Telum Talks To... Christine Edwards, Founder & Managing Director, The Honeycombers
Interview

Telum Talks To... Christine Edwards, Founder & Managing Director, The Honeycombers

Take us through a day in your life as Founder and CEO of The Honeycombers.
Every day is different and pretty jampacked! I have a mix of internal meetings with my rockstar team and external meetings with new clients and existing clients.  I review strategies for both my own company and other people's company's - strategy is my favourite thing to work on, it's creative and commerce at its finest.  I usually break the day when my kids get home from school, or when my dog needs to get out (often this happens mid-meeting which is not terribly helpful!). Recently, I learned to meditate - so I break twice a day to do this, which I find gives me more clarity.  I also drink lots of chai to get through the day! 

How did The Honeycombers come about?
I had worked in marketing and media for about seven years, and then I joined a digital media start-up - and whilst I was working in the start-up my husband saw the concept of Honeycombers and suggested that a lifestyle publication that inspired people to get the most out of their city was exactly what Singapore needed (Singapore used to have a bad reputation as being 'boring' - which was my mission to change).  

So I started working on it with my start-up partners, but after about 3 months my partners wanted to leave (one went to become a management consultant, and another went to study Chinese medicine), so we went separate ways - and I nominated to keep Honeycombers as my equity share in the business.  In the early days I was writing, my husband did the editing, and I also did all the initial business development & sales - it was a very, very lean team, but we grew very quickly. 

What were some difficulties you faced creating the publication and the expansion to Hong Kong and Bali?
I have always been very lucky with finding awesome talent - the publication really attracts talents that are passionate about finding the best in the lifestyle arena.  Some of the difficulties have been getting the right operational and business admin structures right like setting up legal entities (Indonesia is quite a challenging market for foreigners to set up companies).

What is your proudest achievement to date?
Launching our new digital marketing agency Digital Collective Asia - which we launched this year - has to be up there!

Congratulations on the launch of your Digital Collective by Honeycombers. Could you share more about the content marketing agency?
Digital Collective is an agency with a mission to help drive our clients' growth through proven marketing strategies.  We help clients with their SEM & social advertising, their funnel marketing, content creation and SEO.  The success of the agency boils down to the fact that we have been in the digital content marketing world for 12 years (with the creation of Honeycombers Singapore, Hong Kong and Bali & HoneyKids Asia), so we have a lot of experience in this space.

Any words of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs interested in starting their very own publication?
Find an untapped niche, understand your audience incredibly well, and make sure you have some good advisors or a business coach - it's a lot of hard work, but there are some really great shortcuts when you know what you are doing! 

What's your secret to sustaining a publication and keeping it relevant for more than a decade?
Trusting my highly talented team of writers, editors, digital creators and not writing a publication for myself (otherwise your publication ages with you!)

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Christine Edwards

Founder & CEO

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Honeycombers Singapore

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