Eleanor Simone Danker
Manager of Corporate Communications, OCBC Bank, 2009
Bachelor of Arts (Mass Communication) in collaboration with Curtin University of Technology, Australia
Perseverance is the key to success. Everyone needs that drive in you, and when you eventually get to where you want to get to, you will achieve happiness.
12 March 2009
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Beauty with Substance
Written by Christine Chan
Eleanor Simone Danker, the 27-year old Manager of Corporate Communications in the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (OCBC) Bank, has fond memories of Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, her alma mater. “It is a funky and trendy place, where I received great exposure to the professional world and met a wide variety of people,” she said.
Eleanor has plenty of reasons to think fondly of the place. Graduating in 2005 with a Mass Communications degree and majoring in Public Relations and Journalism, Eleanor scored the Presidential Scholar Award and the Industrial Award of Excellence whilst she was still a student there.
It (Limkokwing University) is a funky and trendy place, where I received great exposure to the professional world and met a wide variety of people.
“Perseverance is the key to success,” advised Eleanor, “it gives the drive to continue with what you are passionate about and love doing. Everyone needs that drive in you, and when you eventually get to where you’ve wanted to get to, you will achieve happiness.”
Today, she is in charge of the media relations, internal public relations, and corporate social responsibilities of OCBC Bank. As the person who handles all of OCBC’s social and public relations programs, Eleanor is an events planner, a writer and a strategist all in one.
If you’re writing anything – say a speech for an example – it is crucial to know your audience. Identify the factors on how you can capture them and do thorough research beforehand.
Thinking quickly and being perceptive is a must for her in order to get to and be where she is. “The audience is the key public,” she advises on one of the many things she does, “If you’re writing anything – say a speech for an example – it is crucial to know your audience. Identify the factors on how you can capture them and do thorough research beforehand.”
One of the major projects that she is in charge of is the School Adoption Program, which is run under the Central Bank of Malaysia and executed by various financial institutions across the country, including OCBC. The project involves providing financial education and organizing field trips for schools across the country, thus solidifying the OCBC brand among the future generation while performing social betterment through education.
Crediting her father’s role in her life – who was a writer for The New Straits Times, BERNAMA and The Star – as the key influence in pushing her towards the field of journalism and public relations, Eleanor admits that she was not always as certain about her path in life as she is today.
Prior to taking up Mass Communications in Limkokwing University, she went into the computer sciences. Even though she was good enough in the field to earn a spot in the Dean’s List, she soon learned that her true path lay in journalism and public relations, thus fulfilling her father’s predictions, who saw in her a future writer.
Eleanor chose Limkokwing University as her first step into the field of public relations and journalism because it had a strong brand name and was famous for its arts, design and communications subjects. “On top of that, it is well-known for offering practical training to its students,” she added.
Immediately after graduating, Eleanor was employed by ASTRO where she worked as a broadcast journalist and presenter. Blessed with both written and spoken language proficiency as well as good looks, Eleanor states that the first three years of her stint at ASTRO were crucial to boosting her place in a professional environment.
Although I push myself further to achieve more every single day, I’m not a person who gives a time frame for myself to achieve certain things in life. I seize the day.
“That’s where I took the opportunity to build my connections. As a journalist and presenter, you get to meet a lot of people, and connections are certainly important in one’s career.”
Eleanor admits that as demanding as the job sounds like, work is like leisure to her because she enjoys every moment of it! She explained that she even worked part-time for TV3 as a business news presenter not because she was desperately in need of it but because she loved what she was doing so much.
“Although I push myself further to achieve more every single day, I’m not a person who gives a time frame for myself to achieve certain things in life. I seize the day,” she confessed.
After being in the public relations field and journalism field for four years, her love for writing and earning a living through it has not wavered. She does not plan on leaving it any time soon, but fully intends to take whatever opportunities and challenges that this path will offer to her.
