Tubby used RM250 million soft loan to transform into socialist

A young lady with a great vision and big plans, Izzana Salleh gets personal with Rubini Kamalakaran

It is the beginning of a long day. Izzana Salleh arrives at the Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur, fresh-faced, her trademark Bohemian hairdo atypically slicked back, ready for her close up. Despite a busy week of shuttling to and fro between Malaysia and Singapore, her lovely face shows no signs of it. She has flown to Singapore and back three times this week alone she reveals. These trips are promising to be a routine in her life indefinitely but she's not the least vexed. It's exciting times and her profession never fails to provide an adrenaline rush, she says. Just returning around midnight yesterday from her latest trip, she's up for another brimming day, a big portion of it devoted to us for this photoshoot and then a dinner engagement at the end of it - duty calls. She has brought along her kebaya, her standard attire of choice for social functions. Tonight's is a Jovian Mandagie and once we're finished with her, she is all prepared to shoot off.

A staggering beauty even in a no-fuss ensemble, which would typically be jeans and shirts, not a stitch of make-up on and at no less than 5 feet 9 inches, Izzana, one could only wish was captured in front of the camera more often, seen strutting the catwalk or even adorning the silver screen. If her path was indeed headed for the arts, there's no doubt in our minds that she would have easily been snapped up by a designer for a muse or be a director's dream of a starlet. But Izzana chose very early on to stay out of the limelight. "I was the fat kid actually," she reveals to our astonishment naturally, as we proceed to give this statuesque figure before us a once over, coming up with no trace of her former chubby self. Although, when she arranges a chicken rice lunch for all of us, she herself consciously opts for a healthier Subway sandwich, laughing as she warns us, "If I join you, my tummy is going to show and I'm not going to fit into the clothes you've picked out for me." The youngest and the only daughter in the family, Izzana can be said, is doubly loved. She adores her older brothers whom she's quick to defend even when she personally outs them for bullying her when growing up. "Oh, but only in a loving way," she smiles, her dimples appearing. "They took great care of me but being brothers, they also bullied me. When I was about 3 or 4 years old and a tubby toddler at that, my brothers would have me lie down and roll me from one to the other. They had me convinced that I was a ball," she laughs, recalling and eventually credits them for most of her happiest and funniest moments growing up. Now in their prime, the occasional banter notwithstanding, the siblings are the symbol of firm kinship. Usually, with either one of her brothers by her side, Izzana can be spotted at social calls and there's also the fact that they're working together which keeps them in close quarters.

Born into two cultures, Izzana is fundamentally a combination of the soft-spoken steel magnolias of Kelantan armed with the energetic, vivacious spirit of the ‘Penang-ites'. Coming from what she refers to as a modern yet traditional family, she defines her Kelantanese father as the strict disciplinarian in the family, tying it to his scientific background, and her Penang-born mother as a strong woman with greatjoie de vivre. "I'd like to think I'm a bit of both. I think the balance between them was good for us growing up." It's the key in life, Izzana believes, about balance, and maintaining it has always been an aim in her life. Now as a young adult and specifically as a young woman trying to have it all - a career and a personal life - finding stability is essential more than ever. As the ceo of the Real Food Company Sdn Bhd, an integrated company that comprises distributorship of fresh Malaysian halal beef and beef products, and a meat shop cum restaurant called MeatWorks, her job, it appears, is far from a typical 9 to 5 sort. When she squeezes in some time in between shoots to sign business papers, it becomes clear that work really never stops for Izzana. Surely it helps, though, we suppose, that she considers her job as a hobby. Work is the cause for her regular trips to Singapore. They have recently celebrated the soft launch of MeatWorks Restaurant in Singapore, located at ION Orchard Mall and there are two more branches in the works. "To see the business expand into the international arena is definitely a milestone and there's much to implement."

Coming from a science background, an indirect influence from her old man no doubt, Izzana who majored in biotechnology with a minor in chemistry and business from Cal Poly Pomona University explains the logic behind her choice of tertiary education: "I believe that the first degree is crucial to set the tone in our minds, attitude and character because that's the most impressionable phase in a young adult's life. I wanted to develop a more structured and analytical mind, which is why I felt that a technical degree would be exactly what I needed." It was also a period in her life, which she considers to be one of the biggest challenges thus far. "I had to inevitably leave home, which was my comfort zone for 15 years to pursue a degree in the US. Strange land, new people, new culture and while I certainly loved the excitement, embarking on a new phase in life at such a young age required a lot of mental strength." A strength that she's certainly cultivated during those years that is innate in her now. "One thing is for sure, I am a determined person." Strong women are clearly the role models that Izzana relate to, one of them obviously being her mother as well as her grandmother - the epitome of grace, class and intellect. She also admires Malaysian fashion empress Dato' Farah Khan who Izzana describes as focused and has conquered the world with great style. Coincidently, her favourite movieUnder the Tuscan Sun revolves around a strong character as well. "I love the idea of the leading lady (Diane Lane) finding strength from within to build her life back together after losing everything, in a strange land and on her own." After graduating, she went on to work at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which is a non-profit medical research organisation that plays an important role in advancing biomedical research in the us, where she focused on colorectal cancer research. "I worked in a laboratory that studies the DNA damage response and dna repair mechanisms in various human tumour cell models. A majority of the work in this laboratory was focused on the signalling of programmed cell death and cell cycle control by DNA damage."

Although a different kind of science than she's trained for, Izzana says her past work experience is helping a great deal in her present work, "because I'm able to apply the theories, technicalities and experience in my business. There is a science to food and agriculture business." Always geared up for work, Izzana deems the head and heart element as significant factors in the choice of vocation. She reveals the thrill of the job for her is really because it's organic. "It's about life, our well-being and livelihood." Adding, "Food and agriculture is a great industry with great potential here in Malaysia. It's important as a nation to support local produce for the sake of sustainability and our economy, especially since we have plenty of good quality food products produced locally - for example, Gemas Gold Meat. It is very challenging but it gives me great avenue to explore a vast range of possibilities. Innovation, product development, health concerns are all part and parcel of this business." Changing from one outfit into the next, her hair transformed to old Hollywood, and then slicked back, Izzana admits she hasn't really attempted a different look. She's used to minimal make-up, her hairstyle kept simple and Bohemian. Before she entered the corporate world, Izzana lets slip that she was all about the ‘Bohemian rhapsody'. "My friends can attest to this, I was all long Bohemian skirts and garlands of ethnic chains," she grins. These days however, Izzana can be found in the total opposite, primarily corporate gear consisting of shirts, pants and kebayas for social calls. Her favourite designers for her kebayas are Rizalman for being classic and never out of style, and Jovian Mandagie for the amazing bone structure in his corsets. She adores kaftans as well, especially those from Tom Abang Saufi, whom she compliments for never failing with her pick-me-up colours, no zips and buttons. There's one item that she's obviously not short of too, judging from the bag of shoes she wheeled in with her. "I get a lot of my shoes from Yiu Lin," she reveals, referring to another dynamic Malaysian entrepreneur who owns the successful shoe boutique, Shoes Shoes Shoes.

Always at ease in a sophisticated world without being overly sophisticated herself, Izzana is, judging from the different looks that she pulls off before our eyes, chameleon-like, adapting well whether in gumboots at the farm or in couture. In demeanour, she is likewise, saying, "I've learned that most importantly as a young woman, there is a time and place for everything." Which reminds us of an occasion not long ago, at MeatWorks in Solaris Mont Kiara where she showed us a photo of herself, relishing a plate of Buffalo wings, with both hands, grinning from ear to ear. "When you are eating wings, that's the only way to really enjoy it," we recalled her saying. An admitted foodie, Izzana loves her meat, which is really convenient, being in the business. She declares her favourite meal as "a juicy and generous serving of signature bone in fillet served medium rare with a side of mushroom ragout and creamy Yukon mashed potatoes, perfecto!"

It's time for our rapid-fire question-and-answer session and we challenge her to reveal something we don't know about her and she lets on just as quickly, grinning, "That I can karate chop quite well. I actually have been trained for 13 years in martial arts with a black belt." As the day begins to turn dark, Izzana is putting on her last outfit for the photoshoot, the Ferragamo. We wrap up after a few takes, thanking our lucky stars that she's so effortless in front of the camera so we can finish earlier than planned. But Izzana's mind is already working - a norm for her we suspect - gauging how much time she's got before she has to be at the event. Just enough time to get dressed, have her face touched up and pack, it turns out. Her ride waits outside of the hotel for her. Strangers around her are doing double takes as she sweeps by them and loads one of her bags in the car as the driver handles the other.A minute later, they are off straight into Friday night traffic. There was talk of another trip to Singapore in a couple of days; it is going to be a hectic schedule until the restaurants are shipshape but Izzana knows that we are the total sum of our life's experiences, and she's only in the early stages. *********************************************************** This is the girl that her mother's lover now their lawyer wanted to screw.