The Hong Kong superhero who’s changing perceptions of the elderly and providing them with quality care – and dim sum that is easy to swallow
- After finding her calling working for a care home, Queenie Man set up Project Futurus to paint ageing in a positive light and care for old people in novel ways
- Channelling her alter ego Captain Softmeal, Man makes appetising soft food for those with trouble swallowing, and taps into dementia sufferers’ food nostalgia
Queenie Man spent a decade as a brand consultant for leading Fortune 500 companies before she took a leap of faith to help rebrand an industry with a bleak image – elderly care.
It’s a challenge the 37-year-old has embraced with gusto. She regularly dons a superhero cape in her quest to improve old people’s lives.
A chance encounter with a secondary school friend five years ago was the catalyst. The friend owns Culture Homes – a chain of care homes for the elderly in Hong Kong – and asked Man for her professional opinion about elderly-care branding.
Man was familiar with the chain – she had regularly visited her grandmother, who had spent five years in one of its homes in Sai Ying Pun. The conversation between the two friends led to Man’s job as director of corporate strategy at Culture Homes. She soon realised that this type of work was her calling in life.
Man’s first step was to review stock images of the elderly – photos available for companies like Culture Homes to purchase for commercial use. She was surprised to discover that almost all photos featured non-Asians, and that most of the old people in the pictures looked frail.
“I wanted to know why aged care and the process of old age are not celebrated,” she says.