Meet Mar Pages, Chapter Leader of Singapore

This month in our Leader of the Pack series we meet Mar Pages, chapter leader for our Singapore Travel Massive team. Mar works at Google and spends her evenings and weekends when she is not traveling writing about all her journeys to over 90 countries online at Once in a Lifetime Journey.

How did you first get involved with Travel Massive?

I saw the Travel Massive widget on another blogger’s landing page and I was curious to click through and find out more. After that, I emailed Travel Massive and got in touch with Cristina who gave me all the info. As I was looking for other Chapter Leaders, a few other people reached out to Travel Massive for the same reason and so we got all in touch, met up and set up our first meeting.

What motivates you to be part of Travel Massive?

I am an extremely social, passionate and curious person so it is great to be a part of a community that loves the travel industry as much as I do and which gives me so many new ideas to hear more about to satiate my curiosity.

What kinds of current or emerging startups, travel companies, and tourism initiatives exist in Singapore? 

Singapore is a melting pot of cultures and the hub of Southeast Asia and APAC countries so there is a thriving startup community aided by a large contingent of the more established companies who set up headquarters here. These companies are complemented with a large group of organizations in the creative and social responsibility space and a few bloggers for measure. The ongoing amount of travel and related events taking place here, like ITB Asia or WIT Asia also helps bring interesting people regularly into the country.

Do you do anything unique at your meet-ups?

Since we have only just started (we have just done our second, very informal, event, we are still experimenting but it would be great if we can exploit the startup community aspect to try to connect the ecosystem.

How has Travel Massive helped you professionally?

As a travel blogger the community helped me network and meet lots of interesting profiles, from investors to travel brands that I could work with in the future. It has also helped me connect with my peers, which makes me feel like I belong to a community. It has been fantastic at keeping me passionate and curious about the industry and at bringing lots more ideas to my attention

Do you have a past event that was your favourite?

Our first event was great because we had an unexpectedly high attendance. We had only just set u the chapter and we did not have much time to organize the event but we still got a turnout of over 80 people. As we organized it at the Google offices and we had an interesting chat about the market trends Google sees, that also made for an insightful introduction.

What is your best advice to a newcomer who wants to attend a Travel Massive event for the first time?

The community is very open so just come with an open mind and with lots of business cards and a one-liner to describe what you do because you will have to introduce yourself many times! Also, use the Travel Massive community and network of chapters around the world to meet people when traveling

Leader of the pack is a monthly series that profiles organizers from Travel Massive meet-ups around the world. You can read more about Mar on her profile page or connect with her at the next Singapore Travel Massive.