So many things have happened within the short period of time that I’ve been with Vivamusic.com that to actually pinpoint the most memorable experience of my time here would be virtually impossible. At the risk of sounding corny, I feel as though I am being ushered into this whole new world altogether and to tell you the truth, I am still reeling from the fact that I was actually handed this golden opportunity.

I went for a series of photo shoots recently, and frankly, I was rather apprehensive especially since I had no prior modeling experience before. I found myself worrying unnecessarily, fretting over little things like whether the photographer would be difficult to work with, whether I would look fat (a worry universal to all girls) and so on, but I must say that my worries were all unfounded. Jimmy, the photographer was really easy to work with. In fact, I really like his working style. He went to great lengths to make feel comfortable in front of the camera and even taught me many useful things like camera angles and how to pose. I thought the photographs he took were very natural so judging from the outcome, I guess waking up at 5am in the morning to catch the morning light was worth the sacrifice after all.

I am grateful that most of the stars I’ve worked with haven’t been too difficult to handle. In fact some of them have been encouraging even, which came as a surprise to me given their celebrity status. One very apt example would be my interview with BT. Before the event, a couple of my colleagues told me that BT could be quite difficult and told me to be mentally prepared. This got me all bothered and my producer’s repeated reassurance didn’t seem to help. You can imagine the state of mind I was in when I was sitting in the hotel lobby waiting for his “august presence” to “descend” upon us. However, when we sat down and started talking, I found him incredibly charming and the fact that he is really easy on the eyes didn’t hurt either. I slowly warmed up to him and the interview went on smoothly which was really not what I expected after all that hype I’ve heard about him. Another similar case would be my interview with Aqua. One look at them and you would expect them to be as unconventional and as quirky as they look. I didn’t know what to expect from them, but I sure didn’t expect the interview to be a breeze. Incidentally, they were also the very first pop group I’ve interviewed, having only done one to one, or one to two interviews prior to this. The odds were against me but again, like what happened with BT, I was pleasantly surprised. They were very entertaining and quite accommodating and I had a really good time chatting with them.

I am a musical buff. I managed to watch “Phantom of the Opera”, “Les Miserables” and “Cats” when they were in Singapore and call me a weakling if you want, I was even crying throughout “Miss Saigon” when I saw it in London. So, when “Chicago” the musical came down to Singapore, there was no way in the world I was going to miss it. In fact I bought my tickets to catch the musical long before Vivamusic.com told me that I was going to interview the main cast of “Chicago”. So far, all the celebrities I’ve interviewed before had been mainly singers or DJs and it never dawned on me that I might have the chance to get up close and personal with the cast of any musical, let alone that of Chicago’s. Being able to watch the musical and meet the performers personally as well was surreal and I found myself literally gawking at the svelte and incredibly toned bodies the entire cast of “Chicago” seemed to possess.

Being in Vivamusic.com is not without its difficulties. Everyone in the company from my producers to my bosses has been really supportive. In my entire working experience here, one incredibly difficult hurdle I have to overcome and am still learning to overcome has to be speaking to the camera with a large crowd looking on. Trust me, it’s no mean feat especially with the light shining straight onto my face. Talk about attracting attention, this is as good as it gets. Being in front of the camera is already an area very new and foreign to me and having to cope with that as well as performing my job with people looking on was really difficult. I remember covering the event “Solace” in Nox. It was held in Mohammed Sultan Road on a Friday night so you can envision how crowded the place was. I kept fumbling over my lines and the harder I tried, the worse it seemed to be. I was desperately holding onto my fast diminishing composure and praying that my producers would not be irritated with me. I would be irritated with myself if I was in their position. Thankfully, somehow or other, I managed to spit out my lines and it turned out surprisingly fine. I hope that I have improved since but I know that there remains much to be desired and I will continue working on it. What I’ve described so far may not seem much to some of you but working here really marks a turning point in my life. Without the support I’ve received here, I don’t think I would have been able to handle this job. To be able to gain so much exposure and experience and to make so many friends have already far surpassed my expectations and honestly, what more can a girl want?

know about Karen | something about Karen