🚀 Inside Vogue Singapore: Petra Sekhar on Leading Marketing, Innovation, and Community in Fashion-Tech
From corporate consulting to driving culturally resonant storytelling and leading fashion-tech initiatives, Petra shapes Vogue Singapore as a future-facing platform for talent and innovation in Asia.
Hello Tech Powered Luxury listener, and now reader!
🎙️ Today, we’re sharing an exclusive feature on Petra Sekhar, a dynamic marketing leader known for her innovative approach to connecting fashion with technology and culture. Petra’s work focuses on creating meaningful experiences that inspire both emerging creatives and established industry players, helping to foster a collaborative ecosystem where fashion’s future is actively shaped by community and innovation.
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💎 I’m Laoise O’Connell and I’m very excited to welcome you to today’s edition!
💫 This week, we hear from Petra Sekhar, Head of Marketing for Vogue Singapore, where she leads the brand’s strategic efforts across distribution, community engagement, partnerships, sponsorships, events, and the Vogue Singapore Foundation. Her focus is on driving culturally resonant storytelling, building communities with purpose, and developing high-impact brand initiatives that shape the future of fashion and media in the region. This includes flagship initiatives such as Vogue Talent Prize, which champions emerging image-makers and digital storytellers, and the Vogue Innovation Prize, which spotlights entrepreneurs in fashion and beauty who are solving real-world challenges through innovation.
Petra also plays a pivotal role in shaping and delivering events such as Vogue Underground, Vogue Man, and Vogue Singapore’s landmark event, NEXT IN VOGUE, where she helps to curate over 30 global industry leaders for thought-provoking panels and convene some of the world’s most forward-thinking fashion-tech companies in Singapore.
Prior to her current role, Petra was a Senior Consultant at Typhoon Consulting, a Hong Kong-based strategy and advisory firm, where she worked with leading global clients across Retail, Banking, Leisure & Entertainment, and Professional Services. She holds a degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from the University of Oxford. ✨
🎤 Who are you? Tell us in a few sentences about yourself and the role you play in your company and the industry.
"My name is Petra, and I’m the Head of Marketing at Vogue Singapore. I lead the brand’s efforts across everything from partnerships and events to distribution strategy and community-building. Before stepping into this role, I served as Programme Director of the Vogue Singapore Foundation, our purpose-led arm focused on nurturing emerging fashion talent in the region. That mission remains central to my work today - infusing our marketing approach with the same commitment to spotlighting and supporting the next generation of creatives.
One of the best parts of my job is supporting early-stage companies on their growth journeys. A good example is COzTERRA, one of our Vogue Innovation Prize winners who had pioneered a textile solution that enables CO₂ removal from the atmosphere. We saw them progress from participating in our programme and bootcamp, to winning the prize, and eventually collaborating with us on a showcase that brought their innovation to life. Together with a young designer, we created a one-of-a-kind carbon-capturing gown, which was exhibited at NEXT IN VOGUE. To play even a small part in that trajectory was incredibly meaningful.”
👩🏽💻What is it like working at Vogue Singapore?
“It’s been an incredible experience both creatively and professionally. We’re a lean team, so everyone wears many hats, and I’ve learned so much from the passion, drive, and expertise of every department, from editorial to sales to design. Especially coming from a corporate consulting background, I’ve found the shared passion in the office to be incredibly motivating.
What also makes Vogue Singapore special is that the title has really managed to carve out a niche in the fashion x tech space, with various ‘Vogue-firsts’ under its belt, from our AI cover, to our NFC-enabled cover, to our Club Vogue space in the metaverse, and many more. So I feel very lucky to be a part of a legacy title that is also very future-facing and open to experimenting with exciting tech.”
✨ Tell us about your mission! Do you have a mantra, a statement that you and your teams live by?
"One guiding principle that has stayed with me and that I try to carry into every initiative is something that has been championed by two incredible leaders I work with: our VP of Business Development & Innovation, Bettina von Schlippe, and our Publisher, Natasha Damodaran. At Vogue Singapore, the core of our mission is to drive change for good.
That means bridging the gap between Singapore’s world-class business ecosystem and its under-supported creative ecosystem. Too often, young brands struggle to survive here. We want to make world-class tools, networks, and learnings accessible to creatives and entrepreneurs, through programmes like the Innovation Prize, Talent Prize, and Leadership Lab.
Similarly, when it comes to innovation it should never be tech for techs sake. It’s not about novelty, but about applying technology in ways that are purposeful, inclusive, and culturally resonant. A previous example was our AI-generated February 2023 cover, “Roots”. For this, we collaborated with a Mumbai-based AI artist and referenced hundreds of archival images of Southeast Asian women from the early 1900s. The result was nine avatars that explored the relationship between innovation, heritage, and identity—reimagining Southeast Asian beauty while celebrating the diversity of the past and future.”
👀 What is one of the most important lessons you’ve learned throughout your career?
“One of the most powerful lessons I’ve learned came from Dr. George Kohlrieser, former hostage negotiator, IMD professor, and award-winning author. He led our Vogue Leadership Lab, which we developed to make world-class leadership training accessible to creatives.
He spoke about being a Secure Base Leader: someone who offers protection, encouragement, and inspiration so that others feel safe to take risks and seek change. That idea has really stayed with me. It’s how I hope to show up for my team: as a steady presence that helps people stretch, experiment, and ultimately thrive.”
🫶🏽 Anything else you’d like to add?
“We are always on the lookout for innovative fashion companies and talent to collaborate with, exhibit, or incubate in one of our programmes, so please do feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn and get in touch!”
Definitely a common theme I’ve noticed when interviewing tech leaders in the fashion space - and something I also explored while writing my Master’s thesis - is the importance of not innovating just for the sake of innovation. It’s what truly separates a good fashion-tech solution from a great one: innovating with real purpose and intention.
I loved this conversation with Petra because she really embodies that mindset - using technology thoughtfully to create meaningful impact, support creative and push the industry forward in a way that’s culturally relevant and sustainable.
I hope you enjoyed this edition!
Until next time,
Laoise 🖤
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