AFTER the Boxing Day tsunami struck in December 2004, social activist Melissa Aratani Kwee was working with a volunteer group from the Young Men's Christian Association here to provide aid to Sri Lankan victims.

One of the first people to donate money towards relief efforts was the security guard at her condominium building.

Recalls the 35-year-old: 'He opened his wallet and there was a $50 bill, a couple of $10 bills and some $2 bills. He gave me the $50.'

Seeing 'people at their best' - such as ordinary folk coming forward in times of need - continually strengthens her own commitment to do her part, she says.

For her involvement in myriad social causes - ranging from fighting the commercial sexual exploitation of women to nurturing leadership skills in the younger generation - she was awarded the Her World Young Woman Achiever Award on Wednesday. The prize, presented by SPH Magazines under the Her World banner, lauds women 35 and below who have achieved success in their chosen fields and are an inspiration to other women.

The magazine also named Dr Noeleen Heyzer, 59, the first Singaporean woman in the United Nations system to hold the rank of undersecretary-general and an avid champion of women's issues, Woman Of The Year.

Ms Kwee, who is in Bangalore for two weeks as part of curriculum requirements of her executive MBA programme, could not accept her award at the ceremony. But the Harvard anthropology graduate told Life! over the phone: 'I felt somewhat incredulous when I heard that I had won it. But I'm grateful for it.'

The oldest daughter of property tycoon and Pontiac Land chairman Kwee Liong Tek juggles work as a freelance business consultant advising on community engagement strategies, her roles as chairman of the Halogen Foundation - an organisation that helps to inspire and enable young leaders - and as a board member of drama company Singapore Repertory Theatre.

One of the projects she has undertaken with the Foundation is a regional leadership programme called One Degree Asia that allows Singaporean youth to interact with their peers from other countries who are involved in a range of social initiatives from encouraging political participation to promoting environmental awareness.

From 2002 to 2006, she was also president of the Singapore National Committee of the United Nations Development Fund For Women (Unifem).

A former student of the United World College here, her passion for activism was stirred by her Japanese-American maternal grandfather George Aratani, philanthropist and founder of Kenwood Electronics and Mikasa Chinaware.

Born to a farming family in California, he was one of thousands of Japanese-Americans who were incarcerated during World War II. He survived the hardship and eventually moved on to build two business empires. In 1994, he set up the Aratani Foundation in Los Angeles to support non-profit organisations that serve the Asia-Pacific American community.

'He's somebody who never changed his lifestyle. He lives in the same small house, never really wears fancy clothes,' she says. 'All the money he made, he's giving it away.'

Miss Kwee, who is single, is like her grandfather in that she says that she makes it a point to live simply. 'I'm not a shopper. I don't spend a lot of money. I try not to live to satisfy every want.'

After graduating from Harvard, she won a Fulbright scholarship to conduct research on the dynamics of community leadership within the 'gurung' ethnic group in western Nepal.

There, she began pondering how to get more young women to fulfil their leadership potential. In 1996, she set up Project Access, her first non-profit group here promoting a leadership education programme for girls, and hasn't looked back since.

But what of detractors who dismiss her as a rich girl who naturally has access to the rich and famous willing to support her causes? She counters firmly: 'I don't understand why that's a criticism. People do whatever they can within their means. It just means that, hopefully, I can do more.'

She prefers to work with organisations that have a 'revenue model' that allows them to support their work independently. But she adds: 'There are other initiatives that, frankly, are not going to fund themselves and exist on the love and support of other people. For those groups, I have no shame in asking people to support them.'

One of the biggest challenges she faces in her work, however, is fighting apathy among people.

'Many of us live in a clean, efficient, modern kind of system where we never come into contact with somebody who is apparently in need. We don't see a lot of pain and suffering and invisibility reinforces apathy.

'On another level, the danger is that we harden our hearts so that when we do see it, we ignore it or don't believe it. The challenge is for individuals to see that small changes can make big differences.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Mar 8, 2008.