Cynthia Chan

Head of Marketing Communications, Asia Pacific at Business Unit Polyurethanes at Bayer MaterialScience

 

How do you explain your job to your friends?
It is similar to what people expect for a good spouse – focusing on what’s happening inside (internal communications) while also making good relationship with neighbours and other people (media relations and stakeholders relation management). And at times we also need to prepare ourselves for some emergency situation inside the family (crisis communications).

The best thing about my job is….
That every day I can learn something new, and I also enjoy working with colleagues across different regions.

The worst thing about my job is….
I am trained to be very particular about colours: take a look at my shoe cabinet and you will fully understand.

If heads of corporate communications didn’t exist, what would your profession be?
I would like to be a travel photographer. To me, photography is another kind of storytelling through images.

What book do you have on your bedside-table?
I just finished revisiting the Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami in its latest English version, which is a good read.

Would you ever have liked to belong to another nation? If yes, which…?
I don’t think I have a choice – people already talk with me in Thai whenever I travel to Bangkok…

What is utter happiness for you?
Watercolour painting – I can spend hours on it until my dog barks and reminds me of his feeding time.

What is your greatest weakness?
High heels. It’s the greatest weakness of all time!

Which Asia-Pacific country do you enjoy visiting?
Hokkaido in Japan is a land of natural treasure, with spectacular scenery and colours throughout the island from spring to winter.

Cynthia Chan

Cynthia Chan is the head of marketing communications, Asia Pacific for Business Unit Polyurethanes at Bayer MaterialScience. She is also the head of corporate communications for Bayer Hong Kong, leading the regional communications strategy for internal and external stakeholders to achieve business goals. Prior to Bayer, Cynthia was the digital strategist and account director for Ketchum Greater China. Before Ketchum, Cynthia worked at Fleishman-Hillard Hong Kong.