Roshni Mahtani Cheung is the Group CEO and Founder of The Parentinc, whose triumphs include: theAsianparent, the world’s highest-rated parenting app and SEA’s largest content and community platform for parents reaching 35 million users monthly; Mama's Choice, an award-winning direct-to-consumer brand that manufactures and retails safe, natural, and Halal pregnancy, nursing, baby care, and household products; and Webtretho, Vietnam’s largest community platform for women and young families.

👋🏼 How would you explain your job to someone outside tech?

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Empowered mothers raise empowered children. So I’ve made it my mission to do just that: empower them!

My company, The Parentinc, has built a thriving content-community-commerce platform that provides mothers in Southeast Asia with credible pregnancy and parenting resources, a safe and non-judgmental space where they can seek support from fellow parents and experts, affordable quality mum and baby products, as well as income opportunities in order for them to raise healthy families.

Our flagship brand, theAsianparent, is SEA’s largest content and community website and app reaching over 35M users monthly; while Mama’s Choice is one of SEA’s fastest growing D2C brands in SEA offering safe, natural, and Halal mum & baby products. We also own and operate Webtretho, the biggest content and community platform for women and young parents in Vietnam.

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🧐 What's something about you or your job that would surprise us?

Eight years ago I married my husband, Darius, who is also a founder of his own company (99 Group). But what not many people know is that our courtship only lasted six days!

On day 1 we had our first date, which was 11 hours long. On day 3 we went on our second date, which was even longer at 12 hours. On day 4, he moved in after the third date. He proposed to me on day 6! We were married within the year.

But in those six days, we made sure that we were truly transparent, open, and honest from the very beginning. We very candidly shared our hopes, dreams, fears, and desires. We even did a lot of “reference checks”! The transparency and honesty combined with our admiration and respect for one another were what made us take that huge leap so quickly, and what keeps our relationship going strong today.

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🏆 What has been the biggest highlight of your career so far?

One of my favorite highlights is being chosen as one of the inaugural members of the Obama Foundation’s Leaders Asia-Pacific program in 2019, as it helped our mission of helping parents reach a wider audience.

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🔍 What's a startup trend or space you're watching this year?‍

E-commerce is still one to watch, especially seeing as how social commerce continues to grow and has cultivated this amazing creator-community-commerce trifecta.

I’m fascinated by the power of a creator to build a community that will then drive a business. It’s something we’ve observed with the way our own community at theAsianparent influences each other and also the brands that cater to them. It’s a wonderful convergence.

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💼 What advice would you give someone starting out in your industry?

‍Be resilient and persevere. No sugar coating this, because it’s going to be tough. Set up a company only if you’re prepared to be in it for the long haul. You’re not going to sleep, and you’re going to face many obstacles and rejections.

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Choose something that you’re truly passionate about. Believe in it and in yourself, that you are providing a sound solution to a real problem. Failures are inevitable in this journey, but what separates the ones who succeed from the herd is just that they never gave up.

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🗣 What's one thing you can keep talking about for hours?

My fundraising journey (the successes and the nightmares), as well as my early years as an entrepreneur who was often rejected or not taken seriously for being a woman by investors and clients.

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🎥 What's your favorite movie/TV show?

Black Mirror

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🍨 What's your go-to ice cream flavor?‍

Irish whisky