A few weeks ago, I was contacted by Simply Her Magazine to give coaching advice on workplace persona and how one should carry oneself at work. Simply Her magazine is a consumer lifestyle guide in Singapore, with a readership of 110,000. It offers practical solutions on everything that interests the modern, working women, such as home, career, family, consumer, health, fashion, beauty, travel and self-empowerment.
As a case study, I was asked to offer my career coaching to a brand manager in a local company. The task entailed (1) shadowing her at work for 2 days – from being in meetings, interacting with colleagues, liaising with customers, talking on the phone, giving presentations, etc., (2) observing how she carried herself in these situations, and (3) coaching on those areas – what were the positive areas, what could be improved, and in the process helping readers learn how to project their best workplace personality.
After the coaching wrapped up, we had a photoshoot as part of the article feature. My past media photoshoots were done in my home, and this was my first media photoshoot in a studio. It was a very fun experience and the stylists and designers were very fun loving people.
Here’s some pictures of the photoshoot to share with you guys:

Entrance to Simply Her and Her World Office. These are some of the past covers

Collage of past features for the magazine

Trying on my clothes and having the designer decide on the outfits for the shoot

Having my hair done. Jacqueline is the hairstylist, while Rachel (the lady with the stripped shirt) is the make-up artist

Getting my make-up done 😀

Preparing for the shoot! The lady in green is the designer Sherry, while the photographer is behind setting up the camera.

Lights, camera and smile!! 🙂

Closer shot 😀

That’s me with Lorraine, the brand manager I worked with in the case study. 😀 The metal bar-like things are more as placeholders. They will be removed in the final photos.

Me and Lorraine again

Me with Jacqueline, the hairstylist

A sneak peak of one of the shots 😀
Want to see the actual feature article and the outcome of the photoshoot? :D The feature will be out in the upcoming July issue of Simply Her (which will be out by third week of June, which is next week!). Singapore-based readers – You can grab a copy at local news stands, supermarkets and convenience stores.
Thanks Madeline and Lorraine — it has been wonderful working with both of you on this!
You are beautiful and smart. You already look great without any makeup. :dance:
Wow Celestine, what a huge honor that must have been for you. The photo shoot looked like so much fun!
Hi, I just found your blog, and I think you’re one of “unique” person who I ever meet. I’ve read your bio, and very interesting. Escpecially about your decision to leave your “big” income :idea:
Nice to know you :wink:
Hi Celes,
You are a great example of an empowered woman, and being a male myself, I am learning lots from you, thank you.
What a fantastic experience, and I’m so glad to hear that you’ll be sharing the article here for your non-Singaporean readers!
You are a doll. I would love to have someone shadow me for a day to critique how I interact with people and respond to day to day life. Getting an objective perspective can be eye-opening. I recently had an interview with a recruiter and and the end, I asked her to critique me. I told her to be honest because if something was hurting my chances, I really wanted to know. She told me that I looked very professional and then she hesitated for a few seconds. Then she told me to be careful not to seem desperate. I’m so glad she shared that with me. I was trying to project enthusiasm but I can see what she meant.
Hey Jane, that’s incredibly proactive of you to initiate a feedback request! As you said, feedback can be very eye-opening. I’m glad the recruiter was open as well in giving her feedback too. I make it a point to gather feedback for my workshops and coaching sessions and it’s always useful to learn others’ perspectives. Getting feedback = More knowledge and that helps us to grow from it :)
Hey Celes,
You look very nice. You do look a tad conscious though! Were you nervous? I’m sure you had fun.
What I’m really interested in though is the outcome of this wonderful exercise. I’ll eagerly wait for the results and the subsequent learning that comes out of it. Since I won’t have access to the magazine, I hope you can send me links to read the article online.
Regards,
Dipal
Hi Dipal, it was definitely fun! :D The photographer was directing behind the camera for a certain angle/look/smile and I was trying to get that out, though it came out somewhat restrained I believe.
I’ll be sharing the article via the blog when it’s out in a few weeks’ time :D I’m interested in the final product of the article too – I haven’t seen the article written by the editor as they have a policy against it.
Looks like a really fun day. Congrats to you! :)
Yes it was very fun :D Thanks Clearly Composed! :mrgreen:
:) HEYYY this is such a happy news !!! Congrats celestine!!! :)
Thanks Vibha for your kind words :-P
8-O
Very nice! <3
^^''
Thanks Ben! :mrgreen: I’ll be sharing the article at the blog when it comes out, for the benefit of non-Singapore readers.
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