LONG WAY HOME

Now back in Bangkok after more than a decade away in cities including Singapore, CHAYUDA "NINA" JIARAVANON is forging a new career path within her family's empire. She opens up to Crystal Lee about her return to her birth city.

-  Crystal Lee

Chayuda "Nina" Jiaravanon is a woman of ease - not because of her background, but in the way she carries herself and approaches life. Born into one of Thailand's - and Asia's - richest and most influential families, Nina is the eldest daughter of billionaire Chatchaval Jiaravanon, owner of Fortune magazine, and the granddaughter of Sumet Jiaravanon, executive chairman of the kingdom's biggest conglomerate Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group.

Unwilling to get too comfortable in the city she grew up in, she left Bangkok at 18 for college in the US. After a year at the University of Southern California, she transferred to Tufts University in Boston to complete her undergraduate studies in international relations. She later went on to pursue a Master of Science degree in management at Imperial College London. "I was excited to see the world and gain more life experience through living in a different place," she recalls. "I wanted to meet new people and learn their cultures."

It was in 2015 when Nina relocated to Singapore for a role at Credit Suisse. What she thought would be a two-year residency lasted seven years, as she had moved on from the Swiss bank to becoming a private banker at UBS. Then, Covid-19 hit. "Before the pandemic, I would fly home every two weeks, so it didn't feel like I was away," she says. "But with the lockdowns and travel restrictions, I couldn't see my family for a long stretch of time. That was when I felt like it was time to move back."

ON THE RED DOT

Nearly a year in, Nina admits that she's still adjusting to life in Bangkok. "I know it sounds crazy because this is my home, but I haven't been here for so long. Thailand is not the same as it was when I left. Things and people have changed. I have changed. When you've lived in a place for a while, you assimilate. In Singapore, I had my routine. Here, it's taking me some time to get used to the traffic all over again."