Joan Chang is best known for transforming Lloyd’s Inn, her family’s downtrodden budget bolthole, into its current popular and chic iteration. The cool boutique hotel attracts the staycation crowd as well as discerning jet-setters.
But while her design aesthetics and business acumen have certainly proven to be top notch, Chang’s superpower may well be knowing her weaknesses and being unafraid to address them.
Far from being an entitled princess, the 32-year-old is not shy about learning the ropes from scratch, especially when it’s something she doesn’t know well. “I am a firm believer in working from the ground up. Before I went in with my own input (during the revamp of Lloyd’s Inn), I wanted to understand how the business was run,” she shares. “When I first started, I did all the rounds in a hotel, like housekeeping, scrubbing the toilets, cleaning the floors and so on. I also checked people in and answered customer queries and complaints.”
She knew that being young and less experienced in the industry, she had to earn the respect of her team members and even the consultants they engaged.
Her father is Herman Chang, the founder of award-winning real estate developer Macly Group, which has projects in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Besides being a part of Macly, Chang, who is married to a senior executive in the real estate industry, has also started her own brand and company, OVE Collection. Among its achievements are property developments such as The Iveria, a boutique residence in the River Valley area, and wellness projects like The Canopy Spa in Bali.
While Chang acknowledges her blessings and seeks to close any gaps where her weaknesses are concerned—she had a stint as a property agent—she makes no bones about her place in life as “everyone is born into different circumstances”.
It is this gung-ho attitude that helped Lloyd’s Inn tide over the pandemic, which honed her abilities to adapt and pivot quickly where required.
And the savvy businesswoman emerged from Covid with not just an intact hotel brand that’s going places—Lloyd’s Inn’s Kuala Lumpur outpost is set to launch in 2023—but two new ventures: modern fish-soup kiosk concept SoupCup, and fashion brand Good Addition.
Chang attributes that to the talents and skillsets of others. A good example is SoupCup, a modern interpretation of the much-loved hawker dish. Chang credits her partners, Sharon Gonzago (Masterchef Season 1 finalist) and entrepreneurial Diana Yeo, with the successful launch of the brand. SoupCup’s first outlet is in Hong Leong Building and the brand is soon to launch its second branch at White Sands Shopping Centre.
It is a similar story with another collaborator, popular influencer Andrea Chong, with whom Chang has started fashion label Good Addition.
Chang, who has known Chong for a number of years as the latter is an early and staunch supporter of Llyod’s Inn, says, “We have a common ethos and our own vision; we don’t look to the left and right to see what other people are doing.”
The duo got talking during the pandemic. After a few rounds of ideas, the brand was born with Chong, who already had several fashion design collaborations under her belt, as its public face.
And that, is perfectly fine by Chang, who reiterates, “I definitely don’t view myself as the best. I like to be corrected if and when I’m wrong.”
