Jobs in Singapore: “How I built a career over 20 years in the fast-moving consumer goods industry”

Isabelle Lim is the Director of Corporate Affairs and Engagement for L’Oréal Travel Retail Asia Pacific, which has its headquarters in Singapore. The global beauty leader recently launched its proprietary “Pentarchy” partnership model to offer travellers a seamless consumer journey across both physical and digital touchpoints.
 

1. What led you to your current role at L’Oréal?

I started my career in an SME in marketing before moving on to fast-moving consumer goods companies in beauty and hospitality. In 2017, I joined L’Oréal where I oversaw areas like corporate affairs, engagement, sustainability, and consumer advisory.

Currently, I serve as the Director of Corporate Affairs and Engagement for L’Oréal Travel Retail Asia Pacific and am also part of the company’s Management Committee. My team and I focus on crafting innovative and delightful new experiences catered to travellers.

It is important to view challenges as opportunities for growth and learning. No company or role is too small, as there are valuable insights and skills to acquire at every juncture. I strongly believe in learning from the ground up, having solid fundamentals, and being very hands-on to ensure that actual execution is practical and impactful. For example, I had the great opportunity to support the development and launch of new products in my first company, while learning how to grow an established renowned brand.

My then-General Manager provided me with exposure early on in my career as well by bringing me to industry association meetings, where I had the chance to interact with business executives from MNCs. I held true to my belief of delivering with a great attitude, no matter how big or small the tasks were, and the contributions I made during these meetings eventually led me to be nominated as secretary of the industry association and fortuitously a role in an MNC. What I learnt from this experience proved to be extremely useful when I transitioned to working in bigger companies – this included skills like integrating consumer insights into product development for markets in Southeast Asia, as well as negotiating the needs of different stakeholders to conceptualise tailored proposals.
 

2. You have moved across different roles in your 20-year career. What are the life skills one needs to stay relevant in a large organisation?

Being in L'Oréal has opened my perspective to different world views and given me the chance to immerse myself in markets that can be vastly different from what we are accustomed to. The experience of working with diverse nationalities (for instance, we have 27 nationalities at our current entity) taught me the importance of retaining my own ethos and identity, while cultivating my acumen to understand nuances – this is crucial when working with people from other cultures and ethnicities. Those whom I’ve worked with tell me that I actively offer ideas as solutions. It’s not always easy, but I believe this is a valuable mindset to have in a large organisation. Sharpening problem-solving skills and being resilient are good strategic skills to have and those whom I’ve worked with tell me that I actively offer ideas as solutions. It’s not always easy, but I believe this is a valuable mindset to have in a large organisation.
 

3. What makes travel retail exciting?

Our lives are made up of memories and the privilege of being able to travel and experience different cultures and societies cannot be understated. For me, the chance to engage people as travellers by creating strong, memorable, immersive moments is what makes the travel retail landscape so exciting.

The change in market dynamics and demographics presents immense opportunities for us to pioneer new innovations in how travellers interact with brands. Increasingly, we see a stronger appetite for travel and beauty amongst Gen Zs and millennials, with more consumers looking for immersive experiences when they shop. Asia Pacific is also emerging as a key market – in fact, it’s expected to contribute the majority of the total worldwide travel retail market by 2030. Home to the world’s best airport, Singapore is a strategic hub for us to drive innovation in beauty travel retail, supported by an extensive ecosystem of industry players and strong connectivity to the region.
 

4. As a working mother, what words of advice do you have for other women on balancing career growth with motherhood?

There will be many times when there will never be a perfect choice between your family time and work. Such commitments can differ from person-to-person as well depending on which life stage they are at. My recommendation will be to push yourself to determine what the most critical daily priorities are and try to share this with your stakeholders, so you can allocate time and resources on these initiatives. And most importantly, no matter how busy or tired you are with work, make time to interact with your children as this can impact their relationship and view of you in profound ways.