Supporting Singaporean talent

When I Founded KonaCoco back in 2018 I was very proud to be able to found it as a Singaporean company.  With this comes our moral and ethical responsibility to support those closest to us. Yet within 2020 itself, the need for this support has grown exponentially and KonaCoco has made great strides in ensuring we once again commit to Singapore and support local talent.  Many brands will often farm out work to countries where labour and services are cheaper in order to reduce costs.  We have to admit to doing a little of the same in our early startup days - undertaking some photoshoots in Bali and printing our business stationary overseas and the like. Yet this year we intensified our efforts to seek appropriate local talent and to support those people around us.  

Take for example Artist  Louisa Violet, who has just completed a year's mentorship programme and her first photography exhibition at the Young Talent exhibition at Orchard Road's iconic ION shopping mall.  Creatives such a Louisa are reliant upon commercial work on order to enable them to support their creative journeys as artists.  We are very proud, and honoured, that Louisa was the woman behind the lens of the product photography and videography for the relaunch of our brand this year on www.konacoco.co     Another local entity we have supported this year is Singapore's homegrown and award winning LaSalle College.  We were able to take on one of their graduate degree candidates as an intern despite lockdown and the challenges that posed.  We worked remotely and injected some real world experience into one of the country's budding graduates.  Not to mention a little raw talent back into KonaCoco.  

Then there's young campaigners such as Mary Victor, who forges her career and a Makeup artist & coach, and is a plus-size model.  All this whilst campaigning for body positivity and acceptance.  A young woman making her voice heard for the good of our self esteem and often warped social norms.  We were proud to host her and her photography partner, Mussarat Salam, who as a team form a dynamic and creative young talent force based here in Singapore. Our talent pool is ever growing, and we make time to meet with local talent and develop our contact pool for when an opportunity arises.  From models to producers, videographers to designers, social media experts to salespeople. We have turned and faced the COVID crisis with innovative eyes, and this year our sister brand, reGLAM launched.  This upcycled designer labels brand proudly supports struggling and out work made to measure seamstresses and tailors who produce the pieces individually by hand to an outstanding standard. It's one thing to say #supportlocal or #supportlocalsg all over social media, but we understand it's another thing to put it into action as a responsible brand owner. We call on all brands, to keep reaching into your local communities and see what talent lies within.  Together we will strengthen our futures. Jess x Founder / Lead Designer KonaCoco