 Phua studied at Balestier Girls ' Primary School , Raffles Girls ' School and Hwa Chong Junior College . She graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Golden Gate University . In a career spanning two decades , she held management positions at Hewlett @-@ Packard and the Wuthelam Group . She then founded a regional leadership training firm , the Centre of Effective Leadership . 
