The Design Of Work

Junny Lee built imaginary worlds with Lego when he was a boy. Today, as CEO of The Work Project, he builds co-working spaces that are both high preforming and beautiful.

- Luo Jingmei

As a child, Junny Lee changed schools every two years, following his father’s career path. “Educational experts say you want stability in your child’s early education, so my upbringing was what you’re not supposed to do. But I found it good fun and exhilarating. My [strategy] was changed, survive, adapt,” laughs the founder and CEO of coworking company The Work Project.

These experiences served him well in later years. The jovial and youthful Lee is undeterred by setbacks. “It gave me strong survival skills and instincts. I’ve been laid off twice – by my father,” he says, half in jest. Following an undergraduate and master's degree in the United States and London, respectively, he joined his father’s company MagiNet that supplied tech and IT solutions to the hospitality industry worldwide. He was posted to Dubai for a year and then spent another managing the North Africa branches. When his father sold the business to Japanese telecommunications company NTT DoCoMo, he returned to Singapore, working for Pacific Star as a real estate fund manager. In 2008, the economy tanked, and he joined his father in Los Angeles, scooping up and reviving distressed hotels.