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		<title><![CDATA[Interview: Mel Buttle on being a female comedian, her desert island dessert & more]]></title>
		<link>https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/interview-mel-buttle-female-comedian-321673.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#038;utm_medium=link&#038;utm_campaign=unknown</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 18 Jul 2018 10:44:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sarah Khan]]></dc:creator>
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		The uproarious Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Australia's biggest comedy festival is back in Singapore this July. We chat with Mel Buttle, one of Australia's rising comedy stars, on what it's like being a female comedian, her favourite dessert, and more. <media:description><![CDATA[]]></media:description>												
								<content:encoded><![CDATA[&#60;p&#62;&#60;span style=&#34;display: block;&#34; class=&#34;wrap-img&#34; id=&#34;wrap-img-321683&#34;&#62;&#60;img loading=&#34;lazy&#34; decoding=&#34;async&#34; itemprop=&#34;thumbnailUrl&#34; class=&#34;alignnone wp-image-321683 img-responsive  size-full&#34; src=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2018/07/mel_buttle_h_0417.d0172cf47fb9262005552e22ca1e8f9d.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;&#34; width=&#34;712&#34; height=&#34;400&#34; /&#62;&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;In need of some serious fits of laughter? Here&#039;s some&#160;good news: the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Australia&#039;s biggest comedy festival (and one of the world&#039;s largest) returns to Singapore this July. Happening between 19 and 21 July, there&#039;s a hilarious cast of international comedy talents from India, Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;There&#039;s Mumbai-bred Tamil star Rahul Subramanian, whose MBA credentials have somehow led him to the wild and unpredictable world of comedy; and Sri Lankan born Dilruk Jaysinha, who left his corporate life at one of the &#039;big four&#039; firms for a career in standup.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Among this laughter-inducing cast is also the delightful Mel Buttle (who incidentally, also hosts &#60;em&#62;The Great Australian Bake Off TV Show&#60;/em&#62; - the Australian edition of the wildly popular British programme).&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Known for her hilarious sets, like &#60;em&#62;Dog Bitch,&#60;/em&#62; which chronicles her hilarious episodes as a sometimes successful dog-owner, Mel shares her thoughts on being a female comedian in a traditionally male-dominated industry, as well as a few baking disasters she&#039;s suffered despite being the face of a world-renowned baking show.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;span style=&#34;display: block;&#34; class=&#34;wrap-img&#34; id=&#34;wrap-img-321678&#34;&#62;&#60;img loading=&#34;lazy&#34; decoding=&#34;async&#34; class=&#34;alignnone wp-image-321678 img-responsive  size-large&#34; src=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2018/07/melbuttle2-1024x683.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;&#34; width=&#34;1024&#34; height=&#34;683&#34; /&#62;&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;It&#8217;s been 8 years since your debut at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2010! How do you think you&#8217;ve evolved as a comedian from then till now? &#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Mel: I&#8217;ve definitely improved! I was so fresh when I did my first show. I didn&#8217;t really understand how to structure a show, now I see comedy as an art, I like to take audiences on a journey. &#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;What first drew you to stand-up? &#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Mel: I was trying acting and I wasn&#8217;t getting anywhere. But casting directors would always laugh at my auditions - so, I went with comedy. &#160;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;How do you approach crafting a new set? What gets your comic/stand-up juices flowing? &#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Mel: My ideas come from my life and family mostly. I get inspired when I&#8217;m grocery shopping or driving the car. I write them all down and try them at open mic nights. &#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Do you have a pre-stage routine?&#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Mel: I like a beer before I perform and some banter with my mates on the lineup. &#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;What is your favourite or most memorable set you&#8217;ve ever done?&#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Mel: I&#8217;ve had some great gigs in outback Australia. Once I did a show in a high school basketball court to the whole town, all 400 of them turned up. It felt amazing bringing comedy to such a remote place. We even met the mayor!&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Favourite set you&#8217;ve ever watched?&#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Mel: Oh so many; I think seeing UK comic Sarah Milligan live was something special. I&#8217;d been a fan for so long. She&#8217;s amazing. So quick.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;span style=&#34;display: block;&#34; class=&#34;wrap-img&#34; id=&#34;wrap-img-321685&#34;&#62;&#60;img loading=&#34;lazy&#34; decoding=&#34;async&#34; class=&#34;alignnone wp-image-321685 img-responsive  size-large&#34; src=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2018/07/melbuttle3-1024x512.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;&#34; width=&#34;1024&#34; height=&#34;512&#34; /&#62;&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Talk about being a female comedian, in what we know is a traditionally male-dominated world. &#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Mel: It&#8217;s getting a lot better actually. There are a lot more women coming through the ranks. It&#8217;s good to see. I always try and make them feel welcome.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Complete this sentence: &#8216;Female comedians are&#8230;&#8217; &#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;.... Always hungry!&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;We&#8217;ve definitely been seeing a more diverse pool of female comedians from different backgrounds, ages, etc. (i.e. Tiffany Haddish) coming into the spotlight in recent years. Your thoughts? &#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Mel: It&#8217;s all good for comedy, audiences now have so much choice. It&#8217;s a really exciting time to be in the industry. &#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Who cracks you up on the daily? &#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Mel: My dog... she&#8217;s not very smart. &#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Who are your favourite comedians? &#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Mel: Ronny Chieng, Anne Edmonds and Sarah Silverman. &#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Favourite/guilty pleasure TV show to unwind with, if any? &#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Mel: I love reality tv! Masterchef is addictive and so is Catfish on MTV.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;We also have to talk about The Great Australian Bake Off! How are your baking skills these days?&#160;Any baking disasters to share?&#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Mel: Well, I&#8217;m still not a great baker, but at least now I know what the proper name for things is. Like creme patisserie, which is delicious. I can&#8217;t make it, but I can sure eat it. I burn everything. I&#8217;ve given up on baking and now I just buy ice cream for dessert. &#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Lastly, what would your desert island dessert of choice be?&#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Mel: Oh, that&#8217;s a tough question, maybe a really good chocolate salted caramel brownie that never runs out?&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;em&#62;Catch Australia&#039;s largest and best-loved comedy festival from 19 to 21 July at 8.30pm at the KC Art Centre, Home of SRT. Tickets are available from SGD69. For more information on &#60;/em&#62;ticket&#60;em&#62;, visit the &#60;a href=&#34;https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/roadshow-asia-2018?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34;&#62;official website&#60;/a&#62; or &#60;a href=&#34;http://preview.sistic.com.sg/preview/events/ccomedy0718?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34;&#62;SISTIC&#60;/a&#62;.&#160;&#60;/em&#62;&#60;/p&#62;  &#60;p&#62;&#60;em&#62;Sarah Khan&#60;/em&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;a href=&#34;https://www.facebook.com/OfficialMelButtle/photos/a.627078977391141.1073741825.627043547394684/1676296345802727/?type=3&#38;#038;theater&#38;#038;utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34;&#62;&#60;em&#62;Photos: Mel Buttle&#160;&#60;/em&#62;&#60;/a&#62;&#60;/p&#62;  &#60;meta name=&#34;original-source&#34; content=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/interview-mel-buttle-female-comedian-321673.html&#34; /&#62;&#60;meta name=&#34;syndication-source&#34; content=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/interview-mel-buttle-female-comedian-321673.html&#34; /&#62;&#60;meta name=&#34;robots&#34; content=&#34;noindex, follow&#34; /&#62;]]></content:encoded>
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		<title><![CDATA[Interview: Meet Oon Shu An, the actress making international waves]]></title>
		<link>https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/oon-shuan-interview-263226.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#038;utm_medium=link&#038;utm_campaign=unknown</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 07 Jul 2017 07:22:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[huibing]]></dc:creator>
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		Oon Shu An is blowing up in popularity and breaking down boundaries. <media:description><![CDATA[]]></media:description>												
								<content:encoded><![CDATA[&#60;p&#62;&#60;span style=&#34;display: block;&#34; class=&#34;wrap-img&#34; id=&#34;wrap-img-263242&#34;&#62;&#60;img loading=&#34;lazy&#34; decoding=&#34;async&#34; itemprop=&#34;thumbnailUrl&#34; class=&#34;aligncenter wp-image-263242 img-responsive &#34; src=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2017/07/untitled-1-1024x544.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;&#34; width=&#34;690&#34; height=&#34;366&#34; /&#62;&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Oon Shu An&#60;/strong&#62; is no stranger to the general public and the local population. From hosting her own web-show &#60;em&#62;Tried and Tested&#60;/em&#62; on ClickNetwork, to having viral videos covered by Buzzfeed, it might seem like she has done it all. Within the local entertainment scene, she has carved a name for herself as someone who isn&#8217;t afraid to stand up for the underdog and voice her opinions, making thought-provoking articles and videos that explore the inner workings of her mind. And she does it all with a bright smile on her face, the one that has given her that girl-next-door charm that&#8217;s absolutely endearing. &#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;But, she is more than just a voice amongst the people. As an actress, first and foremost, she has regularly appeared on our screens, with parts in &#60;strong&#62;Singaporean feature and short films&#60;/strong&#62;, as well as in &#60;strong&#62;television shows&#60;/strong&#62; and &#60;strong&#62;on stage.&#60;/strong&#62; Though she might have recently made her mark on our radars with her web-show and her appearance in Netflix&#8217;s &#60;em&#62;Marco Polo&#60;/em&#62;, she has actually been acting since she was 14. But, of course she&#039;s more than just that &#8212; so let&#039;s learn what she has to say!&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;Marie France Asia:&#160;You went from shooting YouTube videos, to being on stage for &#60;em&#62;Boeing-Boeing&#60;/em&#62;. How do you apprehend performing in front of a live audience?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Oon Shu An:&#160;&#60;/strong&#62;Actually, I practically grew up in the theatre. My parents sent me to speech and drama classes when I was a kid because I was shy, I was in the drama club all through Secondary school and JC, and then I went to the LASALLE College of the Arts BA Acting course. If anything, it was more of a challenge adapting to the online world!&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;MFA:&#160;What was the biggest wow moment when you worked on Netflix&#8217;s&#160;&#60;em&#62;Marco Polo&#60;/em&#62;?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;O.S.A:&#60;/strong&#62; The sheer number of people there from all over the world was insane! I remember when I went to the stunt tent to train for my sword dance, there were people from 13 countries, all specialists in different areas.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;MFA: You perform in comedies but also post content with a cause on your social media channels, have you ever considered mixing both?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;O.S.A.:&#60;/strong&#62; Maybe one day! I&#039;m not sure if I post things &#34;with a cause&#34; necessarily. They&#039;re generally just things I care about, and I am very mindful not to be preachy when I post things. I think when it comes to posting content, the most important thing is to be authentic, so if the two things fit and feel authentic, absolutely!&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;MFA: Can you name a local and an international actress you would like to work with?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;O.S.A.:&#60;/strong&#62; I love Karen Tan. I would love to work with her again soon. She brings such compassion and humanity to her characters. And Michelle Yeoh. I idolised her. Grace and power.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;MFA: Your advice on starting an acting career in Singapore?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;O.S.A.:&#60;/strong&#62; Haha wow that&#039;s a tough one! I think people enter this line through so many different avenues! I guess the main thing is to just start auditioning!&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;&#160;MFA: After&#160;&#60;em&#62;Boeing-Boeing&#60;/em&#62;, any upcoming projects?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;O.S.A.:&#60;/strong&#62; We&#039;ve started rehearsals for &#60;em&#62;Army Daze 2&#60;/em&#62; and that starts in August! I play the Chief of Army, so that will be a big jump from the SQ stewardess! We went through the music the other day, the songs were so funny I couldn&#039;t stop laughing! And then I have a filming project after that that starts in September. Oh and&#60;em&#62; Meet the MP&#60;/em&#62; is still playing on Channel 5 so don&#039;t forget to tune in for that!&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;-&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Talent, passion, and a never-ending charm, is it any wonder why she&#039;s been such an endearing face on screen? To catch more of her, don&#039;t forget to watch &#60;em&#62;Meet the MP&#60;/em&#62;, as well as her web-show, where you&#039;ll find yourself falling in love again with this vivacious &#160;actress.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;em&#62;Lee Hui Bing&#60;/em&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;em&#62;Photo: Getty Images&#60;/em&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;Read More:&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;a title=&#34;&#34; href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/inspiring-interview-women-tech-luo-ren-261751.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34;&#62;Interview with Luo Ren, passionate dancer &#38;amp; inspiring professional working in Singapore&#8217;s tech sector&#60;/a&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;a title=&#34;&#34; href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/jose-original-mineral-interview-257179.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34;&#62;Interview: Meet the inspiring Jose Bryce Smith, founder of O&#38;amp;M&#60;/a&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;a title=&#34;&#34; href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/women-tech-interview-eeleen-tan-255716.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34;&#62;Fast, Femme and Furious: An inspiring interview with Eeleen Tan, a woman in tech&#60;/a&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;meta name=&#34;original-source&#34; content=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/oon-shuan-interview-263226.html&#34; /&#62;&#60;meta name=&#34;syndication-source&#34; content=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/oon-shuan-interview-263226.html&#34; /&#62;&#60;meta name=&#34;robots&#34; content=&#34;noindex, follow&#34; /&#62;]]></content:encoded>
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		<title><![CDATA[Interview with Luo Ren, passionate dancer & inspiring professional working in Singapore’s tech sector]]></title>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 03 Jul 2017 04:01:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[MF editorial team]]></dc:creator>
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		Luo Ren’s drive and spirit working in the tech sector has taught her to be positive at all times even when tackling the storms.<media:description><![CDATA[]]></media:description>												
								<content:encoded><![CDATA[&#60;p&#62;&#60;img loading=&#34;lazy&#34; decoding=&#34;async&#34; itemprop=&#34;thumbnailUrl&#34; class=&#34;aligncenter&#34; src=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2017/07/luoren.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;&#34; width=&#34;600&#34; height=&#34;413&#34; /&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Raised by parents who have Hokkien and Shanghainese lineages, Luo Ren is proud of her culture and descent. Interestingly, her respect for heritage and tradition prompted her to visit both sides of her parents&#8217; ancestral villages in China&#60;em&#62;. &#8220;It was a humbling and illuminating experience,&#8221;&#60;/em&#62; enthuses the married woman. Her upbringing was very liberal and her folks have always been supportive of her passion for dance. &#60;em&#62;&#8220;Dance and choreography is something I&#8217;ve always enjoyed. &#60;/em&#62;&#60;em&#62;I&#039;ve organised several non-profit dance performances, which gives non-professionals an opportunity to be creative. Just because we are no longer in school, doesn&#039;t mean we can no longer dance and perform! I&#039;m always interested in connecting with people who are interested to give dance a shot &#8211; everybody can dance, no experience required,&#8221;&#60;/em&#62; laughs Luo Ren.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Just like working in the tech industry, one may have the academic credentials but nothing beats &#60;strong&#62;hands-on experience in real-world situations&#60;/strong&#62;. &#60;em&#62;&#8220;&#60;/em&#62;&#60;em&#62;I think when I started my early years working in tech, the ability to take action quickly based on customer insights excited me,&#8221;&#60;/em&#62; beams the amiable Luo Ren. She started her career at The Walt Disney Company before eventually moving to a start-up that was acquired by Food Panda; thereafter, she joined RedMart. She cites, &#60;em&#62;&#8220;There was a steep learning curve when I began working in a start-up, but I enjoyed the ride! In such an organisation, everyone wears many hats and when we encounter a problem we roll up our sleeves together to solve the problem.&#8221;&#60;/em&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Today, Luo Ren is proud of her achievements and is thankful that she had the foresight to switch to the tech industry to get closer to consumers, a decision that has started to pay off. Luo Ren is a &#60;strong&#62;Senior Product Lead at RedMart&#60;/strong&#62; who manages a team of mostly male engineers. Working at RedMart forces her to keep up with different technologies in the fast-paced, digital economy. Her advice to women wishing to begin a career in the tech industry? &#60;em&#62;&#8220;Have more confidence and less self-doubt!&#8221;&#60;/em&#62; In our 20-minute interview, we discover how Luo Ren ticks.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;What is your opinion of a &#34;woman&#34; in today&#039;s context? &#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Luo Ren:&#60;/strong&#62; This question is a little weird to me, there should be no difference from a man in terms of capability, expectation, home responsibilities, etc. Many women today have similar aspirations as men &#8211; at least most educated woman who come from a fairly non-conservative background. I don&#039;t think we are more empowered or more capable than men in any one area.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;What gives you drive to come to work every day? &#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;L.R.: &#60;/strong&#62;I manage a consumer-facing product at RedMart (i.e. RedMart.com, mobile apps and the supporting API &#8211; application programming interface). The need to solve customer pain points (and fix bugs!) and make their user experience better pushes me forward.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;How do you feel that the tech sector is a male-dominated industry? &#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;L.R.: &#60;/strong&#62;As a woman, you can be hyper-conscious of the fact you are different. But I&#039;ve faced this through my entire career, even before I joined tech. I was often the only Asian female, if not the only female, at board meetings and senior executive meetings. I didn&#8217;t feel odd being the only woman, just that I felt different. However, I intentionally put aside that aspect and focused on the work. My point is, this is the same situation in tech and beyond, which I think is important so we don&#039;t make generalisations about tech.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;What do you think are some strengths a woman should have working in today&#039;s digital economy? &#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;L.R.: &#60;/strong&#62;Intuition and empathy &#8211; which are often female-attributed strengths if I can generalise &#8211; are critical to understanding the customer to ensure we are building the right product.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Working in this sector, what do you think a woman can do differently that a man can&#039;t?&#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;L.R.: &#60;/strong&#62;Nothing, just as there is nothing a man can do differently/better than a woman.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;What are some of the challenges you face at work? &#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;L.R.: &#60;/strong&#62;Hiring great engineers, especially in Singapore, and getting good data to understand customer behaviour holistically.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;What&#039;s a recent interesting project you&#039;ve been working on?&#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;L.R.: &#60;/strong&#62;Many RedMart customers have been asking for a loyalty program for years. Working with the Lazada team enabled us to bring LiveUp, our recently launched membership program, to provide our consumers with much more compelling benefits than if we did this alone. We put together our resources across RedMart and Lazada and leveraged partnerships to&#160;offer rewards not only across Lazada and RedMart but also Netflix, Uber/UberEATS &#8211; a win for our consumers.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;What advice would you give to a woman wanting to work in this sector?&#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;L.R.: &#60;/strong&#62;I&#039;ve seen several cases of women who perform as well as their male counterparts, but they question their abilities and performance more than men do. In a nutshell, women need to work on their confidence level. This would help them focus their energy on work, and help them perform better.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;How do you balance work and life?&#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;L.R.: &#60;/strong&#62;Taking vacations often helps to clear the mind. I also have a supportive husband.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;What kind of change would you like to see for women working in the tech industry? &#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;L.R.: &#60;/strong&#62;More women in leadership roles, which starts with stepping up in small ways, e.g., volunteering to drive a project, being more vocal when they have suggestions, pushing forth their ideas to help the team.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;If there were more women working in the tech sector, do you think it would be better? &#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;If so, how? &#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;L.R.: &#60;/strong&#62;Absolutely. We would feel less different, there would be more diverse perspectives on how to solve problems. and women would have more opportunities to build a better support network.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Are there any other interesting tit-bits about yourself?&#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;L.R.: &#60;/strong&#62;I am born and bred in Singapore, and I love Singapore and chose to come home after having lived in New York, Hong Kong and Paris. Singapore is still awesome!&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;em&#62;Interview contributed by Joseph Lim.&#60;/em&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;em&#62;* Joseph pursued lifestyle journalism despite having a background in Computer Science. In 1999, he was a technology writer but switched to writing and editing for luxury periodicals under the Singapore Tatler Group in 2007. At home, he is an avid home cook all thanks to his Peranakan lineage. He digs all things vintage and old school like vinyl and cassette tapes.&#60;/em&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;Read more:&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;a href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/women-tech-interview-eeleen-tan-255716.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noopener&#34;&#62;Fast, Femme and Furious: An inspiring interview with Eeleen Tan, a woman in tech&#60;/a&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;a href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/interview-zhao-jing-yuan-257153.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noopener&#34;&#62;Midas Touch: An inspiring interview with Zhao Jing Yuan, a woman in Singapore&#8217;s tech sector&#60;/a&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;a href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/interview-hsbc-womens-champions-winner-inbee-park-234238.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noopener&#34;&#62;Interview: HSBC Women&#8217;s Champions Winner, Inbee Park&#60;/a&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;meta name=&#34;original-source&#34; content=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/inspiring-interview-women-tech-luo-ren-261751.html&#34; /&#62;&#60;meta name=&#34;syndication-source&#34; content=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/inspiring-interview-women-tech-luo-ren-261751.html&#34; /&#62;&#60;meta name=&#34;robots&#34; content=&#34;noindex, follow&#34; /&#62;]]></content:encoded>
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		<title><![CDATA[Interview: Meet the inspiring Jose Bryce Smith, founder of O&M]]></title>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Jun 2017 02:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Angela Goh]]></dc:creator>
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		Jose Bryce Smith, the founder of low-chemical hair care brand O&#38;M, shares with us the importance of keeping a healthy work-life balance in this exclusive interview with Marie France Asia.<media:description><![CDATA[]]></media:description>												
								<content:encoded><![CDATA[&#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span style=&#34;display: block;&#34; class=&#34;wrap-img&#34; id=&#34;wrap-img-257241&#34;&#62;&#60;img loading=&#34;lazy&#34; decoding=&#34;async&#34; itemprop=&#34;thumbnailUrl&#34; class=&#34;aligncenter wp-image-257241 img-responsive &#34; src=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2017/06/jose-bryce-smith-625x344.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;&#34; width=&#34;650&#34; height=&#34;358&#34; /&#62;&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Original &#38;amp; Mineral (O&#38;amp;M)&#60;/strong&#62; has given hair care fanatics plenty to love. In fact, it&#8217;s no secret that we at Marie France Asia have fallen head over heels for their amazing argan oil- and macadamia oil-infused Seven Day Miracle Moisture Masque and their popular Hydrate &#38;amp; Conquer shampoo and conditioner duo. We recently met with founder of O&#38;amp;M, &#60;strong&#62;Jose Bryce Smith&#60;/strong&#62;, while she was in town to promote her brand.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;The lovely 42-year-old mother of two spoke to us about her life as a jetsetting entrepreneur. She shared with us her secrets on how she juggles her work life with her family life, and how she manages to find time for herself in between!&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62; &#60;span&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Marie France Asia: &#60;/strong&#62;Give us a brief insight into O&#38;amp;M. How did this journey begin for you?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Jose: &#60;/strong&#62;I started the company 10 years ago. My partner and I had a hair salon &#8212; he was a hairdresser and I looked after the marketing and PR, and I also ran the salon. He had very bad contact dermatitis, and he couldn&#8217;t use ammonia-based hair colour. So we found an ammonia-free hair colour, and this was 10 years ago, when there were&#160;no ammonia-free alternatives&#160;on the market. We became Sydney&#8217;s first organic salon. The business grew very quickly once word started to get around. Other salons would call us and say &#8220;can we get this colour?&#8221;. Very quickly, we realised that we needed a hair care range to go with it &#8212; shampoos, conditioners, treatments &#8212; and I thought &#8220;glamorous women also want natural, low-chemical products&#8221;. I wanted something that would look like a fashion brand, so the whole philosophy of O&#38;amp;M is that it bridges the gap between &#34;natural&#34; and &#34;luxury&#34;.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62; &#60;span&#62;&#60;strong&#62;MFA: &#60;/strong&#62;Back in the days, people weren&#8217;t quite so concerned about how &#8216;organic&#8217; a product was, or how &#8216;natural&#8217; the ingredients they put on themselves were. But nowadays, it&#8217;s gotten really big. Why is that?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;strong&#62;J: &#60;/strong&#62;People have started to ask themselves, &#8220;If I can get my hair in great condition without having the smell and the fumes, and without using so many chemicals, then why wouldn&#8217;t I?&#8221;. I think that it&#8217;s definitely a huge trend &#8212; people are concerned about their health, and concerned with living longer. And that ranges from what they eat to what they put on their skin. It&#8217;s not that natural products are so high-priced that it makes them unaffordable.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62; &#60;span&#62;&#60;strong&#62;MFA: &#60;/strong&#62;Tell us a bit more about the Frizzy Logic products.&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;strong&#62;J: &#60;/strong&#62;Frizzy Logic represents part of our smoothing range. It&#8217;s always been a hero product for us in Singapore because it combats the humidity -- it&#8217;s essentially a smoothening serum, the star ingredients being almond and macadamia oil. What we&#8217;ve brought here is a bigger sized version of this serum and a spray version. The spray version is perfect for using just before heading&#160;out the door, and to control fly-aways.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span style=&#34;display: block;&#34; class=&#34;wrap-img&#34; id=&#34;wrap-img-257248&#34;&#62;&#60;img loading=&#34;lazy&#34; decoding=&#34;async&#34; class=&#34;aligncenter wp-image-257248 img-responsive &#34; src=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2017/06/333-625x342.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;&#34; width=&#34;650&#34; height=&#34;356&#34; /&#62;&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62; &#60;span&#62;&#60;strong&#62;MFA: &#60;/strong&#62;You&#8217;ve got two kids, aged 10 and 5. With all the travelling in your line of work, how does this impact on your personal life and your family life?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;strong&#62;J: &#60;/strong&#62;I think for anyone running their own business, &#60;a href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/career-advice/tips-for-success/7-ways-work-life-balance-254662.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noopener noreferrer&#34;&#62;work-life balance&#60;/a&#62; is always quite a difficult one. Realistically, you do work a lot more hours. In terms of the travel, my children are fairly used to it. I try to make the trips as short as possible, and I try and cram as much in as I can, and I try to travel whilst they&#8217;re at school rather than during their school holidays so that I can spend more time with them. We FaceTime as well &#8212; the technology helps so much &#8212; and I just try and make it special for them when I &#60;em&#62;am&#60;/em&#62; there.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62; &#60;span&#62;&#60;strong&#62;MFA: &#60;/strong&#62;What is the best thing about your job?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;strong&#62;J: &#60;/strong&#62;I actually think it&#8217;s the people that you get to meet and places you get to go. I try to buy something small for my house from every country I&#8217;ve been to. And when people love what you do, it&#8217;s really rewarding and you feel like you&#8217;re doing something right. I get to meet lots of interesting people &#8212; hairdressers are actually quite a crazy bunch!&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62; &#60;span&#62;&#60;strong&#62;MFA: &#60;/strong&#62;What is the biggest challenge &#8212; as a working mother, and as a working professional?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;strong&#62;J: &#60;/strong&#62;Really, it&#039;s trying to &#60;a href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/health/healthy-practices/wellbeing-tips/15-daily-self-love-tips-215345.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noopener noreferrer&#34;&#62;find time for yourself&#60;/a&#62; and trying to control the anxiety. It&#8217;s about recognising &#8220;oh, I&#8217;m overwhelmed now&#8221; so &#8212; one way that I look at it is I say to myself &#8220;I&#8217;m trying to eat an elephant, so just do it one bite at a time&#8221;. The best thing to do is not try to think too big. It&#8217;s really important to find time for yourself to try and wind down. Exercise is really good for releasing anxiety &#8212; sometimes I&#8217;d take myself down to the beach and put my feet in the sand and just... come back down to earth.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62; &#60;span&#62;&#60;strong&#62;MFA: &#60;/strong&#62;Any hobbies?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;strong&#62;J: &#60;/strong&#62;I&#8217;m into yoga and pilates, and fitness in general. And I also love hanging out with my friends. I live really close to the beach, so it&#8217;s great to go down there. Spending time in good company always helps me unwind. I keep it pretty low-key when I&#8217;m not working. But yes, health and fitness are what I like to concentrate on.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62; &#60;span&#62;&#60;strong&#62;MFA: &#60;/strong&#62;Any advice you&#8217;d like to give to other aspiring entrepreneurs?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;strong&#62;J: &#60;/strong&#62;I do get approached by other female entrepreneurs who are just starting out and they&#8217;d ask me &#8220;how did you do it?&#8221; &#8212; I like to tell them to ask themselves what the core of&#160;their brand is, what the &#60;em&#62;philosophy&#60;/em&#62; of the brand is. And then to work out where it&#8217;s going to live, and then work out a strategy and take it one step at a time.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62; &#60;span&#62;&#60;strong&#62;MFA: &#60;/strong&#62;What&#8217;s next for O&#38;amp;M?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;strong&#62;J: &#60;/strong&#62;We are bringing out a whole new colour range that goes out to salons, coming out in the middle of the year. In terms of the products, we&#8217;re going to be bringing out a volumising dry shampoo. Further in the future, I&#8217;m very interested in hair regrowth &#8212; because I&#8217;ve got &#60;a href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/beauty/beauty-sos/thin-hair-styling-tips-71609.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noopener noreferrer&#34;&#62;fine hair&#60;/a&#62;, I&#8217;m always trying to make it thicker, so I&#8217;m working on this.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;em&#62;Explore the O&#38;amp;M range in Sephora stores and on Sephora.sg today.&#60;/em&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;em&#62;Angela Goh&#60;/em&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;em&#62;Photos: O&#38;amp;M&#60;/em&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62; &#60;span&#62;Read more:&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;a href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/beauty/beauty-sos/beauty-tips-and-tricks/golden-rules-salon-look-239493.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noopener noreferrer&#34;&#62;Hair Care: 10 Golden rules for an &#8216;out of the salon&#8217; look&#60;/a&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;a href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/beauty/beauty-sos/beauty-tips-and-tricks/essential-hair-care-tips-218617.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noopener noreferrer&#34;&#62;Luscious Locks: 10 Essential hair care tips for healthy hair growth&#60;/a&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;a href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/beauty/beauty-sos/beauty-tips-and-tricks/10-tips-to-take-care-of-dyed-hair-170724.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noopener noreferrer&#34;&#62;Stay Vibrant: 10 Foolproof tips to take care of your dyed hair&#60;/a&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;meta name=&#34;original-source&#34; content=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/jose-original-mineral-interview-257179.html&#34; /&#62;&#60;meta name=&#34;syndication-source&#34; content=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/jose-original-mineral-interview-257179.html&#34; /&#62;&#60;meta name=&#34;robots&#34; content=&#34;noindex, follow&#34; /&#62;]]></content:encoded>
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		<title><![CDATA[Midas Touch: An inspiring interview with Zhao Jing Yuan, a woman in Singapore's tech sector]]></title>
		<link>https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/interview-zhao-jing-yuan-257153.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#038;utm_medium=link&#038;utm_campaign=unknown</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Jun 2017 05:01:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[MF editorial team]]></dc:creator>
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		Zhao Jing Yuan handles big data projects with finesse all thanks to her can-do attitude and indefatigable spirit. <media:description><![CDATA[]]></media:description>												
								<content:encoded><![CDATA[&#60;p&#62;&#60;span style=&#34;display: block;&#34; class=&#34;wrap-img&#34; id=&#34;wrap-img-257166&#34;&#62;&#60;img loading=&#34;lazy&#34; decoding=&#34;async&#34; itemprop=&#34;thumbnailUrl&#34; class=&#34;aligncenter wp-image-257166 img-responsive &#34; src=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2017/06/mothers-jing-yuan2-sg-625x356.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;&#34; width=&#34;650&#34; height=&#34;370&#34; /&#62;&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;When Zhao Jing Yuan left China for Singapore in 2004 to pursue her technology dream &#8211; studying statistics at National University of Singapore &#8211; she knew it was the right thing to do. Fast forward to today, this mother of a 10-year-old son has never looked back with regret. &#60;em&#62;&#8220;I&#8217;m very glad I made that decision; today Singapore is where I live and work and I&#8217;m totally contented at this stage of my life,&#8221;&#60;/em&#62; enthuses Jing Yuan, who holds a PhD in Statistics from NUS.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;When it comes to work-life balance, she aces at it. &#60;em&#62;&#8220;It was initially very hard when I became a mother; I had work issues to tackle on top of my family responsibilities. But I persevered and believed in myself and everything fell into place. I&#8217;m so grateful to friends, colleagues and my family who supported me during my formative years in Singapore,&#8221;&#60;/em&#62;&#160;says the data scientist, who is the current &#60;strong&#62;Vice President of&#160;Data Science at Lazada Group&#60;/strong&#62;. Her modern, open-minded upbringing has also helped her to appreciate the world better. When the self-confessed yoga addict is not pursuing leisurely swims, she finds time to hone her drawing skills. Here is an aspiring female tech worker who strongly feels that women can still shine in the mostly male-dominated data science industry and add value with a feminine perspective. We spent an engaging 20 minutes discovering her insights and opinions.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;span style=&#34;display: block;&#34; class=&#34;wrap-img&#34; id=&#34;wrap-img-257167&#34;&#62;&#60;img loading=&#34;lazy&#34; decoding=&#34;async&#34; class=&#34;aligncenter wp-image-257167 img-responsive &#34; src=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2017/06/mothers-jing-yuan-sg-625x332.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;&#34; width=&#34;650&#34; height=&#34;345&#34; /&#62;&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;What is your opinion of a &#34;woman&#34; in today&#039;s context?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Zhao Jing Yuan:&#60;/strong&#62; Firstly, and very importantly, I think a woman should not be any different from a man. She should be treated with the same respect as a man. Today&#8217;s working women are as capable as their male counterparts, if not better, in certain areas.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;Why did you choose to work in the tech sector?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Z.J.Y.:&#60;/strong&#62; I like the &#8220;energy&#8221; of the tech sector &#8211; it is fast-moving and evolving. My data science work for the Lazada Group in the region allows me to use the latest technologies and different types of coding software.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;What gives you drive to come to work every day?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Z.J.Y.:&#60;/strong&#62; The success of my projects is attributed to team effort. I enjoy working with my team as we solve many challenges together. There is a feeling of&#60;em&#62; esprit de corps&#60;/em&#62; working as a team, too.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;Do you feel that the tech sector is a male-dominated industry?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Z.J.Y.:&#60;/strong&#62; Yes, definitely there are more men working in the tech sector. While I encourage more women to join the tech sector, I also feel that women and men offer distinct skills. We should have this shared vision to complete the same goal and not bicker about the superiority of each sex&#8217;s strengths. If men and women can help each other out and solve problems, that would be superb.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;Working in this sector, what do you think a woman can do differently that a man can&#039;t?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Z.J.Y.:&#60;/strong&#62; Personally, being a data scientist is the sexiest job in the 21st&#160;century, but what raised my interest is the fast-paced environment and the ability to digest numbers to create stories or predict trends. I also like to use R, Python, SPARK because they are what I use for coding in my data science work. Some of my male team members appreciate my feminine point of view when it comes to modelling and programming.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;What are some of the challenges you face at work?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Z.J.Y.:&#60;/strong&#62; In every job, the onus of managing different stakeholders and clients is a given. My job requires managing people&#8217;s expectations, too. However, providing solutions for problems in emerging markets is a challenge I enjoy. I also like that my job covers regional markets. The data science sector is growing very fast so there&#8217;s a lot to learn and that&#8217;s an educational process which I take as a challenge to hone my skills.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;Tell us about your most rewarding experience working in the tech industry as a woman.&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Z.J.Y.:&#60;/strong&#62; Lazada has been the stepping stone to bigger things: I&#8217;ve worked with some of the greatest talents in the data science industry; particularly, I enjoyed working with many big brands to identify and solve problems! Every day is something new and interesting! I&#8217;ve also worked with external stakeholders to ensure the project meets its goals.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;The team is young and cohesive and we treat each other like buddies. Our work is never a solo effort because we all need each other. It is also great that my boss allows me to work in a manner that I prefer while helping me to move things and meet deadlines. I like it that people don&#8217;t see me as a &#8220;woman&#8221; per se, rather, they see me as someone who adds value to the team. My job engages me on so many levels &#8211; intellect, emotional quotient and some soft skills!&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Lazada has become a very popular online shopping destination in Southeast Asia but we shouldn&#8217;t rest on our laurels. Our team works hard to ensure data science remains a valuable asset to Lazada&#8217;s growth in the region. We always have a &#8220;can-do&#8221; spirit; motivating each other to focus hard on our work.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;Do you think there&#039;s discrimination being a woman working in the tech sector?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Z.J.Y.:&#60;/strong&#62; Before I started working, there were rumours of women being discriminated in the tech sector. However, since starting my job, I can safely say that the rumour has never been validated. In fact, some of my male colleagues look up to me; the younger ones treat me like their mentor. The Lazada environment feels like a United Nations meeting &#8211; there are so many nationalities working together for a common goal and that makes it interesting to come to work every day.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;What&#039;s the most empowering advice you can give to a woman wanting to work in this sector?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Z.J.Y.:&#60;/strong&#62; The tech sector will always remain dynamic and it is good to always be curious and have the eagerness to take on new challenges. The tech sector comes with a hectic schedule so it&#8217;s critical to manage your time well.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;What kind of change would you like to see for women working in the tech industry?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Z.J.Y.:&#60;/strong&#62; I don&#8217;t think we&#8217;d want to say that more women should join the tech industry for the sake of balancing it out with the majority of males. The tech sector should do its part to attract new talents, be it male or female. However, I applaud women who excel in the tech sector because they break the misconception that only men can succeed in technology.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;Are there popular or famous women you admire? Who and why?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Z.J.Y.:&#60;/strong&#62; Sheryl Sandberg, the Chief Operating Officer at Facebook, remains a woman I admire. I read her book &#60;em&#62;Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead&#60;/em&#62;&#160;published in 2013 and it reveals her tenacious spirit and open-mindedness. She&#8217;s a strong-willed woman who doesn&#8217;t take &#8220;no&#8221; for an answer. It ideally shows how women can climb the corporate ladder in the tech industry &#8211; like the adage says, &#60;em&#62;&#8220;if there&#8217;s a will, there&#8217;s a way&#8221;&#60;/em&#62;.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;em&#62;Interview contributed by Joseph Lim.&#60;/em&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;em&#62;* Joseph pursued lifestyle journalism despite having a background in Computer Science. In 1999, he was a technology writer but switched to writing and editing for luxury periodicals under the Singapore Tatler Group in 2007. At home, he is an avid home cook all thanks to his Peranakan lineage. He digs all things vintage and old school like vinyl and cassette tapes.&#60;/em&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;meta name=&#34;original-source&#34; content=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/interview-zhao-jing-yuan-257153.html&#34; /&#62;&#60;meta name=&#34;syndication-source&#34; content=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/interview-zhao-jing-yuan-257153.html&#34; /&#62;&#60;meta name=&#34;robots&#34; content=&#34;noindex, follow&#34; /&#62;]]></content:encoded>
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		<title><![CDATA[Fast, Femme and Furious: An inspiring interview with Eeleen Tan, a woman in tech]]></title>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Jun 2017 02:53:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[MF editorial team]]></dc:creator>
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		Meet Eeleen Tan, a woman whose drive, spirit and intellect has helped her steer Ninja Van’s goals in e-logistics.<media:description><![CDATA[]]></media:description>												
								<content:encoded><![CDATA[&#60;p&#62;&#60;span style=&#34;display: block;&#34; class=&#34;wrap-img&#34; id=&#34;wrap-img-255739&#34;&#62;&#60;img loading=&#34;lazy&#34; decoding=&#34;async&#34; itemprop=&#34;thumbnailUrl&#34; class=&#34;aligncenter wp-image-255739 img-responsive &#34; src=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2017/06/women-in-tech-eeleen-tan-625x332.png&#34; alt=&#34;&#34; width=&#34;650&#34; height=&#34;345&#34; /&#62;&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Women have always been vital in society, not just for being great mothers, listeners and caregivers. They are also known to excel in many industries such as fashion, design, retail, education, and sports. Many women are looked up to by their male counterparts for their strength, resilience, wit, passion, compassion and creativity. Let&#8217;s not forget that there are also women who serve important roles in the male-dominated technology sector. In the fast-paced age of our digital economy, women have become tireless, critical assets to modern tech organisations, gig economy-based businesses and companies dealing in disruptive technologies. We spent 20 minutes talking to one such woman working in tech &#8211; how she ticks and tackles the challenges in the digital economy.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;Steely Guts: Meet Eeleen Tan&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;Don&#8217;t snub her demure looks. The youthful 37-year-old Eeleen Tan is a happily married mother of two kids aged 6 and 5. While her French husband may crave for the occasional duck confit, Tan still stays true to her Hainanese roots because she still tries to speak the dialect with her modern, forward-thinking parents. Her father is the current chairman of Hainan Tan Clan Association, so obviously dad&#8217;s indefatigable Hainanese spirit has rubbed off on her, too!&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;span style=&#34;display: block;&#34; class=&#34;wrap-img&#34; id=&#34;wrap-img-255740&#34;&#62;&#60;img loading=&#34;lazy&#34; decoding=&#34;async&#34; class=&#34;aligncenter wp-image-255740 img-responsive &#34; src=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2017/06/women-in-tech-eeleen-tan3-625x396.png&#34; alt=&#34;&#34; width=&#34;650&#34; height=&#34;412&#34; /&#62;&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;What gives you drive to come to work every day?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Eeleen Tan:&#60;/strong&#62; I am currently the Chief of Global Expansion at Ninja Van, where our vision is to be the leading end-to-end logistics provider in Southeast Asia. We envision a day where anyone can make an e-purchase and have it delivered to their doorstep, enabled by Ninja Van technology and infrastructure. The fact that we are using technology to change and improve people&#039;s lives drives me to work harder.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;What is your opinion of a &#34;woman&#34; in today&#039;s context?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;E.T.:&#60;/strong&#62; Today, a woman holds a multi-faceted role. When I was in school at CHIJ Saint Nicholas, a key motto we go by is a Chinese saying: &#60;em&#62;&#34;we must be able to step out of the living room and yet must be able to step into the kitchen&#34;&#60;/em&#62;. I think this is very relevant in today&#039;s world where women have to master the home and work fronts.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;Why did you choose to work in the tech sector?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;E.T.:&#160;&#60;/strong&#62;It was by chance, actually. After having completed my Bachelor in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Imperial College, followed by my Masters in Technology and Policy at MIT, I joined McKinsey and Company in Europe and the first project I was assigned to was in the technology and telco sector. From then on, my relationship with the tech sector blossomed and I have stayed on; covering the entire value chain, from hardware manufacturing to software for telecommunication companies, and most recently, last mile logistics.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;Do you feel that the tech sector is a male-dominated industry?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;E.T.:&#160;&#60;/strong&#62;Yes it is, but the scene has improved tremendously over the years... from about 1 female in 10 males to about 3 to 4 females in 10 males now. In Singapore, Vietnam and China especially, the scene is more balanced.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;What do you think are some strengths a woman should have working in today&#039;s digital economy?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;E.T.:&#160;&#60;/strong&#62;I don&#039;t think a woman&#8217;s strengths in this trade should be any different from her male counterparts. Specifically, I think it is always important to have an understanding of the big picture: what are the inter-connecting parts and how the specific portion you are working on contributes to the big picture or to the other departments.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;Working in this sector, what do you think a woman can do differently that a man can&#039;t?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;E.T.:&#160;&#60;/strong&#62;The minds of women are no doubt wired differently from a man. When solving a problem at work, the same solution may be derived but the two sexes might have a different approach. Women and men should bring different skills that complement each other.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;What are some of the challenges you face at work?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;E.T.:&#160;&#60;/strong&#62;I work in a start-up and it forces me to get my hands dirty and to do things myself. This is good as it makes me become very hands-on, get in touch with operations on the ground and fully understand the problems they face each day. When I get ground feedback, I can then tweak and improve our processes and make them more practical, relevant and efficient.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;Tell us about your most rewarding experience working in the tech industry as a woman.&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;E.T.:&#60;/strong&#62;Lazada is the online shopping destination in Southeast Asia and seeks to democratise e-commerce in this region. But how would these goods get to remote villages? This is where Ninja Van comes in to improve people&#8217;s lives through technology and get their goods from Lazada faster without breaking a sweat. Ninja Van is also about empowering consumers &#8211; giving them access to products they otherwise might not have access to (i.e. if they don&#8217;t have a nearby shopping mall in their town).&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;When I started working with the Lazada team &#8211; of young and dynamic people &#8211; it was a very enriching experience because we solved problems together and we were keen to move fast. E-logistics is typically a male-dominated industry but there was really no female discrimination when I worked with Lazada&#8217;s male counterparts. The highlight of this project was when Ninja Van dovetailed with Lazada&#8217;s processes to achieve a common goal &#8211; a happy and satisfied consumer who has a good impression of both brands. Also, the opportunity to come up with innovative solutions and implement fast ideas to suit the digital generation &#8211; millennials &#8211; proved to be a very satisfying and collaborative effort.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;Do you think there&#039;s discrimination being a woman working in a tech sector?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;E.T.:&#160;&#60;/strong&#62;Where I&#8217;ve worked, I did not face any discrimination against women. In fact, the tech sector encourages more women to join. Ultimately, I think whether a person is male or female is not an important requirement. More importantly, he or she must be able to hold his/her worth to be respected in the chosen field.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;What&#039;s the most empowering advice you can give to a woman wanting to work in this sector?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;E.T.:&#160;&#60;/strong&#62;Be clear about the end goals you want to achieve, talk to your peers or colleagues about your ideas or goals. I&#8217;m blessed with many colleagues who do not mind extending a helping hand to help me achieve my goals.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;How do you balance work and life?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;E.T.:&#160;&#60;/strong&#62;I think one has to start with the basis of enjoying whatever you do in life &#8211; work, play or family. Once you come to work and like what you do and enjoy the company of colleagues, it will take care of itself and the concept of work-life balance becomes secondary. Your colleagues become your buddies! When you switch off from work, you can come back home feeling positive and attend to your family&#8217;s needs.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;What kind of change would you like to see for women working in the tech industry?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;E.T.:&#160;&#60;/strong&#62;I think the education system needs to be relooked. I think in schools, we need to encourage tech and engineering vocations for girls at an early age. The balance of men and women in engineering classes is very far from where it should be to bring in a balanced workforce.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;Are there popular or famous women you admire? Who and why?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;E.T.:&#160;&#60;/strong&#62;To me, Ho Ching is the epitome of a woman who is able to combine business acumen and engineering background to succeed in the business world. In fact, my choice of&#160;study engineering was very much influenced by what Ho Ching advocated during my tertiary years.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;If there were more women working in the tech sector, do you think it would be better? If so, how?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;E.T.:&#160;&#60;/strong&#62;I think it&#8217;s not about the number of women working in the tech sector per se. What is more important is that the people who work in the sector should have diverse talents, be well-qualified and passionate about what they do. In this way, the growth and development of the tech sector will be much assured.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;em&#62;Interview contributed by Joseph Lim.&#60;/em&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;em&#62;* Joseph pursued lifestyle journalism despite having a background in Computer Science. In 1999, he was a technology writer but switched to writing and editing for luxury periodicals under the Singapore Tatler Group in 2007. At home, he is an avid home cook all thanks to his Peranakan lineage. He digs all things vintage and old school like vinyl and cassette tapes.&#60;/em&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;Read more:&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;a href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/pernilla-ronnberg-estelle-thild-247348.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noopener noreferrer&#34;&#62;Interview: Meet the woman behind all-natural skincare brand Estelle &#38;amp; Thild&#60;/a&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;a href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/interview-hsbc-womens-champions-winner-inbee-park-234238.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noopener noreferrer&#34;&#62;Interview: HSBC Women&#8217;s Champions Winner, Inbee Park&#60;/a&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;a href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/dr-siew-tuck-wah-231016.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34; rel=&#34;noopener noreferrer&#34;&#62;Interview: Get to know local aesthetician and dog rescuer Dr Siew Tuck Wah&#60;/a&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;meta name=&#34;original-source&#34; content=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/women-tech-interview-eeleen-tan-255716.html&#34; /&#62;&#60;meta name=&#34;syndication-source&#34; content=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/women-tech-interview-eeleen-tan-255716.html&#34; /&#62;&#60;meta name=&#34;robots&#34; content=&#34;noindex, follow&#34; /&#62;]]></content:encoded>
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		<title><![CDATA[Interview: Meet the woman behind all-natural skincare brand Estelle & Thild]]></title>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 20 Apr 2017 09:30:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Lim Han]]></dc:creator>
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		<category><![CDATA[skincare]]></category>
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		A fan of Estelle &#38; Thild? You'll be a bigger fan of the woman behind it.<media:description><![CDATA[]]></media:description>												
								<content:encoded><![CDATA[&#60;h2&#62;&#60;span style=&#34;display: block;&#34; class=&#34;wrap-img&#34; id=&#34;wrap-img-247441&#34;&#62;&#60;img loading=&#34;lazy&#34; decoding=&#34;async&#34; itemprop=&#34;thumbnailUrl&#34; class=&#34;aligncenter wp-image-247441 img-responsive &#34; src=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2017/04/screen-shot-2017-04-20-at-5.14.05-pm-625x516.png&#34; alt=&#34;&#34; width=&#34;700&#34; height=&#34;578&#34; /&#62;&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;It&#039;s not every day that you uncover the deep dark secrets behind the conventional beauty industry, let alone do something about it. Well, meet &#60;strong&#62;Pernilla R&#245;nnberg&#60;/strong&#62;, who&#039;s done just that. After witnessing&#160;first-hand the appalling noxious chemicals which pollute&#160;our mainstream beauty products, she was determined to make a change - &#60;strong&#62;a major one&#60;/strong&#62;.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Harnessing her flair for entrepreneurship and driven by her zeal for a healthy &#60;a href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/health/healthy-practices/green-living-live-eco-friendly-101951.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34;&#62;eco-friendly lifestyle&#60;/a&#62;, Pernilla sought to create her own skincare brand that possessed innovation and integrity. Using the most premium ingredients and the finest raw materials, she developed&#160;the next generation of organic skincare products with the help of a team of experts adept at this field. &#160;Thus, &#60;strong&#62;Estelle &#38;amp; Thild&#60;/strong&#62; was born, the glorious product of Pernilla&#039;s dream of creating her own sustainable all-natural brand!&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Her passion for sustainable beauty has even revolutionised her lifestyle, influenced the company&#039;s culture and even infected her daughters, Estelle &#38;amp; Mathilde (do they ring a bell?), as well. &#60;strong&#62;With Pernilla, every day is Earth Day&#60;/strong&#62;.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Of course, there&#039;s more to her than just that. But, we&#039;ll let Pernilla tell you more herself.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;span style=&#34;display: block;&#34; class=&#34;wrap-img&#34; id=&#34;wrap-img-247443&#34;&#62;&#60;img loading=&#34;lazy&#34; decoding=&#34;async&#34; class=&#34;aligncenter wp-image-247443 img-responsive &#34; src=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2017/04/16386962_10155052124700337_819085714211176887_n-1-625x332.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;&#34; width=&#34;700&#34; height=&#34;372&#34; /&#62;&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;Marie France Asia: What inspired you to establish Estelle &#38;amp; Thild as an all-organic skincare brand?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Pernilla:&#60;/strong&#62; The idea behind the brand came to me when my children were born. I felt inspired to do something meaningful with my life. &#60;strong&#62;I wanted to make a difference&#60;/strong&#62;, to do my bit in helping the world become a better place. I wanted to develop a&#160;sustainable business, producing &#60;a href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/beauty/beauty-buys/skincare/natural-homemade-skincare-remedies-160174.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34;&#62;organic, innovative skin care&#60;/a&#62; without compromising on&#160;the&#160;experience or results. After months of research, prototyping and testing, I launched Estelle &#38;amp; Thild in 2007 with the ambition to help consumers make better choices for their skin, bodies and the environment. This vision and thought behind my brand is still what drives me to this day, and I am very grateful and passionate about what me and my team has created. &#60;strong&#62;My daughters Estelle and Mathilde are my main inspiration&#60;/strong&#62;, and this is also why the brand is named after them.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;MFA:&#160;What is the most challenging part about producing your own organic skincare range?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;P:&#60;/strong&#62; To create formulations that are &#60;strong&#62;certified organic yet also effective and give long term results&#60;/strong&#62;. We work constantly to ensure that consumers do not need to compromise on anything when going organic. We have chosen to certify our products as organic via EcoCert -- the largest independent certification board in Europe and the United States. Their rigid guidelines have made them not only the leading certification board, but also one of the most respected worldwide. They rigidly inspect and examine the product contents, raw materials, production, packaging and text material. It means that our company, our production facilities and our ingredients need to be certified. Few companies manage to meet the strict demands that this certification poses.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;&#60;strong&#62;MFA: Do your daughters feel as strongly as you do about maintaining a sustainable lifestyle? If so, what eco-friendly habits do they practice in their daily routine?&#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;P:&#60;/strong&#62; We are definitely &#60;strong&#62;an eco-friendly family&#60;/strong&#62;, and the girls like to use Estelle &#38;amp; Thild products. They are very conscious and aware of what&#8217;s going on in the world. We &#60;a href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/health/on-my-plate/eating-organic-whats-in-it-for-you-8852.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34;&#62;eat organic&#60;/a&#62; at home, spend a lot of time together outside in nature &#8211; we just bought a horse! They are also very determined in their beliefs &#8211; like not wanting to eat meat and being against animal testing.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;MFA: What advice would you give to people who are actively practicing a sustainable lifestyle, yet, receiving a lack of support from the people around them?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;P:&#60;/strong&#62; Keep doing what you are doing; the others will come around eventually. I think it&#8217;s important to &#60;strong&#62;stay true to your beliefs&#60;/strong&#62;, and not care so much about what others think. It can be hard at times, but it really is for a good cause. Be proud of the work you do!&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;MFA: In light of a sustainable lifestyle that Estelle &#38;amp; Thild advocates, what are your thoughts on extreme eco-friendly habits such as a zero-waste lifestyle?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;P:&#60;/strong&#62; I think it is great that there are passionate people who really go out of their way and change their entire lives for the sake of the environment. I think they really make a difference and inspire others to do their part, even if they don&#8217;t embrace the whole lifestyle. Every little thing that supports the environment counts!&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;MFA: What are some of your other favorite organic skincare brands?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;P:&#60;/strong&#62; I like RMS Beauty and John Masters Organics &#8211; they produce great &#60;a href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/beauty/beauty-buys/hair/best-sulfate-free-shampoos-224648.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34;&#62;shampoos and conditioners&#60;/a&#62;.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;MFA: Do you see the organic skincare industry expanding in time to come?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;P:&#60;/strong&#62; Yes, for sure. Since I launched Estelle &#38;amp; Thild in 2007 the category has grown immensely and the organic beauty market just keeps growing. Consumers are more informed than ever, and demand sustainability and transparency from brands and companies across markets.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Interested in supporting Estelle &#38;amp; Thild? That&#039;s a no-brainer. Head over to their website -&#160;&#60;em&#62;&#60;a href=&#34;http://estellethild.com/?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34;&#62;www.estellethild.com&#60;/a&#62;&#160;-&#60;/em&#62;&#160;to view the full range of their amazing products!&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;em&#62;Lim Han&#60;/em&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;em&#62;Photos: Estelle &#38;amp; Thild&#60;/em&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;Read More:&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;a title=&#34;&#34; href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/beauty/beauty-sos/tried-and-tested/estelle-and-thild-recovery-night-cream-231048.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34;&#62;Beauty Review: Estelle and Thild&#8217;s Recovery Night Cream&#60;/a&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;a title=&#34;&#34; href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/beauty/beauty-buys/skincare/estelle-thild-organic-tinted-moisturiser-205467.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34;&#62;Natural Glow: Estelle &#38;amp; Thild brings organic tinted moisturisers to the table&#60;/a&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;a title=&#34;&#34; href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/beauty/beauty-buys/skincare/estelle-and-thild-super-bioactive-168478.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34;&#62;Renewed Youth: Estelle &#38;amp; Thild introduces a new line to fight aging&#60;/a&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;meta name=&#34;original-source&#34; content=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/pernilla-ronnberg-estelle-thild-247348.html&#34; /&#62;&#60;meta name=&#34;syndication-source&#34; content=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/pernilla-ronnberg-estelle-thild-247348.html&#34; /&#62;&#60;meta name=&#34;robots&#34; content=&#34;noindex, follow&#34; /&#62;]]></content:encoded>
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		<title><![CDATA[Interview: Everything you need to know about Bipolar Disorder]]></title>
		<link>https://www.mariefranceasia.com/lifelove/expert-advice/daniel-fung-bipolar-disorder-interview-238390.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#038;utm_medium=link&#038;utm_campaign=unknown</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 30 Mar 2017 04:00:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Angela Goh]]></dc:creator>
						<category><![CDATA[Expert Advice]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[bipolar disorder]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[mental health]]></category>
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		Marie France Asia speaks to an expert from the Singapore Association for Mental Health about this potentially crippling condition and how it affects those suffering from it.<media:description><![CDATA[]]></media:description>												
								<content:encoded><![CDATA[&#60;p&#62;&#60;span style=&#34;display: block;&#34; class=&#34;wrap-img&#34; id=&#34;wrap-img-238394&#34;&#62;&#60;img loading=&#34;lazy&#34; decoding=&#34;async&#34; itemprop=&#34;thumbnailUrl&#34; class=&#34;aligncenter wp-image-238394 img-responsive &#34; src=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2017/03/dr-625x344.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;&#34; width=&#34;700&#34; height=&#34;385&#34; /&#62;&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Mental health issues can be a tricky subject to discuss in Singapore, especially with the stigma that surrounds such conditions. For many, it is easier to skirt around such uncomfortable issues or brush them off as unimportant. As such, we have a long way to go in raising awareness of mental illnesses and its place in our community.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;With &#60;strong&#62;World Bipolar Day&#60;/strong&#62; falling today, we reached out to &#60;strong&#62;Dr Daniel Fung&#60;/strong&#62;, Chairman of Research Committee for&#160;the Singapore Association for Mental Health (SAMH), to answer some important questions regarding the condition to help readers understand the complexities that it can bring to the lives of those suffering from it.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;Marie France Asia: How do you recognise the onset of bipolar disorder? Are there obvious signs to look out for?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Dr Daniel Fung:&#60;/strong&#62; The most obvious and critical feature of bipolar disorder lies in the emotion or the mood of the person, most often being dependent on the feelings that the person experiences. From the highs of &#60;strong&#62;mania (euphoria)&#60;/strong&#62; on one extreme to the lows of &#60;strong&#62;depression&#60;/strong&#62; on the other, these serious shifts in mood, energy, thinking, and behaviour is very symptomatic of bipolar disorder. More than just a fleeting good or bad mood, &#60;strong&#62;the cycles of bipolar disorder last for days, weeks, or months&#60;/strong&#62;. And unlike ordinary mood swings, the mood changes of bipolar disorder can be intense that they interfere with one&#8217;s ability to function.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;However, bipolar disorder can look very different in different people. The symptoms vary widely in their pattern, severity, and frequency. Some people are more prone to either mania or depression, while others alternate equally between the two types of episodes. Some have frequent mood disruptions, while others experience only a few over a lifetime. In children, the onset may be a bit more disruptive as it can be masked as behavioural problems &#8211; like anger issues and destroying things.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;Some classic symptoms can include:&#60;/strong&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;ul&#62; &#60;li&#62;Unusually high or irritable mood for an extended period of time&#60;/li&#62; &#60;li&#62;Inflated self-esteem or grandiosity; thinking that one is more important than he really is&#60;/li&#62; &#60;li&#62;More talkative than usual&#60;/li&#62; &#60;li&#62;Feeling that the mind is racing&#60;/li&#62; &#60;li&#62;Increase activity to make grand and unattainable plans&#60;/li&#62; &#60;li&#62;Reckless behaviours such as spending sprees, delusional thoughts that they can fly and impulsive sexual indiscretions&#60;/li&#62; &#60;/ul&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;MFA: What makes a person more susceptible to bipolar disorder?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;DD:&#60;/strong&#62; It appears that certain people are &#60;strong&#62;genetically predisposed&#60;/strong&#62; to bipolar disorder, yet not everyone with an inherited vulnerability (for example: a sibling or parent with the illness) develops the illness, indicating that genes are not the only cause.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;External environmental and psychological factors&#60;/strong&#62; are also believed to be involved in the development of bipolar disorder. These external factors are called triggers. Triggers such as stress, alcohol or substance abuse, and lack of sleep can set off new episodes of mania or depression or make existing symptoms worse. However, many bipolar disorder episodes occur without an obvious trigger.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;MFA: Is there a cure? How can it be prevented?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;DD:&#60;/strong&#62; Bipolar disorder is a chronic or what we call a &#60;strong&#62;lifelong condition&#60;/strong&#62; that may include the risk of relapses. The biggest of these risks would be suicide as often times it is hard to predict and may go unnoticed in individuals especially those displaying euphoria. It can be managed with &#60;strong&#62;medication being the main treatment option&#60;/strong&#62;. Mood stabilisers, antidepressants, anti-psychotics and sedatives can be used in different combinations, depending on individual presentations, to treat acute episodes and to help prevent a relapse.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Psychological therapy such as &#60;strong&#62;counselling and other rehabilitative services&#60;/strong&#62; offered by organisations such as Singapore Association for Mental Health is an option for patients who are more stable, to help them with symptom recognition, management and reintegration into society. Ultimately, the treatment and management of this disorder is to help stabilise the mood so that it doesn&#8217;t go into extreme peaks and troughs but rather a regulated pattern.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;In order to get the most out of treatment, it&#039;s important to educate oneself about the illness, communicate with doctors and therapists, have a strong support system, and help oneself by making healthy lifestyle choices that may reduce the need for medication. Stick to the treatment plan, reassessing with the doctor as changes in one&#8217;s life occur.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;MFA: What can people around someone with this condition/illness do to give practical help?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;DD:&#60;/strong&#62; Be &#60;strong&#62;supportive and understanding&#60;/strong&#62; towards them by acknowledging that it is a condition that they can&#8217;t easily snap out from. Instead, help them if possible in terms of ensuring that they take their medication or steer them away from stressful situations that you think would trigger an episode.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Provide a listening ear and if possible, try to help them regulate their moods so as to ensure that it doesn&#8217;t go towards the extreme ends. Ultimately, we all one way or another benefit from those who look out for us.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;MFA: What can we do to diminish the stigma that surrounds mental illnesses in general?&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;strong&#62;DD:&#60;/strong&#62; Most often, stigma is the result of fear and ignorance by those who may not fully understand what mental illnesses is all about. Many may just draw upon from negative examples of those people suffering from such conditions in being violent, dangerous or unstable. This forms perceptions and may inadvertently lead to discrimination. For those suffering from mental health conditions, it may cause them to feel ashamed for something that is out of their control and prevents many from seeking the help they need and speaking out.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;That is why it is important for us to &#60;strong&#62;strive towards becoming a more inclusive society&#60;/strong&#62; by seeing the person beyond their mental illness; as they have many other personal attributes that do not disappear just because they also have a mental health condition. We see many people in society, even celebrities, who suffer from bipolar disorders and yet are leading mostly normal lives.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;Stigma is not something that will go away on its own, but if we &#60;strong&#62;work together as a community, we can change the way we perceive mental illness in our society&#60;/strong&#62;. Together, we can create robust systems, services and efforts all along the path of recovery and encourage early intervention and access to treatments without fear of labels or diminished opportunities. When that is achieved, we will know that our tireless efforts to diminish stigma have been successful.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;em&#62;Angela Goh&#60;/em&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;em&#62;Photos: Getty Images,&#160;Singapore Association for Mental Health&#60;/em&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2&#62; &#60;span&#62;Read more:&#60;/span&#62; &#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;a href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/health/medical-news/panic-disorders-231851.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34;&#62;Panic Disorders: What do you know about them?&#60;/a&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;a href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/parenting/kids-activities/physically-active-children-depression-228995.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34;&#62;New Study: Physically active children are less likely to develop depression&#60;/a&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p&#62;&#60;a href=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/health/healthy-practices/wellbeing-tips/alleviate-anxiety-top-10-smartphone-apps-for-stress-relief-169096.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34;&#62;Alleviate Anxiety: Top 5 free smartphone apps for stress relief&#60;/a&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;meta name=&#34;original-source&#34; content=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/lifelove/expert-advice/daniel-fung-bipolar-disorder-interview-238390.html&#34; /&#62;&#60;meta name=&#34;syndication-source&#34; content=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/lifelove/expert-advice/daniel-fung-bipolar-disorder-interview-238390.html&#34; /&#62;&#60;meta name=&#34;robots&#34; content=&#34;noindex, follow&#34; /&#62;]]></content:encoded>
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		<title><![CDATA[Interview: HSBC Women's Champions Winner, Inbee Park]]></title>
		<link>https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/interview-hsbc-womens-champions-winner-inbee-park-234238.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#038;utm_medium=link&#038;utm_campaign=unknown</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 06 Mar 2017 07:15:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[MF editorial team]]></dc:creator>
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		<category><![CDATA[golf]]></category>
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		Champion of the annual HSBC Women's Champions Inbee Park divulges her peaks and valleys.<media:description><![CDATA[]]></media:description>												
								<content:encoded><![CDATA[&#60;p&#62;&#60;span style=&#34;display: block;&#34; class=&#34;wrap-img&#34; id=&#34;wrap-img-234329&#34;&#62;&#60;img loading=&#34;lazy&#34; decoding=&#34;async&#34; itemprop=&#34;thumbnailUrl&#34; class=&#34;size-medium wp-image-234329 img-responsive  aligncenter&#34; src=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/1900/03/gettyimages-647303244resize-625x427.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;&#34; width=&#34;625&#34; height=&#34;427&#34; /&#62;&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;Inbee Park makes history at the 10th edition of the &#60;strong&#62;HSBC Women&#039;s Champions&#60;/strong&#62;, becoming the &#60;strong&#62;first ever person&#60;/strong&#62; to win the highly prestigious golf tournament in Singapore twice! The &#60;strong&#62;Olympic gold medalist&#60;/strong&#62; had suffered a thumb injury last year, causing her to take a 6-month break, only resuming her play this year.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;div&#62;With 19 of the world&#8217;s top 20 competing, the quality of golf was simply world class.&#160;Fans visiting the Sentosa Golf Club on the final Sunday were in for a treat as the&#160;overnight leaderboard was packed with the biggest names in the sport including Lydia&#160;Ko, Ariya Jutanugarn, Michelle Wie, Ha Na Jang, Shanshan Feng and Inbee herself. And even under pressure, the South Korean wowed the crowd with&#160;a putting masterclass, showing the world that a little&#160;setback only spurs her on even more.&#60;/div&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;We had the fantastic opportunity to speak to the champion, Inbee, right after her marvelous victory. With insight into&#160;the difficulties of pursuing her dreams and her take on how to remain motivated, here&#039;s an exclusive interview with Inbee Park.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span style=&#34;display: block;&#34; class=&#34;wrap-img&#34; id=&#34;wrap-img-234330&#34;&#62;&#60;img loading=&#34;lazy&#34; decoding=&#34;async&#34; class=&#34;size-medium wp-image-234330 img-responsive  aligncenter&#34; src=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/1900/03/gettyimages-647674454-625x432.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;&#34; width=&#34;625&#34; height=&#34;432&#34; /&#62;&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;MARIE FRANCE ASIA: Congratulations on your win! Does it still feel surreal to have won?&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;&#60;strong&#62;INBEE PARK:&#60;/strong&#62; It feels like it&#8217;s been forever, and obviously, you know, I didn&#8217;t expect this win to come so quickly. So it feels very special and basically being able to do that in Singapore, it&#8217;s much more special.&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;MFA: What made you decide to do golf professionally?&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;&#60;strong&#62;I.P.:&#60;/strong&#62; It&#8217;s my family sport, they all liked playing golf, it was just a very natural thing.&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;MFA: Competing must be very stressful, so how do you cope with that?&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;&#60;strong&#62;I.P.:&#60;/strong&#62; Sometimes yes, sometimes it&#8217;s stressful, but you get a lot more things that are better to stress [about]. I think you just have to laugh a lot, I travel a lot with my husband so we try to do something other than golf together, and we facetime our dog, Rio, and it brings me a lot of laughter.&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;MFA: With all the travelling you do, what&#8217;s your favourite place to visit?&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;&#60;strong&#62;I.P.:&#60;/strong&#62; Singapore is definitely one of them. I love the food and the people here, and the country is just so neat.&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;MFA:&#160;What is the hardest thing to overcome when pursuing your dream?&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;&#60;strong&#62;I.P.:&#60;/strong&#62; I think it&#8217;s just the stress from the games, and obviously travelling is very, very hard. You&#8217;re living off your suitcases and travelling, flying all the time, missing your family. That&#8217;s the very hard thing about golf.&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;MFA: How do you remain motivated, especially with your injury last year?&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;&#60;strong&#62;I.P.:&#60;/strong&#62; Just because I miss playing golf so much, but you know with the time that I was taking off, I&#8217;m just so happy that I&#8217;m back here and I definitely feel like this is where I belong.&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;MFA:&#160;&#60;/span&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;What are you looking forward most to this year?&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;&#60;strong&#62;I.P.:&#60;/strong&#62; I&#8217;m really looking forward to all the tournaments, major tournaments especially.&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;&#60;em&#62;This post was brought to you by HSBC.&#60;/em&#62;&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;meta name=&#34;original-source&#34; content=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/interview-hsbc-womens-champions-winner-inbee-park-234238.html&#34; /&#62;&#60;meta name=&#34;syndication-source&#34; content=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/interview-hsbc-womens-champions-winner-inbee-park-234238.html&#34; /&#62;&#60;meta name=&#34;robots&#34; content=&#34;noindex, follow&#34; /&#62;]]></content:encoded>
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		<title><![CDATA[Interview: Get to know local aesthetician and dog rescuer Dr Siew Tuck Wah]]></title>
		<link>https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/dr-siew-tuck-wah-231016.html?utm_source=rss_feed&#038;utm_medium=link&#038;utm_campaign=unknown</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 16 Feb 2017 07:02:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Winnie Tan]]></dc:creator>
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		<category><![CDATA[dr siew tuck wah]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[radium medical aesthetics]]></category>
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		Between juggling his own aesthetic medicine clinic and running a charity welfare organisation, how does Dr Siew Tuck Wah do it all?<media:description><![CDATA[]]></media:description>												
								<content:encoded><![CDATA[&#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span style=&#34;display: block;&#34; class=&#34;wrap-img&#34; id=&#34;wrap-img-231066&#34;&#62;&#60;img loading=&#34;lazy&#34; decoding=&#34;async&#34; itemprop=&#34;thumbnailUrl&#34; class=&#34;aligncenter wp-image-231066 img-responsive &#34; src=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2017/02/1-7-625x344.jpg&#34; width=&#34;700&#34; height=&#34;385&#34; /&#62;&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;There are many odd combinations in this world that just seem to work - chocolate coated chips, peanut butter and jelly, and so on. Here&#8217;s another unusual mix that you won&#8217;t be able to wrap your head around at first: an aesthetician who also doubles as the President of a charity welfare organisation that&#160;rescues dogs!&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;Two years ago, Dr Siew made headlines when he left his five figure salary behind to spend his time solely on managing his charity welfare organisation, &#60;strong&#62;&#60;a href=&#34;http://sosd.org.sg/?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34;&#62;Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD)&#60;/a&#62;&#60;/strong&#62;. In September last year, Dr Siew founded his own clinic, Radium Aesthetics Medical, with co-founder Andy Cheng, continuing in the line of work he had once left behind. &#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;We spoke to the charismatic Dr Siew after his return from an SOSD event, and he shared his passions, insights and tips to support his welfare charity organisation.&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;MARIE FRANCE ASIA: Congratulations&#160;on the opening of Radium Medical Aesthetics. How did you first discover your passion for aesthetic medicine?&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;&#60;strong&#62;Dr Siew:&#60;/strong&#62;&#160;I&#8217;ve always been interested in anti-ageing wellness and medicine and all that, but honestly, there&#8217;s a lot of stigma towards going into aesthetics, especially during my time. I started aesthetics a decade ago, and at that time there was a lot of stigma. People would rather do things like surgery, so even though I was interested I didn&#8217;t dare to venture out. But I had a friend who needed some help, so he asked me to join him part-time. From part-time, it then became full-time. That&#8217;s how it happened.&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;MFA: With the stigma you mentioned, do you find aesthetic medicine superficial?&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;&#60;strong&#62;D.S.:&#60;/strong&#62; The skin part is&#160;one part of it. For a bigger picture, aesthetic medicine encompasses anti-ageing medicine&#160;and wellness, too. For me, I emphasise a lot on wellness. It&#8217;s not only the treatments themselves, it&#8217;s also about your lifestyle - eating well, living well... it&#8217;s more than just the skin part, there&#8217;s a whole complete wellness. You sometimes treat people&#8217;s mental state as well. It&#8217;s really a whole spectrum.&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;The reason people come to you, it&#8217;s because they think they don&#039;t look&#160;good, and that affects their mood. When improving some parts of it, it makes them feel better. For example, it&#8217;s very strange, but people with dark eye circles, they&#039;ll say that they always look tired, so&#160;they&#8217;ll feel tired. So when you treat that - put a bit of filler - then they&#8217;ll feel better, more refreshed. And it really affects their state. It&#8217;s a very common thing that I&#160;see. &#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;The main thing is to make people feel happy. When I do a consultation, people will ask me &#60;em&#62;&#34;what do I need?&#34;&#60;/em&#62;, I will always ask them back, &#60;em&#62;&#8220;what do you think is bugging you?&#8221;.&#60;/em&#62; If you think you&#8217;re happy, then okay la &#60;em&#62;[laughs]&#60;/em&#62;.&#160; &#60;/span&#62;They&#8217;ll ask me, &#60;em&#62;&#8220;what do I need?&#8221;&#60;/em&#62;, and I&#8217;ll tell them scientifically, objectively, you need a, b, c, d, e, but really, you need to tell me what&#8217;s bugging you. If you think you&#8217;re happy this way, this is it, you don&#8217;t need anything.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;MFA: Why did you return to the aesthetic medicine industry?&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;&#60;strong&#62;D.S.:&#160;&#60;/strong&#62;I left aesthetic medicine in September 2015 and came back in September 2016. If you talk about the most immediate, primary reason, money was running out. It&#8217;s the harsh truth of life. I don&#8217;t come from a rich family. I just had to make a living. I decided to start&#160;Radium, rather than join someone else. I knew that I was at the point in&#160;my life where I couldn&#039;t&#160;work for people anymore. If I do that, then I can&#039;t&#160;run SOSD at the same time. By having my own practice, it&#8217;s much more flexible. I can go out in the middle of the day, do an event, and come back. I can give talks, I can also teach, I can do a lot more.&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;MFA: That must take up a lot of time.&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;&#60;strong&#62;D.S.:&#60;/strong&#62; It&#8217;s crazy, I have no time at all. It&#8217;s a lot of work. I&#8217;m very lucky because with&#160;SOSD, I have a fantastic team of volunteers, including Andy, who deals with&#160;operations. I have department heads, so what&#160;I do is to oversee and run the PR and social media part of it. In that sense, every department runs autonomously, and at this stage, SOSD is pretty much independent, so that allows me to run it. For my clinic part, I have fantastic colleagues, and that helps me. But still, it is overwhelming. &#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;MFA: How similar do you think your job and passion for saving street dogs are?&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;&#60;strong&#62;DS&#60;/strong&#62;: Yeah, so they are different, and a lot of people cannot reconcile the fact that aesthetics and saving stray dogs can come together. But I have proven to people that it can be done. For Radium, for example, we have done a lot of fundraising, everything is tied into SOSD here, even our wall decor is artwork for sale from SOSD, and it&#8217;s to fundraise for SOSD. We all run by the same principles. Our principle is to alleviate suffering, to make people happy, to save lives. So it&#8217;s the same. Over [at Radium] I&#8217;m making people happy, which is my philosophy, and over at SOSD we&#8217;re saving lives and making the world a kinder place. We&#8217;re saving the dogs, giving them homes and making their families happy, making the dogs happy.&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;MFA: How do you handle the controversy that surrounds SOSD?&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;&#60;strong&#62;D.S.:&#60;/strong&#62; There&#8217;s a lot of negativity in whatever you do. It can be aesthetics, it can be any industry. Even in charities, there will always be negativity. It&#8217;s very important to just stick to your principles, stick to your goal, and always stay positive, and never dwell on the negative. If people scold you, you just have to state your stand and explain why you do it, but never go down to the level of mud-slinging back at people. So that is something we are very clear on what we will not do.&#160;&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;MFA: How did you find your passion for rescuing dogs?&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;DS: I grew up very poor, in a 3-room HDB flat. In that kind of estate, there&#8217;s really very few dogs. My parents are from Malaysia, so they always told us stories about how dogs will chase you, they will hurt you and they will bite you and all that. They themselves were scared of dogs, we never had money for dogs and never had interaction with dogs. So naturally, we grew up wary of dogs, we don&#8217;t even go near them when we see&#160;them.&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;MFA: So do you remember the first dog you rescued?&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;&#60;strong&#62;D.S.:&#60;/strong&#62; &#60;em&#62;[laughs]&#60;/em&#62; I&#8217;m trying to remember which were the&#160;very first ones. There were a few first rescues. My first bail out from AVA (Agri-Food &#38;amp; Veterinary Authority) was a black dog - that created a lot of media buzz, so that was very memorable. The most memorable one, of course, was my own dog, Bacon, because Bacon was rescued from Punggol. He was one of first rescues, and&#160;because at that time we had no shelter, he had to be sent to my place to be fostered. He stayed for maybe five days. At first we thought he might be aggressive, he was very scared and combative. But later on, we became really close in just a few days. So when he got adopted, he didn&#8217;t want to leave, he was very distressed when he went to his new house. So finally, the doctor called me on New Year&#8217;s Eve 2011, and he said &#60;em&#62;&#8220;can you please bring your dog back, your dog is hurting himself&#8221;&#60;/em&#62;. So I brought him back, and then adopted him. He&#8217;s now on the SOSD logo.&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;MFA: What compelled you to rescue more and become more involved with SOSD?&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;&#60;strong&#62;D.S.:&#60;/strong&#62; I started rescue in December 2011. What spurred me on was that there was a stray dog biting incident. A&#160;girl was jogging at the Punggol Park connector, and then these dogs attacked her. And at that time there was very little awareness on issue of&#160;stray dogs, so once that happened, the public went crazy, they called for blood, they wanted blood. So AVA went down and towed dogs &#60;em&#62;all&#60;/em&#62; over the area. I don&#8217;t know what came over me but I think it was&#160;a higher calling, there was a higher calling for me to go down and rescue. So we rescued one, two, three, and that was in December. It was a very successful rescue operation. There was a lot of public support and all that, people started to realise there was such a problem. And in 2012, SOSD was already an existing organisation, but very informal. Then, they formally asked me to join them. So I joined them, and formalised them, and we registered. That&#8217;s how it all grew.&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;MFA: What are your goals this year for the annual fund-raising Mission Pawsible this year?&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;&#60;strong&#62;D.S.:&#60;/strong&#62; So that&#8217;s our flag day on the 19th of March. Mission Pawsible is a theme which means that the dogs can do so much more, they can achieve the impossible. So they&#8217;re like superheroes. During this fund-raising, this flag day event, we&#8217;re portraying them as superheroes. We rescue them, but they give us so much more back, they do their part for us as well. So what we&#8217;re going to do is, we&#8217;re going to feature dogs that have given back to society, dogs whom we&#8217;ve rescued who were sick and dying, and now they&#8217;ve done their part. Either they&#8217;ve been on outreach programs, or they&#8217;ve helped other dogs. Our goal this year is to reach out to as many as possible. We hope to have at least 1000 flag collectors all over Singapore to collect funds, and our goal is $200,000 from the event. &#60;/span&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;h2 class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;MFA: How can people help or support your movement?&#60;/span&#62;&#60;/h2&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;span class=&#34;s1&#34; &#62;&#60;strong&#62;D.S.:&#60;/strong&#62; Many, many ways. Of course, if you have the money, please help by&#160;donating to us. If you can volunteer, please do volunteer your time. SOSD needs volunteers of all ages, all genders, all everything, because we need expertise in many, many areas. Even in accounting, even doing book-keeping, all these things - we need volunteers to help with. We need people to adopt dogs, of course.&#160; &#60;/span&#62;We need people to foster - the dogs we rescue need temporary homes sometimes. Importantly, we need you to tell people about our cause. So we always say: if you cannot do any of these, the easiest thing you can do is like the Facebook page and share the stories. Sharing,&#160;for us, is very, very helpful.&#60;/p&#62; &#60;p class=&#34;p1&#34;&#62;&#60;em&#62;If you are interested in learning more about rescuing street dogs, visit&#160;&#60;a href=&#34;http://sosd.org.sg/?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34;&#62;sosd.org.sg&#60;/a&#62;. Dr Siew&#039;s practice, &#60;a href=&#34;http://radium-aesthetics.com/?utm_source=rss_feed&#38;#038;utm_medium=link&#38;#038;utm_campaign=unknown&#34; target=&#34;_blank&#34;&#62;Radium Medical Aesthetics&#60;/a&#62;, is located at 3 Temasek Boulevard, #03-326, Suntec City Mall, Singapore 038983.&#60;/em&#62;&#60;/p&#62; &#60;meta name=&#34;original-source&#34; content=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/dr-siew-tuck-wah-231016.html&#34; /&#62;&#60;meta name=&#34;syndication-source&#34; content=&#34;https://www.mariefranceasia.com/culture/from-us-to-you/interviews/dr-siew-tuck-wah-231016.html&#34; /&#62;&#60;meta name=&#34;robots&#34; content=&#34;noindex, follow&#34; /&#62;]]></content:encoded>
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