Principal Sustainability Strategist

Background

I am based in the Forum’s Southeast Asia office in Singapore and work with organisations to bring transformative change to the region and beyond.

I am passionate about environmental sustainability, and in particular, nature and our role within nature. I believe that what we are striving to achieve isn’t to “save the earth”, but to preserve our own human civilisation and ability to live and thrive on this planet. Governments and businesses have enormous roles to play especially in the current context of climate crisis, social upheavals and technological disruption.

My background is international relations and war studies from London, France and Singapore. I have worked in the public sector with the Singapore Ministry of Defence and the Economic Development Board which gave me a precious perspective into public sector work and viewpoints. I then moved to Switzerland to join the non-profit world first with the World Economic Forum as a Global Leadership Fellow, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF). My most memorable projects were launching a regional business alliance to promote sustainable palm oil in the region, and developing the sustainable seafood guide for Singapore. I have also worked to tackle plastic overconsumption, illegal wildlife trade and climate change.

I am currently working with companies to create systemic change in the areas of waste reduction and management and palm oil, through designing innovative and bold pilot projects that could be scaled up across the industry.

My dream project

My dream project would be to shut down the illegal wildlife trade by ending poaching and corruption; a large scale global project involving all sectors and communities that reduces poverty, takes into account sustainable use and eliminating corruption.

On a more personal side, I would love to design initiatives that explore the concept of resilience and how to build that into societies, communities and individuals in a world where the essence of humanity will be tested like never before.