Her credentials include clinching big-ticket commercial projects such as the posh Knightsbridge, Rendezvous Gallery and Orchardgateway, helping turn sleepy malls into hip lifestyle enclaves, and bringing top international brands to Singapore. For her role in marrying retail landlords with retailers, F&B operators and sometimes club owners, Sulian Tan-Wijaya has been called a matchmaker, but recently, the senior director for retail and lifestyle at Savills unexpectedly got hitched herself, in the business sense. 

In November, the 46-year-old who DJs as a hobby was approached by Herry Lee, founder of That CD Shop and High Society restaurant, and Vinnie Quek, who was behind the creative direction for successful clubs such as Zouk and Kee Club Hong Kong, to be a partner in The Mansion, an ultra-lounge at Pacific Plaza. She says, “The initial plan was for me to do cd compilations and guest DJ at the new venue. Somehow, I just became part of this family.”

Newly opened, The Mansion on the renovated second storey of High Society restaurant is a natural extension of the latter. The luxe bistro by day morphs into a glamorous supper bar and jazz lounge come dusk. Promising an experience that is as luxurious as it is intimate, it boasts rooms of different themes and the only Perrier-Jouët salon in Singapore. With That CD Shop’s ties with established record companies, The Mansion also hosts international artistes performing here alongside local and foreign djs.

“I connected with this project because my partners are, above all, passionate music people. For me, this is not work, but a conduit to channel my love for music into something meaningful,” says Tan-Wijaya, a music lover who completed Grade 8 in classical piano at the age of 13.

The demands of her day job which take her from client meetings to site visits, pitches for new projects and business dinners, mean the law graduate doesn’t spend more than three nights a week at The Mansion, but the one-time model who had her first DJing stint during university and DJs at charity events is looking forward to her occasional spinning gigs at The Mansion. It’s not as easy as it looks, though. “You need to know a lot of songs just to compile one playlist, and be able to line them up in a sequence that keeps audiences engaged,” says the proud mother of Cambridge medical undergraduate Silvana, and Andre who will be doing his National Service soon.

While the challenges she encounters at work continue to be a key motivator and source of fulfillment for Tan-Wijaya  she received Savills’ Top Leasing Award for two consecutive years and hopes the young women in her retail team one day earn the same recognition for their efforts  her next challenge is a cd compilation for That CD Shop’s award-winning High Society series. “My partners, Herry and Vinnie, have set the bar very high. I have two tough acts to follow but I am looking forward to it,” she says.

These days, Tan-Wijaya likens The Mansion to her second “family” – the other family being the retail team she has personally groomed at Savills. Mother, corporate highflyer, mentor and now entrepreneur, how does she pack it all in? She says modestly, “I know many people who do much more than me. I always feel like there’s never enough time to do everything... but maybe that’s what keeps me going.”