CHONG SIAK CHING
CEO of National Gallery Singapore and head of Visual Arts Cluster Singapore
Despite her initial misgivings about heading the National Gallery, Chong Siak Ching proved her mettle very soon after stepping into the role of chief executive officer in 2013. Although the former president and CEO of space solutions provider Ascendas lacked a professional background in arts, the National Gallery has, under her stewardship, spread its wings far and wide since opening in 2015.
Early milestones include long-term exhibitions on the historical development of art in Singapore and Southeast Asia, as well as collaborations with world-renowned museums like Tate Britain that helped place Singapore on the global art map. In 2017, the National Gallery showcased legendary impressionist painters such as Claude Monet and Édouard Manet when it staged Colours of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’orsay. In 2018, the National Gallery had its first travelling show, Latiff Mohidin: Pago Pago, featuring the works of the Malaysian painter-poet, at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. In recognition of her efforts, the French government conferred the Order of Arts and Letters on Siak Ching in January 2020.
While Siak Ching has raised the profile of Singapore in the global art scene, engagement of the local population is a subject very close to her heart. One of Siak Ching’s key mandates is to make art more accessible and appealing to a wider audience.
Recognising that more than 80 per cent of Singaporeans live in public housing, the National Gallery launched The People’s Gallery last November. It is a project that turns void decks into gateways to art. Devised and created by Mullenlowe Singapore, the initiative has transformed 25 open spaces across eight heartland neighbourhoods like Bishan, Marine Parade and Yishun into public galleries of artworks by Singaporean and Southeast Asian artists, using QR codes and AR technology.
Siak Ching is also passionate about nurturing the next generation of art stalwarts. Under her charge, Kolektif, a youth collective programme that the CEO refers to as her “younger colleagues’ brainchild”, was hatched and launched. “Through a nine-month learning and development experience for youth volunteers aged 17 to 25, our young colleagues mentor these youth volunteers and empower them to create and design programmes, which we then launch at our Light to Night Festival,” she elaborates. “It is an excellent example of empowerment and mentoring in action.”
Even with a very full plate, Siak Ching finds time to mentor young professionals in other industries. Under the Young Women’s Leadership Connection’s mentorship programme, Siak Ching took Kelley Wong, another Women of Power luminary, under her wing in 2019. “The programme is a two-way street. I find myself learning from my mentee, and getting a better understanding of the challenges that they face in their work at their current phase of their career,” says Siak Ching, adding that this has put her in a better place to address the challenges her own colleagues face.
Founder of Meshminds
The name might not be familiar, but you’ve probably seen its works. Meshminds is the creative technology studio behind some of the coolest sustainability-focused XR (Extended Reality, which encompasses Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality) projects in Singapore, including Run for Nature, the world’s first AR game developed for World Environment Day; Please Insert Women, a creative technology incubation programme with Net-a-porter for women and/or non-binary artists in Southeast Asia; and the 100 Days to #Beatplasticpollution movement in response to the plastic pollution pandemic.
If it wasn’t apparent from its curriculum vitae, Meshminds focuses exclusively on commissions that address people and the planet. Founded in 2017 by Kay Vasey, a lawyer by training, the purpose-driven agency brings together creatives and responsible businesses to tackle pressing social, environmental and educational challenges. “Meshminds is a combination of my skills, experiences and passions,” she explains. “I’ve been a tech lawyer. I’m deeply passionate about art – but wasn’t allowed to study it because of my Chinese upbringing, so it almost feels like I need to dedicate the later part of my life to helping artists. I’m also a nature lover. I’ve gone on volunteer trips throughout my life, doing turtle conservation, resurfacing roads and putting roofs back on mountain huts. That’s why ‘art tech for good’ is what drives our entire vision.”
Lest there be any doubt, Meshminds is for-profit. It has, however, a non-profit arm called the Meshminds Foundation that equips artists and technologists in Asia with the latest tools, as well as training and mentoring to help them push the boundaries of their medium. “The whole idea has always been to create an ecosystem whereby we teach artists and creators how to harness technology through the foundation, then they exit as creative technologists ready to create meaningful work that helps people and the planet.”
Kay adds, “But at the same time, I didn’t want our graduates to think that there are no jobs in this. So we created the studio to offer them professional opportunities, showing them that there are projects they can work on to get paid with their newfound skills in sustainability.”
One of Meshminds’ latest works is the Art Reimagined series, featuring the traditional art and culture of Taiwan and Korea elevated by technology. This partnership with Meta brought together local artists and developers to create immersive AR and VR experiences for their art pieces. “We love to see people’s faces when they are wowed by the filters. It brings such joy to us. That’s why we keep doing what we do. And this is only the beginning – AR and VR are just entry points to the metaverse.”
Going forward, Kay wants to further amplify Asian voices. “I think there are huge opportunities for creators in the region to learn new things, raise their voices, and be as good as people in the West. In fact, we have even better ideas because we come from this multicultural part of the world with lots of different perspectives, languages and inspirations. By fostering inclusive communication, championing creativity and enabling innovators, we can catalyse behavioural change, make a difference and secure a sustainable future for the next generations.”
Group head of institutional banking at DBS Bank Over the last three decades, Tan Su Shan has built a formidable career and established herself as one of the most influential Singapore-born figures in the industry. Since joining DBS 12 years ago, she has been a leader in driving change in the home-grown bank and helping it to become one of the most successful consumer banking and wealth management franchises in the region.
The esteemed banker now leads DBS’ institutional banking arm, which services clients including bank and non-bank financial establishments, government-linked companies, large corporations, as well as small and medium-sized businesses.
For Su Shan, having clarity about what is important can be a force for good in society. “In these times of great disruption and massive change, it’s crucial to be anchored in a strong foundation of purpose and values,” she says. “This means knowing your true north, being able to galvanise your community based on these shared values and purpose, and ultimately being a collective force of positive impact.”
One of her biggest achievements has been to support businesses during difficult times in the beginning of the pandemic. In conjunction with various governmental support schemes, Su Shan and her teams at DBS rolled out a slew of measures aimed at helping SMES – especially the micro- and small enterprises – to survive the crisis. These were a mix of financial relief packages and digital initiatives enabling companies to fast-track their digital adoption and transaction fulfilment needs in the face of pandemic-related safe management measures adopted by most companies.
“I am heartened that since 2020 and over the course of the pandemic, DBS has approved over 14,000 collateral-free loans totalling more than $6.4 billion to SMES in Singapore, with over 90 per cent of the loans going to microand small enterprises,” she adds.
As part of DBS’ responsible banking commitment and prioritising sustainability as an urgent imperative, Su Shan’s institutional banking team assists its customers’ transition towards lower-carbon business models through a variety of tailored green financing solutions while enhancing their access to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investments.
She shares her excitement about an upcoming white paper with medium- and long-term decarbonisation targets for nine priority industry sectors in DBS’ portfolio. The bank is set to publish the report in the second half of this year. “The insights will enable us to determine the scope of our net-zero coverage and develop decarbonisation transition pathways for our clients.”
She explains, “For example, in the power sector, DBS will guide as many conventional power generation adopters towards a credible net-zero plan, principally through a shift to renewable energy.”
In her position of power, Su Shan says humility in leadership is vital. “In this VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) world that we live in today, effective leaders need to realise that they don’t always know everything. Therefore, surrounding yourself with diverse expertise and talents is what will make your team stronger and more resilient.”
Executive director of retail and lifestyle at
Savills (Singapore)
Pre-pandemic, we have Sulian Tan-wijaya to thank for the revival of Orchard Road in the face of massive digital disruption, with various interesting new concepts pioneered by her in her role heading retail and lifestyle at Savills (Singapore). While things slowed to a halt in recent years, she has not stopped in dreaming up novel ideas to revitalise and strengthen the shopping and leisure scene here.
In addition to representing new overseas retailers expanding into Singapore, she is currently busy with a few exciting projects. They include the highly anticipated Guoco Midtown; 8 Club Street, which is a 900-room hotel with an underground link; Mondrian Hotel, a 300room luxury hotel with F&B offerings; Dairy Farm Mixed Development; and Hometeamns’ waterfront clubhouse in Bedok.
“Retail and F&B were among the worst hit by the pandemic, so the two-month lockdown was surreal for me, to put it mildly. My stubborn refusal to be defeated by the pandemic kept me going and the efforts paid off,” says Sulian.
It was during the height of the pandemic that she and her Hong Kong counterpart successfully secured the 18,000 sq ft Adidas Brand Centre in the heart of Orchard Road. “Our meetings were conducted mostly remotely via video across different time zones. This deal was a perfect example of Adidas’ slogan: Impossible is Nothing. I was also inspired by a few clients who actually thrived and chose to expand in spite of the pandemic, some of whom I didn’t even get to meet in person due to the tight restrictions then.”
To prepare for the looming business uptick, she and her team are now brainstorming ways to identify and capture new opportunities. She adds, “Retail is a dynamic and rapidly evolving business. From online to offline/physical stores to the metaverse, I have to keep up with what the brands are doing in order to create opportunities with them.”
In her down time, the proud mother of two Cambridge University graduates (one’s an oncologist, while the other’s an investment analyst) continues to support her two favourite charities: Caritas and Assisi Hospice, where she is looking to get involved in projects that support youth who were mentally traumatised by the pandemic. The former model is also a passionate musician and deejay who has expanded her eclectic repertoire to include R&B and hip-hop from South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China.
CEO of Love Bonito
A mentor with venture capital firm 500 Startups and CEO of multi-million dollar fashion e-commerce brand Love, Bonito, Dione Song is a natural-born leader. She is, however, reluctant to call herself one, and even professes to have shied away from leadership roles in school.
Yet as fate would have it, Dione found herself leading others who were her age or even older in her first job after graduating from NYU Stern School of Business. She fitted so well into her role at Zalora Singapore that she rose from being an onsite manager to managing director in merely four years.
Today, Dione, who is an undisputed luminary in the modern consumer technology and retail industry, embraces her role towards empowering her staff and others.
After a spell at Sephora Digital, Dione joined Love, Bonito as chief commercial officer and chief operating officer. By April 2021, she had become the company’s head honcho. Months later, Love, Bonito launched Lbcreate, a social impact initiative that aims to highlight women’s issues and create actionable steps towards resolving them.
More recently, Love, Bonito partnered with Room to Read, an international non-profit organisation that supports children’s literacy and girls’ education in Africa and Asia, to fund the education of 100 girls from lower-income families.
Dione is a big believer in constant learning and retaining a child-like wonder towards life – which she calls a growth mindset. “I find that adults take themselves too seriously, and thus become stagnant, rigid and restricted by preconceived notions,” says Dione, adding that by learning and unlearning things, one can keep growing mentally. In turn, this helps one to stay nimble and malleable, which she says is how Love, Bonito has managed to stay current and competitive.
President of Cat Welfare Society
The Cat Welfare Society (CWS) was formed in 1999 with a mission to end the inhumane culling of community felines and create a humane society where community and pet cats are responsibly cared for. It does so by conducting sterilisation to curb unsustainable population increase, engaging the community to resolve cat-related feedback, as well as advocating and educating on responsible cat caregiving and ownership.
Since its inception, CWS has helped sterilise more than 45,000 community and pet cats. The woman leading the organisation’s various programmes is its president Thenuga Vijakumar, who, by day, manages stakeholders and new businesses as a manager at conglomerate Adani Global.
The success of CWS benefits more than the animals; it also impacts humans. “The ability to arrest population growth in a humane way ensures more resources for each cat,” she asserts. “What many don’t realise is that we are helping the community of caregivers and pet cat owners and through them, all the cats that they care for,” she says.
“We take empowering others very seriously,” Thenuga continues. “We do not simply step into a situation and resolve the problem. We engage and educate the public and stakeholders on the root causes of the issue and employ methodology that treats the cause, not just the visible symptoms. These stakeholders then take this knowledge and apply it to similar situations, allowing our work to multiply manifold. More people helping and chipping in is more lives helped.”
Thenuga is currently in the eighth year of her presidency at CWS. Culling has plummeted, but her work is far from done. “I learnt that making in-roads to animal welfare and creating changes in mindset cannot be accomplished overnight or even in the short term. One has to constantly chip away at the issue to make change,” she says.
“For the foreseeable future, I’m working towards the legalisation of pet cat ownership in HDBS and the legitimisation of responsible caregiving through a nationwide programme and the mandatory implementation of humane management measures across Singapore.”
Principal designer and founder of Olivia Lee Studio
An alumni from last year’s Prestige’s 40 under 40 list, Olivia Lee has been working on projects closer to home. One of them is the Two Lips flagship store that is “conceived as a modernday curiosity shop with objet d’art”. She says, “We wanted to create an inviting space for customers to get to know the Two Lips universe, celebrate the female body, and introduce the subject of vulva care.”
Olivia is now helming the art direction and design of new local brand Eshes’ inaugural furniture collection, which consists of beautiful and functional glass objects. “I am excited to work with a female founder who believes in poetry and wonder in design as much as I do.”
With the studio defining its position on decentralisation, Olivia is also working on an exciting genesis NFT project, alongside other metaverse initiatives.
Wonder is her definition of power and her greatest inspiration. Personal agency also fuels her sense of empowerment. “This quality is close to my heart because of its indelible link to creative freedom and self-actualisation. Establishing my own practice was the only way to hold the reins and remain uncompromising in my pursuit. I hold most preciously this freedom to triumph and err by my own hand.”
As the world reopens, Olivia believes a period of creative renaissance is near. “I hope that the time for renewal is finally upon us. I want to use my creativity to repopulate the world with beauty and wonder once more.”