Meet Yeukai Ota, a visionary leader who is committed to empowering entrepreneurs to scale their businesses to six-figure success. She has a deep understanding of the intricacies of business growth and has helped and guided many entrepreneurs through her venture, Corporate Healthcare Services. In addition, she works for positive change through her platform, Mrs. Australia Legacy International, which focuses on advocating for disabled children in impoverished communities. She is on a mission to raise awareness about wheelchair poverty and inclusivity, regardless of physical ability.
In 2024, she will complete her 16th year as a registered nurse. She will complete her dream of becoming a doctor by the end of the year, as she is in her final year of medical school. She has been nominated for the 2023 40 under 40 Business Elite Award—an award that recognizes the outstanding achievements of 40 people Australia-wide. She has received the Change Maker Award for women empowerment in Bangkok and is being recognized by the New York Times as a female entrepreneur to look out for in 2024. She is also being recognized in Forbes Magazine as a torchbearer for change for advocating for inclusivity and better outcomes for people with disabilities. Moreover, she has won the Mrs. Australia Legacy International Title. She credits her accomplishment to her biggest support, her husband, who is also the co-founder and co-CEO of Corporate Healthcare Services. “We complete and complement each other. This year we are working together on my project,” she mentions.
Supporting Services
Corporate Healthcare Services desires to empower individuals to live as independently as possible and help clients achieve their goals by providing holistic assistance and support services. Yeukai and her team help the most vulnerable people in their community who have challenging habits due to a disability. They work with individuals with complex disabilities. They specialize in combined diagnoses of mental health and addictions and provide rehabilitation. The organization is recognized for providing a service that is unique and states its team is trauma-informed as they work with vulnerable individuals who have experienced a lot of trauma and then help rehabilitate them. Yeukai and her team offer respite services for caregivers to take a much-needed break.
She focuses on being a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves. She states that, as part of Mrs. Australia Legacy International, she has been given the opportunity to represent Australia in the USA in July 2024 and take her project around the world. “I get the best of both worlds to do her passion as well as my career as CEO at Corporate Healthcare Services,” she mentions.
Yeukai’s Story
Yeukai is passionate about making a difference. Her firm, Corporate Healthcare Services, was founded in 2019 as a result of her father’s early death from intestinal cancer. She was devastated by such a loss, yet her mother and husband stood as inspiration for her to start a business of her own. Yeukai had significant experience in healthcare and from advocating for the vulnerable. She was a leader from a young age in the girls’ brigade and was the primary school’s sports captain. Her modeling career took off in high school, where pageantry taught her a lot about leadership, confidence building, and compassion. Early in her nursing career, she oversaw a nursing home and a center for people with disabilities. Later, she worked as a preoperative services manager for two renowned Melbourne hospitals, where she finally acquired experience in operating theatre management.
Yeukai began an additional program grace haven in 2019. It addressed the issues of homelessness due to mental illness and domestic violence. “No one was considering those who became homeless due to their disability,” adds Yeukai. During COVID, the Grace Haven program took off because of the effects of lockdowns on mental health. She approached one of the 5-star hotels that were struggling due to lockdown restrictions and on the brink of shutting down and asked if she could run the program from the first floor of their hotel. The program was a success, which ended up filling two floors and assisting up to 300 people. Yeukai supported a significant amount of people with disabilities and she began to provide more specialist programs.
"Having the right mindset is important. As everything begins in the mind, how you see yourself. Another is perspective."
Laissez-faire Leadership
Yeukai’s leadership style is laissez-faire, which means she doesn’t always have to be present to keep things moving or make decisions. “I have systems in place and readily available to empower, motivate, inspire, and diligently step in where needed,” she adds. “I build leaders and teams.” She has always been busy with community initiatives. She is also a pastor who has mentored numerous leaders. She fosters creativity and encourages innovative thinking. She believes that team members are more likely to come up with unique solutions and ideas when they have the space to explore and experiment. This has been the highlight of the success of her organization.
As a businesswoman, she stays ahead of the game by upskilling frequently so that she can be up-to-date with industry knowledge. She never fails to pursue her passions and hobbies, which also include modeling. She states that being a part of Legacy International gave her the opportunity to meet like-minded, determined, and intellectual women who have helped her demonstrate better leadership. It opened her horizons to the power of networking; she says, “You are standing on the shoulders of giants, those who have gone ahead and leveraged.” She highlights, “Having the right mindset is important. As everything begins in the mind, how you see yourself. Another is perspective. It is my favorite saying: everything you need is already on the inside of you. Dream, Believe, and Achieve.”
Yeukai firmly believes that self-care is the most significant effort one can take to better themselves. She emphasizes that self-care is important for managing stress, preventing burnout, and promoting overall health and happiness. For her, self-care means prioritizing time to take care of oneself to maintain physical, mental, and emotional well-being. This can include activities such as exercise, healthy eating, getting enough sleep, spending time with loved ones, engaging in hobbies, practicing mindfulness or meditation, and seeking professional help when needed.
The Evolution
As Yeukai’s organization is person-centric, it caters to the needs of clients and helps them evolve. Moreover, she is always focusing on her own growth and evolving her traits to better help others. She believes in self-actualization, as it helps her to see a more inclusive world of people with disabilities speaking openly about wheelchair poverty. This will also aid Yeukai and the people in coming together collectively to address their needs. “We are one, like Nelson Mandela emphasized in Ubuntu. I am because you are,” she adds.
Her legacy project, as the reigning Mrs. Australia Legacy International 2024, is advocating for better wheelchairs for adults with cerebral palsy in Australia and eradicating wheelchair poverty for poor children in impoverished communities. Her goal for 2024 is to raise awareness in such communities and raise funds for 100 wheelchairs for children in impoverished communities. “The events we will host will strengthen our community ties and dedication to giving back,” she adds. Inclusivity for children regardless of physical ability while spreading smiles around the globe has always been her personal priority. As for Corporate Healthcare Services, the company has embraced technology. She reckons AI has brought in a lot of savings on things like marketing, better-tailored research for better healthcare practices, and outcomes for people with a disability with complex presentations. She desires to continue to be the provider of choice for people with complex disabilities. She aspires to finish medical school specializing in disability medicine, make her company the biggest specialist healthcare provider in Australia, and expand to Africa. In addition to that, she desires to help every budding female leader focus on their goals. She asks them to find an area they are passionate about and master it to become specialists in that area. She suggests that these leaders must be decisive and solve problems, making a difference at the focal point. She advises everyone, be it from the industry or not, to spread smiles, show compassion, and give back to the community.
