Stay open to unexpected paths in your leadership journey

Charlene is the South Asia Pacific Lubricants Marketing Director at ExxonMobil. The company has been operating in Singapore for over a century and currently runs a world-scale integrated manufacturing complex here. This is an excerpt of an interview with Charlene as part of the Singapore Economic Development Board's Jobs in Singapore series.

Tell us more about what ExxonMobil does, and your role within the company.
I’ve been with ExxonMobil for 18 years. The company is one of Singapore’s largest foreign manufacturing investors with over S$30 billion in fixed asset investments. Our manufacturing facilities include an integrated world-scale refining and petrochemical complex, as well as a lubricant plant.

Most of what we make in Singapore, including lubricants and greases, is then exported to markets and customers in the Asia-Pacific region and around the world. In my current role as South Asia-Pacific Marketing Director for our lubricants business, I translate the needs of our regional customers and consumers into differentiated solutions that solve real-world problems in the market.

Many people may think ExxonMobil just deals with transportation fuels like petrol, jet fuel for planes, and bunkering fuel for ships. Actually, we make many other useful products, such as petrochemicals and lubricants. Lubricants are a critical enabler across industries and equipment — they reduce wear and tear, protect vital components, and help machines operate efficiently and reliably.

Each lubricant is uniquely formulated with properties tailored to specific applications. Take the engine in a car, for example — lubricants minimize friction between moving parts, manage heat, and prevent dirt and other particles from damaging engine components. These same fundamental functions apply across industrial machinery, albeit often under far more extreme operating temperatures and conditions.

You’ve worked in different markets all around the world. Tell us more about how you navigated these transitions.
My career has spanned Marketing, Sales, and Planning roles in Singapore, Indonesia, and our global headquarters in the US, with each move designed to stretch my capabilities and build cross‑cultural leadership depth.

To be honest, an overseas posting wasn’t initially on my radar but when the opportunity came to move abroad, I decided to take a leap of faith despite never having lived away from home. Managing a steep learning curve in my new role, while settling into a new culture and way of life was challenging. As with anyone relocating to a new city, I had practical worries around daily life — commuting, healthcare, and everyday comforts.  I raised specific considerations early on with the company so we could address them proactively. Over time, many of those concerns either became manageable or turned into positives. While adjustments are inevitable, they also make these overseas experiences so enriching. These moves accelerated my learning and exposed me to a wide range of business and organizational contexts.

In 2023, I landed my current position and about a year later, in December 2024, I relocated to Bengaluru, India, where I’m based today. Setting the vision for the lubricants marketing organization and seeing my team embrace the challenge of attaining this vision have turned out to be the highlight of my career. As a bonus, I’ve had a once‑in‑a‑career opportunity to work closely with the India Leadership Council to help build up ExxonMobil’s global capability center here in India. This has allowed me to extend my impact beyond my immediate role by building organizational culture and developing early-career talent, particularly female talent who can support the country’s growing energy demand. It’s been a unique and deeply fulfilling opportunity.

What advice would you give to fresh graduates who are job-hunting in the current job market?
When I graduated, I thought I would work in FMCG marketing, but I ended up in a retail role at ExxonMobil, initially on a yearly contract. It wasn’t what I had planned, but I was learning a lot and enjoyed the culture, so I stayed on, and that experience opened doors I couldn’t have predicted. My advice is not to fixate on the “perfect” role or industry. Instead, focus on learning, build transferable skills, and stay open to unexpected paths. Careers are rarely linear, and opportunities often come from places you might not anticipate.