Meet The Female Collective: Charlotte Chen
Sure, they’ve got style, but they’ve also got the ideas, body of work and point of view to set themselves apart from the #influencer crowd – and shake up the local creative scene. Meet 32-year-old Hong Kong-born entrepreneur and marketer Charlotte Chen, one of six new members in the Female Collective.
Silk dress, Prada. Jewellery, Chen's own
This stylish, Hong Kong-born 32-year-old would fit right into the millennial Silicon Valley crowd with her cool, inventive, tech-driven ideas. Instinctive about the needs and wants of Gen Y and beyond, she first made a splash with Spottly, the Pinterest-like travel app she co-founded in 2013 that’s won the title of “Best new app” on iTunes across 15 countries. A fan of the print medium, she accompanied it with Spottly Insider, a quarterly city guide featuring the globetrotting adventures of hip tastemakers like Yoyo Cao and Earn Chen.
Upon moving to Singapore last year, she noticed how social media was forcing brands to rethink marketing strategies, and the importance of connecting to her tech-savvy generation. With her business smarts (she’s a former investment banker) and fashion connections (mum was a designer, dad’s in manufacturing, and sister in fashion PR), she launched Empyr+co, an agency that links major brands like Tod’s and The Hour Glass with social media influencers. It also works with smaller brands to help “find their voice” in the digital space.
That vivacity for discovering the next big thing extends to her wardrobe tastes. A supporter of up-and-coming designers, she lists Hong Kong-based label Jourden – known for its modern yet ultra pretty take on staples – as one of her current favourites.
Come early next year, Chen will launch another project – this time, a solo enterprise. While she’s keeping mum on the details, what we can say is that it’ll involve super chic products, utilise the talents of the best creatives across Asia, and is guaranteed to shake up the design and lifestyle scene once more.
An adapted version first appeared in Female’s October 2016 issue.
Like this? Meet fellow Female collective members Bella Koh, Marie Soh and Aude Giraud.