piece of my mind: with Helena Lee

Now, how to do Helena justice...

I met Helena on my Journalism Masters course back in 2011. We quickly worked out we had lived identical lives; both North London girls who had been to exactly the same school and university, separated by just six years. This was something that often made me sad...that I had been robbed of so many years of her friendship.

She was pure sophistication even back then; insightful, wise and classic. She was the first foodie I ever met. A revelation, after three years spent drowning in a puddle of pesto pasta. I remember being blown away that she had left a top job in advertising- shooting campaigns on South African beaches and even owning a work phone- to start from scratch as a writer. I was mainly impressed that she had helped put those Comfort fabric conditioner rag-dolls on television screens nationwide (what a cultural contribution.) Here she was, back-to-school, eating Pret sandwiches and doing coursework with the rest of us. 

Helena landed her first job at Harper's Bazaar magazine where, once again, our paths aligned, living out the assistant dream. She is now the Features Director there (of course) but, most incredibly, the founder of East Side Voices; a vital new platform celebrating the writers and creatives of East and Southeast Asia- with a mission to smash the problematic stereotypes of Asian culture in the media.  

Her cultural salon launched in February at The Standard Hotel; a series of in-conversations with award-winning novelists Rowan Hisayo Buchanan and Sharlene Teo, as well as the designer Rejina Pyo, no less. Oh, and she has a book deal...so look out for her curated collection of essays on everything from sexuality to typecasting and tokenism in Hollywood, due 2022.

‘Wild Swans’ by Jung Chang. It has devastating power, and is storytelling at its best. It’s a book that simply couldn’t be written now.