That’s what Michelle Herman told me not long after I was hired. According to Lou: “Lydia is so serious. You think she can fit in to our culture? At least smile for us?” This was how it began. Lou and Michelle had the privilege of witnessing me in a light blue dress [...]
I had barely unpacked in Singapore in 1996 when I heard from our client HP. The company was hosting a major customer/media conference in a luxury resort on Phuket Island, Thailand, and my presence as media contact was requested. Hoffman Asia Pacific was barely hatched at that point, but that’s why we were there.
It’s been quite the thrill for me to watch the activities of Hoffman’s Asia Pacific operation over the years. I’ve been lucky enough to work with a long string of dynamic players — from Lou himself, to Ray Shuster, Michelle Herman, Maureen Tseng, Lydia Lau, Jenny Chan, Shingo Nomura, Kaori Saito, [...]
The first few months of my work in Singapore in 1996 were complicated because I had to leave the country every 60 days to have my passport re-stamped as a visitor. In addition to a few out-of-country business trips, and one trip home, that meant a couple of one-night sojourns on [...]
The year was 2000. I had just arrived in Seoul after 13 hours in the air and contorting my frame to the dreaded middle seat. Normally, I would take the blue bus to the hotel. But I was two hours away from speaking at a conference staged by a Korean version [...]
I didn’t know it at the time, but the Hyundai Electronics press tour in 1994 saw the start of two special relationships in Asia. You’ve already heard from Young Sohn, founder of InComm and our partner in Korea for the early years. The second person was Olive Ting, whose firm Era [...]
This stretch of Tanjong Pagar Road “showcases” our first office in Singapore. It turns out the very same shot appears in Wikipedia. Talk about a startup. In 1996 Hoffman Asia Pacific was a classic — roots spreading from San Jose to Singapore in one fell swoop, without proven leadership (me), little-to-no [...]
Photo Caption: My relationship with Zhong evolved into a friendship. This photo shows her with my kids (Diego and Pilar) in their younger days during a day trip to San Francisco. I had the good fortune of calling The Hoffman Agency my employer for more than 16 years, beginning my journey [...]
Malaysian girl in Silicon Valley. Who would have thought? Sixteen years ago, I made my way to San Jose. It was 1999, my 10th month into a great job at Intel, and I was loving every bit of it. Little did I know that things were about to change drastically and [...]
We first connected with David Frost, founder of Australian PR agency PR Deadlines, back in 2001 for an assignment involving Juniper Networks. The fit worked. We’ve been teaming with PR Deadlines ever since. David’s son Luke is now a big part of PR Deadlines. Even at an early age, Luke proved calm [...]
