PROFILE: SHULIN ON ASLANT LEGAL, REINVENTION, & BUILDING DIFFERENTLY
Shu Lin (Instagram), Photographed by The Love Studios. | Explore PROFILE Sessions.
Q: You've said you've restarted your life 4 times — a handbag business that failed, law, recruitment, founder. Most people present a clean narrative. You put the losses in the timeline too. What made you decide to stop hiding the failed chapters?
Shu Lin: I find it strange that we're taught to only showcase the wins. Talking about my failures comes far more naturally to me than talking about my successes. What puzzles me is this instinct so many of us have to hide the chapters that didn't work out, like they’re part of a shameful past.
I am who I am today because of every experience, not just the flattering ones. I’m proud I survived my tough parts. They ARE the story. I’m grateful for the 21-year-old version of me who started a handbag business thinking I’ll make it big (I didn’t). I’m grateful I quit law at 27 years old and became a recruiter (even tho I felt like an epic failure). I’m grateful I started my business, 10 years ago. I’m also grateful I parted ways with my co-founder, 4 years ago – and rebranded the business. All these twists and turns were necessary.
Q: You founded Aslant specifically to do legal recruitment differently — more human, more honest. Nine years in, has the industry changed? Or are you still fighting the same fight?
Shu Lin: My business just turned 10 this year. And the market has genuinely shifted. Work culture in legal has changed, and I'd like to think I've played some small part in that. People are more willing to share, more willing to question old ways of doing things, more willing to work with someone like me.
It used to be the opposite. I had to work many times as hard just to earn a seat at the table.
10 years on, I think the lesson is this: the industry doesn't change because someone waits for permission. It changes because someone keeps showing up as themselves long enough that the room has no choice but to adjust. And you become impossible to ignore.
Q: A lot of founders talk about what drove them to build. But becoming a parent often changes the why mid-journey. Did it change yours?
Shu Lin: Starting my business when my son was one month old was the worst timing imaginable. I would NEVER recommend it to anyone.
But becoming a mum forced a kind of growing up I don't think I'd have done otherwise. It gave me more compassion, more empathy, more patience than I knew I had.
If I'm honest, I think my own development would have stalled without it. It also taught me something I now say to every founder who'll listen: if you're starting a business hoping it'll buy you more time with your children, know that it does the exact opposite in the beginning. Go in knowing the trade-offs, and the hidden and untold sacrifices you’ll have to make.
Q: You write about things most people keep private. Has the internet ever made you regret that? And what kept you going anyway?
Shu Lin: I simply don't know another way to do this. I read content from people who are genuinely honest, and it's the only kind that has ever truly changed how I think.
I personally am tired of the 100% perfect aesthetic social media narrative. Plus with AI, people want to see people who are real human beings.
So that's the only kind of content I know how to put back out into the world. Being an open book isn't a strategy for me. It's just the only version of me, I find worth doing.
Q: Leadership gets talked about as something that flows downward. What has this team taught you that you couldn't have figured out on your own?
Shu Lin: Diversity is a non-negotiable. The more varied the perspectives on a team, the better the perspective and the decisions. Our team spans Spanish, Malay, Filipino and Singaporean backgrounds, and every one of those different lenses has made us better at the work. We're still hiring, and if that sounds like the kind of team you want to be part of, please reach out!!
Q: When TLS photographs you today, who are we photographing? Not the founder, not the #1 creator — but the actual woman. How would you describe her?
Shu Lin: She cries easily. She looks super tough on the outside, but underneath she's a total softie. She's carrying dreams she's only just giving herself permission to chase, and she's done with self-sabotage, done playing it safe. If you're photographing her today, you're photographing someone mid-transformation. Mid-pivot. Hopeful and doubtful at the same time. I believe and I’m asking God to help me with my unbelief.
Q: You write for the person who's stuck, overlooked, not sure they belong. But what are you still figuring out — for yourself?
Shu Lin: The real test of a business isn't whether it can grow. It's whether it can survive without you. That's the chapter I'm in now.
For years, I was the bottleneck, the person every decision ran through. I'm learning that's not leadership, it's a ceiling. So the work now is building something that doesn't need me at the centre to function, and that means being honest about my own ego along the way.
I'm not looking for people who need direction. I'm looking for people who see the gap and close it before anyone asks. If that's how you're wired, message me. We're hiring.
