Even though I don’t work on the SK-II business, I was privileged to be able to attend the SK-II Corporate Social Responsibility Event (CSR) at Tangs Seviin yesterday as a #PGemp. I need to apologize for the lousy paparazzi-like photos because I self-invited myself and rushed down last minute so I was shooting with my phone camera.

As part of SK-II’s annual CSR programme, EMPOWER ME has collaborated with Social Entrepreneur, former Miss Universe and host of WomenTalkTV.Asia – Eunice Olsen and UN Women Singapore. I am so excited to finally meet this beauty in person. Plus, she is so friendly and humble, with a great heart for the community and women in need!

Inspired by the vision of women-to-women empowerment, SK-II and Eunice Olsen have co-created the first-ever EMPOWER ME Series named, Champions of Empowerment, featuring 3 ordinary women – Cassandra Chiu, Rachel Chung and Emily Teng – who have achieved extraordinary achievements. All these 3 women had short videos about their journey that was played at SK-II’s first-ever film festival gala premiere held @ Tangs, Orchard.

I was extremely touched to meet Cassandra Chiu, who became visually impaired at 8 years old as a result of a degenerative eye condition called Stargardt’s disease. Despite her disability, she strongly believes that there should not be any barriers for anyone to be employed to do the things that they love best.  Cassandra is also an inspiring mother of a 6-year-old girl and has represented Singapore in swimming competitions such as the FESPIC Games (the equivalent of the SEA Games for the disabled) and is also a champion bowler. Hearing about her has reiterate my beliefs in starting this blog – we can all continuously strive to make a difference despite our individual limitations. She is also the second person with a guide dog in Singapore, and is trying to champion for more guide dogs to help the visually impaired in Singapore.

I am not into drinks much, especially strong tasting vodkas or whiskeys, but since it was a gala premiere, I decided to give the Belvadere with Apply Cranberry a first try and I surprisingly liked it. The cocktail didn’t have the usual strong bitter burning aftertaste of a vodka. Instead, it has a velvety texture with a hint of vanilla, which went well with the apple. I was also fortunate to meet the brand manager from Belvedere, Moet Hennessey, who explained to me that this Red Belvedere is a limited edition bottle and 50% of profits from the global sale of every (BELVEDERE) RED Special Edition bottle will be contributed to the Global Fund, he world’s leading financier of programs to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa. YAY, even the drinks at the event can help with a meaningful social cause.

It was also a rare special occasion to catch glimpses of some superstars! I got to meet Godfrey Gao and Singapore’s top local celebrities such as Sheila Sim, George Yang and Bobby Tonelli, whom I have met at a few events he hosted, before the official festive light up of the SK-II Christmas tree outside Tangs.

I will be honest that I never watched any of Godfrey’s shows because I hardly have time to watch TV these days, but he is really charismatic in real life. What makes him really special is how he makes the people he interacts with so comfortable. He was totally obliging to the SK-II Beauty Consultants (who adore him) who wanted to take photos with him, putting his arms around the big group of them. Rare for A-list celebrity to have no airs – thumbs up!

As I mentioned before in my post on CSR,  I am really keen on corporate social responsibility (CSR) because I believe the scale of corporations can sometimes achieve a lot more for the needy than if we were to help as individuals, and serving a social cause makes work so much more meaningful! And I am so proud to be part of a company that is really trying to impact and alleviate the needs of the local Singaporean women. I don’t work on the SK-II business but WAY to go SK-II team – so proud of you all 🙂