I had a fundamental love of fashion, of products and accessories. I loved the merchandising side of it and understanding how to maximize sales.

I cook. I did the Escoffier course in Paris when I was 21 in one of those periods when it was like a pause. I can cook anything Italian, Chinese.

I always did healthy things. I didn't sit around in nightclubs. Sure, I had my fair share of fun, but no one could ever accuse me of being a dilettante and doing nothing. I was always on this unbelievable quest to go and do.

We have a huge family history with Singapore because we have the duty-free shops in the airports. It's a very industrious city. It's beautiful, and Singaporeans have this wonderful desire for, and love of, luxury goods. You can see how well thought out and planned the city is with the best boutiques.

As a 9-year-old child, I vividly remember the day Hurricane Andrew touched down in 1992. My family was living in the Upper Florida Keys at the time, and we soon realized its utter devastation to South Florida, with entire blocks leveled by Andrew's vicious winds.

My mother is the sort of woman who not only can raise a chicken and roast it to moist perfection but, as she proved to my openmouthed sister and me on a family holiday to Morocco when we were very young, can barter for one in a market, kill it, pluck it, and then cook it to perfection.

I love art. I used to have a painting of Gorbachev that was given to my family by Gorbachev.

I was the class clown at school, but at home, my family wasn't very funny.