THE LADY AND THE LEXUS

Jen Jimenez Yalung comfortably lives in the world of beauty daily, both in the office as a General Manager, and on the road with her stunning Lexus IS350.

- KRISTOFF SISON

I’m your typical lady driver—always carefree and always in high-heels,” exclaimed Jen Jimenez Yalung, General Manager of Shiseido Philippines Corp., when I asked her about who she is as a driver. Nowadays, it seems rare to find someone with such a carefree attitude towards driving. Road rage and weary groans from unruly drivers and traffic jams have been the norm in city drives, with these being the first images when you think of the “driving experience” in the Philippines. As Yalung puts it, “My feeling towards driving is greatly affected by the external variables like how traffic situations are and or how congested the roads are.” But if road conditions don’t play favors to her mood, maybe the car she’s driving can.

THE DREAM DRIVE

As a hard-working GM of some of the industry’s most prestigious beauty brands, and a loving mother of two, Yalung has had her fair share of city drives for work and family duties—an on-site meeting one day, then a grocery run the next. Driving can be seen as a seemingly mundane skill for such an out and about leader like Yalung, but she believes that sitting behind the wheel can also be enjoyable. “I want [driving to be] simple. I just go inside the car, start the engine, and expect the car to run smoothly. When you are not thinking of anything apart from where you want to go, for me, that’s perfect.” Her trusty companion to help realize this dream to become a daily reality: the Lexus IS350.