What do you do?

I feel extremely lucky to love what I’m doing. At Standard Chartered Bank, my role as Head of Corporate Affairs and Marketing oversees the Corporate Affairs and Marketing functions for the Bank in Brunei. Internal communications, external communications, business communications, brand, sponsorship, public affairs and corporate social responsibility programmes are all part of Corporate Affairs and I work with our great Corporate Affairs team to deliver these.

For Marketing, together with our passionate and dynamic Marketing Team, we support our business functions on their marketing needs - from marketing communications to planning to strategies to campaigns. (Photograph insert: A picture with Jennifer at the 2011 Standard Chartered Bank Media Appreciation Night)

Describe yourself in a few words.

Disciplined, outgoing, energetic, fun (although my children don’t think so), determined, confident.

Share with us three highlights from Standard Chartered Bank's 2011 calendar year.

For Brunei, 2011 was an extremely busy year for us. We had numerous business and CSR (corporate social responsibility) events happening throughout the year. From the business side, we had successful launches such as the launch of 24/7 Phone Banking (live), the successful bundling for Total Salary Solution and Total Home Solution, the launch of Liverpool eCash card with EMV chip, the launch of eKiosk machines for instant rewards, and the launch of 1Equity Notes and partnership with Aberdeen. At the same time, we also saw an increase in our relationship managers to cater to the growing needs of our customers.

From the community side, our very successful Standard Chartered Charity Run 2011 that saw over 2,100 runners and over BND108,000 collected towards charity. We are very excited to be featuring a half marathon on 8th April 2012 that has stemmed from the positive response from the runners. There were also countless community initiatives around our key programmes: Seeing is Believing, the Environment (including my first trip to Sg Ingei), Living with HIV and our volunteering programme.

Photographs from the Standard Chartered's Sg Ingei "Heart of Borneo" trip in October 2011

The start of the Standard Chartered Charity Run 2011

Winners and Grinners from the 2011 Charity Run

On Wednesday 18th January 2012, a bunch of us were invited to the new Each-a-Cup branch at the Airport Mall. The new branch officially opens today - Friday 20th January 2012 and when you visit, you will quickly notice the "Each-a-Brew" signage on the back wall. I met the owners of Each-a-Cup Brunei and one of my first questions was "What made you bring this brand to Brunei?". The immediate response was "Well, we simply love bubble tea!". "Perfect answer" I thought. I asked them about the "Each-a-Brew" concept and they explained that the tea was brewed on the spot at the new branch which ensures that each cup is fresh from the pot (so to speak).

Each-a-Cup Brunei have a branch at The Mall (Gadong), Times Square Shopping Centre, and now, also at the Airport Mall. There are 50 plus flavors to choose from and they use "quality concentrated fruit juices for their various fruit flavours" (website). They also give the option of different sweetness levels for a truly customised drink. Check out their new concept store at the Airport Mall and experience the brewed beverage for yourselves.

With Rano and Thanis at the new branch

My cranberry apple fruit tea

One of the experienced staff creating a drink

Greetings Readers! In case you have not yet tried Mr Baker's Bakeshop's Fresh Fruit Vanilla, allow me the pleasure of introducing it to your taste buds. Mr Baker's Bakeshop proudly proclaim that the Fresh Fruit Vanilla is their signature cake. I have had the great pleasure of trying it before, and once I did, I understood why.

Their website says that it "is literally made of four layers of light vanilla sponge...sandwiched with generous amount of diced fresh fruits (strawberries, mango, kiwi fruit, dragon fruit and grapes) folded with special cream. Toppings are well decorated with, once again, strawberries, mango, kiwi fruits, dragon fruits and grapes." They do not add any stabilisers, emulsifiers or ovallete to the cake which makes it your healthy choice. Take a look at how their Fresh Fruit Vanilla is prepared; photographs courtesy of Mr Baker's Bakeshop.

Napoleon Bonaparte rightly said that "a picture is worth a thousand words." This is a simple truth. Imagine with me for a while. I would like to tell you about a double chocolate souffle. When prepared correctly, it has a subtle crunch on the top, a bitter-sweet cocoa after-taste and a devilishly gooey core. I could spell out the ingredients, tell you how yummy it is, I could even pretend to speak like Jamie Oliver for you if that's your fancy! Or, I could just show you a picture of if. Your mind fills in the blanks. Your imagination kicks into overdrive and you can somehow...already taste it. How much deeper the experience once you actually taste the double chocolate souffle for yourself.

                                                  Source: MyRecipes.com

Speaking about experiencing things for yourselves, three days ago I attended the launch of the Brunei Art Forum (BAF) exhibition at the Waterfront Art Gallery in Bandar Seri Begawan. According to the press release, the BAF exhibition is "a showcase of artwork by BAF members, and it is supported by the Brunei Museum Department...The Exhibition brings together approximately 90 pieces of artwork by more than 35 local artists from various disciplines. It is a celebration of the emerging local voices and expressions in art". The Waterfront Art Gallery is open to the public until February 2012 and visitors are "encouraged to step into the gallery, relax and explore the individual artwork, which includes batik, abstract art, portraits and installations."