Joanne Ooi (born December 13, 1967) is a Singaporean American environmentalist, art dealer, marketing expert, founder & CEO of Plukka.

Early life and education

Ooi is the eldest child of two doctors, who are both

Chinese Singaporean Chinese Singaporeans () are Singaporeans of Chinese descent. Chinese Singaporeans constitute 75.9% of the Singaporean citizen population according to the official census, making them the largest ethnic group among them. As early as the 10th ...

. She was born in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, but moved to the

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, in the United States. She graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1989 and earned her law degree from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

Career

Ooi served as the

Creative Director A creative director (or creative supervisor) is a person who makes high-level creative decisions and, with those decisions, oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos. Creative director positions ar ...

Shanghai Tang Shanghai Tang () is a Hong Kong luxury fashion house founded in 1994 by Hong Kong businessman David Tang. The brand is known for its luxury homeware collection and fine bone china. In 1998, Richemont acquired David Tang's controlling stake i ...

for seven years. During her time with the company Ooi chose to focus on clothes that were based on traditional Chinese designs and themes, with sales for ''Shanghai Tang'' increasing 50%. Ooi was also one of the first persons to use Chinese models in international advertising campaigns and is credited with launching the career of Chinese

supermodel A supermodel, also spelled super-model or super model, is a highly paid fashion model who usually has a worldwide reputation and often a background in ''haute couture'' and commercial modeling. The term ''supermodel'' became prominent in the po ...

Du Juan Du Juan (; born September 15, 1982, in Shanghai, China) is a Chinese actress, model, and former ballet dancer. She remains the first and only East Asian model to be on the cover of ''Vogue Paris'' and has appeared on the cover of ''Vogue China ...

. Beginning in 2009, Ooi operated as the CEO of the environmental organization

Clean Air Network Clean Air Network (CAN, ) is an independent non-governmental organisation exclusively focused on the issue of air pollution in Hong Kong. CAN aims to educate the public about the health impacts of air pollution and to mobilise public support fo ...

, which focused on

air pollution Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...

and public health. Ooi, together with fellow Clean Air Network CEO Christine Loh, was nominated for Time Magazine's "100 Most Influential" list in 2011. Ooi frequently speaks and comments on a wide variety of topics, including luxury retail, ecommerce, digital marketing, creativity and entrepreneurship.

Plukka

In December 2011 Ooi launched ''Plukka'', an ecommerce website that specializes in fine jewelry. Ooi, together with Jai Waney, chose to open the website after noticing the steep markup for designer jewelry. Plukka’s business model made waves in the industry for its made-to-order platform that cut out the middlemen associated with traditional fine-jewellery distribution. This approach allows it to maintain extremely competitive pricing while offering directional and artistic jewellery that might be considered too risky or creative for conventional retailers.

Personal life

She lives in Hong Kong with her husband John and son Sam.

Awards

* 2011: Nominated for Time 100 Most Influential People in the World list * 2013: Most Promising Entrepreneur, Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards

References

External links

Plukka

MotherPlukka Blog

Clean Air Network
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ooi, Joanne 1967 births Activists from Ohio American people of Chinese descent Hong Kong environmentalists Living people People from Cincinnati People from Singapore Singaporean art dealers Singaporean emigrants to the United States Singaporean environmentalists Singaporean people of Chinese descent Singaporean women environmentalists University of Pennsylvania alumni Columbia College (New York) alumni