At home, she is a practical mum and at work, she is a high-flying career woman in the retail and distribution sector, but what guides Jessica Tang, who recently launched a new performance make-up and professional skincare range for children, is always a sense of purpose.
It’s been said that when life swings a hard knock your way, instead of going down, you should roll over and look at the stars. Jessica Tang, branded a “jinx” because her father was sent to prison the very day she was born, saw the future she wanted through her hardship. “That difficult start in life made me a very optimistic person. I could turn every bad thing that happened to me around into something positive. And I promised myself I’d build my own happy, beautiful family, like the Huxtables in the family sitcom The Cosby Show,” she says.
Not only did she build her own family, she also built a name for herself in the children’s toys industry. As the sales and marketing director of Camtec Marketing Services for the past 15 years, she has introduced Disney Princess, Doc McStuffins, Minecraft and other merchandise that would make any child turn wide-eyed with excitement.
Her early experiences in life may have moulded her into the feisty, outspoken woman she is but beneath her tough exterior is a soft spot for children. “I love children and those who know me know that I will give them whatever they ask for, but I would never spoil them,” says Jessica, who shares a close relationship with her three children aged from eight to 16.
Inspired by a real-life event involving one of her daughters, Jessica recently developed C’est Moi, a new professional make-up and skincare brand just for children. She tells Melissa Gail Sing the story behind the brand and shares that whether it’s toys or make-up, it’s not just products she’s selling.
What inspired your product line, C’est Moi?
It all started when my daughter Annabele was five years old and preparing for a ballet recital. She had to wear make-up during the entire rehearsal from 9am to 1pm and the recital was at 7pm. By the time she got home, it was 10pm so she showered, had her face cleaned and went to bed. She woke up the next day to find her face terribly swollen and covered in rashes! I brought her to the doctor who prescribed antibiotics. I also tried to look for a gel that would help to soothe her skin, however, while there were dermatologically-tested products available, none were specially formulated for kids. I didn’t want Annabele to ever have to go through the same thing again, so when I travelled to New York or London, I’d look for skincare and cosmetics specifically for children’s delicate skin, but they were hard to come by.
That got me thinking about a gap in the market, yet there are so many children out there who perform on stage from time to time, whether it’s a school concert or a drama performance. No child should have to go through the same horror as Annabele did because they used adult make-up or products containing ingredients that young skins cannot tolerate. I discussed the idea of starting a performance make-up and skincare line for children with my husband Paul, who’s my boss at Camtec, but he said to shelve the idea as we did not have the capital for something like that. A friend suggested speaking to SPRING Singapore, so I did. IE (International Enterprise) Singapore was very supportive of my idea.
It’s in every girl’s DNA to enjoy playing with make-up but whatever is in the market play is all make-up, and made in China. C’est Moi is a safe, natural professional-standard skincare and performance make-up line formulated specially for children aged four to 12. Made using fruit cells and minerals and free of synthetic ingredients, the formulas are created by biochemists in France. The collection includes eyeliner pencils, lip pencils and compact foundation, as well as moisturisers, a scar repair cream and odourless water-based nail colours.
Before Camtec, I had been in the cosmetics business, working with Givenchy, so this isn’t a new market for me.
How do you plan to grow the brand?
We launched in Singapore in November 2014 with a counter at Metro Centrepoint and sales figures are looking positive. There are no such products in the world, so we are really promoting a need, a necessity and not a vanity. It’s not just girls that need make-up for stage performances, boys do performances too—they represent 20 per cent of the business. Until now, kids have been using adults’ cosmetics, which may be harmful for them. And we all know skincare is important even for children because it helps to nourish, protect and repair the skin.
I am now focusing on growing the brand globally. C’est Moi is already in Thailand and Australia and it’s also on Tiger Airways’ in-flight sales catalogue.
What’s your larger mission for C’est Moi and how will you achieve this?
Our main mission is to teach children aged four to 12 years about caring for their skin. Few know about skin caring, and when pimples start to surface, they are caught by surprise. You can explain to them the dos and don’ts of healthy skin, but the advertisements out there are so strong. They will end up trying numerous products which may do more harm than good to their skin.
We have already gone to a number of schools to spread this message and teach kids about skin care. Our workshops have been well received and the girls especially love the all-natural make-up. We want to reach out to the parents and teachers of this group, too. Parents spend a lot of much money on ballet and speech and drama for their children, often with a view to build their confidence. But if their face is covered in pimples or scars, how confident can they be?
Through Camtec Marketing, you’ve brought in many children’s products since 1999. What effect do you hope they will have on children?
In January, I attended a toy fair in Hong Kong and another in Nuremberg, which is the world’s biggest with 16 halls of nothing but toys, indoor, outdoor, crafts and so on. It’s there where I survey what’s new and identify what the next trend in children’s toys is.
Over the years, we’ve brought in Disney Princess, Minnie and Mickey, Sophia the First, Doc McStuffins, High School Musical and Minecraft merchandise, which retail in Singapore and Malaysia. We are also the category leader for craft toys.
Our motivation comes from friends and customers who tell us that we bring in interesting products and that they enjoy them. For instance, we’ve introduced the Frosty Maker where you freeze strawberries, then blend them into yoghurt. Even before the Rainbow Loom rubber band craft, we brought in the Crazy Loom, which has been around for over 50 years.
When we first started in this business 15 years ago, we brought in Specialized Bicycles. They had a high price point but we survived. What I did was to organise talks about safe riding, riding with a helmet, back-paddle break and so on. What’s important is that there must always be a lifestyle mission to the products we introduce. That mission is what drives me. Sometimes I have to sell not so fantastic products because the market likes them, but the real satisfaction comes from selling those that are more difficult to sell but in fact have a greater mission behind them. I often feel like I am a tool for doing something more meaningful than just business.
Do you “test” the products on your own children before deciding if they’re worth marketing?
Yes, they are usually the first ones to play with the mock-ups, not the working samples. People say my kids are so lucky they get toys to play with. The feedback I get from my children and their friends is useful. For my daughter Isabel’s birthday party last year, we let her friends try out the C’est Moi samples. They had a ball playing with the make-up. I had to reassure their parents that the products have been well researched and are safe. They are free of toxic material and of the 16 ingredients that may cause allergies or redness.
If there’s one thing you could change about the way children are brought up in the modern world, what would it be?
Take away technology, especially the electronic games and social media. It’s eating into everyone’s lives, not only the children’s lives. It’s terrible to enter a restaurant and see a table of nine or 10 people fiddling with their phones instead of interacting with each other. What our children need most is love and time.
What are some of the important values you try to instill in your children?
Gratefulness and respect. Some might feel the way I go about teaching my kids these things is too harsh, but I think that children today are too protected. They are the strawberry generation. I call them blueberries. Even before you drop them, they are damaged. They cannot take people shouting at them; they will cry easily. I believe that for every disadvantage, there is an advantage. When we give our kids some severe scolding now and them when it is warranted, they are exposed to what harshness there is the real world, so they will not be afraid when they encounter such situations outside the home. It makes them learn to be strong.
What are some of your other interests outside of work, and how do these influence you?
Doing yoga every morning keeps me sane. My hubby says I think of work all the time, but I think that’s because it has become my hobby. I really enjoy what I do. It’s not work anymore. When I am with my kids, we enjoy travelling. I take my son Ryan to toy fairs around the world with me. As a family, we go on risky rides together, and we go on adventure trips where we hike, canoe, swim and cycle. We also party a lot with our family and friends. The kids enjoy being around the children of my friends who are also teenagers, and I just love being around people.
Any unfulfilled ambitions?
I am a satisfied, contented person. I live every day like it’s my last and the two-week or two-year plans are already in place. We have very good people on the team who know the business and will continue it should anything happen to me.
Photography: Lionel Lai/Acepix
Grooming: Sha Shamsi
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