Member Spotlight

by Helena A. Cochrane

Top Photo: Audrey and Josep

Getting to know our members beyond the usual chitchat

Audrey Lopes believes in fate. She attributes her husband Josep’s accepting a job in Singapore, her own employment with the Capitol Kempinski Hotel, her singing career, and her daughter’s life in the US, to the stars’ alignment. Her first stop in the Red Dot was in 2014, when she spent a week in Singapore completing a professional workshop in floral design with Nobleman School of Floral Design. The stars aligned again when her husband’s work brought them here to live in the summer of 2018, and once again a few months later, when Audrey fit Kempinski's need for a European-trained florist. “I’m not sure why, but I’ve always said I’d move to Singapore tomorrow! Must have been my destiny.” Audrey’s daughter is happily married and living in New York.

Is Singapore your first expat experience?

“I’ve gotten used to establishing a home in a new place, having done so as a ‘Navy brat’ in childhood and over 15 times in adulthood in the US, the UK, and Catalonia.”

What about Singapore culture has impressed you the most?

“We both feel that it's such a privilege to be here. If only the rest of the world could learn the lessons in multi-ethnicity and multiculturalism that Singapore so brilliantly exemplifies. A country with four official languages is definitely my kind of place!”

What did you do to meet people and form friendships as an expat?

“Until early March of 2021, I worked at Kempinski as their floral designer, creating arrangements for every aspect of its hospitality, from dining tables to each guest room to the Earth, Wind and Fire concert in September 2019. I especially loved getting to know my multinational co-workers. My recent retirement gives me an opportunity, finally, to get out and know the city, and to get settled here in a new way. I plan to start in the Botanic Gardens. For me, there is no better place on the island -- it's my heaven, and there's so much more to learn about tropical plants and flowers. That will be my ultimate luxury!”

Audrey at Capitol Kempinski Hotel

Do you unpack all your things when you arrive someplace new?

“I have followed my mother’s amazing example of creating a real home wherever I go. We hang all the paintings and the furniture seems miraculously to fit into every new space, as if all were part of an original design. It’s kind of magical, actually!”

What habits make you feel settled?

“I have been doing Pilates for the past 17 years, so finding a good Pilates studio always keeps me balanced, wherever in the world I am.

The other activity I always seek out is a chorus or chorale to join. I was a Music Education/Voice major and originally went to Barcelona to study voice and Spanish repertoire in the 1980s. Singing is my outlet and provides me with an instant family, really. Here in Singapore, I am a member of the International Festival Chorus. The past year has been really tough on all choral groups, but now we are allowed to rehearse in small groups under strict distancing rules. So we feel we are slowly getting closer to a kind of normal.”

Moving from Philadelphia in 2018, Helena has been active with AWA's Walking with Women, Writers' Group and International Choir as well as with Urban Sketchers of Singapore.

Helena A. Cochrane