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arion was a hugely successful television presenter, hosting The Biggest Loser Asia, the same year she snagged the coveted E! News Asia anchor role. That year – 2010 – she also married S.M. Nasaruddin, corporate scion and joint group executive chairman of the Naza Group. From then on, she has been widely viewed as a socialite as much as she has a television icon – an association that makes her sigh in both frustration and resignation. So how does the 30-year-old view herself ? “I’m just a normal mother to two girls – Leia Rose aged 3, and Lana Rose aged 1 – who’s learning on the job,” says Marion. She juggles motherhood with an entrepreneurial venture into her big passion – fashion, as expressed through the LA-based label Marna Ro. As if that weren’t enough, she also owns Hairplay – the hair salon of choice in Kuala Lumpur for celebrity tresses. And yes, she manages to do all of this while remaining effortlessly gorgeous. Marion’s genetically blessed DNA may well have come from her mother, Min Caunter (nee Tiong Min Chor). Marion remembers how her mother never left home without being “put-together” with at least a slick of lipstick. This, despite her busy schedule running a household without help, raising three daughters and working full-time as a teacher in a boys’ high-school in Penang. “She was always busy and stressed and yelling at us,” recalls Marion. But she was also always “there.” “Whilst I was definitely
a daddy’s girl and was indulged by my late father, the one thing I truly inherited from my mother was strength,” says Marion. It’s this strength that has seen her through the challenges of career, marriage and motherhood. Marion is grateful for the sheltered security her parents gave her growing up in Penang. There was a convent education and homecooked meals and church on Sundays. “My mother never sat me down to pass on words of wisdom but I learned organically, just watching her. Her values, the way she was always grounded, and with both my parents being academics (her late father was a biology professor), I learned the importance of a good education.” She adds, with a chuckle: “I want to pass all this on to Leia and Lana but without the screaming. I think it’s important to relate to your kids in a way that they will understand – to reason with them and not just dictate. Times have moved on since my mother’s day.” What matters most to Marion is running a happy home. In the Nasa-Caunter household they laugh, dance, act and read together. “I want the girls to learn manners, respect and to know the value of hard work. But above all, I want them to be happy children.” This Mother’s Day, the three generations will celebrate together, in what has become a new tradition for this growing family. “It’s important to me, this marking of Mother’s Day, because now I truly understand how much my mother went through,” says Marion.
“The toughest job I’ve ever had but without a doubt, the most rewarding.” Marion Caunter
MARION CAUNTER
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