Thursday, November 15, 2007

Fascinated by their success & humbleness

Recently, I feel fortunate for being able to attend the International Women Executive Congress 2007 at Magellan Sutera Harbour. I thought it was one of the best of such events that I've ever attended especially with many great "practical" and "real" speakers! Their talks were not just some airy fairy kinda talks - you know those with "gigantic" jargons and "unpractical" theories. But rather, theirs were very practical that just simply use common sense. Indeed these lot are very successful and yet they are all so humble and down to earth. I'm truly amazed and admire them for being who they are. I supposed starting from the bottom and having struggled to get to the top made them appreciative of what they currently enjoy. Perhaps knowing how hard it was for them during their challenging times made them want to help others too.

They have such amazing distinctive qualities in them that I would be very delighted even to acquire a fraction of their qualities. Those that really caught my attention include:

Chin-Ning Chua , the famous writer of The Asian Mind Game, Thick Face, Black Heart, The Art of War for Women. She believes one should love thyself, know thy enemies, don't care what people thinks of you especially if you have the will to do what you want to do, and know how to face defeats. A very determine lady that even being a dyslexia with poor English grammar (as claimed by her) did not stop her from writing books - as she said, why should she worries about her English language as she has her editors to worry about that. What is more important is the substance of the book i.e. the information, not the English language :) She also believes that gender is not an excuse to feel insecure or intimidated in the men's world. According to her, men being men, they would love anything that brings in income for them, it does not matter if you're a male or female and that includes dogs! ;p

Maria Brown, a former journalist for BBC who (together with her Singaporean partner) were daring enough to start the first food channel in Asia i.e. Asian Food Channel (am pretty sure some of you enjoy watching this programme i.e on 703, Astro) in a foreign country in just 3 months time after submitting their proposal!!



Jimmy Choo, need no introduction as he is the renown shoes maker for the late Princess Diana. I truly admire this man more after his talk but shall write no more here as I'm dedicating an entry for him alone after this - my up close personal with Jimmy Choo! ;p Did I get a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes??!!! Come back for my special entry!! ;p


Ibu Mooryati - The successful business woman who founded the Mustika Ratu empire. Turning 80 yrs old (though her complexion looks like she's 20 yrs younger than her actual age!! Good bye SK2, hello Mustika Ratu??!!) in a couple of month does nothing to stop her doing from what she enjoys doing i.e. business, studying and being a politician. FYI, she only started her business at the age of 45 from her home garage. She achieved her Doctorate at the age of 79 (and I thought am too old for doing my MBA! Duh..), and is now an active politician in Indonesia.

Datuk Bridget Lai , our very own Sabahan iron lady who is the Group Chief Officer of Alliance Bank Malaysia Berhad. A person who attributes her success to focus and determination and willingness to constantly learn and try new things. This former bank scholar who started her career as a bank teller does not like to stay put in a comfort zone. Definately a go-getter lady!!


I am a believer of life long learning too and indeed event such as this was very enlightening and refreshing besides educating! Kudos to Yayasan Sabah & Quest Learning for such an interesting event! Thanks to my colleague "D" and my MD for giving me this wonderful opportunity! ;p

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