Yardbird founder Lindsay Jang on finding time for family, Hong Kong’s best restaurants, her wellness business and her Rolex Oyster Date Perpetual
They’ve done it all this in their 10 years in the city, plus managed to raise two children: Lili, 13, and Ronin, 10.
More recently, Jang has started Family Form, a wellness studio residency at The Upper House, which she describes as “a dynamic and immersive physical and mental workout which involves mat-based full-body sculpting”.
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“Before I was into F&B, I was actually into health and wellness,” says Jang, who admits the new business has not gone to plan because of the pandemic, but says she has big plans for it. “My focus and passion is health and wellness [and especially] a holistic idea of fitness and ageing. I like the term pro ageing. What has become important to a lot of people now, and what people are really starting to understand, is that prevention and taking care of yourself is the only way forward, otherwise you’re just going to be sick. This world is toxic.”
With so many responsibilities, time is of the essence. Jang says her typical day starts around 6am. “If I have my kids – I split my kids 50/50 with their father [Abergel], who lives a three-minute walk away from me – I’m up by 6-6.30am to get them up and ready for school. And then I head straight to my fitness studio,” says Jang.
“On most days, I teach two classes in the morning, and I’m working in between, usually on my phone or on emails. By 1.30pm I’m usually done and then I start my meetings for the restaurants or the agency or anything else I have to do.”
“Since Covid I have missed connecting with friends and family all over the world,” says Jang. “I used to travel 40 to 50 per cent of the year. I spent a lot of time in Korea and LA. We were going to open a restaurant in LA. We were doing pop-ups with the restaurant all over the world.”
Jang also misses spending time with her family. “My family is still in Canada and I haven’t seen my new nephew,” says Jang, whose parents moved from Hong Kong to southern Alberta to run a restaurant and who she credits for her work ethic.
“I used to get a lot out of seeing social behaviour in other cities and countries. I used to get so much inspiration, new ideas from just being in other places. I guess we took for granted how much freedom we had.”
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Lindsay Jang’s preferred watch – Rolex Oyster Date Perpetual
- The serial entrepreneur is also behind Ronin, creative agency Hecho, Sunday Grocery, Sunday Spirits and Family Form, a wellness residency at The Upper House
- When she is not teaching classes, Jang is on the phone running her restaurants, agency and other businesses, as well as looking after her children and her passion