Irene Yoong-Henery came to England in the winter of 1989, as a poor student with
money she had earned in Malaysia on wages between 36p -55p per hour. She had no
connections, no family in the UK, and could only rely on herself. Since then, she has
founded multiple businesses which provided jobs to many families, raised 4
successful daughters and become a multi-millionaire.
OVERCOMING GENDER DISCRIMINATION
As a girl growing up in a traditional Chinese family, Irene was frequently told that she
was unlucky to be born female, and she had to accept that she could never be as good
as a man. Her grandmother would insist women must eat inferior food and serve the
best to the men in the family. Irene was also told that, “Baby girls should be drowned
at birth.” However, Irene kept winning academic awards every single year at school
and went on to represent Malaysia as a student ambassador in the American Field
Service intercultural student exchange programme, and went to study in Cincinnati,
Ohio from 1985-1986. In the USA, she won Mathematics competitions, was placed in
the top 3% in the country and was on her school’s A honor roll for straight As in
every single subject.
OVERCOMING RACE DISCRIMINATION
In England, despite having accountancy qualifications, Irene faced racial
discrimination and could not get a job interview until she changed her name through
marriage. Even then she was often unsuccessful in getting job offers. She decided to
open her own businesses with her husband in the year 2000 to get round the problem
of racial discrimination, and she ensured that her businesses never discriminated
against anyone.
OVERCOMING RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION
Irene is passionate about her Roman Catholic religion and often volunteered at
churches. When she decided to join politics, she was not successful in getting selected
to stand as a Member of Parliament due to her Catholic beliefs. She overcame the
problem by changing her political party and stood in the General Election in 2024.
Irene has overcome a lot of obstacles to pursue the following careers:-
LAW and ACCOUNTANCY
Irene came to London to study accountancy, working the maximum hours she was
allowed to do legally, on the London Underground selling refreshments to travellers
in Travellers’ Fare. In the summer she had 3 jobs. She qualified as a Chartered
Management Accountant in 1994 while working for J. Sainsbury plc, preparing and
monitoring multi-million pound budgets for hundreds of supermarkets and petrol
stations. She founded the Black Country multi-award winning law firm, Ian Henery
Solicitors, with her husband in 2000. Ian Henery Solicitors became the largest law
firm in Birmingham’s Chinatown. It had branches in Streetly, Hamstead, Chinatown
and its head office was in Willenhall. It won numerous awards including Best
Criminal Lawyer, Pro-bono Lawyer of the Year, Excellence in the Professions and
Best Niche Law Firm.
PROPERTIES
In 2001, Irene noticed that properties were doubling in value every 7 years, so she
started investing in buy to let properties. She assembled a team of builders,
electricians and plumbers and went into property development, sometimes buying
auction properties in cash to refurbish and let out with quick turn around periods. She
manages all her properties herself, even to this day.
LADY WITHERSDALE
In 2015, she acquired the manorial and mineral rights to a Suffolk village and became
the Lady of Withersdale, and her husband became Lord Withersdale. In 2016, she was
a subject of the British Chinese Project at the Chinese Community Centre in
Birmingham and her personal journey is documented in various libraries celebrating
ethnic Chinese immigrants to Birmingham and the Black Country. In March 2021, a
metal sculpture was also made of her for a project celebrating migrant people who
helped build Birmingham.
ESTATE AGENCY
Irene also set up an estate agency in 2015 and in 2017, she travelled to Beijing and
Shanghai to promote real estate investment in Birmingham as well as British wine. In
Beijing she signed contracts with Winteam 500 law group to become their UK
representative. They had over 100 branches worldwide including Canada, Russia,
USA, Malaysia, Germany and South Korea.
FASHION – SHOES & JEWELLERY MANUFACTURING
Irene was the Conservative Women’s Enterprise Director for the West Midlands,
mentoring women to start their own businesses. She organised fashion shows called
“Billionaire Babes” and talks at Resorts’ World, Birmingham to inspire women.
When Irene turned 40 years old, she started having problems with her knees when she
wore high heels. She realised that most designer shoes were made by men (Christian
Louboutin, Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik for example) and she researched the
qualities of a good pair of ladies’ shoes, became a qualified shoe fitter and founded
Glass Slipper Couture Limited, a leather shoes manufacturing company that only
made comfortable high heels for women.
In 2026, Irene designed sapphire with white gold jewellery and presented the
“Sapphire & Snow” jewellery collection to jewellers in the Jewellery Quarter in
Birmingham and is planning to launch the collection at a fashion show.
MUSIC
In 2024 Irene volunteered at Black Country Radio as a community radio producer and
co-produced The Ian Henery Show, which was broadcasted twice a week. It was an
arts and culture show celebrating Black Country heritage. This led to Irene founding
the St. Teresa’s Ministry By Music project in 2025, turning biblical psalms into
commercial songs for evangelising and fundraising purposes.
In 2026, she founded Michelle And Duncan Music Ltd (M.A.D. Music), a music
production company with her husband and they will be showcasing their music in the
Walsall Maker Fest on 26/9/2026. Their music has caught the attention of a very
famous agent and a recording contract may be imminent. They are also working on a
musical about the Second World War which has caught the interest of the Chinese
embassy and Birmingham Hippodrome. Irene and her husband are also working with
Walsall Council on bringing a Jazz and Blues Festival to Walsall in August 2027.
POLITICS
In 2013 Irene realised that the country needed politicians with a business background
to save its economy. After standing as a candidate in the Walsall Metropolitan
Borough Council local elections in 2023 and 2025, and the General Election on 2024,
Irene finally succeeded in getting elected as a councillor in Walsall Council in May
2026, becoming the first ethnic Chinese councillor in Walsall’s history and is very
busy with roles in 10 committees (Audit, Licensing, Taxi Licensing, Planning,
Scrutiny etc) and outside bodies like the West Midlands Pension Fund, and Standing
Advisory Council for Religious Education
