Captain, Our Captain!

Today is Theresa's last day with MediaCorp, and the Vanilla team reunited to take her out for a farewell lunch. So brilliant is my dear Shaan to remember that when Threez first joined us, the first place SHE brought US was Swensen's @ Thomson Plaza. So for our lunch date, it was there that WE bought HER.  

Vanilla Reunited 

(Front, L to R) Jenn Chew, Theresa Tan, Adlena Wong, Shaan Moledina

(Back, L to R) Lindy Tay, Pamela Ho. Absent: Alvin Leow, Fongfan

Adlena has since left MediaCorp and joined SHAPE magazine, so that spunky, sporty girl made her way from yonder to join us. I too have moved to radio, so I flew over from Caldecott after going off-air at noon. 

As always, it's wonderful to see the Vanilla girls! Our gatherings are always full of laughter and good ole' conversation. I know it sounds surreal, but our editorial meetings have always been sort of like that too! 

We trickle into the room with our coffee mugs, magazines... share ideas, listen to each other, joke and chuckle like mad women, often going off tangent & talking cock, but somehow we manage to create a good product every month that's real and relevant, that speaks to women, and elicits a barrage of reflective letters & email from readers.  

And I would say that what Vanilla always had going for it are two things: (1) passionate team members who believe 100% in its value and purpose, and (2) incredible leadership. Threez is definitely that for us: The visionary, full of passion & compassion, who is gung-ho enough to take risks, fight for her "chicks", and make the near-impossible happen.

Threez, I will never ever forget working with you on my IWD story, "Women of the World" (March 2008). To this day, I still can't believe we managed to pull it off: 20pp featuring women from around the world, without compromising on Vanilla's visual standards (Alvin, you were brilliant!). Gosh. "Don't scared! We find photographers in Cape Town, Phnom Penh, Cebu to shoot the women..." YOU ARE MAD. 

 

But that's why I've always felt your support. You often think me MAD, but you give me freedom & license to pursue my ideas because you trust me. And that's so important for all of us who work with you, Threez. We have room to be creative, to explore, to grow. And you always make it a point to hold our hand, groom us, and encourage us. Regular bosses demand and take, but the really good ones give generously, without reservation or condition. YOU are such.

It wasn't at all a sad farewell gathering, was it? *grin* I guess we all know we'll always stay in touch and be firm friends. I know these nuts will always be in my life. And I promise not to disappear from theirs. And who knows, if God wills, we'll get a chance to work together again?

And Threez, because you are forever "VV" in our eyes, we've put YOU on the final cover of Vanilla. 

If there ever was a true-blue Vanilla Woman, it's Theresa Tan. 

From your Vanilla team... WE LOVE YOU.

MUST. STOP. EATING. CHOCOLATE.

Adios, Muchachos!

Today I handed my boss my resignation letter.

I rejoined MediaCorp exactly 18 months ago on 2 August 2007. Hard to imagine how 18 months could have passed so fast — yet, it feels like an era has come and gone with Vanilla.

Thing about me is that I never really saw coming back to MediaCorp as something that was going to last forever. I knew at that point that I was called to come in and steward this precious product for whatever shelf life it was going to have. 

At the point I joined Vanilla, I was in the midst of some heavy-duty business discussion with my good friend Nanz Chong-Komo. We had worked on her first book together - the best-selling title ONE BUSINESS, 99 LESSONS — and discovered we had an anointed synergy and complementary strengths. We even had our third babies within 2 weeks of each other!

So our talks were put on hold, but after Vanilla closed, they resumed with fervour — mostly through email and short, sharp weekend meetings (six kids between the two of us = more than a handful).

So now, thank God, looks like our plans have finally grown legs. We will be launching in the next few months, an exciting online-cum-live women's club. I'd describe it as Vanilla Online / Vanilla Live. It's called Nanz Inc.Com, and it will be a centre of activity, learning and community for Asian women.

We're still finalising the look, but early feelers sent out among women leaders like MP Lim Hwee Hua and Nanz's million-dollar Rolodex have yielded very positive responses and a flurry of offers to help.

So today I put in my resignation letter, knowing in my heart this is what I've been called to do all along. Vanilla was such a wonderful, soul-feeding detour for a little over a year. Now, this is where the rubber meets the road. We're going to help women, live, every day.