The Woman Behind Aesop

She’s been with the brand from the cradle, covering various aspects of the business from product QC and training to PR and mentoring. Suzanne Santos talks about the lifelong enterprise she co-founded.

- Goh Yee Huay

An interview with Suzanne Santos, the 60-year-old cofounder and now product advocate of Aesop, doesn’t really feel like an interview.

She offers few neatly packaged soundbites – not because she isn’t eloquent or forthcoming, but because she takes time to consider each question before answering, often in detail and with a slightly philosophical tone. Answers are interspersed with her own questions. And topics can veer into the unexpected – she asks if she may see baby photos, offers kindly advice on raising kids, gives her take on reading which, contrary to doomsayers, she reckons has been rediscovered.

She speaks at length on issues she feels strongly about, which are many. These range from social inequality (“I can’t bear the fact that we still pretend there aren’t many people struggling”) and large scale suffering to education (“Kids aren’t taught about good nutrition, how to cook and survive, how to be strong when things get tough”).

When quizzed about her famous loathing of wastefulness and excess, she laughs, admitting it’s true. “We have office lunches once a month and I cannot bear it if there’s any food in the fridges at the end of the day that hasn’t been given out to staff or people who are less fortunate. I get very angry about that. Waste is wrong.”

In all, a sit-down with Santos is more like a conversation with a wise, no-nonsense and progressive aunt with a soft-spoken manner and sharp intellect. Which is fitting, since Aesop is a brand that’s very much about meaningful conversations and exchanges – with customers, collaborators, and even itself.