Even from the beginning, Elisha was faced with myriad challenges, which she bravely took on. For instance, she started literally from scratch — by learning how to code. The 31-year-old says: “I was a nobody, so although I tried very hard, I could not find a technical co-founder who wanted to join me for Learnemy. I decided to do it myself. Thankfully, a programmer friend helped by giving me ‘classes’ after work and weekends at cafes and libraries. It was extremely difficult, but I was very motivated as well.” Eventually, after four years of operating Learnemy, she decided to move to Silicon Valley in a quest to keep the company afloat. With money that she saved from years of living with less, she headed there for three months for mentorship and networking. Though she gained a lot of exposure, she soon realised that everyone had differing opinions, and at the end of the day, it was “up to me”.

With her savings dwindling, and physical and psychological burn-out becoming a reality, Elisha — Learnemy’s only full-time employee — made the difficult decision to shut down her start-up for good. She had no other option but to find a job, and fortunately, she was soon hired by a tech media company. Then — as if her life adhered to the saying, “when it rains, it pours” — she was asked to leave the company six months into the job, with only a week’s notice. She was devastated. “I was stunned. I felt like the ultimate failure. I thought at the time that finally, I was taking the proven path. You know, ‘get a job, work hard and all will be okay’,” Elisha recalls, tears welling up as she remembers one of the lowest points in her life. “I was left with nothing.”

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Elisha’s first thought after losing her job was to update her resume and go for interviews (“Any interview.”). “I also kept asking myself what I had done wrong. I went over my actions and obsessed about what else I could have done,” she shares. “Eventually, I realised I was basing my self-worth on conventional standards of success, such as how much money I had earned, or how far up the career ladder I had advanced.”

She stopped herself from jumping into just any open role, and instead, reflected on what she had learnt from Learnemy. While trying to figure out her next steps, Elisha continued to cut back on her lifestyle expenses. That meant no outings with friends, no holidays, few luxuries like going to the movies, and eating extremely cheaply. She realised she still wanted to work in tech, where she was particularly interested in building communities. Elisha began reaching out to her tech contacts; in interviews, she demonstrated how her skills and experiences in the past several years were relevant and could add value to the roles she desired. She managed to find a contract role with a tech MNC in Singapore, which was later converted into a full-time job as a programme manager. She still works in the role, which she says brings her much personal satisfaction. “I’ve built developer communities across Asia, reaching tens of thousands of developers, up skilling and helping them with employment and startup opportunities.”

And Elisha kept going. All those years of experiencing disappointment had a silver lining — it taught her resilience and coping skills to bounce back from failure. After work hours, she continued to maintain her entrepreneurial zeal and passion to help others. She set up TechLadies in 2016 (see box), offering an online community and volunteer-run boot camps, primarily teaching women to code. Again, the software engineer and coder friends who helped her out when she started Learnemy answered her call for collaborators.

With TechLadies, she decided that the women she taught weren’t merely learning to code — they were going to be a force for change. Alongside learning, they would also work on meaningful projects for NGOs. One real-world issue the pioneer batch of ladies solved was for the Humanitarian Organization for Migrant Economics (HOME), which needed to improve the database it uses to track instances of domestic workers being abused by their employers.

Overall, she also thinks that there should be more gender diversity in tech, she adds. “The computer doesn’t know or care if you’re male or female. It only cares that you can code competently.” To close the gender gap, “we must first be invested in solving it,” she explains. “I took action in a way I knew how — by starting something.” Although she has big plans for TechLadies, she is taking measured steps — something she also learnt from her Learnemy experience. With a Penang chapter recently launched, Elisha is focused on growing the community in Singapore and regionally.