Carrie Tan Huimin ( zh, s=陈浍敏, p=Chén Huìmǐn; born 11 April 1982)
is a Singaporean businesswoman and retired politician. A member of the governing
People's Action Party
The People's Action Party (PAP) is a major Conservatism, conservative political party in Singapore and is the governing contemporary political party represented in the Parliament of Singapore, followed by the opposition Workers' Party of Singap ...
(PAP), she has been the
Member of Parliament (MP) representing the
Nee Soon South division of
Nee Soon GRC since 2020.
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
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
at a press conference during Singapore Prime Minister
Lee Hsien Loong
Lee Hsien Loong (born 10 February 1952) is a Singaporean politician and former military officer who served as the third Prime Minister of Singapore, prime minister of Singapore from 2004 to 2024, thereafter serving as a Senior Minister of S ...
's visit to the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
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
The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national university, national Public university, public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University ...
where she majored in
history
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
.
Tan later went on to obtain a
Master of Public Administration
A Master of Public Administration (MPA) is a specialized professional graduate degree in public administration that prepares students for leadership roles, similar or equivalent to a Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the ...
degree from the
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKY School) is an autonomous postgraduate school of the National University of Singapore (NUS), named after the late former Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew.
History
The Lee Kuan Yew School of ...
.
Carrie proposed to her boyfriend of 7 years, Kevin Teo on April 26, 2025.
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
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
at a Town Hall meeting in
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...
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
The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national university, national Public university, public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University ...
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
The People's Action Party (PAP) is a major Conservatism, conservative political party in Singapore and is the governing contemporary political party represented in the Parliament of Singapore, followed by the opposition Workers' Party of Singap ...
(PAP) team against the newly-formed
Progress Singapore Party
The Progress Singapore Party (abbreviation: PSP) is a political party in Singapore. It was one of the three political parties represented in 14th Parliament, alongside the governing People's Action Party (PAP) and the other opposition Workers' ...
(PSP).
Her running mates were
K. Shanmugam,
Louis Ng,
Faishal Ibrahim
Muhammad Faishal bin Ibrahim Khan Surattee (Jawi alphabet, Jawi: محمد فيصل إبراهيم; born 16 June 1968) is a Singaporean politician who has been serving as Ministry of Home Affairs (Singapore), Minister of State for Home Affairs ...
, 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.
Carrie will not stand in
2025 Singaporean general election
General elections were held in Singapore on 3 May 2025 to elect all Member of parliament, members of the Parliament of Singapore across Constituencies of Singapore, 33 constituencies. It was the 19th general election in Singapore's history sinc ...
, being replaced by Lee Hui Ying.
References
External links
Carrie Tanon
Parliament of Singapore
The Parliament of Singapore is the unicameralism, unicameral legislature of the Singapore, Republic of Singapore, which governs the country alongside the President of Singapore. Largely based upon the Westminster system, the Parliament is made ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tan, Carrie
Living people
Singaporean women in politics
People's Action Party politicians
Raffles Junior College alumni
Raffles Girls' Secondary School alumni
1982 births
Members of the Parliament of Singapore
YSEALI alumni