OUR TEAM
Kathy O'Brien
Kathy is a communications coach. She helps leaders deliver their messages successfully.
With 30 years of communications experience, Kathy has coached more than 3000 executives from 60+ countries, training in more than 25 markets. She zeroes in on the communication skills senior executives need to reach their multifarious audiences - from investors to employees to media. She is American; she worked in Europe for 9 years; and she has spent the last 20 years in Asia.
Before founding Red Shoe in 2001, Kathy worked for JP Morgan Chase, MasterCard, Ogilvy and other consultancies.
She is the first person in Singapore to become a Certified Listening Professional (CLP™). She was cited for ‘Notable Achievement Advancing Listening in the Business Sector’ by the International Listening Association in 2016. She was awarded Outstanding PR Mentor by the Institute of Public Relations of Singapore in 2012; she is also an IPRS Accredited Member. Kathy is a Visiting Professor at the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration, Chulalongkorn University, teaching negotiation to MBA and EMBA students. Her numerous coaching certifications include Certified Solution Focused Coach (CCPC). She contributes time to Children of Peace International plus numerous boards and professional associations.
Edmund Wuu
Edmund brings his understanding of finance, business strategy and the capital markets to Red Shoe training for senior executives. He helps participants hone their messages for the most demanding audiences.
He was a management consultant with Bain & Company in their Singapore and Los Angeles offices, before leaving to run his own advisory boutique providing bespoke consulting services to MNCs. He has almost fifteen years of experience advising large corporations on a broad range of strategic and business issues, including full potential growth strategies, financial reviews, commercial due diligence, and profitability analysis.
He graduated magna cum laude in 2½ years from New York University with a double major in Finance and International Business, as well as a minor in French.
Edmund has served clients across Asia, USA, Europe, & the Middle East. Now based in Singapore, he devotes much of his time to his first passion: music.
Sakinah Manaff
Sakinah Manaff specialises in corporate communications and media management skills training. She helps clients develop their capability in leveraging and fostering partnerships with the media to build their brands and manage their reputations.
Sakinah is an award-winning writer with a wealth of experience and expertise in media, communications and public relations, and she brings this expertise to Red Shoe workshops. In a career spanning over 20 years, she has successfully launched several magazines in Asia, provided strategic messaging and crisis communications counsel in a public-listed company, advised on PR and branding projects, and written on a wide range of topics. She currently runs The Story Lab, a content development and PR consultancy.
Nicole Frank
Nicole coaches executives in creating and executing communications strategies and writing key messages. She has worked with many companies coaching employees at all levels on presentation structure and skills, from sharpening messages to delivering content confidently. She is adept at synthesising information and presenting it in a clear and concise manner for a specific audience.
She has nearly 20 years of communications and writing experience in Asia. Nicole has worked with leading companies to establish internal and external communication plans, craft audience-specific messaging, and deliver engaging collaterals.
Nicole has worked with a variety of organisations spanning technology, armed forces, hospitality and energy to enhance their communications. Her clients have included Marina Bay Sands, Microsoft, Johnson Controls, BHP Billiton, and the Ministry of Defence. With her warm and approachable personality, she is adept at working with both C-suite executives as well as employees just beginning their careers.
Nikhil Kaul
Nikhil brings 25+ years of leadership experience at financial institutions to his work with Red Shoe clients. He is also a CTI Co-Active Coach who has also completed Leadership Across Boundaries (Said Business School, Oxford). With this combination, he trains executives in many aspects of communications, from presenting well to media engagement. He challenges clients in Red Shoe workshops with demanding scenarios based on workplace realities.
Nikhil has worked to MD and C-level with Barclays Capital, ANZ, Merrill Lynch and Standard Chartered Bank. He has also worked at BBC News Online, Fidelity Investments and DHL. He is particularly familiar with capital markets and technology content. This has given Nikhil a blend of insight, experience and pragmatism to guide senior executives to meet the communication demands of fast-moving global roles.
Nikhil has a BA (Hons) in English Literature from Durham University in the UK and a Postgraduate Diploma in Law from The University of Law, UK.
Corinna Ng
Corinna is an all-rounded communications specialist who uses her deep experience to help Red Shoe clients amplify their skills and capabilities to be true brand ambassadors.
In a career spanning over 30 years, she has worked in public relations, corporate communications, advertising, publishing, marketing communications and fundraising. The last 25 years have seen Corinna spearheading communication departments in industries ranging from fashion retail, hospitality and tourism, to medical education and research.
In addition to formulating and steering strategic communications themes and programmes, nurturing and mentoring high-functioning teams are integral aspects of her work. Media relations, incident and crisis communications are part of her arsenal of skills. Corinna’s extensive and diverse experience has also seen her working with C-suite leaders to steward donors to making major gifts.
Corinna has a B.A. in English Literature and Sociology from the National University of Singapore and is certified by the London Teacher Training College for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).
Kelly Olafson
Kelly has a long history in the energy and communications businesses and has been specifically focused on operational, training, commercial and talent management roles for much of it. He is a highly experienced and engaging trainer and has facilitated workshops in a wide variety of subject areas in Singapore, Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, The Philippines, Taiwan, Turkey, UK, USA and Vietnam.
Justine Moss
Justine has over 20 years of international experience in the communications and media industries, having lived and worked in Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Her business experience encompasses communications training, corporate coaching, radio, journalism, education and English tutoring.
Based in Singapore for 17 years, she works with senior executives and managers in multinational, national and public organisations across Asia Pacific to enhance the impact of their interpersonal communications and personal branding. This includes specialty communication areas such as voice coaching and accent neutralisation, media training, communicating across cultures, business writing, presentation skills and effective interpersonal communications.
Justine, who holds Australian and British citizenship, is particularly skilled at communicating across cultures and has worked with individuals from Africa, Australia, Brunei, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, United Kingdom and USA.
As a radio presenter, voiceover artist and trainer, Justine knows first hand that the human voice is an instrument that is capable of influencing, impacting and creating a particular ambience. Justine focuses on bringing out and enhancing the individual’s natural voice quality, in order to improve their personal impact.
An award-winning journalist, Justine also writes for a number of magazines and newspapers in Singapore and Malaysia. She also enjoys ‘giving back’ to Singapore by conducting public speaking courses for primary and secondary school students.
Anisha Kaul
An organisational psychologist by training, Anisha has over sixteen years of experience in the field of leadership development and organisational change. Following a career as a management consultant with Accenture, Anisha has been a professional coach and facilitator since 2003.
An ICF-certified professional coach (PCC), Anisha creates tailored executive coaching programmes for leaders to explore and adjust deeply held beliefs, habits and patterns. Anisha coaches teams to engage in meaningful conversations that lead to alignment and action. Team values, purpose and strategy are addressed in a tailored environment and the team gets real-time feedback, raising awareness of their group dynamics. Active in the global coaching community, Anisha served as President of the International Coach Federation, Singapore chapter from 2014-2016.
Valerie Lim
Valerie is a certified professional coach (CPC, ACC) who combines deep leadership experience and creative coaching to lead training workshops and coach clients one-on-one.
She brings with her more than 20 years of management experience working in MNCs and non-profit organisations. She spent 10 years at Ogilvy & Mather working with clients such as American Express, Seagram, Unilever and Singapore Airlines. As Managing Director at EMI Music, Valerie provided leadership and strategic direction to restructure the Singapore office. She also served as Chairman of the Recording Industry Association Singapore, promoting and protecting the rights of the music recording industry of Singapore.
Valerie lived in the United States and China for 8 years, enriching her experience and world view, allowing her to better understand people and their cultural nuances. Valerie has coached a wide range of incredible individuals, including students, young graduates, business owners and senior executives.
Cheryl Wong
Cheryl is a certified professional coach (CPC) with 21 years of corporate experience.
She worked in a multinational professional services firm doing client-facing consulting work in Accenture, as well as in corporate HR roles within the British American Tobacco Group.
Cheryl’s background enables her to leverage off her rich professional experience, giving participants the opportunity to tap into practical, commercial insights which help them deliver results at the workplace. She connects easily with participants at both junior and senior levels, and effectively facilitates learning by simplifying complex matters and engaging with participants.
She holds an Honours degree in Economics majoring in Business Administration from the University of Malaya and a Masters in Business Administration from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. Cheryl is a Certified Coach/Mentor, BarOn EQi Assessor and Professional Trainer.
Marilyn Yim
Marilyn is a personal development coach and facilitator who combines her leadership experience and coaching to help leaders enhance their executive presence and structure communications for greater impact.
In a career spanning over 20 years in Retail & Hospitality, Marilyn brings with her deep understanding of the people industry. Having served with international luxury and popular lifestyle brands, she led the opening of new retail set-ups in the capacity of Brand Management, Merchandising and Operations and was key in delivering high standards of customer experience. Her recent years saw her spearheading People Development initiatives to grow leaders and talents across industries to match their skill level to the growing demands of their stakeholders.
Marilyn has lived in Singapore, Denmark and Malaysia and this has enhanced her perspective in working with people globally. Her success includes facilitating strategic management retreats, producing comprehensive learning videos and training teams from various parts of the world including United Kingdom, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, India, the Middle East and Australia.
Tina Nguyen
Tina trains clients in executive presence, communications and presentation skills. She shares with Red Shoe clients her extensive experience in human resources, sales, corporate branding, customer service, talent acquisition and retention.
In a career spanning over 10 years, Tina has worked across the Asia Pacific region and advised various multinational clients including McDonalds, Eastman Chemical, Etex Group and Givaudan.
Tina has a Master of Business Administration from Lincoln University of USA and is a certified Human Resource Practitioner in Singapore.
Lily Sim
Lily brings with her a wealth of experience in administration, logistics and accounts to ensure that everything Red Shoe does exceeds our clients’ expectations. As Red Shoe’s Office Manager, she keeps all the moving parts in sync.
Prior to joining Red Shoe, Lily worked at the Institute of Public Relations of Singapore as its Administrative and Accounts Executive for five years. Her previous experience included administration and bookkeeping at local Singapore companies.
She is experienced in communicating with clients and strives to understand clients’ needs and find ways for Red Shoe to delight them.
Janis Beber
Janis serves as Red Shoe’s Logistics Administrator, ensuring that all training and coaching sessions are delivered to the highest standards. She ensures our trainers are where they need to be when they must be there – whether it’s in Singapore or anywhere on the world map.
Janis comes with immense public relations, advertising & promotions experience stemming from working with several international chain hotels, to name a few, Hyatt Regency Singapore, The Pavilion Inter-Continental, The Regent Singapore and the Parkroyal Hotels & Resorts group of hotels in Singapore. Her resourcefulness and dedication to delivering the best Red Shoe experience possible can only mean one thing – you’ll always be in safe hands.
You can count on Janis to ensure that things are moving right according to schedule.