Alison Lester is Director of her own communication consulting business, AJ Lester Communication Training, developing and running presentation, business communication, and creativity workshops around the worlds since 1999.  She also provides one-on-one coaching for individuals.

Previously, she worked in Tokyo as a freelance business and cultural writer and editor, as well as performing voiceovers for radio and television.  Before moving to Asia in 1991, she held the position of Desk Officer for Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei at the United States Department of Commerce in Washington, DC.  She has also studied in Beijing and worked as a translator in Taipei.

Alison has a wide range of interests and skills, from martial arts to comedy, from relationships to music.  She performs with Singapore’s only improvisational comedy group, The Madhatters Comedy Company, and teaches improvisation in the musical theatre department of Lasalle College of the Arts.  She writes regularly on the subjects of communication, creativity, and parenting, and her articles can be read on her website, www.ajlestercommunication.com. She is also author of a book of short fiction, Locked Out: Stories Far from Home, published in 2006 by Monsoon Books.

She did her Bachelor of Arts degree at Indiana University in both Chinese and French, studying classical singing on the side.  She then received a Master’s degree in Chinese studies and economics from The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

She speaks Mandarin, Japanese, and French, as well as English, but unfortunately only a very few words of the lovely Malay language.