Stylish and smart woman-about-town Cicilia King is known as the country manager for couture brand Christian Dior in Indonesia, in addition to being an image consultant and travel enthusiast. With the current situation, when she has to stay at home more, she tells us how she carries on with work and life.
Q: How has the stay-at-home situation changed your daily life?
A: It has changed me a lot. I am used to being very mobile, yet now I have to do everything remotely from home, making more video calls than ever before.
Q: What activities do you like to do now that you have to stay at home more?
A: The fact that I can still work from home is actually pretty good, work-related matters are still being delivered or executed in many different ways. The thing I like most about this current WFH (work-from-home) or stay-at-home situation, is that it has very much encouraged my team and me to explore new ideas that continue the business, while having more time to enhance our team skills through remote training. That is the positive side.
Q: Please share your tips on what to do to stay positive at home.
A: I do my morning ritual the same as any other day before this current situation. I wake up and get dressed as if I am going to work. The difference is only that I don’t have to drive to work, so I can have 15 minutes to spend outdoors and do some light stretching or core exercise. I set and respect the same working hours, set my remote meetings a week ahead, especially with my team, as well as with third parties – although sometimes only to touch base. Being able to work from home means I can also closely manage domestic life – now that physically I am sort of at home.
Q: Do you have any tips to maintain a healthy lifestyle?
A: Keep a positive mind set, stay optimistic and share good vibes. Eat well, have enough sleep and drink warm water. Swipe the stress away – when I get bored, I read a book, I cook, take a short drive, or I call my friends or family. Keep a minimum 15 to 30 minutes for stretching and core muscle exercise. Maintain hygiene at all times.
Q: Since you have to stay at home more, what do you miss most from normal life?
A: I miss the normal interactions, such as face-to-face meetings over coffee, the office ambience, I miss events. Mostly, I miss traveling! I am planning for my next trips already.
Q: What is the first country you want to visit after the quarantine is over and why?
A: The closest place is Bali (one of my favourite places in the world) – it’s very easy to arrange and the beaches usually bring back sanity for me, which is good after a long time staying at home. It’s also good to support Indonesian tourism and to meet some of my closest friends there. The other destination would be Italy as I had already planned it prior to this pandemic. So I am hopeful that the pandemic will pass soon.
