Celebrity Life

Shanyan Fok Koder and Richard Bassett explain how a Hong Kong art entrepreneur joined forces with a former special-forces soldier to launch a health and mental wellbeing app, Mentor360.

"Mental health and mental fitness are universal concerns," says Shanyan Fok Koder. "And regardless of your demographic, social status, your job or your age, it’s something everyone has to deal with."

Shanyan Fok Koder & Richard Bassett on Mental Health App Mentor360

The Mentor360 app dropped on World Mental Health Day in October, the cumulation of the last 20 months of work and conversations (usually across continents over Zoom) between former military man Richard Bassett and worldly art advisor Koder. A month later, I’m sitting with both in a North London café talking over slices of pizza.

Their app, they hope, offers everyone a holistic 360 guide and framework to “finding your formula” for mental and physical wellbeing. It uses a hybrid approach, with a core layer of clinicians and professional Mentors and then celebrity Ambassadors (who’ve publicly shared meaningful life stories) critical for building noise and momentum.

"I’d been in the military for a long time. And there were a couple of incidents in my life that made me want to create something," Bassett, the CEO, explains. "Firstly, it was my father committing suicide. Then my son had a bit of misdirection. And several of my friends in the military had PTSD issues or adjustment disorders."

"The biggest issue is why people wouldn’t come forward and say they’ve got a problem?” he asks.

“Unlike some apps, we’re not trying to get people hooked. Come on to it when you need it”

— Richard Bassett

The answer often lay in culture, lack of education or concerns about privacy that prevent many from seeking help. With that came Bassett’s idea of creating an app that functions as a “non-judgmental toolkit” with content validated by experts – who include coaches, performance psychologists, mental health-specialising nurses and a clinical psychologist.

Basset’s link with Koder came when his best friend, ex-special forces colleague and TV star Jason Fox, sat next to a pregnant Koder at a charity fundraiser for Born (which researches to prevent premature birth) in late 2019. As the pair talked about their passions for mental health and children’s wellbeing, the connection to Bassett’s idea became quickly apparent.

"Foxy told me that I have to meet his friend, Richard, who’s building this app," Koder recalls. "I was always wanting to support things that are very meaningful and close to my heart … and now Jason is actually our key mentor. The partnership between Richard and I was almost like two parts of a jigsaw puzzle come together."

Although some might go to the app for help with stress, trauma or even resources to help with suicidal feelings, Mentor360 is designed specifically as a three-dimensional offering that will also encourage fitness, workouts, performance and meditation or more clinical matters.

"We wanted to maintain the human factor as a constant throughout. So it feels like somebody has given you some advice rather than some process-driven machine learning," Bassett adds.

The co-founders might come from two different worlds, but the unlikely partnership speaks to the ubiquity of the issues at hand. Bassett’s 25-year military career saw him being appointed the first ever Command Sergeant Major within the UK Special Forces military group. "It was at that stage where I was asked if I wanted to run defence,” he says. “At that point, I thought, I’ve kind of had my fill of the military now, it’s time to move on."

Koder meanwhile grew up in Hong Kong and the UK as the daughter of Li Ka-shing’s "right-hand man" Canning Fok, carving out a career in the arts and taking over her family’s impressive collection. As a female art entrepreneur and mother, her challenges would be different.

"When I had the misfortune of losing three babies to miscarriage and dealing with that emotional fallout, it led me to want to support this as a cause," Koder divulges. "If there’d been something like this app available to me, I don’t think I’d have suffered as much as I did emotionally. It’s a topic that’s still very taboo, even in this day and age … and while you eventually find your own community, at the very beginning, you do feel very alone."

Both were clearly driven towards the app through deeply personal experiences. Bassett saw first-hand how soldiers who’d done several tours in Iraq and Afghanistan suffered – his best friend, Fox, had left the forces with PTSD. Perhaps machismo or fear of institutional repercussions meant that the issue was often ignored or hidden in the military – but he hopes that Mentor360’s holistic approach can gently lead people to explore mental fitness alongside physical performance too.

The male-female perspectives of the pair offer a well-rounded, powerful tool. And while the wellness space is already crowded, Mentor360 stands out by being so broad, human-focused and non-prescriptive.

There’s been exciting traction too. Since its launch, the app has been downloaded in more than 176 countries, with the UK, the US and Australia leading. British schools have reached out and it’s one governance board away from being trialled within the National Health Service (NHS), which means added clinical risk management in the app. That has been an important validation, says Bassett, "especially when an institution like that has picked it out from a huge spectrum of apps on the market today."

Covid-19 and lockdowns have helped throw light on mental health, taking the conversation more mainstream. The timeliness has hit home; as Bassett says, “there’s a lot of people now struggling with the transition between Covid and normality”.

Koder tells us that the plan is to serve individuals but also institutions such as the NHS and the military. There’s also the option of “white labelling” it, so the app can be packaged and tailored to certain industries or corporate employees. In the future, might they look more global, with different languages and translations? Absolutely, the pair say, but they’re taking it “slow and steady”. There’s been interest from American corporations and Koder says that she’s keen to push into Asia very soon. Although going truly global might mean translating for languages, cultures and tone, as well as working with diverse psychologists, it remains a future ambition.

Mentor360 may be extra helpful in cultures where mental health is still relatively taboo. As Koder says, "I think, coming from our Asian culture, it speaks volumes to me – so much of our culture is about still performance or hiding a lot of what you’re feeling."

"Unlike some apps,” Bassett adds, "what we’re not trying to do is create a hook or get people hooked. Come on to it when you need it, and if you don’t need it for a while because you’re good, you can just put it away … We’re starting to see those patterns in the trend analysis."

To get a little personal, I ask what works for them individually to keep a healthy mind and body. Bassett’s formula revolves around daily exercise, time with the family, dogs and good sleep – even the occasional glass of wine on the sofa in front of a crackling fireplace. Koder’s happiness hacks centre around motherhood, being content and at peace in her skin, and looking at life with a certain romanticism: "I always love to see the poetry in my day,” she says, "and I think it’s important to just pause throughout the day, check-in and acknowledge that I’ve achieved these things and I should be proud of myself, rather than just rushing on to the next thing."

The post The history of Whoo’s ‘Hwanyu Imperial Youth’ Line Delivers Plumper, Youthful-looking Skin appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

There are many legends of queens and members of royalty that had the luxury to preserve their beauty and complexions in the past. Cleopatra was said to have bathed daily in milk. Queen Nefertiti was said to have treasured the benefits of black cumin oil. In Korea, there’s an ancient recipe, passed down through generations of the royal family called “Gong Jin Bi Dan”, based on oriental medicines that work wonders on specific skin problems and signs of skin ageing. But royal court secrets such as these cannot be exclusive to the realms of royalty anymore. The history of Whoo, launched in South Korea in 2003, made this royal secret accessible, enhancing the oriental medicinal formula with modern science to offer modern-day queens the luxury to feel beautiful also.

The history of Whoo’s anti-ageing secret

The brand’s most premium series, Whoo Hwanyu, launched in 2006 in a luxurious packaging design. The line of products is encased in rich purple and stately gold, the colours of royalty. One of the best-selling products in the premium anti-ageing series is the Hwanyu Imperial Youth Eye Cream, formulated with potent medicinal ingredients including cordyceps and wild ginseng, to fortify the skin around the eyes and defy signs of ageing.

The Hwanyu Imperial Youth Eye Cream is made with an extract derived from whole wild ginseng using an age-old method called Baekjung Gobeop, where the ginseng is boiled for 100 hours in a royal earthenware pot before it is combined with about 70 other herbal ingredients. The recipe for this miracle of youth is according to a traditional herbal principle that dates back more than a decade ago.

While it is common to use only the ginseng root, at The history of Whoo, the entire plant of the wild ginseng is used, from the leaves to the stems and roots. Only 10 percent of natural wild ginseng collected in May to September have leaves and stems, and once collected, the plant's life comes to an end in about one week, making this ingredient incredibly valuable and scarce.

But the effects of wild ginseng is totally worth the trouble. The premium eye cream, with the whole ginseng and high concentrations of ceramide, instantly moisturises and helps to rejuvenate the skin around the eyes, making your eyes look ten years younger.

To celebrate the new Lunar New Year, The history of Whoo is launching a jumbo-sized special edition of the Hwanyu Imperial Youth Eye Cream on February 8, packaged in a glorious, gleaming gold container and presented in an exquisite wooden gift box that is decorated with an auspicious motif of phoenixes and peony flowers.

This grand special edition set comes with the utmost luxurious royal secret to youthful skin, which includes Hwanyu Imperial Youth Eye Cream Special Edition 50ml, the new Hwanyu Imperial Youth First Serum 15ml, Hwanyu Signature Ampoule 7ml, Hwanyu Essence 7ml, Hwanyu Cream 4ml, Hwanyu Eye Cream 4ml along with Royal Privilege Cream 4ml. The Royal Privilege Cream is produced in very limited quantities every year due to the rare ingredients contained in the formula. One of the ingredients is so rare it can only be harvested three days out of a year, making this gift set truly available only to a select few.

A new royal boost to your skincare routine

Light in texture but extremely hydrating is the Hwanyu Imperial Youth First Serum. The serum is a new member in the premium line and should be used right after cleansing to prep skin for the next skincare step. The essence glides on effortlessly in a soothing manner and revives dull skin to its natural softness and glow. You could combine this with a good facial massage to help promote skin circulation and to ensure that the product is absorbed fully into the skin.

Following the serum, the Hwanyu Imperial Youth Eye Cream can be applied.

Where to get?

The Hwanyu Imperial Youth Eye Cream Special Edition set, Hwanyu Imperial Youth First Serum and other lunar New Year special sets are available to purchase through this link here.

The serum is currently out of stock in Hong Kong & Macau, but will be re-stocked by mid-February.

The post The history of Whoo: Royal Secrets to Eternal Youth appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

After months of reviewing close to 300 beauty products and wellness facilities, and tallying, here are the best skincare products of this year, and lest we forget, your top pick! And so without further ado, here are the Beauty & Wellness Awards winners.

It if ain’t broke, don’t fix it … but when it is, extreme measures must be taken. Understanding the most common skin frustrations, we’ve scoured the shelves, halls, malls and internet to fi nd the ultimate remedy to correct and compensate. From discolouration to wrinkles and everything in between, whatever your concern may be, we’ve come up with the crème de la crème answers to rebuild confi dence in your appearance

The post Beauty & Wellness Awards 2020: Restorative Solutions appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

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