In myriad ways, entrepreneur Karen Seah’s ventures, from launching blockbuster nightlife and F&B concepts to producing top-rated reality TV shows, have defied expectations and broken boundaries
When Karen Seah was gifted Cookie the chihuahua by her sister five years ago, everybody laughed at the incongruity of seeing the silky slip of a dog tucked under her arm. After all, the founder of production company Refinery Media has always cultivated a tough-as-nails persona. Plus, she had always owned larger pit bulls or Dobermans as pets.
But surprising even herself, the duo quickly became inseparable. Since then, the sweet-natured canine has also established itself as Refinery Media’s unofficial “emotional support dog”.
Indeed, when Seah brings along her pet for this shoot, everyone is hopelessly charmed by Cookie’s puppy-dog eyes. Seah says, “Cookie has grown up on set and is a constant fixture. She has helped our stressed-out cast and crew. She knows her part, which is very cute to see.”
This defying of expectations is certainly right up her alley. After all, she has made it her life’s work to be a disrupter. One of her earliest shows was the 2009 reality modelling competition SupermodelMe, which was released as a web series at a time when network television was the norm. Most recently, The Apprentice: One Championship Edition, a reimagining of the American version, was filmed in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic against all odds.
(Related: What Went Down at the Premiere of The Apprentice: One Championship Edition)
“The project is not merely a show, it represents so much more for the industry and the world, in putting together a current gold standard for a production,” she says. The team worked extensively with the Singapore government to put together a series of health and medical protocols to ensure everyone was kept relatively safe from Covid-19 exposure.
“We have contributed to creating an ecosystem which proves Singapore is probably one of the safest locations to film productions and also to stage events, such as the upcoming World Economic Forum.”
Nightlife Visionary
Even before becoming a showrunner extraordinaire, Seah’s unconventional spirit has shone bright in her work as a nightlife and F&B maven both in Singapore and abroad. While she was a student at the University of Melbourne pursuing a PhD in social psychology, she paid her way through school by launching Asian “club nights”—where she would book out a venue and sell tickets to students.
As turnout ballooned to the thousands, she decided to buy over a club in the city’s South Yarra district. “In the early 2000s, there were very few big clubs and it was unheard of and risky for a young Asian female to open an Asian-focused club in Melbourne. No one could understand it,” she recalls.
But her target clientele sure appreciated her efforts at creating a club for them—and they turned up in droves to propel Salt nightclub to success. She went on to spearhead other well-regarded nightspots in Kuala Lumpur, including the launch of Zouk Kuala Lumpur, where she was instrumental in establishing the club’s inimitable culture at that outpost.
(Related: You’ll Soon Be Able To Get Prata and Chicken Rice in Las Vegas Thanks to Zouk Group)
