Loretta Chen
| Loretta Chen | |
|---|---|
| Born | Singapore |
| Occupation | director, presenter, executive |
| Relatives | Edmund Chen (brother) |
| Website |
www |
Loretta Chen is a Singaporean media entrepreneur, leadership consultant, executive coach, theatre director, radio personality, author, minister and creative executive. She was the Group Business Development & Creative Director of The Activation Group, a regional creative agency and production house where she led campaigns for LVMH, BNP Paribas, Samsung and other international brands. She is currently based in Honolulu and is Visiting Professor at the School of Leadership and Organisational Studies at University of Southern Maine, East West Center and University of Hawaii.[1] She is licensed by the State of Hawaii to perform civil unions and marriage ceremonies.
Career
A frequent speaker at global conferences on Performance, Arts, Media, Leadership and Entrepreneurship, Chen is adjunct faculty in National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological Institute, Lasalle-College of the Arts, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, University of Southern Maine and Guest Professor at University of Hawaii. She was also the Artist in Residence in University of Toronto.
In 2013, Chen instituted the VMSD Young Talents Scholarship given to top design students of the Raffles College of Higher Education and helped to establish a monastic school and orphanage in Bhutan, receiving a Royal Commendation for her efforts. She is the International Trainer and International Mentor of BEGIN, an entrepreneur programme created by Druk Holdings and Investments (DHI), the government investment arm of the Kingdom of Bhutan and works as a Consultant with numerous DHI-owned subsidiaries.
Chen was the Treasurer of the Association of Singapore Actors (ASA). In 2008, she was selected by the Mayor of the Northwest CDC to sit on the Arts and Culture Committee. In 2009, she was shortlisted as one of the Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) candidates for the Arts in Singapore, though an outspoken gay and human rights activist.[2] She led the repeal 377A campaign when she first spoke up about censorship and homosexuality laws in a forum with the late Lee Kuan Yew. She was the Artistic Director of Zebra Crossing Productions and was also Associate Director at Toy Factory Productions and Action Theatre.
In 2007, her controversial project 251, based on the story of Singaporean porn-star Annabel Chong was nominated for two Life! Theatre Awards. She also directed the Postcards from Rosa, a monologue starring veteran actor Neo Swee Lin. In 2008, she directed Magicbox (2008), a magical extravaganza in collaboration with the creators of Mindfreak and a re-staging of The Vagina Monologues which was nominated for two Life! Theatre Awards. In 2009, she directed Joe Orton's What the Butler Saw and the Broadway classic Victor/Victoria, starring international jazz legend, Laura Fygi. She staged "The Vagina Monologues" in Toronto and premiered "The F Word" in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2011. The production was nominated for the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award.
Chen is an activist and is the ambassador to The Body Shop's Stop Sex Trafficking campaign, Hermes' PS I Silk You outreach program for under-privileged girls and Evian's Live Young campaign. She remains strongly committed to advocacy work and was named 100 most inspiring women for her work in the arts, media and social activism. She was also named Rising Personality of the Year in 2010 and named an Ambassador of the Singapore Kindness Movement in 2014.
Personal life
Chen studied at Anglo-Chinese Junior College and graduated from the National University of Singapore (NUS) with a degree in English Literature and Theatre Studies. She completed her master's degree at Royal Holloway, University of London. She began doctoral studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) but transferred to NUS, graduating with a PhD in Theatre (Critical Theory).[3]
Chen has two older brothers, the elder of whom is former actor Edmund Chen. Their brother Eric, a businessman, also works in production.[4]
Chen had been studying for her doctorate at UCLA when her partner committed suicide. She recounted her struggle with her grief and depression in her best-selling autobiography Woman On Top: The Art of Smashing Stereotypes & Breaking All the Rules, published in 2014, and credits her family with helping her through the difficult time. Her self-help, leadership memoir is now read in universities. She has three more leadership books slated to be out in 2016.
Bibliography
- Woman On Top: The Art of Smashing Stereotypes & Breaking All the Rules. Marshall Cavendish. 2014. ISBN 9789814516310.
References
- ↑ "Rant and rave: Loretta Chen". Today Online. 26 July 2014.
- ↑
- ↑ "Dr. Loretta Chen – Creative Director, Academic, Artiste" (PDF). August 2010.
- ↑ "The Dramatic Duo" (PDF). Simply Her (SPH). March 2011. pp. 102–103.