Scaling Everest: Lessons in Resilience & Leadership with Joanne S and Peh Gee L S5 I Ep 3

In this inspiring episode of the Career Transitions podcast, we welcome two extraordinary guests—Lee Peh Gee and Joanne Soo, members of the Singapore Women’s Everest Team. Their journey to the summit of Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain at 8,848 meters, is a testament to resilience, teamwork, and perseverance.

We often say that career transitions feel like climbing a mountain—filled with uncertainty, self-doubt, and the need for endurance. Who better to learn from than real mountaineers? Peh Gee and Joanne take us through their grueling five-year journey of preparation, their physical, mental, and emotional challenges, and the life lessons they gained along the way.

In this episode, we explore:

• How they trained for Everest—mentally, physically, and emotionally
• Overcoming self-doubt and external critics who questioned their ability
• The power of teamwork and enablers in achieving big goals
• How their experience translates to navigating career transitions
• The importance of preparation, clarity, and trusting the journey

Their story is a powerful metaphor for career growth and personal development, reminding us that the journey matters just as much as the destination.

Tune in for an episode filled with motivation, adventure, and practical insights to help you conquer your own Everest—whether it’s in your career or personal life.

Connect with us on LinkedIn:

· Vanessa Iloste (Host)

· Vanessa Teo (Host)

· Aaron Wu (Producer)

Transcript

Vanessa I: [00:00:00] Welcome to the season five of the Career Transition Podcast. Over the years, we received lots of feedback from our listeners, and we love the conversations that are generated as part of our podcast. In one of our talks with our listeners, one of them described their career transition like climbing a mountain.

Vanessa T: We reflected on many of the challenges associated with making career transitions, and we realized that there are so many parallels between professional life changes and mountaineering. 

Vanessa I: So no better people than to talk to the true mountaineers, Vanessa. We decided to invite two members of the Singapore Women's Everest team to share with us their experience climbing the tallest mountain on earth.

We had a fantastic conversation with them and we hope. That you will have some insightful takeaways.[00:01:00] 

Vanessa T: Welcome everyone to the next episode of the Career Transitions Podcast. The podcast where we explore what it takes to successfully navigate through career transitions, no matter which stage of life or career you're at. 

Vanessa I: In this episode, we are honored to have two extraordinary guests. Lee Peh Gee and Joaane Soo, members of the Singapore Woman's Everest team climbing Mount Everest.

The tallest mountain on earth at over 8,848 meters is a testament to human perseverance, courage, and resilience, and we are thrilled to learn more about their incredible journey. Welcome to the show, Peh Gee and Joanne. 

Peh Gee L: Hello. Thanks for having us here. I'm Peh Gee. 

Joanne S: Thank you for the warm welcome. It's an honor to be here.

I'm Joanne. 

Vanessa I: Nice to meet you, Joanne and Peh Gee. Let's start at the beginning. Climbing Everest is not just about reaching the highest point on earth. It's about [00:02:00] overcoming one's own Everest in life. What inspire you to embark on this incredible journey? We are very curious to know. 

Joanne S: Climbing Mount Everest was never originally in my bucket list.

Initially, I wasn't sure if our team could move on to climb such a monumental peak. I think over time the team's dedication and training, overcoming countless challenges has inspired me to be fully committed. 

Peh Gee L: On the contrary, Everest was on my bucket list. I was reading this book called Chicken Soup for the Soul Book.

Inside there, there was a story about a man who listed out all the things that he want to do in his life. So then at 14 years old, not knowing better, I just copied the list. Then happens to be one of the list got Everest, yeah, without knowing what it takes to do it. After that, I just put it aside my list, but somehow I happened to listen to then Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong National Day Rally speech.

And he spoke about this group of women attempting to climb Mount Everest, and then I just remembered that I have this thing on my bucket list. That's how I quickly got hold of the team's email and I [00:03:00] emailed them my intention and interest. Luckily for me, I was in time for the interview when they were doing the selection round.

So, and that was what started me on this journey of climbing Everest. 

Vanessa T: I believe that the preparation to climb Mount Everest must have been extremely intense, and we hear so much about the intense training that mountaineers have to go through and climbers enter this death zone in the area above 8,000 meters where oxygen levels are dangerously low and have to be exceptionally well prepared.

So can you share with our listeners. What it took to train physically, mentally, and emotionally for such a monumental climb. 

Peh Gee L: I started mountaineering from zero experience. I do not know anything about climbing. I have no experience at all, and that means in terms of physical requirements. As a team, we have to train by six days a week.

We do about one long run, about 10 kilometers every week, and then we had to do like two sets of staircase climbing, that's twice a week. And then we had to do long treks on a Saturday, takes about four hours. Within the week itself, [00:04:00] alternate days we will do gym training. Because of my zero experience mountaineering, I had to go for a technical climbing course, and that was what I did in New Zealand.

And every year in that mountaineering expedition, it's also a selection climb for our team. We had a lot of people joining us right at the beginning, but because of the different adaptation to altitude, we have a few of us who couldn't continue the journey. That is what happened during each of our climbs.

Joanne S: Mentally, we really have to prepare to face uncertainty and extreme conditions because in the mountain things change. It can be almost every minute. And the next thing is emotionally, I think for us, our team members support is very, very important. It's like believe in one another that each of us play a role in keeping us motivated.

The time itself every day, while it's fun, but it's challenging on a daily basis, and I always tell people that getting to the base camp was easy, but to actually plan to get started to the base camp is what was challenging for us. 

Vanessa I: On the emotional preparation. I was wondering, were you equipped with some [00:05:00] concepts?

Were you equipped with some models, like mental models in order to deal with this uncertainty or this difficulties? 

Joanne S: Emotional is very, very individual. Plus we all deal with emotions very differently. For me, I think it's about trusting the process and understanding that things will change. So once you accept that, things will change.

You'll probably be able to adapt better. So here we are talking about understanding changes and adaptability, trusting the process. 

Peh Gee L: Maybe I can add on from my own experience about how to deal with emotions up on the mountains. Think, one of the things that our team did or do on a regular basis, or even on a daily basis is really having these daily debriefings in our camp. We get to share our daily activities, what our experiences, how do we feel on a daily basis.

We can check in with each other. And this was very important, especially when we encountered a case of avalanche and that was one of the experiences that we had. We were being rudely awakened to the fact we already know, but rudely awakened to the fact that people die on mountain, [00:06:00] especially if you are one of those caught in avalanche.

And during our climbing season, people did perish during the avalanche or never found. Our emotions when we were in the midst of an avalanche, we had each other to talk through what our fears are and what we could possibly do. So they provided me kind of a base whereby I had used some of the technique called neurolinguistic programming to help me deal with some of these emotions and uncertainties.

Vanessa I: So the choice of NLP was yours actually, Peh Gee. You're on your own choice to study NLP to help you. And what Joanne is saying is that maybe someone else would've chosen another approach. 

Peh Gee L: Yes. Correct. 

Vanessa I: So it was not a one size fits all on the emotional side. This is quite interesting actually to, to reflect on this emotional preparation.

So one of the things we wanted to ask you about is around the idea of self-doubt, because we have actually came up with a couple of situations in career transition around self-doubt. So I was wondering about the moments where you doubted yourselves or [00:07:00] faced some critics, and what did you do in order to overcome these fears?

Joanne S: I think from my experience coming from Singapore, as in born and breed at sea level, a lot of people always start like, oh, can Singaporeans climb mountains? So this is already the first question that we always face when we go out, even at present, and this status now where a lot more people are climbing.

People are still wondering, oh, Singaporeans... yeah. Singapore has no mountains. How do you train? It becomes like a negative connotation that comes to us immediately. So people didn't believe that all this bunch of ladies at sea level were able to climb up to 5,000, 6,000 meters. 

So they actually thought that we were only planning to go to the base camp and we had to correct them, "oh no, we not just wanted to get to base camp, but we wanted to get to the top of Mount Everest" and they were just give us the kind of look like, are you sure what you're doing?

I find the very important thing is we have to stay focused on our purpose. Believe that what we're gonna do is going to make a difference, not just for Singapore, but for ourselves. Peh Gee mentioned earlier that we'll [00:08:00] come together and share about our experiences. When I find that I have doubts about myself, I speak to my team members.

'Cause I draw strength from my team. But eventually we learn to silence the noise and trust that our preparation is enough and channel our energy into proving not to others, but more to ourselves that we are capable of doing what we aim to do as a team, as an individual as well. 

Peh Gee L: Personally, I always have doubts about myself and I remembered during our weekly tracks on Bukit Timah Hill, that four hours long track.

So along the four hours we tend to meet other people who are also doing some form of training on their own hiking. And often what they'll ask you, where are you going to? So I remember that at that point I was training and then I did not dare to tell anyone that I'm going for Everest. But somehow along the way, as we climb more and more mountains and build the experiences, I just focus on every climb there is, but not to set the height so far out to say that I'm gonna climb Everest, but rather I'm going to climb the next mountain that's not Everest yet.

That helped me to move on from mountain to mountain. But on the [00:09:00] night of the summit window, that was the final night. I recalled that it was the last final push that was camp fall all the way to the summit. And suddenly I've just had this epiphany you know. What is there to keep thinking whether I would make it or not, just focus on the next step.

And that was the only time when I truly enjoyed climbing because way before all this activities, every time I go for a climb, I feel it's very painful. It's in terms of the details, in terms of the cold but somehow that night during the submit push. Somehow the load was being released from my shoulder because I was just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other and just move on.

Vanessa I: There are many, many similars and many similarities with actually doing a career transition. What you're sharing with us, Joanne, about the fact that at the beginning you are the only one thinking about your projects, it's very, very common. You know, you say to someone you want to change field, or you want to move abroad, or you want to do another job.

The look at the way people see you perceive you might be very difficult to take. What Peh Gee, you were saying about putting one foot after another I think is very [00:10:00] powerful as well, because there are times where doubting oneself can be actually paralyzing. It can impede you from expressing your potential, the way to trick your brain and to say, okay, let's just see what tomorrow brings, and that's good enough. 

Vanessa, what did you think? I think this is very, very powerful. 

Vanessa T: Yeah, definitely. I picked up so many great nuggets that both of you talked about, the piece about silencing the noise. There are so many critics around you, both inner as well as external critics who may not really know exactly what's going on inside of you emotionally, but having the courage ultimately to be able to silence the noise.

But I really liked what you guys talked about. Those daily briefings and really working it through as a team, because by yourself you may not be able to truly address some of those inner critics, but through the conversations as a team, I noticed how you were able to work through that all together. Just so we understand, maybe you could share with us, how long did it take you from the bottom of the [00:11:00] mountain to actually reach the summit?

How long was that whole journey?

Joanne S: I would like to always sum up this way. For us, five years of preparation, 9 days. Get to the base camp 2 months or rather not to extremely stretch it. Probably about a month, 30 days of acclimatization from base camp to Camp 1, Camp 2, Camp 3 and come back to base camp.

We need that for about 4 weeks... a month. 

Vanessa I: Mm. 

Joanne S: And the final phase is 5 days from base camp to Camp 1, 2, 3. And eventually Camp 4 and like 10 to 15 hours of 1 week getting from Camp 4 to the summit and 5 to 10 minutes of moments of happiness on the summit. And then you think about how to get down.

So let me summarize again. 5 years of preparation, like 2 months of spending, and 5 to 10 minutes on the summit and you come down. That was our journey, at least for us. 

Vanessa I: How long does it take to go down actually? 

Joanne S: We always say getting up is just half a journey. Coming down... it's a mandatory. For me, I came down from the summit and I immediately shot down [00:12:00] to camp 2.

So from 8,000 - 8, 4, 8 meters, I went down to 6,000 meters in a single push, and after that 1 more night at Camp 2 and I went down to base camp. So it took me in general about 6 days to get from base camp up and down. 

Vanessa T: That is such a long journey. To get up and down and to think about that journey and to spend those few minutes, really at the summit, I see this in so much parallels to career transitions, right?

You plan and you plan so much for that moment when you actually make that transition. But it's actually in all of our preparation that we actually get ourselves to be better and better and more well prepared for us to actually make. I'm certain that climbing Mount Everest was a masterclass in building resilience in the phase of Sub-Zero temperatures and 200 miles per hour winds.

You must have learned some really valuable lessons. What would you summarize as those big takeaways that apply to challenges off the mountain, [00:13:00] especially as you think about careers? What were some big takeaways? 

Peh Gee L: Talking about career transitions actually had transition in my career since last year. I realized that one of the things that I take away from Mount Everest is preparation, is one of them.

Clarity of where to go next is also another thing. In terms of mountaineering. We have a really clear goal that is to climb Mount Everest. So in term of career transition, I think that it's important to have the idea of where's the next step. So it's about understanding ourselves. I believe it's understanding myself to know where are my strength, my weakness, my interests, in order to plot the next step out.

For those who transiting to the next career before we jump to the next career, I would say do that preparation of getting to know yourselves, where are your strengths, where are your interests? Get that clarity and then you plot your next step. The next step of actionable strategies, your executionable task to get you closer to your next career.

Joanne S: I think climbing Everest and transiting to a different career path, the common things that they face is this word uncertainty. On [00:14:00] Everest, though we know that we are climbing, we're certainly aware that we are climbing a big mountain. We are climbing Everest, but there's so many things that is uncertain.

The weather could change. The people that we meet could change the way we see things or change the way we behave. I think in career transitions will be very similar. You're actually stepping into an unknown zone, right? For mountaineering we are stepping into a lot of unknowns. Same goes to your career that you are entering.

Peh Gee L: It's about also knowing or trusting yourself that you already have the skills and experiences in your previous career, and that will not go to waste. Why do I say so? Because in climbing mountain, I have to trust on my gear. I have to trust that whatever training that put in so far locally, whether it's tracking, running, doing gyms, or even committing that experience of climbing another mountain.

That experience has put me in good state to go Everest. Similarly, for those who are going to the next career, trust that whatever jobs or position that you have been through will also put you in good state for your next. 

Vanessa I: Yeah, it's very [00:15:00] powerful what you're sharing. Even you didn't have experience in mountaineering Peh Gee.

I'm sure there were some skill sets you had learned from your career, from your background. You had the possibility to transfer, but you didn't know. Another question we wanted to ask you is around the team work, because you did to it, Joanne, from the beginning around the fact that this is where you find your energy, your resilience.

There is a lot coming from the teamwork. What are the things that, because career transition is usually a very lonely exercise, so how would you advise people in career transition to use the team, maybe to help them? 

Joanne S: I believe teamwork is very, very important on the mountain because we want to recognize the fact that we don't climb Everest alone.

We needed not just our own ability, believing ourselves and getting ourselves skilled physically fit to climb mountains. But we know that the people we meet will affect how we deal with situations. In terms of teamwork, I think very important is understanding that my ability will [00:16:00] have to match the team that I'm working with.

My experience taught me communication is very important, so when I able to speak up about how I feel, my own emotions, then my team will always be there to support me. 

Peh Gee L: I wanna add up because you also have to think about the enablers. We have people who are directly working with us. They are Sherpas, they are quarters who help us on logistics as well as guiding that's on the mountain. 

Prior to even getting in the mountain, we have people who are coaches and trainer. That's our coach give us the necessary technical training to do well on the mountain itself. And we also have our supporters, people who believe in our cause and contributed their money, their time to help us to raise enough fund to be able to go forward, and as well as sponsors. So these our enablers. 

Likewise, in our career transition, we have to identify the people who can help us navigating this process smoothly. Who are those people? Maybe your financial advisor, agent, whoever people you think could be an expert to help you to discuss about your financial planning. As you transit in career, you might not [00:17:00] have that level of steady income, so you have to find a way to make sure that you are still well covered during that process of finding your next job.

How about your family members? Are they supportive for you making that move? So we have to enlist that support as well, plus having a listening ear in terms of close friends to be able to journey with you in this period of uncertainty. 

They are the one who probably can give you comfort. If you happen to be facing a lot of, uh, hits and misses with regard to your job applications.

So we need this group of people, I'll call it enablers to help us on this journey as well. 

Vanessa T: You guys bring up some really great points about making career transitions and the analogy of the mountain, particularly Peh Gee, what you mentioned about the Sherpas, the coaches, and also your supporters as well as your sponsors.

Really important when we think about making career transitions. It's not your own ability that's going to get you to that next job or to that next role or to that next transition, but you're really enabled by the people around you. We think about mentors, we think about coaches, we think about even your colleagues or [00:18:00] former managers who might help you making those career transitions.

I think that's a really beautiful analogy of what happens in the mountain, also applies in terms of our career transitions. Can you share with us what were some of the biggest challenges you faced at the team? 

Peh Gee L: I always like to tell people that the biggest challenge the team face is not on the mountains.

The biggest challenge happens outside the mountain, and that's why our initial plan to climb Everest in 4 years was extended to 5 years simply because we did not raise enough money to climb Mount Everest to even step foot on the mountain itself. And there was a period whereby the team really put together, do all sorts of things, to raise funds to help us get onto the mountain.

Vanessa I: This is also happening a lot in career transition. You know that sometimes the biggest issues, maybe before you start the career transition itself, there are moments where you're stuck because you are maybe in a comfort zone or you don't see that what you're doing is maybe not satisfying. So it takes a little bit of time to realize, to open your [00:19:00] eyes around the fact.

I think this is also something very powerful that we can use. 

Joanne S: I think back to the challenges that Peh Gee mentioned earlier. The lessons I learned from this is like recognizing what is the actual crux of your project. We thought climbing Everest... the physical part is the most difficult ones. Like, oh, getting ourselves very fit and be able to step foot on the mountain is the toughest.

So we focus a lot on physical training, which was good. But we overlook on how to get the finances to allow us to step foot on the base. We overlook on that entirely. That's why from 4 years we had to extend another year and we were like thankful that because of our teamwork, we come together. We could set foot the year after, right?

We could have needed another 2 or 3 more years. Looking back now. 

Vanessa T: Yeah. Peh Gee and Joanne, you guys brought up so many great points about overcoming challenges when climbing the mountain, but ultimately the resilience, the training that you've put in over time, the teamwork ultimately got you [00:20:00] to your goal of summiting Mount Everest, and what a incredible feat that you guys have been through as an entire team.

What are the key takeaways that you would like to share with our listeners? 

Joanne S: Looking back, I think chase for opportunities, don't chase for rewards. Earlier on, if I had keep thinking about just arriving at the summit of Everest, my journey would've been very different because I'll be picking up a lot of other peaks and then forgot about what I enjoyed actually.

So I enjoyed the journey, it's like the opportunities to climb more mountains came in and Everest became like the icing on the cake. So the next thing is, of course, believe in yourself and stay committed. Blaze the journey that you have picked up. 

Lastly, establish a reward system for yourself to celebrate your progress. Each time you achieve a milestone. Celebrate and give yourself some reward, but of course, be very mindful to remain balanced. It doesn't lead to over indulgence.

Peh Gee L: For me, I think that part about trusting our inner sense that whatever failures that we have been through or gone through [00:21:00] are just experiences to put us in a good state for the next ones coming.

Trust that.

Vanessa I: That's something that I will keep myself for the next couple of weeks. I just wanted to say a big thank you. I was impressed by the way you have shown your vulnerability and also your true selves through this podcast. You didn't hide, you know, you didn't tell us you were the best of the best.

You just explain us that there were some areas that were not as great as the others, and I think it makes things much more authentic. And much more powerful, especially when we're trying to generate some learning. So I want to say thank you for playing the game with us and for being so honest. And I just wanted to say that I truly admire what you have accomplished, the two of you.

I want to congratulate you for this incredible journey that you have gone through. This is fantastic. 

Vanessa T: Thank you so much. Peh Gee and Joanne, both of you have been such an inspiration to us. I mean, climbing Mount Everest is already such a huge challenge, but to be able to [00:22:00] translate so many of those lessons into personal life as well as your professional life has truly been an inspiration for us.

Thank you so much for being on our show today. And with that, we conclude this episode of the Career Transitions Podcast. Thank you for joining us today, Peh Gee and Joanne. 

Peh Gee L: Thank you very much. 

Joanne S: Thank you.