A Perfect Match

Maintaining a successful career does not mean you have to compromise having a meaningful relationship and fulfilling family life – as proven by power couple BUTRRAT “BOTE” AND JANISTA “BAM” CHAROONSMITH. The duo has established thriving businesses, independently, while balancing love, romance and family in perfect equilibrium. MANTA KLANGBOONKRONG gets to the core of their secret

- Manta Klangboonkrong

Just when two of Bangkok’s love, most eligible singles had almost given up on love and finding their soulmates, the paths of Janista “Bam” (formerly Lewchalermvongse) and Butrrat “Bote” Charoonsmith crossed. The attraction was instant, and in no time a relationship blossomed. Today, they are married with two young children – and the rest, as they say, is history.

“We both attended Patumwan Demonstration School,” recalls Bam. “We both love the tonkatsu at Misato in Bangkok and had dined there very, very often, but never actually met. Not even once. Until one night at Wine Bridge, when I spotted this attractive man standing outside. It must have been fate because a little later on, to my pleasant surprise, we were introduced through mutual friends.”

It was her first night out in years after working long hours as party spokesperson and MP for the Chart Thai Party. The political turmoil in Thailand at the time put her career in politics on hold, and as she was figuring out her next move, Bam soon found herself in whole new roles – that of wife, mother and also restaurateur.

“I had been a busy working woman all my life. I was never out of things to do,” Bam says, alluding to her successful careers as policy and plan analyst at the Office of National Economic and Social Development Board, a host for a popular TV variety show, At Ten, and her prestigious position in the Chart Thai Party. “At the time I was already 36 and somehow had given up on marriage. But then I found love and my life took a turn in ways I could never have imagined.”