Force of
nature.

Dr. Loretta Chen has spent her career working at the edges where technology meets humanity, where culture meets commerce, and where ideas move between Asia and America.

She is the Founder and CEO of Smobler, an emerging technology company building applied AI and digital solutions for real-world problems. She teaches strategy, leadership and entrepreneurship at universities and in executive education, advises organizations navigating growth and transformation, and is a Straits Times bestselling author.

Her career has never followed a single lane. It has moved between technology and theatre, entrepreneurship and education, boardrooms and classrooms, culture and community — united by a fascination with how people, ideas and organizations transform.

Loretta is drawn to the places others overlook — women whose stories have not been told, technologies before they become mainstream, students discovering their voices, ASEAN leaders beyond the official biography, immigrant histories at risk of disappearing, and communities too often left outside the innovation economy.

For her, the edge is not the periphery. It is where the future begins.

Originally from Singapore and now based in Hawaiʻi, Loretta has built a life and career across cultures, disciplines and continents. She holds a doctorate in philosophy from the National University of Singapore, doctoral research at UCLA, and has also studied at UC Davis and the University of London all under full scholarship.

When she isn’t building, teaching, writing or creating the next venture, she lives in East Honolulu, five minutes from the ocean, surrounded by a lush garden and eighteen rescue cats who are unimpressed by her résumé.

Long before Loretta built companies, taught executives or worked in emerging technology, she told stories.

As an award-winning theatre director, she became known for work that was provocative, human and pushes margins as frontier. From 251 and The Vagina Monologues to The F Word and Victor/Victoria, her directing credits span drama, musical theatre and socially engaged work in Singapore, Canada, Edinburgh and internationally.

This instinct eventually moved from stage to page to sound to screen. Her books explore women, leadership, identity, motherhood and lives that exist beyond the conventional narrative. Her film work continues the same inquiry.