Don't wait for opportunity - create it

From the Swiss Alps and lakes to the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore, Tiffany’s journey has been a learning and growing experience. She believes that you don’t have to be great to start, but you need to start to become great! Be smart and agile to inspire, learn, grow and innovate.

My career path…

My journey within Richemont started 4 years ago…I decided to join the Swiss market and embrace a new challenge after spending 6 years in FMCG industry. I moved from a local manufacturing environment to a national and retail environment. What really motivated me to join Richemont was the people that I met during the recruitment process – they were so inspiring!

So in June 2016, I joined the Swiss market as HRBP taking care of 4 Maisons; Montblanc, Jaeger-LeCoutlre, Roger Dubuis, and Van Cleef & Arpels. After one year I took over Piaget on top of my existing portfolio to broaden my responsibilities. It was quite clear that my next step would be an international one. Together with my director, we built a career and development plan to reach this goal. It took me some time to decide what part of the world would add the most value to my experience. I really wanted to be stretched and leave my comfort zone, so when the opportunity came up for SEA Regional HR Manager in Singapore, I knew that it was the right move. I couldn’t resist to explore Asia!

I have just celebrated my 1st year anniversary in this stunning region full of potential where I’m dedicated to the watches division taking care of 8 Maisons in 4 markets. My role is to engage with different teams and ensure that everyone aligns on our people strategy and direction to build winning teams. This opportunity also allowed me to experience management, which is always what I wanted to do.

My biggest learning…

The cultural change! I thought I was prepared for it, but I underestimated it. It took me a bit of time to adapt to a completely new culture. It is not just Singapore, but also the other cultures in the other markets within our region. In this environment flexibility and agility are absolutely key. It has been an ongoing learning journey, I’m particularly proud to have accomplish so much in such a very short time frame. Always look ahead and don’t wait for opportunity – create it! That is something that I demonstrate in my every day work.

My favorite memory…

Wow I have so many beautiful memories from the past four years, but one stands out in my mind. In June 2018, I volunteered with 2 of my colleagues to manage our next Richemont Suisse team building, so we decided to create a Committee to organize it instead of leaving it up to the management team. I part of the committee and when I met with my colleagues to brainstorm on this event, it was quite clear that we desired to do something different!

I wanted our creativity to shine and make a buzz around this initiative. So we came up with a new idea, something completely fresh. It tested my event management skills with its challenges !! We ran in the middle of the Fribourg countryside surrounded by cows and infinite fields, an outdoor escape game and invited some food trucks to meet everyone’s taste buds. For the first time ever the participation rate was above 90% and we were able to gather around 80 people. The feedback was super positive and as a result many people applied to be in the next Committee to plan the following year’s team building. To thank us for our great work and engagement, the management team offered us a trip to Homo Faber in Venice. This has been a unique experience to discover craftsmen showcasing expertise and rare skills where true excellence is at the heart of their métiers, I would never forget this time, it’s priceless! As a take-away we got everyone involved and we changed the mindset.

What has impressed me…

The fact that people truly come first and we have so many talented and passionate people in the Group. Moreover, the interesting and exciting projects that stretch my critical thinking impress me every day. I like that we all have the freedom to be ourselves and share our ideas. They really encourage all of us to speak up and make a difference. 

I believe...

In bringing value to the team and acting as a business co-pilot to empower our people and reveal their potential. I strive to connect teams and bring people together. I strongly encourage them to share outside of their respective scope and learn from each other. I bring a fresh perspective and new ideas, but more significantly I translate them into quick wins for the business.

Don’t be afraid to try new things! Everything is possible, even the impossible.