A Natural Calling

Self-aware and selfassured, Nadya Hutagalung emerges from a painful, dark past to become mother, warrior, and activist

It’s a sweltering morning in eastern Singapore, and I’m sandwiched in between our videographer and makeup artist in a cab as we make our way to Changi Beach Club for our photoshoot with Nadya when my phone beeps. It’s Ling, her manager at Fly Entertainment.

Though Nadya is travelling a lot at the moment thanks to her work with the United Nations as an Environment Goodwill Ambassador, she is also making her rounds in Asia promoting her new coffee table book, Walk With Me, which chronicles her life’s journey as an activist dedicated to environment preservation and wildlife protection.

Ling is calling me to say Nadya’s already making her way to the location as we speak. “She’ll be there early,” she explains, a remark which delights the crew who are used to waiting much longer for a celebrity to make their eventual appearance.

In person, Nadya keeps bucking expectations. She quietly but confidently moves about the staging room as she inspects the clothes our stylist has chosen for her, and discreetly pulls her aside to explain she can’t wear the suede dress shortlisted.

“I can’t wear animal skins. I’m sorry,” she says with the air of someone who is genuinely distraught that she has to inconvenience another. “I can’t wear the acrylic dress either unfortunately. It just doesn’t align with my beliefs that fashion needs to be sustainable.”

MATERNAL FIGURE

This self-assuredness and this innate, unwavering belief in the value of the Earth and the impact of her choices on it, is exactly what Nadya projects to her fans, both through her conservation work and the principles she upholds in real life.