How I became a Strategic Business Consultant: Valerie Lynn on building bridges across Southeast Asia

Valerie Lynn (MA Southeast Asian Area Studies, 2000) has built a career defined by connection, trust, and a deep commitment to Southeast Asia. From studying economics at SOAS to decades of cross-cultural consulting across Asia-Pacific, her journey reflects a consistent belief in the power of relationships to bridge markets and cultures.

Today, as the founder of Pacific Gateway Consulting, Valerie Lynn works at the intersection of cultures, markets, and institutions. Based in Laguna Beach, California, with a long-established home in Kuala Lumpur, she supports international business development, research, and public-private partnerships across the Asia-Pacific. Her work is rooted in building trust and facilitating meaningful connections between people and organisations, a philosophy she has carried throughout her career.

Finding direction: from the US to Japan and Southeast Asia

Valerie Lynn didn't set out to spend a lifetime building connections between continents. But intention, she says, has a way of becoming a life.

I feel at home in Southeast Asia. There is a way of life there that feels more authentic, less complicated. I have always felt I belong there. That is what keeps me going.

After studying business at Rutgers University in New Jersey, where she minored in Japanese Area Studies, she took a job at a Japanese finance firm in New York, but something kept pulling her elsewhere. So, in 1994, she moved to Nagoya, Japan, where she spent five years teaching American business English and culture to Japanese corporate professionals.

It was in Japan that she first picked up the famous novel by Jung Chang, Wild Swans, and first encountered the name SOAS. The connection stayed with her. Through her travels, she fell in love with Southeast Asia. That love became purpose.

"What motivates me is simple," she says. "I feel at home in Southeast Asia. What may look to an outsider like noise or chaos is often a well-developed system. So much is unspoken, yet carries great meaning. The cuisines, the cultural nuance, the respect for nature, the moon cycles, the rhythm of the seasons, and beneath it all, ancient and sophisticated civilisations with temples and trade routes built long before European contact. There is a way of life there that feels more authentic, less complicated. I have always felt I belong there. That is what keeps me going."

The SOAS Experience: Understanding Southeast Asia in context

"I chose SOAS because I wanted to understand the dynamic economies of Southeast Asia," she explains. "To understand where the region is today, and where it fits within Asia-Pacific and the global economy, you have to understand its ancient histories, its trading worlds, and the forces that shaped its modern trajectory. Economic development was central for me, and SOAS felt like the best place to pursue it."

Every day was a discovery, in the classroom, in the city, and in myself.

Valerie arrived at SOAS in 1998, first completing a Graduate Diploma in Economics, then earning her MA in Southeast Asian Area Studies in 2000. She describes the experience as transformative. Studying economic development under Professor Anne Booth helped her connect Southeast Asia’s economic history, political change, and contemporary economies. 

She still remembers reading George Orwell's classic novel Burmese Days as part of her regional history studies. Outside the classroom, she served as a senior resident at Dinwiddy House and Co-Chair of the Southeast Asian Society with her fellow student Hwok Aun Lee from Malaysia.

"Every day was a discovery, in the classroom, in the city, and in myself," she reflects. "SOAS brought together an extraordinary tapestry of people from Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, alongside students and scholars from across Europe and the wider world. I watched people find their voice and their confidence, some for the very first time."

"What stayed with me most weren't the grand moments," she adds. "It was the small ones: cooking dinner with classmates, working through group assignments, watching football at the Red Lion behind Dinwiddy House, and attending lectures by inspiring guest speakers. Those everyday experiences, accumulated over time, made SOAS truly special."

Lessons in connection: Valerie Lynn’s advice for building a career across cultures

After SOAS, Valerie made Kuala Lumpur her home, with shorter chapters in Melbourne and Jakarta, building a career in business development, strategic consulting, and cross-cultural liaison work. Over the years, she worked across public and private networks, engaging with business leaders, diplomats, trade representatives, and regional organisations. 

Come with genuine curiosity and a blank slate. Let the region surprise you. Listen far more than you talk. And don't just visit, live there.

Her service with the American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce, first as a board member and later as executive director, became one highlight of that period. She had a front-row seat to Malaysia’s economic transformation, seeing how foreign investment, policy, and personal relationships shaped the country’s ambitions. From 2000 to 2012, she also served as the SOAS alumni contact for Malaysia.

Valerie has always worked independently; consulting has been her path from the start. Through Pacific Gateway Consulting, she has given that work a clear name and direction. Her work continues to sit between cultures, markets, institutions, and people.

Whether supporting international business development, representation, research, or public-private liaison work, her philosophy has never changed. It is about trust. People-to-people connections. The kind of conversations that help cultures and organisations understand one another. "A conversation can go a long way," she says.

For anyone looking to follow a similar path, her advice is clear: “Come with genuine curiosity and a blank slate. Let the region surprise you. Listen far more than you talk. And don't just visit, live there. Real understanding comes from being on the ground, from the daily rhythms, the unspoken customs, and the relationships built over years, not weeks.”

"I've always believed in letting a place reveal itself to you," she says. "Southeast Asia revealed itself to me slowly, deeply, and I never wanted to leave. As for the future, we're in a post-COVID landscape now, with high political tensions, wars, and policy shifts. But that's precisely when bridge-building matters most. I’ve always believed that from chaos comes creativity. I just want to keep doing what I've always done."

She is currently active in the SOAS alumni network in Southern California and serves on the executive committee of the Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce, still connecting people and building trust, one conversation at a time.

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