Marketing Internship

Heya!

I know it's been a long time. I've been really busy and the year just flew by! SO I'm currently doing a Marketing Internship with TotallyHotStuff and I love it there. My boss (Luke) and colleagues are extremely friendly. I love being surrounded by all the cute merchandise and planning their social media posts as well. Just today I took a really nice photo of one of our newest products, the Totally Motivating Coaster Set. :)

My office is located at Bukit Batok and I'm really glad about that because it's very near my house (although I have to change two buses). I've been lucky in getting jobs that are convenient to get to. 1) When I was an admin at NTU 2) my editorial job at Star Publishing and 3) this marketing internship.
My internship at TotallyHotStuff feels really fulfilling because I have already been complimented and my talent has been acknowledged by my boss and colleagues more than once. They've complimented both my copywriting skills as well my photography skills. :)

Sometimes I don't realise how lucky I have been.

Also went down to OCBC's headquarters at Cecil Street to get my cheque for the final instalment of my education loan. Can't believe I finish my degree next year and then it's WELCOME TO ADULTHOOD.

Life kind of feels like one big question mark right now. I know I am going to succeed in life but I'm not sure by doing what. I have a general direction and I am trying different things but I don't know which of these will work out.

On the brighter side, I'm kinda excited for school to start again because one of our modules will be scriptwriting - that's something I have always wanted to learn!

Other noteworthy things include me attending Fashion Week 2016. I still can't believe I got to go two years in a row. And now there's no stopping me. See you at Fashion Week 2017!

Adventure Cove date and Grub with friends

So it was the second monthsary with the boyfriend, and although we don't really have to celebrate every month, both of us wanted to go to Adventure Cove together and so we decided to time it with our monthsary. I've never been to Adventure Cove, even though I go to USS and Sentosa a lot. I am afraid of water rides (or at least used to be) because of my inability to swim. Going with him somehow made me feel safer and we tried almost all the rides. I went for a high-element rope course thing alone though, because heights make Derrick queasy.

The rides were super fun!! And it was a good way of getting out of the heat. Poor Derrick got sunburnt though (fair skin problem).

The next day, Derrick and I met Brielle, Wendy and Jovan for dinner at Grub. It was an introductory meeting. Brielle and Wendy are 2 of my closest friends, so I thought it's only appropriate that they meet up and get to know each other.

Derrick and I have been doing country flag quizzes together. It's actually fun (we're so nerdy). I used to be SO GOOD at this...six years ago. I used to remember everything. Rusty now but ah well. I am glad my boyfriend enjoys things I enjoy as well...things like memorising capitals of countries, and shapes and flags. I guess we are pretty compatible. :)

It's been a good March. I'm having holidays now. :) Life is good. Hope April brings more good times. Here's to love and friendship!

Well, it's my birthday (belated post)

So on the 21st of Sep last year, I turned 21. The birthday day itself was pretty boring, with my day starting at work and listening to a friend's problems at night.

Meanwhile, for a month, Brielle, Wendy and I had been planning my birthday bash at Furama Riverfront hotel. I invited my closest friends (some of you didn't turn up, I'm still sad about that). So finally it was 2nd October, the day of the party. The theme (Greek mythology) had been decided, the customised cake was ready, and we were good to go. Wendy and her boyfriend Jovan were there at the hotel before me as I was coming straight after work.

I made plans to meet Brielle at Commonwealth and then go to the hotel with him. We alighted at Tiong Bahru MRT and as we were waiting for the bus, a few of my friends were telling me that they were gonna be late. We had a bit of trouble finding the right bus stop and had to go to NTUC to get some mixers and chips.Wendy told me that no one was there at the hotel yet. I began to panic and started wondering if I would be celebrating my birthday with just Wendy, Brielle and Jovan. 

On the bright side, me being early meant that I could help set things up. When I actually made it to the hotel with Brielle, and we were at the lift, Brielle started taking his phone out to Snapchat something. I thought he just wanted to record the part where we were going into the room. When we opened the room it was pitch black and I was wtf? because Wendy and Jovan were supposed to be already there so the lights should be turned on.

When I walked in, suddenly, BAM the lights were turned on and ALL of them were already there. Even the people who said they were going to be late. This came as a really big shock to me because all along I had known about the party. It wasn't meant to be a surprise! LOL

Then Judy came rushing towards me with a pink sash that said "Princess" and Wan Ling was putting the crown on. I really did feel like a princess then. I didn't know that they were all there so I was wearing my work clothes, which I was embarrassed about so I quickly went to the washroom to change into something. And Mazi helped me with my eye makeup. (Thanks babe)
After the Pizza, it was already 9 and most of them had to start heading home. So we decided to take group pics and solo shots as well. Here's the group pic!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who rushed down to be there on time, despite whatever commitment they had, just to surprise me. I felt so much love for them that day - and still do.

We had pizza, and then cake, and most people who couldn't stay overnight left.  Then we were left with the people who would stay overnight and go clubbing with me. The club we had decided on was Alta Ego (because of Pavi, hehe). And Jovan had managed to get us on the guest list. Here's the shitty part though: while we were playing drinking games, Brielle jokingly dared Wendy to drink a shot that wasn't mixed yet. So she drank the whole thing and got drunk. I'd never seen one of my friends drunk before and it was...interesting.

She was all red, and saying cutesy stuff, calling Jovan cute and all. XD And she couldn't stand straight!! I literally had to hold her from the back to make sure she doesn't fall to the ground. This girl ah. *shakes head* So in the end, Jovan decided that it was too unsafe to bring Wendy to the club and EVEN THOUGH WE HAD LOOKED FORWARD TO THIS DAY FOREVER, she couldn't make it.

So while she tried to sleep it off, Judy, Saqib, Brille, Fuxuan and her bf, Wan Ling, and I got cabs to Alta Ego. We met up with Ezra and Pavi over there. Alta has three different levels. The basement is a very chill place. There are less people there, more space to move, and people seem to just groove or sit around there.

The 2nd floor is where the party really gets started. Over there, you literally have no space to move. And the rooftop is the bar and food area, where there is no dancing at all. So after experiencing the chill of the basement, we went up to the 2nd floor for some hardcore dancing (actually I just grooved, can't do hardcore dancing). Brielle and Pavi were the best dancers of the night man.

Not gonna go into anymore details but it was definitely one of the most fun and memorable nights of my life so far. The best part was having all my friends in one room together. <3 nbsp="" p="">
LOVE ALL OF YOU and hopefully I celebrate my 25th too, and get all of you together again. :)

*****

Also, from the fact that this was such a late post, you can probably tell that I got really lazy to blog. So here's just a quick summary of what I've been up to since the birthday bash:

- Worked at Star Publishing as an Editorial Assistant till late November.
- Started uni in Dec (studying mass comm)
- Got a boyfriend (Derrick, hehe)
- Started working with the boyfriend (in advertising)
- Also writer for Scribe Project, and now Editor
- MAY go into freelance writing. Maybe. We'll see

So that's about it for my life right now. Been very happy, and it all seems kinda unreal. :) But I'm definitely not complaining.

Bring Me Some Diamonds

Before I go into talking about the twenty-first birthday bash, let me update on some other interesting things that happened in the month of September!

Firstly, I DID manage to get a photo with the author of Before I Go To Sleep, S.J. Watson. I remember feeling so happy and telling Fuxuan "We're actually in the presence of a New York Times Bestseller!!" Not only that, his book had been adapted into a movie. Now the ultimate wish is to meet J.K.Rowling. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

NEXT: LADY IRON CHEF

I also attended an event organised by Lady Iron Chef, a.k.a Brad Lau, where I got to taste awesome food. It was my first time trying sangria. I quite liked it :) The photo above is the main dish that we were served. I loved the fresh prawns and scallop. Went really well with the wine. The restaurant is called RessRoom and it is located at Changi City Point. So East Siders, you may want to check this out!

P.s. The title is completely unrelated to this post. I'm sorry if I disappoint xD

The fashion-intern Insider scoop

Hey people! SO I finally got the time to sit down and write this post. I've alwaysssss wanted to be involved in the magazine industry. My love of magazines started in secondary school. I would often bring the latest magazines to school and some classmates would borrow them from me. I started with Seventeen Magazine. I loved the fashion, relationship advice, etc. My love for Seventeen may also have started due to the fact that America's Next Top Model winners often graced the covers of the American version of the magazine. And I was a huge ANTM fan.

After Seventeen magazine went out of print, which I felt devastated about, I graduated to Cleo magazine. And I think I have a 3 year collection of Cleo in my storeroom. So when I saw the Instagram post asking for new fashion interns, obviously I applied immediately without thinking. Then I went for the interview, and I got in. I think as long as you have some mass comm or fashion design background, you can make it in.

The first week of my internship was okay. It involved me writing quirky captions for our Hot Looks section, finding images (both street style and runway) for the 'From Catwalk to Cleo' section, etc. Second week onward, all hell broke loose. I found out that product sourcing is the most tiring thing in the whole damn planet. (Okay I am exaggerating but you get the point)

Product sourcing basically means going out to shopping malls, mainly in the "7th Heaven of Shopping" areas such as Somerset and Orchard, and loaning accessories, clothes, shoes, etc and bringing them back to the office. We then have to take pictures of these products in the studio. Our two resident photographers are in charge of that. These high resolution pictures can then appear in our magazines and they will appear scattered all throughout the fashion pages.

The week leading up to our photoshoot was probably the most physically tiring week of my life. When we go and borrow clothes and stuff, we take one of those 30kg luggages with us, and we go from shop to shop. My day typically went like this:

Pick-Up Products:
- Taka
1. Charles and Keith
2. On Peddar
3. Love Moschino

Return-Products

- ION
1. Topshop
2. Bershka
3. Pull & Bear
4. Warehouse
5. Stradivarius
6. G2000

- SMRT
1. F21

- Wisma Atria
1. Miss Selfridge

- 313 @ Somerset
1. Levi's

I got tired just typing all that. When we borrow, we don't just borrow one thing. We borrow LOADS. So that 30kg luggage is usually FULL. And there was this one day when I was going to the Agnes B storeroom and I had to drag the full luggage up 2 flights of stairs. No escalators. No lift. Somedays you're so fed up you just want the ground to open up and swallow you.

And I actually did overtime many times. Despite the fact that I am an unpaid intern. Normally the day should end at 6pm, but the latest I left office was at 10pm I think, that was the night before the photoshoot. Guys, you need to realise that I am not complaining. I am really just giving the insider scoop. I could pretend it's all glamorous and shit, but it's NOT.

There were some perks: I got free liptstick, concert tickets, got to hang out with international models, got discount at H&M, etc. And the perks definitely helped to cheer me up when the day was just too tiring.

The Big Day of the Photoshoot

Casting for the photoshoot had been done, my fellow fashion intern and I had got in crazy hauls from all over Orchard and we had got the big boss's approval of the selected pieces.

In the picture above, this is what we prepared, with a total value of at least $10k. 3 racks of crazy expensive clothes, shoes, bags, etc. From these, we narrowed it to the selected pieces for the photoshoot. 

The models arrived at about 5pm, as well as the Makeup Artists, and together we headed to Kallang Stadium, which was the location. We all got Burger King for dinner and then started the photoshoot at about 8pm. It was a night photoshoot :)

The models were in thick fur coats, and I don't know how they managed to look so flawless and composed when there was barely any wind. It was quite hot! I saw two pairs of bare boobs. HAHA. Boys would have liked to be me. Then at 1am, I had to drop off a model, Luiza, at her apartment and then I headed home, reaching at 2am. What a tiring yet exciting night. 

And I finally ticked something off my bucket list. Be part of a photoshoot. :)

So now I'm out of there. I treasure the experience but I am glad that my stint as an intern is over because it was frucking tiring. 

New Style Inspo - Chiara Ferragni

OMG I am really excited about this woman. While looking for photos of her for the magazine, I realised that her style sense is freaking AMAZING. I'm talking about Chiara Ferragni. She's a blogger, fashion designer, and has been employed by Guess as spokesperson/model. Just look at her outfit below. Simple, yet powerfully feminine. Abstract prints and flattering shape ftw!

With Au Naturel makeup

She is so pretty!!!

Look at that cray necklace (insert heart-shaped eyes)

Loving the boots and dress combo!

On a more personal note, I'll be attending a "World Lit" event. S. J. Watson, the author of Before I go to Sleep is going to be at The Arts House and I managed to snag a pair of tickets. The novel was also turned into a movie, which played in cinemas just last year. I'll be going for this event with Fuxuan, since I haven't met her in too long and she was also a literature student like me. :)

I'm so excited about this!! I hope I can get his autograph on the hard-copy of the novel! I decided to wear a dress and boots combo too, like the one Chiara wore. Also, tomorrow is the last day of my internship. It's going to be bittersweet. But all in all, life is...kinda good right now. Meeting new people, doing new things. I could get used to this. Hopefully I didn't jinx myself. 

The Human Repeller

Have you guys heard of The Man Repeller? If you are into fashion you probably have. She's a really cool blogger with a really unique, kickass sense of fashion. She's like the Xiaxue of Fashion. 

"Good fashion is about pleasing women, not men, so as it happens, the trends that we love, men hate. And that is fantastic." - Leandra Medine

Leandra is the founder of the blog www.manrepeller.com and it all started when she realised that certain trends that serious fashion-lovers are into, such as acid-washed pants or enormous shoulder pads, are man-repelling - men don't like to see women dressed in such things. They generally prefer women to be dressed in more feminine pieces. And she is one of those women who doesn't care. She would rather dress for herself. 

This is her trying to NOT repel men. 

This is one of her wackier outfits that men may find weird

I personally love her style. There is a reason why she was featured in Forbes's "Top 30 Under 30" as one of the year's "most influential trendsetters in 2012. 

However I had this random thought, and thus this post, that crazy fashion is not only a man repeller in Singapore, it is a HUMAN repeller. Try wearing something that's on the runway on the streets in Singapore. Aunty, uncle, little boy, taxi driver, foreign workers...anyone and everyone will stare till their eyeballs drop out of their sockets. This is the feeling I get when I wear an all-red ensemble. But when they wear it on the runway, of course it's okay. Gahhh. 

In my humble opinion, life's too short to wear boring clothes. So go read her blog at www.manrepeller.com and wear something wacky out for tea today. 

Ciao,

Jaslin