BK: What drew you to the IT field?
Going back to when I started using computers in high school, it was probably the games. Prince of Persia was very popular then. So I started playing games first, and then learned about the other things you can do with computers and started studying software.

BK: What were you doing before you started your company iAppDev?
I worked at a jewelry company creating inventory systems for about 10 years, then the iPhone came out. Now I’m an iOS [Apple’s mobile operating system] developer, developing programs for iPhones and iPads, like The Nation app and the Finlandia (vodka) app. It’s definitely better paid than when I was working for a company, because as an employee there was a limit to what they’ll pay you. Now it just depends on how many projects I can get.

BK: How much does it cost to get your own app?
We have to look at the requirements first, and calculate from there how many man-days are required. The price can range from five to six figures, depending on the size and difficulty of the project.

BK: Tell us about your Thai keyboard for iPhone.
In iOS 6, Apple’s actually changed the keyboard to a 4-row layout, like the one I developed for iOS 5. So after going through five versions, Apple’s probably realized that Thai people are comfortable with a different style keyboard, not their 3-row format. Their new keyboard is very similar to what I developed. But there will also be people who want Apple’s old 3-row format back, so now I’m making a 3-row keyboard app, too.

BK: Now that it’s finally been revealed, did the iPhone 5 live up to your expectations?
I’d have to say it’s 50/50. There was so much leaked information that I think everyone expected something really new from Apple, but we already knew about most of the new features before the release.
​
BK: Where do you get your ideas?
I like to learn about new things. If I want to find out what new ideas people are coming up with, I go onto www.kickstarter.com. People post their ideas on the website and anyone who thinks the idea will work can help fund them.

BK: What would be your dream project?
I want to link up traffic information from all over Bangkok by making a crowdsourcing app, because information from a central database is not always up to date. The app could help build a network that makes it easier to get around Bangkok.

What attracted you to ballroom dance?
Stephen Vincent: You dance with a partner so you get to share the energy and passion.

What do you think accounts for the growing popularity of dance?
Jemma Armstrong: Reality TV shows such as So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing with the Stars and Strictly Come Dancing have changed old perceptions of ballroom dance. It has become athletic, youthful, sexy, energetic, artistic, inspiring and timeless.

Which dance sequence is your favorite?
JA: I absolutely love the opening number Ballroom Beat as it represents what the show is all about. It’s raw, edgy and backed by pounding live percussion music. You take the audience on a journey and change their perspective on ballroom dancing in a positive way.

What’s one surprising thing about the show?
JA: It’s a different show each night depending on where you are sitting! We have the freedom to show our personalities and strengths through specific numbers.

Do you get along with your cast mates?
Aljaz Skorjanec: Yes, we like to call ourselves a BTF family. The cast is very international, which of course brings many cultures to the table. It is a blessing to perform with friends every day.

What are the biggest challenges putting together this show?
SV: I think it is finding a unique character for yourself that still fits the various numbers. We’re encouraged to do that and it’s a big part of the show’s success.

Burn the Floor is on October 9-14 at the Sands Theater. 

How do you feel about your status as an eighties icon?
I'm honored to be part of the 80s, along with artistes like Madonna, Stevie Nicks, Culture Club and Duran Duran. I'm still in awe when I see or read my name alongside these amazing artistes, whom I love as a fan myself. It's a really great feeling.

How has the industry changed in the last few decades?
Artistes have more independent ways of getting their music out there. I really support that change and am always interested to find different avenues to get music discovered and keep that a personal touch with fans.

How has your own music changed since you first started?
I think now I'm so comfortable on stage and I can really just be in the moment. When I was younger, I worried about singing perfectly so critics would know I was a true vocalist. That stressed me out and kept me from just enjoying myself on stage.

Does touring ever get old?
Yes, it's the “living out of a suitcase” aspect that frustrates me. But otherwise, I enjoy going places, seeing fans and doing shows. I'm very thankful that I love what I do and that people love the music.

What’s next for you?
My next record will include big ballads and standards that really show off my voice. It's been something I've wanted to do for many years and I’m scheduled to start recording during the winter holidays.

Tiffany performs at Retrolicious on October 6, 8pm at Fort Canning Park.

The 80s will never die… because you can never grow tired of metallic polyester.

The difference between being a fox and a slut… is all in how you use your tail.

Modern music… is awesome (but sometimes lame).

The last time I was in a club… I had a Latin lover fantasy come to life.

The secret to the universe is… letting go.

Hercules and Love Affair plays October 3, 7:30pm at the Esplanade Concert Hall.

Can you share a surprising fact about the modern wedding dress?
The white wedding dress is a relatively recent phenomenon. In 18th-century Britain, silks and muslins woven with costly gold and silver threads were far more desirable. White only became the color of choice in the following century.

What about the history behind one of the more unique dresses.
Monica Maurice wore a beautiful red dress for her marriage to Dr Arthur Newton Jackson in 1938. Although red is a traditional color for wedding garments in many
non-Western cultures, it is an extremely unusual choice in Britain. Monica Maurice
was an incredibly successful business woman. In 1938, she became the first, and
until 1978, only woman member of the Association of Mining Electrical Engineers.
Red was her favorite color.

How do you make sure the clothes don’t get damaged?
Each dress is mounted on a mannequin that is either custom-made or adapted to the dress’s shape by a specialist textile conservator who understands the materials, cut and construction of the garment and its stress points.The mannequin supports the dress during travel when it is being transported, and during the exhibition.

What do you think accounts for the enduring fascination with wedding dresses?
They are a symbol of romantic love and the fairy-tale beauty of the bride.

The Wedding Dress: 200 Years of Wedding Fashion exhibition is on through October 31.  

Singapore is infectious. It’s a very hard place to leave. Probably explains why I’m still here 30 years on.

Expats usually come and go, but a number of buddies who I went to school with here have all now come back after realizing that it wasn’t greener on the other side.

I’m wonderfully apolitical. I’ve never understood why people care so much. Show me an election that was won by one vote and I might think my vote counts.

I surround myself with very successful people; it’s nice to have such a great network of friends here.

My childhood was nearperfect. I grew up in an insanely cool black and white house on Holland Road, complete with a tennis court and a swimming pool.

My mum once invited Bernhard Langer round for a game of tennis when he was here playing in a pro-am tournament. He gave me a golf lesson in our back garden and signed his bag, then gave it to me.

I wanted to be a lawyer growing up. Sadly a law degree at Bristol University and a miserable internship at Clifford Chance put me off for life. Besides, throwing parties is more fun and doesn’t require waking up in the morning.

My most memorable party experience was chilling out with Fernando Alonso at The Podium Lounge last year. He came on a Saturday night and wasn’t drinking, as the F1 Drivers try to stay on European time while in Singapore for the Grand Prix. He was the last man standing at the party.

Kevin Spacey came to my place once when a buddy of mine invited him over to polish off some very rare vintage single malts. His stories were incredible, and he kept slipping into character when recounting stories of people he’d met. The funniest part was my wife was asleep upstairs when he arrived. When I tried to wake
her, she told me to screw off.

I’m usually under the influence; good thing I don’t drive. My daily routine depends on whether I’m nursing a hangover. But Monday is my duvet day and I never get out of bed before midday on Mondays.
I have nearly five thousand friends on Facebook. The list consists of family, close friends, casual friends, old school and university mates, business contacts, people I aspire to be like, people I’m not friendly with and people I want to keep an eye on. It’s a massive address book which serves its purpose well.

I just bought a vintage gun together with Michael Van Cleef Ault, the owner of Pangaea. He’s one of the biggest private collectors in the world, so I figured he could teach me a thing or two about the world of antique weaponry.

The Nikkei kiasu-types and people who slurp their noodles make me sick to my stomach.

I get stressed daily with the stock market. I get stressed weekly when I watch Tottenham Hotspur play and I get stressed about twice a month when I play golf, the
world’s most frustrating game.

To own and live on-board a superyacht, chasing the sun, is still my lifelong dream.

How did SAYS come about and where is it going?
SAYS was born out of conversations with advertising friends, who wanted new ways of engaging social media users with great content. We used SAYS to popularize a group buying site I co-founded called GroupsMore.com, which was later acquired by Groupon. Some of my former team members still run Groupon Malaysia and other Asia Pacific offices today. This is why I believe in what SAYS can do and replicating its power in new markets is naturally, the next step.

What was it like when you first launched?
SAYS first took off in 2010 in Malaysia, where there was a very active social media population. It was a very good test location for a global social media company and the response was encouraging. We grew to over 400,000 users, reached half the social media population in the country with our campaigns and worked with 70 of the country’s largest advertisers.

Why did you to decide to expand into Singapore?
My mom is Singaporean and I come back to visit family very often so it’s like my second home. We’re still testing the waters at the moment but with several thousand users and seven major advertisers signed up, it feels like it’s off to a good start.

Does the style of usage differ across the markets?
Yes and no. Some things don’t change. Users such as those in India and the Philippines, enjoy news and sharing them with friends. Australian users however, seem to have a different motivation behind sharing. It’s early days yet and we still have a lot to learn about the usage metrics. The landscape is also evolving. But as we launch more features, we’ll find out more about what’s important to focus on.

Local start-ups have invested in similar ventures—what do you think of them?
I like how quick Gushcloud rolls out new features. It seems that all of us are trying to crack this model in a major but scalable way. There’s a lot to learn from each other as we fine-tune our approaches.

What’s been some of your biggest challenges?
The scene is heating up and more players are making their moves in the key markets. Rocket Internet has even launched a clone of SAYS. Right now, we’re striving to innovate and scale faster while keeping quality standards. This stretches us a team and we’re excited about the challenge.

What do you think of the Singapore start-up scene?
It’s fun. I was speaking at the most recent Echelon event and am impressed by how Singapore is shaping up to be a great hub for startup activity.

What do you foresee for SAYS in the next five years?
As a product, it’ll be something useful to millions of people. As a company, it has to be a game-changing workplace. We’ve recently been featured on WorldBlu’s list of the World’s Most Democratic Workplaces alongside Zappos.com and it’s a small step towards what we really want to create: a great company that truly improves lives.
 

I’ve always liked eating dessert. For a long time I dreamed about opening a dessert restaurant. I was afraid someone would do it before me.

I taped cooking shows and watched them over and over again as a kid. I always enjoyed seeing the women beating eggs or whipping cream. Over time, I realized I wasn’t really into savory cooking. I just love the sweets.

Being a foreign exchange student in Australia changed my perspective on life. I was cut off from all the people I knew, which made me realize that I could do whatever I want. When I got back, I didn’t want to be just another ordinary person.

I asked my dad if I could open a dessert shop in grade 11, but he said no. He wanted me to finish a degree first, not go straight to cooking school.

There was nowhere to have dessert at 3pm. Starbucks was new at the time but it didn’t really fulfill my craving. I wanted to start a dessert restaurant, so I began catering for my friends.

I wrote a series of dessert cookbooks called May Made which quickly found a big following. This gave my dad more confidence in me, so he gave me B2 million to chase my dream. I used the money very economically. Everything possible I did by myself in order to save costs.

I didn’t plan on expanding or anything. I just wanted my business to survive, to not lose money and to be able to repay my parents.

We learned through our mistakes. I would prepare my own desserts and then serve the customers, so that I could get their feedback and learn to handle money. Bit by bit we improved. Success doesn’t happen overnight.

Running a business when you’re young makes things much easier. You’re less scared of failure. You have the guts to do anything.

I gained 8kg developing After You’s signature honey toast. From the moment I saw the Shibuya toast in Japan, I knew it would be our centerpiece. I went through 50 trials before finding the right recipe.

It would be nice to replace staff with robots. It’s pretty standard to say that dealing with people is the hardest thing about running a business. I can forgive many bad habits, but not stealing. If staff are willing to learn, I’m happy to teach them.

After You probably wouldn’t be such a big success if the first restaurant I helped my family with hadn’t failed. I was ashamed that we lost a lot of money.

If you don’t try to do something different and risk being hurt, you are not experiencing the fullness of life. You’re looking at the world through rose-tinted glasses.

I knew I was a success when people started queuing up outside. It was so dreamy. Three months before that, such a notion was just a sketch in my notebook.

Being a pioneer is rewarding. Dessert cafés like this didn’t exist five years ago and now everybody’s craving them.

It’s only natural to copy. I was a little shocked when other eateries started doing the exact same things that I do. But I learned to deal with it. No one can stop people copying, you just have to move on. Focusing on maintaining a high standard is more important.

People want to know you when you’re famous. That’s normal, I suppose. But if one day, After You wasn’t so successful and people acted differently towards me, that would be expected, too. I’d be fine because I’d just hang out with my friends, like always.

Thai people are a little strange. They’ll cheer you on when you start doing something, but once you become successful, they’ll get envious.

I’m not the smartest or the luckiest. I’ve been rational enough to run a business, and I have a great partner, my cousin, to work with, so it was just a case of perfect timing.

Logic is essential in both business and life. Having a passion for cooking and the brains for running a business are totally different things. If you love cooking, you can do it at home, but to run a restaurant you also need to enjoy the business side of things, too. I actually prefer doing business now.

I would perhaps be on the design path, if I wasn’t doing what I am now.

My parents didn’t raise me. That’s the answer I always give when people ask me about how my parents brought me up. My mum and dad just let me learn and were always there for me. They never put any pressure on me. I’m so blessed.

Experience counts for more than anything else. I graduated from a business program and it has helped on certain levels, but in the end studying is not everything.

What’s the current state of Burmese cinema?
The 1950s-1980s were the glory days of our film industry. At that time, even Indians and Koreans would head to Burma to study film and the Thai film industry hadn’t even started up yet. But the industry ran into trouble in the 80s due to our political situation. Whereas we once had huge fully-equipped post-production houses, later all the equipment was seized and the buildings taken over by the government and used for other purposes. Censorship became so strict that it was the biggest obstacle in the fields of art and film. At that same time, our economy collapsed, which had a devastating impact on local cinema.

What’s the current state of censorship like in Burma?
In the past, the government never directly told me or any other director what to produce, but there were cases when the government would be your main sponsor. We just had to do the best we could. I started one film in 1992 and then didn’t finish it until 2008. Now, since our country has transformed into a democracy, the government has opened up a bit and is more supportive of the scene. Right now there are film companies from the USA, Japan and Germany that are interested in doing business in our country. Also, the Kantana and Technique groups from Bangkok have also shown curiosity. We hope that the Burmese film industry will peak once again.

What’s hot in Burma at the moment?
I’m not sure if it’s just because people are looking for ways to escape their stress, but comedy currently dominates the scene. Korean films and TV series are the hottest, followed by Thai series that we watch at home, on the TV.

Thailand produce internationally-acclaimed films that go almost unnoticed here. Is it a similar case in Burma?
Over the past 10 years, we have had only seven films that have reached an international audience. We need a lot more funding to make good films; also we’re constrained by a lack of international distribution. Burma basically has three types of film: ones that are produced here and only watched domestically; ones filmed in the country using international equipment, with the post-production carried out elsewhere, so it might not even be screened here; and art house productions made domestically but aiming to reach only an international audience. We have a number of new young directors entering the scene, but we need more if the industry is to grow. The internet is having a positive impact on the new generation, inspiring more and more to become artists. I hope we look to emulate countries like India, where the government is so supportive of filmmakers.

What are your thoughts on the Thai King Naresuan film franchise which depicts both Thai and Burmese history?
The Burmese are portrayed as particularly brutal, but actually the Thai and Burmese had so much in common. Thai people may not be aware of some of the mistruths in these films, and we actually have a plan to tell the story from our side; not to rewrite history, just to add more information for the benefit of both countries.

What impact will the ASEAN Economic Community have on the Burmese film industry?
Because we’re the ones who stand to learn, I see only positives. I think the AEC will give us the chance to gain technical know-how and forge connections with other countries. We’ll have a great opportunity to improve ourselves.

BK: Where did you first learn acrobatics?
In the second year of vocational school at Phranakhorn Academy of Business, where I was majoring in marketing, I took a five month internship program. I chose to go to Patravadi Theatre where I got the opportunity to study performing arts. Before that, I had been on the cheerleading team in my school, so I had some basic moves.

BK: How did you develop your own style?
Patravadi gave me a scolarship to study art, dancing, folk dance, ballet and classical and I performed in some of their Sunday plays. Acrobatics techniques are very Western, so I look to represent Thai culture and myself by incorporating all these things. My style is just me. I’ve learned so many things. Some are kind of like ballet, some are like Thai dance.

BK: Is it hard to make a living as an artist in Bangkok?
Some artists say it’s hard but these artists just shut themselves off. They might be open in their work but they don’t like television or doing anything mass. For me, I think being commercial in part of my work is OK. I always flip between work as art and commercial stuff for a living.

BK: Do you feel that some artists look down on you?
Some artists said, “You shouldn’t do Thailand’s Got Talent. It’s never going to work. You’ll never win. Thai people don’t open their minds to new things.” I have proved that Thai people aren’t that narrow-minded.

BK: Have you ever fallen during a performance?
I once fell on my head and had to go to the hospital. It was all bruised black and blue. But after 12 hours I just went back to work. I didn’t want to get anyone in trouble by having to cancel the show.

BK: What is the hardest part of your training?
The main problem has always been money. My parents are farmers, they’re not well-off. I had to work at Pizza Hut at Big C Ladprao to pay for my studies and I stayed in a dorm miles from school and my work.

BK: Do your parents support you?
They used to think it was just a short-term, unstable career. But now they see how it can work out for me.

BK: What’s next?
My dream is to be a theater director. I’m addicted to making performances a bit more extreme. But good art should be both entertaining and understandable.

BK: Where can we see you now?
I’ll do a concert with participants of Thailand’s Got Talent at the end of Oct and tour Korea at the end of this month. Then I’m off to Laos and Vietnam for an art festival. I’ll be back in Bangkok with my own creation in Feb.