<figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:50%;"><img src="https://assets.hiredly.com/cms/IMG_6393_56edc56c2c.jpg"></figure>For years, Tho Leng Lei followed the safest path, studying accounting at the London School of Economics, joining a Big Four firm, and later moving into private equity consulting. Her parents were auditors, so it made sense. Stability, prestige, security, everything a “good career” promised. But behind the spreadsheets and 2 a.m. audits, Leng Lei was quietly losing herself.She recalls the long nights in audit rooms, the camaraderie mixed with exhaustion, and the unspoken belief that working till dawn meant you were doing something right. “It was fun, in a strange way,” she laughs in hindsight. “You’d be half-asleep, but you were in it together.” When she transitioned into private equity, the pressure only intensified. The job demanded relentless targets and constant growth. “I started waking up every day dreading work. I thought it was normal,” she admits. “I thought everyone hated their jobs.”Then one day, she realized it wasn’t normal. Burnt out and struggling with anxiety, Leng Lei finally agreed to take a career break for therapy, a decision that changed her life. “I remember feeling guilty for even resting,” she says. “I thought I didn’t deserve it unless something bad happened to me.” But through therapy, she began unpacking years of self-worth tied to achievement and learned that rest and recovery weren’t indulgences, they were necessities.That journey inspired <a href="https://aloemind.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Aloe Mind</a>, a mental health platform designed to make therapy accessible, affordable, and stigma-free for Malaysians. What began as a small website built in one afternoon with RM5,000 has since grown into a thriving platform connecting people to licensed therapists online. “When you’re depressed, even sending an email can feel impossible,” she explains. “I wanted to remove as many barriers as possible, clear prices, easy booking, freedom to choose your therapist.”Leng Lei built <a href="https://aloemind.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Aloe Mind</a> to reflect the kind of workplace she wished she had, one grounded in empathy, trust, and freedom. Her team operates on flexibility and self-management, a model born from her belief that well-being fuels performance, not the other way around. “I didn’t want to recreate the kind of stress that broke me,” she says. “I wanted a company that gives people space to breathe.”Today, <a href="https://aloemind.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Aloe Mind</a> helps thousands of Malaysians access therapy with just a few clicks, proving that mental health care doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective. Leng Lei’s story is a reminder that success isn’t about climbing faster, it’s about learning when to stop, heal, and build something better.🎧 To watch or listen to the full episode, click the link below.📺 YouTube: [<a href="https://youtu.be/nBbY1sdww9Q?si=elwtZuqoZLDBaK5D" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Watch Here</a>] 🎧 Spotify: [<a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/4lbC1j1UPhnJU86zhYfBLR?si=bf459062b3824a64" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Listen Here</a>]

Burnout to Breakthrough: How Tho Leng Lei Built Aloe Mind