW.
Maxine : GalUP means Get Up. Dress Up. Show Up.
But it was never really about clothes.
“Get Up” means when life knock you down, you get back up. “Dress Up” means start finding yourself again. “Show Up” means participate in your own life, even when you don’t have everything figured out.
And then there’s Better, NOT Bitter. That matters to us.
Bad things happen. Divorce happens. Loss happens. Life happens. We wanted women to know that what happened to you does not get to decide who you become.
Building something from the ground up is rarely straightforward. What were some of the biggest challenges in establishing GalUP™, and were there moments when you wondered whether it would succeed?
Laila : I’ve always been a solution seeker. I can see possibilities long before I know exactly how I’m going to make them happen. That’s been true throughout my LIFE, in business and now with GalUPTM.
But having a strong “why” doesn’t automatically give you the “how.”
One of my biggest challenges has been personally funding GalUP™ while trying to build something sustainable. Beyond the financial commitment, there’s the practical work of bringing everything together – from finding the right people and partners to securing venues, resources and making sure our programmes and events actually happen.
How do you convince people to believe in a vision they haven’t yet seen come to life? How do you keep going when the resources aren’t there, the answers aren’t clear and you’re still responsible for making things happen?
There have been rejections, disappointments and moments when I’ve had no immediate solution. Sometimes, all I’ve had is an idea, the will to make it happen and the determination to keep pushing.
But FAILURE has never been a word in my dictionary. A setback simply means I haven’t found the solution yet.
What keeps me going is remembering why I started. There are people who need more than encouragement. They need someone willing to create opportunities for them to try, to learn and to make their life better.
Of course I’ve had moments of uncertainty. But I’ve never believed that uncertainty is a good enough reason to stop.
When you believe in what you’re building, you have to be prepared to keep showing up long before the world sees what you see.
Maxine : The biggest challenge was turning a good idea into a real organization. We had passion. We had ideas. But then you realize you need structure, funding, programmes, partnerships and people who actually believe in what you’re building. Of course, there were times we wondered if it would work. Some things worked, some didn’t. We changed things. We learned.
But the need never went away. Women still needed support. So we kept going. And honestly, we are still learning. I think that’s part of what keeps GalUP™ real.
As you celebrate this anniversary, when you look back at those early days, what are you most proud of, and what has surprised you most about how GalUP™ has evolved?
Laila : I’m proud that GalUP™ has moved beyond simply offering support to helping people build their own capabilities. Through Spoonful of Hope, we provide monthly food essentials to 30 single mothers. That support matters, but I’ve always believed that support should be the beginning, not the destination.
What I enjoy most is seeing women who initially came to receive food essentials now helping us organise the distribution. Others are curious about marketing their home businesses or discovering ways to earn an income from home through LeadHER™.
Sometimes it’s about keeping things simple, speaking in everyday language and showing them that learning something new isn’t such a big deal. When you take away the fear of trying, you begin to see that little glimmer of confidence in their eyes.
We also remove practical barriers by providing activities for their children while the mothers attend classes. Even during food distribution, we make a point of encouraging the women and praising their children. Receiving support should never come with shame. Dignity matters.
One of our most priceless moments was presenting certificates of attendance after a LeadHER™ session. A woman said, “I’ve never had any certificate in my life.” The pride on her face was something no impact report could ever capture.
These moments remind me why I keep asking, “What will help someone need us less?” To me, that’s the real measure of progress.
What has surprised me most is how GalUP™ has grown beyond its original focus on women going through divorce. The need for support, capability and opportunity exists across genders, generations and circumstances.
People don’t necessarily need someone to save them. Sometimes they need someone to help them recognise what they’re capable of.
Maxine : I’m most proud that something that started as a conversation between two women became something that actually helps women. What surprised me is how much GalUP™ grew beyond divorce. Women are rebuilding from all kinds of things – relationships, financial problems, motherhood, career changes, loss, even losing themselves.
I’m proud that we didn’t force women to fit into GalUP™. We allowed GalUP™ to grow to fit the women. And I still think we’re just getting started.
Laila and Maxine, you each bring your own personalities, experiences and strengths to GalUP™. How has your relationship and partnership shaped what the organisation has become today?
Laila : Maxine is my ex-husband’s wife, one of my dearest friends and my daughters’ bonus mum. That usually takes people a moment to process! I think our relationship says quite a lot about how I see life.
If I had chosen to define Maxine purely by her relationship to my past, imagine what I would have missed.
We’re two very different women. We have different personalities, experiences, strengths and ways of looking at things. We don’t always agree, and I don’t think we should have to.
Our contributions to GalUP™ are different too. I’m hands-on with the work, from developing partnerships and programmes to securing venues, organising events, sourcing what we need and making sure things actually happen. Maxine brings her creativity through design, communications and the digital side of GalUP™. We each contribute in ways that reflect our strengths.
I value people who can challenge my thinking, not simply agree with everything I say. Maxine brings perspectives I may not have considered, and I do the same for her.
We don’t always see things the same way, but we know what we’re working towards.
Our friendship is also a reminder that relationships don’t always have to follow the narratives society expects of them.
If you spend your LIFE judging people by the roles they played in your past, you may miss the people they could become in your future.
And perhaps that’s one of the most important things Maxine and I bring to GalUP™. We haven’t simply spoken about changing narratives. We’ve lived it.
Maxine : Laila and I are different. VERY different. But I think that’s why it works. She sees things I don’t see. I see things she doesn’t see. We disagree, challenge each other and sometimes probably drive each other crazy. But eventually we come back to the same question – “What is best for GalUP™ and the women we serve?”
Our friendship is unconventional too, which makes this even more interesting. We could have allowed our history to keep us apart. Instead, we built something together.
That’s actually very GalUP™.
We didn’t have to be the same. We just had to believe in the same purpose.
Maxine, how did breast cancer affect your life, work and role at GalUP™?
Maxine : Cancer changed my relationship with time. I stopped believing I had forever to do things. So I stopped waiting. It also changed how I understand rebuilding. You can rebuild after divorce, illness, loss, disappointment, or after simply losing yourself.
I’ve had to rebuild too. And some days I’m strong. Some days I’m tired. Some days I’m scared. But I still show up. That made Get Up. Dress Up. Show Up. much more personal for me. Sometimes showing up is the victory.
Did breast cancer change your definition of success or what you wanted GalUP™ to stand for?
Maxine : Absolutely. Success used to be about what I accomplished. Now I measure it by impact. Did I help somebody? Did I make somebody feel seen? Did something I created make someone’s life a little better? That’s what I want for GalUP™ too.
I don’t care about having a bunch of programmes just so we can say we have programmes. I want something to actually change for a woman because she encountered GalUP™.
It isn’t about how big we become. It’s about how deeply we reach. At this point in my life, meaningful beats impressive every time.
For both of you, what has GalUP™ taught you about resilience? Have there been lessons from your personal lives that have influenced the way you lead and make decisions professionally?
Laila : Raising my daughters as a single parent taught me that responsibility doesn’t wait until you’re emotionally ready.
There were decisions to make, bills to pay, children to raise and a life to build. I couldn’t afford to sit around waiting to feel courageous before doing what needed to be done.
But as I’ve grown older, my understanding of resilience has evolved.
I don’t think resilience is simply about how much you can endure. It’s also about having the honesty to ask yourself whether what you’re doing is actually working.
What am I repeating? What do I need to learn? Is there a better way?
Otherwise, you can spend a great deal of energy doing the same thing and calling it strength.
I’ve spent much of my professional life building businesses, working with different people and finding solutions to problems I hadn’t encountered before. What I’ve learned is that experience doesn’t mean you have all the answers.
I come as a student.
The people we work with understand things about their own lives that I may never fully know. If I don’t listen, I miss the opportunity to learn something that could make our work better.
For me, leadership is about taking responsibility while remaining teachable.
Maxine : GalUP™ taught me that resilience doesn’t always look strong. Sometimes resilience is saying, “Well, that didn’t work,” and trying something else. Sometimes it’s asking for help. Sometimes it’s changing the entire plan.
Life has taught both of us that things rarely go exactly the way you planned. That affects how we lead. We listen. We adjust. We make mistakes. We have difficult conversations. We laugh, sometimes at ourselves, and then we get back to work.
You don’t have to have everything figured out to keep moving. Sometimes you just have to get up again.
Looking ahead, what is the next chapter for GalUP™ Singapore? Where would you like to see the organisation five or ten years from now, and are there ambitions you haven’t yet had the opportunity to pursue?
Laila : I want GalUP™ to become a framework that can be adopted and sustained by communities beyond Singapore.
We’ve developed a model built around four stages: Support → Capability → Opportunity → Contribution.
It’s relatively simple in principle. We support people where they are, help them build practical capabilities, create opportunities for them to use those capabilities and encourage them to contribute to others.
Our GalUP™ LEAD framework has three pathways.
LeadHER™ supports women, including those reached through Spoonful of HOPE and our developing A.D.A.T pathway for women in custody and reintegration.
LeadHIM™, through MenUPlifted, focuses on men stepping up to mentor boys and young men, developing responsibility, resilience, respect and purpose.
LeadUP™ is designed to create opportunities for seasoned citizens to remain active, engaged and purposeful through wellbeing, mentorship and volunteering.
I believe people at every stage of life have something to contribute. Experience shouldn’t simply retire. It should have somewhere to go.
Over the next five or ten years, I’d like to see these pathways operating consistently in more communities, supported by organisations, trainers, volunteers and funders who believe in the same principles.
And eventually, why should this be limited to Singapore?
But expansion alone isn’t my measure of success. I want to know what has changed for the people who have participated. Are they more capable? Are they making different decisions? Are they creating opportunities for themselves and others?
I don’t want GalUP™ to become an organisation that people depend on indefinitely. I want it to be something that enables them to move forward and, where possible, bring someone else along.
That, to me, is what “Turning Human Potential into Contribution” really means.
Maxine : I want us to build something that lasts beyond Laila and me.
I would love to see GalUP™ become a Singapore born model that helps women rebuild and become stronger and more independent through programmes like LeadHER™, financial capability, AI, business, leadership and everything else we’re developing. I’d also love a permanent GalUP™ space where women can walk in and find resources, education, mentorship and community.
And eventually, why stop at Singapore?
Women everywhere are rebuilding from something.
The dream is that years from now, women Laila and I will never meet are still telling another woman:
Get Up. Dress Up. Show Up.
Finally, this anniversary is both a celebration and a milestone. If you could speak to yourselves on the very first day of GalUP™, and then to the people who will carry it into its next chapter, what would you say?
Laila : To myself on day one, I’d say:
It will all work out. You’re a solution seeker. The challenges you face are not new; they’re simply presenting themselves in different circumstances.
The structure, the flow and the people who believe in what you’re doing will reveal themselves as you find your way, just as they have throughout your life.
Remain vigilant about your intentions and stay true to your vision.
And to the people who will carry GalUP™ forward, I would say:
Always remember, success has many parents; failure has none.
Remain grounded, gracious and stubborn in your beliefs. Take responsibility when things are difficult, and share the credit when things go well.
Don’t be afraid to question what we’ve built. Improve it. Challenge it. Take it further than we ever imagined. But never lose sight of why it exists.
I’ve never believed that any organisation should exist simply to celebrate its founders. If GalUP™ is to mean something, it must continue to be relevant to the people it serves, long after Maxine and I are no longer the ones driving it.
The circumstances people face will change. Their needs will evolve. Our methods must be allowed to evolve with them.
But our intention should remain: Take away fear. Build capability. Create opportunity. Enable contribution.
Maxine : To Laila and me on day one:We have no idea what we’re starting.
Stop trying to figure everything out. Some things will work. Some won’t. GalUP is going to become something you didn’t expect.
Let it. And to whoever carries GalUP after us: Take care of it, but don’t be afraid to change it.
Challenge our ideas. Create better ones. Take it places we never imagined.
Just protect the heart of it.
Never forget there is a woman behind every programme, every event and every statistic.
Make sure she knows one chapter ending doesn’t mean her story is over.
Get Up. Dress Up. Show Up.
That was the promise when we started.
Keep the promise.
GalUP™ Singapore | info@galup.live | +65 8044 9343
