The Ten: Jenny Lau

Name and job title Jenny Lau, freelance communications consultant in London, UK

Where were you born, where do you live now? I was born in Kent and I now live in London.

How you describe what you do?

For a living: I help brands communicate better. In my spare time: I connect Chinese diaspora through conversations and events around food via Celestial Peach.

How much did you spend on your last cup of coffee? £3 (a turmeric oat latte - shoot me)

What is one ingredient that is crucial to you? Rice

What does a culinary system mean to you?

I think of it like a piece of technology such as a smartphone, where every element of its design and production contributes to the product - from factory workers producing microchips to user experience to marketing.

How does your immediate locale affect your work? Through my work, outside of what I do to earn a living as Celestial Peach, community building is my passion, so there is an element of both online and offline activity. In the online sense, an immediate locale doesn't affect me, because I can speak to someone on the other side of the world and yet immediately connect with them. This is one of the great benefits of social media. On the other hand, when planning community events I have chosen to work locally, such as partnering with my local Chinese community centre or Chinatown London.

Where do you draw inspiration from, in your work?

I draw a lot of inspiration from Eastern spiritual philosophy. Sometimes to change a system you need to flip your perspective.

What impact do you want to have?

I want to empower diasporic Chinese people to find their sense of home, whatever that is. Food is an easy entry point to delve deeper.

What change do you want to see in culinary system?

I would like to see everyone showing more kindness, from top to bottom.

We ask all our interviewees to send us two photos: one of themselves and one that represents their work.