What would make a newly promoted mother – with two young children in tow – decide to uproot her entire family for a year abroad?

For Hazel Yeo, the answer had been quietly waiting for almost a decade.

In early 2025, she finally stepped into that dream. The Assistant Director at the Energy Market Authority (EMA) boarded a 14-hour flight to Paris with her husband and young children, bound for a year-long attachment at the International Energy Agency (IEA). It was a leap that blended courage, aspiration, and timing.

"I've been wanting to do an attachment at the IEA for a decade now since I first joined EMA," Hazel recalled and with a new chapter unfolding at home and at work, she sensed this was her moment. "I felt it was perhaps the last window for me to pursue something just for myself before my 40s."

When the chance arrived, she did not hesitate – she took the leap.

That leap paid off. Within days of arriving, Hazel found herself in the thick of international energy discussions – contributing to projects on global policy collection for the modelling of the IEA’s flagship report – World Energy Outlook, IEA commentary on energy security, climate resilience, Artificial Intelligence (AI) use in data centres, and more.

"I began to see that the issues in the energy landscape can be wide-ranging, from traditional energy security, universal electricity access, AI to resilience and influenced by broader government considerations. The path towards a cleaner energy future is not a straightforward march as multiple competing priorities come into play,"she explained.

Her work alongside colleagues from all over the world broadened her appreciation for how interconnected and diverse these challenges are. She saw firsthand how countries approach energy security differently – some prioritising physical resilience due to the Russia-Ukraine war, others focusing on critical mineral supply chains or managing the impacts of extreme weather events on electricity systems and power generation assets.

These experiences sharpened Hazel’s focus on Singapore's own energy transition. “While EMA rightly focuses on Singapore-centric issues, it certainly helps for EMA officers to understand global developments to anticipate challenges we may face as there are others who have been there, done that before.” she shared.

As part of EMA’s electricity imports team (Energy Connections Office), Hazel now sees even clearer links between the global trends she has analysed in Paris and Singapore’s long-term plans. When she returns home, she hopes to study how climate risks affecting renewable energy projects in Southeast Asia could influence Singapore’s goal of importing low-carbon electricity. She also plans to build on previous conversations with the Southeast Asia Disaster Risk Insurance Facility and World Bank to support renewable projects across the region.

Yet the year abroad came with adjustments that extended far beyond the professional sphere. Her transition into an international organisation required her to build new competencies, which meant starting from scratch – "from the bottom again," as Hazel put it. With the talent that the IEA is able to attract, ranging from secondees from the European Space Agency to geospatial analysts to people with just really good excel/python skills, it had made Hazel wonder how best she could contribute to the IEA. Over time, she realised she was good at uplifting other and bonding the team together. "Technical skills wise, I had to seek assistance from colleagues who (luckily) were so willing to guide me," she said.

At home, the challenges were just as daunting, if not more. Hazel weighed housing, finances, vaccinations, schooling, husband’s career and countless logistics before deciding to relocate. The uncertainties were daunting and anxieties surfaced in the initial months. But with time and patience, the family found their footing: her four-year-old adapted well to his new preschool, and her husband embraced new responsibilities as a full-time caregiver for their children – even mastering a repertoire of delicious home-cooked meals.

By Good Friday weekend, the family felt confident enough for their first weekend trip to Lyon – the beginning of many treasured memories made in Europe.

"The most rewarding part of this transition is knowing no matter what comes our way, we know we can handle it together," she said.

Reflecting on her year in Paris, Hazel is grateful for the opportunity to grow both professionally and personally.

"It has been rewarding to see that Singapore, despite being a small nation, has valuable insights to offer the international energy community. For example, similar to the Netherlands and Ireland, Singapore had once imposed a moratorium on data centres to understand the value and impact first to the grid before allowing for more. So we are not alone in this." she said.

The people she met also left a lasting impact. "I’ve been able to live vicariously through young professionals from around the world, and I’ve met colleagues at different stages of life who also took a leap of faith to come to Paris – to unlearn, learn and relearn," she reflected.

As for her advice to others standing at a crossroad of their careers? Returning to the words of her colleague Ooi Ren Yi from ECO – the last person Hazel spoke to in Singapore before she gathered the courage to ask for permission to go to Paris – she held onto his advice: "Just take the leap. Don’t have any regrets."

"Our brains are wired to focus on the negatives to keep us safe and firmly in our comfort zone. So there’s no right decision," she reflected, "only the decision you choose to make right."