Creative Q&A: JWT Singapore's Juhi Kalia

How did you get into advertising?
Medical school, architecture, radio production, book publishing, hotel management… after many wrong but incredibly fun turns, I agreed to kill my summer as a trainee at Lowe and got hooked.

What was your first ever ad?
It was a series of small illustrated print ads for a generator, I think it was Honda. Don’t remember now. But I do remember thinking they were super clever. What can I say I was young and stupid. But we all knew early on that I would have trouble delegating. Did the copy, the layout and even the illustrations myself.

What was your first ever job?
Hotel management. At the Oberoi Hotels where managers in training had to do rotating stints in every department before they could become managers and earn the right to do nothing. Much to my parents’ non-surprise I started in the bar. Where patrons where constantly flummoxed by the mysterious appearance of drinks and the invisible barkeep — the bar was tall. I was not.

What was your worst job ever?
It’s a toss up between a publishing house where I was charged with the onerous task of doing the book layout for a 150-page coffee table version of the Kamasutra; and the time I worked at a radio station and had to be a pretend caller to a show that usually had like three callers on a good day. On the bright side, nothing shocks me now and I can do about six different voices.

What does it take to impress you?
Balls. Brains.

Where do you go to be inspired?
Away. Looking at the same things, talking to the same people and doing the same things kills brain cells faster than an episode of Keeping up with the Kardashians. So anywhere I haven’t been before works.

But I especially enjoy looking at installation art. Cai Guo-Qiang (the guy who did the flying pack of 99 wolves) Ron mueck, Banksy, Jeff koons and I forget his name but the guy who did the inflatable garbage bag sculptures over the subway vents… awesome!

And then there’s the modern day two minute art form—music videos. They’re like fabulous shorts; ideas, cinema, stop motion, art, fashion, storytelling, technique all rolled into little bite sized bits of inspiration. And no Kesha, I’m not talking about you. Plus, the nerd in me loves a fresh copy of the Scientific American and The Best of Instructables. Call me weird but glow-in-the-dark algae and electric umbrellas are pretty cool.

If you can spend one day with a celebrity or historical figure, who would it be? Why?
Jim Morrison. To see if he really was all that.

What is your guilty pleasure?
Watching terrible dance shows.

If you have to come back as an animal, what would you be? Why?
A polar bear because they look all furry and adorable, but they are crazy vicious in reality. Plus when the poles all melt, I can check in to the Ritz and guilt humanity into footing my minibar bill.

What is the last book you read?
Earth by Jon Stewart and team. It’s a satirical handbook for aliens who might land on earth after we are extinct. It’s light yet deep, clever yet silly. Every page is a riot and makes me wish I’d written it.

What is the first thing you do when you wake up?
Swear violently. Either because I overslept and am late again or because it’s a shoot day and the call time is 5am. Stupid morning light, so overrated don’t you think?

Worst haircut you’ve ever had?
It was a moment of midlife rebellion and just good old fashioned madness when I took a punt at one of those Korean-Japanese type salons. Bad idea since I’m neither Korean nor Japanese and to the best of my recollection have never been part of or secretly wished to be part of a boy band. I ended up with a kinda sorta mullet. It achy breakied my heart and social life for a good two months before I found the courage to chop it all off. The tough butch look was a vast improvement.

Describe your typical day.
Some days I dream fearlessly - I believe in clients, creativity and Santa Clause. I go to bed with my brain on overdrive and I remember why I love this job so much. Other days, to quote Mister Henley, I feel like ‘it’s the end of the innocence’. For those of you below the age of dinosaur who may not be familiar with Mister Henley’s great body of work, let me quote Peter Sarsgaard from Jarhead – it’s like ‘welcome to the suck’. But every day is different. And that is something. I’ll take good, bad or ugly over typical any day.

Can you suggest a question for our next Q&A candidate?
What’s the worst movie you have ever seen and why? (Not why you saw it, but why it sucked)

Money or idea? (question provided by Euro RSCG’s Satbir Singh)
Or time? A great idea with no money and no time will never be as great as it can be. A good idea with enough time and money can become great by the time you execute it. A crap idea with tons of money and time is still crap.