By SGN | 22 Jul 2024
Back in the noughties, Loretta was not only the co-founder of an integrated creative agency but also a prominent figure in Singapore’s entertainment scene – as an actor, emcee, radio presenter, and theatre director who helmed productions such as The Vagina Monologues and the musical Victor/Victoria starring Laura Fygi.
Years later, Loretta came upon a fascinating opportunity. At a Singapore International Foundation event, she was urged to become a consultant to the Kingdom of Bhutan, specifically to Druk Holding and Investments (DHI) – roughly the equivalent of Singapore’s Temasek Holdings. The role would involve training senior executives at DHI and its subsidiaries in marketing, leadership and presentation skills.
“This was at a time when Bhutan was really opening itself up to foreign investment,” she shares. Media veteran friends like (playwright and screenwriter) Michael Chiang and (founder of CNA) Woon Tai Ho were already in similar consulting roles there. Intrigued, Loretta applied and was subsequently handpicked by then Chair of DHI, Lyonpo Om Pradhan, a central figure in the nation’s development.
Setting foot in Bhutan, where gross national happiness (GNH) is famously prioritised over gross domestic product (GDP), Loretta was deeply moved by the spirit of its people.
“I was just so taken with a country that has such a deep understanding of compassion and empathy. All the buzzwords that we use today, like DEI and ESG, the country was already living them,” she recalls.
After caregiving for her parents through periods of ill health and enduring the rollercoaster ride of showbusiness, Loretta saw how a change of scenery might offer the calm and healing she yearned for.
“Experiencing Bhutan made me feel like I wanted to live in a place with breathtaking nature and a slower pace of life, somewhere I could stop to smell the roses.”
Loretta was deeply moved by the spirit of the Bhutanese.
Discovering the aloha spirit
Much as she fell in love with Bhutan, relocating to the country was unlikely, “short of me marrying a prince who would sweep me off my feet!” she quips. Practically speaking, it would be a steep challenge for her orthopedic issues.
Instead, she found her dream home in another tranquil sanctuary: Hawaii, to where she moved in 2014.
“It just felt right. Its nature and architecture reminded me of the Singapore I grew up in. It was strangely familiar and nostalgic,” she shares. Most of all, she found Hawaii’s spirit of aloha to be very similar to Bhutan’s philosophy of happiness.
Aloha, sometimes translated as ‘breath of life’, encompasses varied meanings, including love, gratitude and harmony. “The culture of Hawaii has strong connection with the land and the sea, and a deep respect for family,” she says.
Once, she visited a Hawaiian fishpond or loko iʻa, which practises an ancient form of aquaculture. Unlike indiscriminately destructive commercial methods like bottom trawling and blast fishing, Hawaiian fishponds are thoughtful and humane.
The set-up is simple. Typically, a body of seawater is sectioned off by a low lava rock wall. As the tide rises and falls, fish come and go from the ocean until they are too big to pass through gates in the wall. And when it comes time to harvest, only medium-sized fish are taken from the water.
“They believe that the biggest fish are vital to the ecosystem and that the smallest fish need to grow and live out their fullest lives,” Loretta explains.
Life in paradise – with lots of cats
As she settled in Honolulu, Loretta became a professor for several years at University of Hawaii, lecturing in performing arts, peacebuilding and entrepreneurship, while returning to Bhutan occasionally for her consulting work. Life on the island of Oahu is truly idyllic, particularly in the coastal neighbourhood of Hawaii Kai, where she resides.
“I live minutes away from the ocean and the mountains,” she says. “Anytime I have a bad day, there’s nothing like heading to the coast and feeling like you’re just a drop in the ocean. You cannot help but be humbled.”
That said, Loretta has had to get used to shops shutting early, and to the occasional power outage, say during a storm. “So, you know, some inconveniences come with living in paradise,” she jests.
Her bright and spacious home accommodates a large garden with mango, lychee and papaya trees, and it’s always crowded with her beloved cats. In the beginning, there were three: “firstborn son” Scout, a fluffy Maine Coon adopted from a shelter, followed by mackerel-striped Hoku and tuxedoed Tara.
“I thought that’s it, two boys and a girl,” she says. “But then the fourth, Phoenix, was rescued in a storm. Then I think our family planning just went out the window.” She now cares for 23 cats, plus 10 others that visit for meals each day.
“I really love my life in Hawaii. I have my dream home. I’ve found what I’m looking for,” she gushes. “Hawaii and Bhutan are two places that fulfill me in a very deep way that is not about material needs. There’s so much beauty. There’s so much simplicity. I don’t feel like I need more.”
At First There Were Three – Loretta has a growing crowd of more than 20 cats at home.
Building cities in the metaverse
In 2020, Loretta’s career took another surprising turn when she was approached by a former staff member to co-found and lead Smobler, a startup that designs interactive community environments in the metaverse.
Amid the uncertainty of the pandemic and the nascency of Web3, she decided to base the company in Singapore, where she could count on her networks, the robust tech scene and the stable regulatory environment. “There was no rule book in the Web3 space during COVID, so my one anchor was Singapore,” she says.
In just a short time, Smobler has gone global, partnering with brands such as Airbus, PwC and Republic of Gamers, and establishing a presence in Asia, North America, Latin America and Europe.
For the second year running, the startup was part of a delegation sent by Enterprise Singapore to the SelectUSA Investment Summit, the flagship US event for foreign direct investment. At the 2024 edition, Loretta participated as a panellist, a pitching founder, and a mentor in the Select Global Women in Tech programme, launched by Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.
Smobler was part of the Singapore delegation at SelectUSA 2024.
Aside from developing their own game IPs, Smobler has been building virtual twins of cities and countries in the metaverse, a thrilling endeavour that Loretta likens to playing God.
Working with the InnoTech department of DHI – with which she has maintained a relationship through the years – Smobler launched Bhutanverse in 2023. The initiative aims to make the nation more tech-savvy and broaden access to Bhutan’s culture – even for those who are unable to visit in person.
At South by Southwest (SXSW) 2024, Loretta’s team and Mayor Kirk Watson unveiled Cobbleland: Austin, a metaverse experience featuring local businesses and a Web3 directory of landmarks in the burgeoning tech hub.
“The internet today is still very two-dimensional,” she notes. “The open metaverse, on the other hand, amplifies the network effect. It is a space that allows for greater interaction and collaboration between communities and businesses.”
At the end of 2023, Loretta was named one of 10 finalists (and the only one from Southeast Asia) for the UBS Female Founder Award. As a finalist, she was initiated into the female entrepreneur network Coralus and embarked on Project Female Founder, a year-long programme where she attends trainings, meets mentors and partners in the Web3 space, and pays it forward as a mentor and angel investor.
“It’s a wonderful programme to be in; pitching to global peers and mentors ups your game,” she says. “Just to be able to meet other kickass female founders building things around the world and to see the impact they’re making is really inspiring.”
Traversing and merging two worlds
Being a startup founder and living in Hawaii can seem incongruous. “Look, if I knew that I was going to become a tech entrepreneur at 45, I probably wouldn’t be in Hawaii,” Loretta jokes.
The sense of contentment she’s discovered is, on the surface, at odds with the character required of a founder. “As an entrepreneur you’re constantly striving to do more, be better, go faster, aim higher. You always need to show your ROI – your 10x, your 100x,” she says.
“But at the same time, I know what truly matters. Ultimately, what people really want is to be happy, to feel fulfilled. So I’m also motivated by things like creating better jobs for my team, to get more women into technology, to look at new ways of building the world.”
Regular trips to Singapore allow her not only to reconnect with family, friends and her favourite foods, but also to recharge her competitive spirit. “I get a shot of that adrenaline rush, that drive to challenge myself, to push the limits of human ingenuity,” she says.
Loretta has found a strong sense of groundedness in Hawaii and Bhutan.
“When I come back to Hawaii and Bhutan, I find my sense of groundedness in societies that have been able to provide for their people for thousands of years,” she adds. “We’re learning from each other, and I find myself so blessed to be able to traverse these two worlds: Bhutan and Hawaii are trying to increase productivity, and Singapore is trying to build a more caring, inclusive and sustainable society.
“Today we’re moving away from Milton Friedman’s winner-takes-all shareholder capitalism and towards a more equitable stakeholder capitalism. In fact, this is the world that we’re building in Web3. Web3 is about driving more value to the community and more ownership to the stakeholders.
“By taking the spirit of Hawaii and Bhutan and throwing in the tech savviness of Singapore, I find myself curiously living this Web3 ethos.”
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Meet Loretta
Loretta is the co-founder and CEO of Smobler, a metaverse design startup based in Singapore. She is also an author, a professor, and an advocate for minority- and women-led businesses.
Connect with her here.
