PUBLISHED ONMarch 08, 2019 9:15 PMByBryan LimFrom actress to entrepreneur, Julie Tan wears many hats. And now, she can add talent manager to the list.
The 26-year-old set up her entertainment company (1Wolf Entertainment) last year and she manages herself. But, she added that 1Wolf is not just a company just to handle herself but there are "plans to invest in movies and other things in the future".
The young visionary is also planning to disrupt the talent management industry with 1Wolf Entertainment by reinventing the relationship between manager and talent.
To Julie, she considers it a collaboration and prefers to think of herself as someone who can tap on her contacts to offer help to new talents.
She explained: "I'm not managing other artistes, but it's more like a collaboration. Recently, I have a girl from Malaysia who was referred to me through friends and wanted to explore acting.
"As I knew some people who were looking for girls to audition for good roles, I recommended her to try it out. To me, it's more about helping people in need."
If you're curious to know who this up-and-coming starlet is, you might have to wait a little longer because Julie is keeping her identity under wraps for now due to ongoing discussions.
However, all she will reveal is that the mystery talent is a popular Malaysian personality and she has already clinched an acting deal for a Channel 5 project.
This will not be the first time the ambitious risk-taker is venturing into the world of business.
In February, she was appointed the Media Relations Director (Singapore and Southeast Asia) for Arton Capital - a global financial advisory firm - and told AsiaOne that she is also a shareholder of the company.
Stepping into the shoes of an entrepreneur may be second nature to Julie - her father is also a businessman - but the young businesswoman has lots to prove; especially with her first F&B venture: Botany by Dazzling Cafe.
She shared: "One thing I realised about being an actress is that people don't really take you seriously, especially with my dad's friends. They'll be like, 'Oh, good for you (that you're an actress). But when are you helping your dad with his business? When are you (starting your own)?'"
Where Botany is concerned, the stakes might even be higher as the actress described her father as one who is very big on dishing out tough love. In fact, she only informed him about the business "very recently".
She said: "When I first told my dad that I wanted to go into F&B, the first thing he said was that it wasn't going to make any money. He was sceptical of the success of the business because the economy wasn't doing well. But I'm always a risk-taker so even if I fail, I can always make a comeback."
In the end, her father wished her well but warned her that should the business fail, she should not "come running back to the family".
"I said I won't," Julie laughs.
The cafe, located at Robertson Quay, just had its soft launch yesterday (March 8) and is the culmination of a vision that she shared with her friend, Serene Tan, since they were 13 years old.
And it all started in 2015 with the opening of the popular Taiwanese dessert cafe, Dazzling Cafe, in Singapore, of which Serene is the franchise owner.
Julie said: "When we were really young, we envisioned ourselves doing something (together). It's like a dream (for us)."
The concept of Botany was subsequently birthed from the seed which is Dazzling Cafe and the need for Julie and Serene to adopt a more mature image as they grew up.
"We wanted to do something different and more sustainable. So this time, Botany actually has a very clean look and is very different from Dazzling," Julie explained.
The concept for the cafe came about from the whimsical cravings that Julie and her friends have while they're out - think mapo tofu rice bowl or just a piping hot bowl of porridge, which has now become the basis for the Botany menu.
The food served at Botany has been painstakingly curated and experimented upon by Julie's cousin, Cassandra Riene. Cassandra is Julie's business partner and also a "great chef".
If you would like to get categorical about the offerings, it would be classified as a fusion of Western and Asian cuisine.
However, the restaurateur prefers to stay away from that label as she considers it to be home-cooked food that's accessible to everyone. In fact, a quick glance at the menu would offer the impression that it gravitates towards clean eating.
Not surprising, considering the health scare she had with gallstones last year which motivated her to re-examine her diet and be more health-conscious.
However, she clarifies that Botany has a selection of both "wholesome and sinful" food because while she may be more cognisant of what she ingests, she can't eat "too healthy food".
"If I eat food that's too healthy, I'll get angry because I feel like I didn't even eat anything at all," she laughs.
So what was one dish that she absolutely had to put on the menu?
"The signature grilled chicken with Balinese salsa," she replied without missing a beat.
When she was recovering from gallstones, her cousin would make her home-cooked meals and this was the one dish that she felt had to be included on the Botany menu.
The opening of Botany would mark a major re-emergence for Julie in the public eye after getting caught in the middle of a spat between two feuding Mediacorp artistes, Hong Huifang and Pan Lingling.
So, we decided to address the elephant in the room: Has she spoken with Huifang and Lingling since the incident? Is she really dating Calvert Tay (Huifang's son)?
Julie politely declined to discuss the issue further and has seemed to put it squarely in the past; preferring to focus on the work that she has done since then.
Incidentally, Calvert was also present at the soft launch of the cafe, along with his sister Tay Ying and father Zheng Geping. Other celebrities were also seen at the launch, such as Thomas Ong, Jayley Woo, Huang Biren, and Joel Choo.
Since the spat, she has been largely out of the public eye and working diligently on diversifying her portfolio - with her businesses being a part of it.
UPCOMING PROJECTS
Julie lets us in that she has been taking regular English lessons to correct her diction and improve her enunciation in preparation for international castings which she's heard are coming up.
In mid-March, she will also commence filming for an upcoming Toggle series (in collaboration with Wawa Pictures) titled Da Hua Jing. However, she is not able to provide further details on the role at the moment.
Before the interview ended though, she did let us in on a personal detail, well, almost.
When asked if her relationship status had changed since the last time she spoke about it, Julie remarked cheekily: "After hearing about all the things I've done, do you think I have time?"
bryanlim@asiaone.com
