Kitty Poon

Q: Where you are from?

Hong Kong — born, raised, and deeply rooted here. Though I spent my university years in the United States, studying hotel management at the University of Houston, Hong Kong has always been where my work and my heart are.

Q: If you knew it was going to be your last meal, what would you eat?

A proper Hong Kong-style dim sum spread — with the whole family around the table. The food matters, but the people matter more.

Q: What led you to pursue a career in your current field, and how has your professional journey evolved over time?

I spent over twenty years in the fashion accessories manufacturing industry as Managing Director, leading a team of more than a thousand people across production, marketing, design and merchandising. My brand, Tiff & Tiffy, built a strong presence in Europe and the United States. But after years in the commercial world, I realised that what I truly wanted to do with my experience — in leadership, in building organisations, in understanding how people perform in different environments — was something that went beyond business.

I founded LoveXpress Foundation in 2013 because I saw a gap that no one was filling: the neurodiverse young people I had watched growing up around me were being overlooked and marginalized the moment they stepped into the workforce. Their strengths were real. The systems to support them simply weren’t. That became my full-time mission.

Q: What was the most challenging project you worked on in your career? How did you overcome any obstacles to achieve a successful outcome?

Building LoveXpress from the ground up — while simultaneously learning everything there is to know about autism, special education, social enterprise, and frontline service delivery — was the most demanding thing I have ever done. Nothing in manufacturing prepared me for navigating the intersection of charity, community, government policy, and individual human need.

What kept me going was the same conviction I brought to every challenge in business: clarity of purpose. If you know exactly what you are trying to build and who you are building it for, most obstacles become logistics, not roadblocks. The families and young people we serve reminded me every day why the work was worth doing.

Q: What motivates you to come to work every day, and how do you stay engaged and enthusiastic about your job?

Every time I see one of our young people step confidently into a job that actually fits them — that moment never gets old. After more than a decade of work, I still find it remarkable and deeply moving. That is what keeps me going.

I also genuinely believe we are at the beginning of something much larger. The combination of gamification, AI, and a proper scientific framework for understanding human capability is going to change how the world thinks about hiring, training, and supporting neurodiverse talent. Being part of building that, alongside partners like Almas, is energising in a way I did not expect at this stage of my career.

Q: Can you share a defining moment in your life or career that has shaped who you are as a person (rather than a worker)?

There was a workshop early in LoveXpress’s journey where we invited a group of autistic teenagers to take part in a jelly art activity — and at the end, I handed each of them a small cheque for their work. The amount was modest. But the look on their faces when they held something they had earned — that said everything. They did not need charity. They needed the right environment, the right structure, and someone who believed in them.

That moment permanently changed how I think about what it means to support someone. It is not about giving people things. It is about building systems that let people give their best.

Q: How do you maintain a work-life balance, and what activities or hobbies do you enjoy outside of work?

I am not sure I have fully cracked that one. The work has a way of becoming the life when you care about it this much. But I do believe deeply in the energy that comes from connection — time with family, with the community, with the young people we serve. Those moments refill the tank in a way that rest alone cannot.

Q: What do you hope the future of work looks like? (Please give an example of a challenge you see today, and what a solution might look like, or a specific thing you hope for in the future workplace)?

I hope the future of work is one where neurodiverse individuals are not an afterthought in hiring — they are sought after for the genuine, distinctive capabilities they bring. Where a company’s first question is not “can this person adapt to our environment?” but “how do we build an environment that lets this person thrive?”

The technology exists to make that future possible. What we need now are the right frameworks, the right data, and the right partnerships to translate capability into opportunity at scale. That is exactly what I am working on with the Almas team.

Q: What advice would you give to someone starting out in your field or looking to grow to their utmost potential?

Go to the frontline. Sit with the families. Watch the young people. Read every piece of research you can find, and then go back to the frontline and compare what you read with what you actually see.

The most dangerous thing in this field is being guided by assumptions about what neurodiverse individuals can and cannot do. The most important thing is being genuinely curious about who each person actually is. That curiosity — sustained over time — is what builds the kind of understanding that makes real impact possible.