Get to know Tribeless 👋

A Brief History

A group photo of the 9 people that joined the first ever Tribeless Dinner at Kuala Lumpur.
A dotted line in a swirly pattern to represent Tribeless' journey
A collage of group photos of the virtual workshops facilitated by Tribeless

Tribeless began in 2016 as a series of dinner parties. After hosting hundreds of conversations, we realized that we were actually creating spaces for people to practice empathy. That’s how we made the transition into an empathy training company!

DISCOVER OUR APPROACH

Story of Tribeless

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A group photo of the 9 people that joined the first ever Tribeless Dinner at Kuala Lumpur.

Our founder Gwen Yi hosted the first ever Tribeless Dinner with one rule: "No small talk." And the rest, as they say, is history.

A group photo of the 9 people that joined the first ever Tribeless Dinner at Kuala Lumpur.
A group photo of the 9 people that joined the first ever Tribeless Dinner at Kuala Lumpur.
A top-down view of the Empathy Box prototype, then known as "Tribeless-In-A-Box", being play tested at a ChangemakerXChange event in Manila.
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A top-down view of the Empathy Box prototype, then known as "Tribeless-In-A-Box", being play tested at a ChangemakerXChange event in Manila.

Back in the day, the Empathy Box was called "Tribeless-In-A-Box"! This is a picture of one of our first ever prototypes, complete with icons stuck to the back of poker cards.

A top-down view of the Empathy Box prototype, then known as "Tribeless-In-A-Box", being play tested at a ChangemakerXChange event in Manila.
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A poster with the collage of 17 profile photos of people who signed up for Tribeless' first Tribeless Host Program.

We launched our Tribeless Host Program, gathering folks from 17 cities & 11 countries to host Tribeless Dinners in their own cities!

A poster with the collage of 17 profile photos of people who signed up for Tribeless' first Tribeless Host Program.
A poster with the collage of 17 profile photos of people who signed up for Tribeless' first Tribeless Host Program.
A photo of Shawn signing official documents to incorporate Tribeless in Malaysia.
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A photo of Shawn signing official documents to incorporate Tribeless in Malaysia.

We officially registered Tribeless PLT as a company. Here you can see Shawn signing the papers for our bank account. ✍️

A photo of Shawn signing official documents to incorporate Tribeless in Malaysia.
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A poster promoting the first ever Empathy Box v1 public sale that includes all the components that go into the Empathy Box v1

Ahhhh, memories. Here we have our first public Empathy Box sale. We didn't know the first thing about marketing or sales – we just wanted to get it out into the world. As you can imagine, that didn't go too well...

A poster promoting the first ever Empathy Box v1 public sale that includes all the components that go into the Empathy Box v1
A poster promoting the first ever Empathy Box v1 public sale that includes all the components that go into the Empathy Box v1
Gwen Yi at London with the London Eye in the background
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Gwen Yi at London with the London Eye in the background

After a less-than-spectacular Box launch, Gwen Yi decides to step down as CEO and hand over the reins to Shawn. (It is still one of the best decisions I have ever made.)

Gwen Yi at London with the London Eye in the background
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The Empathy Box v2 in full view with all the components in the Box laid out on a table

2019 was a tumultuous year for the team. Our highlight of the year was creating V2.0 of The Empathy Box – more colors, better quality – and launching it to great success!

The Empathy Box v2 in full view with all the components in the Box laid out on a table
The Empathy Box v2 in full view with all the components in the Box laid out on a table
Gwen Yi and Shawn posing at the stage during their brief presentation at Obama APAC Leaders Summit 2020
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Gwen Yi and Shawn posing at the stage during their brief presentation at Obama APAC Leaders Summit 2020

We hosted Empathy Box conversations for 200 Obama Leaders from 33 countries across Asia-Pacific at the 2019 KL Convening! Definitely one for the books. 🌟

Gwen Yi and Shawn posing at the stage during their brief presentation at Obama APAC Leaders Summit 2020
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A poster to promote the Empathy Circles Global Experiment Campaign that includes a link on how to join the campaign.

When COVID-19 struck, we ran a 30-day experiment to explore if we could create human connection online. 600+ people from 40+ countries ended up joining in the fun. 💗 (Spoiler alert: The answer is yes!)

A poster to promote the Empathy Circles Global Experiment Campaign that includes a link on how to join the campaign.
A poster to promote the Empathy Circles Global Experiment Campaign that includes a link on how to join the campaign.
A collage of group photos of the virtual workshops facilitated by Tribeless
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A collage of group photos of the virtual workshops facilitated by Tribeless

Fast forward to today, and we've made the transition into an empathy training company. To date, we've worked with over two dozen organizations across USA, Europe and Asia-Pacific! 🌎

A collage of group photos of the virtual workshops facilitated by Tribeless

The Core Team

A profile photo of said team member
Wong Gwen Yi
Founder

I handle most front-facing things in our company, from sales and marketing to PR and training. I'm also the lead consultant and facilitator for our client projects!

It is my deepest belief that Empathy is the foundation to healing our world – and the best way to learn it is by creating safe spaces for people to learn, heal, laugh and grow. 💖

I was a total conference junkie in my youth and prided myself in getting into them for free. Some of the more notable ones are: TED@IBM, SxSW, Web Summit, One Young World, and the World Economic Forum on ASEAN!

I'm a closet spiritualist and a Yoga With Kassandra stan. 🧘‍♀️

A profile photo of said team member
Wong Gwen Yi
Founder
I once karaoked 'Ice Ice Baby' at a public park in London 🤪
A profile photo of said team member
Shawn Cheng
CEO

My work is mostly focused on internal company affairs. When I'm not handling admin and operations, I'm building the core curriculum that drives our approach and offerings at Tribeless!

For me, our work in Tribeless is a means to cultivate the development of our collective morality – so that we're able to better cope with the nuances of humanity.

I've been working since I was 16 years old, with an EPF date to prove it too. 🥲

I'm commonly referred to as "Chief-Everything-Officer" and "Tea Kween" 'round these parts.

A profile photo of said team member
Shawn Cheng
CEO
I have a dedicated 'Dank Memes' folder on my desktop ✌️

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