Carrie Tan

Carrie Tan
陈浍敏
Official portrait, 2020
Member of the Singapore Parliament
for Nee Soon GRC
(Nee Soon South)
In office
10 July 2020 – 15 April 2025
Preceded byLee Bee Wah
Succeeded byLee Hui Ying
Majority33,177 (23.80%)
Personal details
Born (1982-04-11) 11 April 1982 (age 44)
Singapore
PartyPeople's Action Party
EducationNational University of Singapore (BA, MPA)

Carrie Tan Huimin (Chinese: 陈浍敏; pinyin: Chén Huìmǐn; born 11 April 1982) is a Singaporean social entrepreneur and former politician. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), she has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Nee Soon South division of Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency from 2020 to 2025.

Prior to joining politics, Tan founded Daughters of Tomorrow (DOT), an organisation which enables livelihoods and financial self-sufficiency for underprivileged women in Singapore. She raises awareness about urban poverty in Singapore, and forges collaboration among private, public and non-profit sectors to enable social and economic mobility for vulnerable communities as part of her work with DOT.

Tan is a Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative fellow and her work in women's empowerment and advocacy for collaboration was mentioned by United States President Barack Obama at a press conference during Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's visit to the White House in August 2016.

Early life and education

Tan was born in 1982 in Singapore to a taxi driver-turned-contractor father and a housewife, and has a sister. She was educated at Raffles Girls’ School and Raffles Junior College, before graduating from the National University of Singapore where she majored in history. Tan later went on to obtain a Master of Public Administration degree from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, also at NUS.

Professional career

Tan was a headhunter until 2012. After a volunteering trip to South India in 2007, she founded a social enterprise, Daughters of Tomorrow, which provided skills training for underprivileged women in India.

In 2014, Tan was featured in a CNA documentary, "A Singaporean Abroad", about her humanitarian work in India, training women from villages, who were rescued from sex-trafficking, in cottage industry skills.

In November 2015, Tan was selected to introduce United States President Barack Obama at a Town Hall meeting in Kuala Lumpur as part of the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative. In May 2016, she was awarded Honoree for the Children, World Peace and Human Rights category in the Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award by Junior Chambers International in Singapore.

Daughters Of Tomorrow

Tan founded Daughters of Tomorrow (DOT) in 2012. DOT matches low-income women to job opportunities, advocates for their inclusion in government policies and provides job training programs for low-income women.

DOT was awarded the Most Investment-worthy Social Enterprise by the Asian Centre for Social Entrepreneurship & Philanthropy (ACSEP) of the National University of Singapore in 2015.

Political career

Tan made her political debut in the 2020 general election when she succeeded Lee Bee Wah to contest in Nee Soon GRC as part of the five-member People's Action Party (PAP) team against the newly-formed Progress Singapore Party (PSP). Her running mates were K. Shanmugam, Louis Ng, Faishal Ibrahim, and Derrick Goh.

On 11 July 2020, the PAP team were declared to be elected to represent Nee Soon GRC in the 14th Parliament, garnering 61.9% of the vote. Tan was appointed as Vice-Chairperson of Nee Soon Town Council (NSTC) since 2020 to 2025.

Carrie did not stand in 2025 Singaporean general election, being replaced by Lee Hui Ying.

Personal life

In a rush to get married before 30, Tan married after dating for three months when she was 29. The marriage was annulled after seven months of marriage due to differences between her and her husband that eventually led to a domestic violence episode. Carrie proposed to her boyfriend of 7 years, Kevin Teo on April 26, 2025. Teo has two boys from his previous marriage that ended in divorce in 2018.

References

  1. 1 2 "PARL | MP". www.parliament.gov.sg.
  2. 1 2 Wong, Kim Hoh (11 March 2018). "Ex-headhunter now empowers disadvantaged women with the ability to make a life for themselves". Straits Times. Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
  3. ↑ "Carrie Tan, Founder of Daughters Of Tomorrow". The Asian Entrepreneur. Archived from the original on 26 February 2018. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  4. ↑ Lim, Mary. "Advocates: Carrie Tan She works so that other women can do so, too". Read-a. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  5. ↑ ""Poverty has a woman's face" - Carrie Tan". The Online Citizen. 15 August 2018. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  6. ↑ Lim, Janice. "Continue to be angry productively, say young panellists to other millennials fighting for causes". Today Singapore. Archived from the original on 21 January 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  7. 1 2 American Councils for International Education (20 November 2015). "Professional Fellows Program: YSEALI Alumna Carrie Tan Introduces President Obama". YouTube. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
  8. ↑ "President Obama and Prime Minister Lee joint Press Conference". Obama White House Archives. White House. 2 August 2016. Archived from the original on 1 June 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  9. ↑ "Singapore GE2020: Profiles of PAP's new candidates". The Straits Times. 25 June 2020. Archived from the original on 20 July 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  10. 1 2 "GE 2020: Last batch of eight new faces". People's Action Party. 26 June 2020. Archived from the original on 13 July 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  11. 1 2 Zhuo, Tee (25 March 2020). "Singapore GE: Could charity founder be in PAP line-up at election?". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 13 July 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  12. ↑ "The Light In Their Eyes | Singapore Magazine". singaporemagazine.sif.org.sg. Archived from the original on 13 July 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  13. ↑ Channel News Asia. "A Singaporean Abroad". Toggle. Channel News Asia. Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  14. ↑ "Past Winners". JCI Singapore. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  15. ↑ Daughters Of Tomorrow. "Vision & Mission". Daughters Of Tomorrow. Archived from the original on 17 January 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  16. ↑ Low, Shi Ping (4 March 2017). "Carrie Tan: How to Empower Underprivileged Women". BLLNR. Archived from the original on 12 March 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  17. ↑ "Learning by Investing @ NUS Grant Presentation Event". Outside in NUS. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  18. ↑ "PAP's Lee Bee Wah retiring from politics, will not run in GE2020". mothership.sg. Archived from the original on 29 June 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  19. 1 2 "GE2020: PAP team led by Shanmugam faces contest with PSP newcomers in Nee Soon GRC". CNA. Archived from the original on 13 July 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  20. ↑ Ho, Olivia; Yulin, Lee (11 July 2020). "GE2020 official results: Shanmugam's PAP team retains Nee Soon GRC with 61.9 per cent of the vote". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 13 July 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  21. ↑ "GE2025: Nee Soon MPs Louis Ng, Carrie Tan, Derrick Goh to step down from politics". The Straits Times. 22 April 2025. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 20 April 2026.
  22. ↑ Wong, Kim Hoh (11 March 2018). "Domestic violence moved her to act". The Straits Times. pp. B7. Carrie Tan desperately wanted to get married before she turned 30. "It sounds ridiculous but I felt that if I did not get married by 30, there was something wrong with me as a woman," she says. So when a man showed up in her life when she was 29 and asked for her hand after just three months, she said yes. Alas, the marriage lasted barely seven months. "There was so much tension from mismatched expectations and there were many fights. In one of those fights, he got physical," says Ms Tan, now 35.
  23. ↑ "'Let's get married!' Ex-MP Carrie Tan proposes to boyfriend of 7 years". AsiaOne. 18 May 2025. Retrieved 20 April 2026.
  24. ↑ CNA Insider (13 February 2026). Falling For A Single Dad: Love After Divorce | On The Red Dot. Retrieved 20 April 2026 – via YouTube.