Book a call Kalara Studios helps sexual health, women’s health and femtech teams understand why people adopt, avoid or hide products - and build strategy that earns participation across Southeast Asia.
The premise
In sensitive health categories, the problem beneath the problem is often not awareness. It is permission.
Across Southeast Asia, concepts such as malu, hiya, kreng jai and ý tứ shape what people say, what they leave out and what they are willing to be seen doing.
Kalara turns those invisible forces into choices a team can act on - where to position, how to speak, who to trust and what needs to feel safer before behaviour can change.
How we can work together
You work directly with Olivia from first conversation to final recommendation. No juniors, no handoffs and no pre-built playbook forced onto a complicated category.
01
Before you enter the market
Understand the norms, tensions and permission structures shaping your category, so your team knows what it is walking into before it commits.
Market landscape / cultural opportunity / strategic direction
02
When the proposition is not landing
Build positioning, messaging and communications around the way people actually experience the category, not the way the category talks about itself.
Positioning / messaging / communication strategy
03
When the obvious answer is not the useful one
Design research for categories where what people say, what they do and what they are willing to admit rarely align, then interpret what it means for the business.
Audience research / brand audit / cultural interpretation
04
When you need a senior brain in the room
Get direct, ongoing counsel as decisions arise, from market entry and campaign review to a difficult brief that needs an outside perspective.
Strategic counsel / reviews / decision support
Common briefs
Market entry · Positioning · Audience understanding · Messaging · Launch strategy · Campaign review
Public thinking
Talking Bodies
Talking Bodies is Kalara’s editorial arm, investigating how culture shapes bodies, intimacy and sexuality across Southeast Asia. It is public evidence of how Kalara observes and interprets culture.
About Talking BodiesWhat we learn about our bodies long before anyone says the word consent.
Olivia Cham / Founder & Lead Strategist
The strategist
Olivia Cham has built and dissected brand and cultural strategy inside TBWA, AKA Asia and Dentsu, for brands including Durex, McDonald’s, Porsche and Kraft Heinz.
Kalara brings that experience to a lean independent practice for founders and teams working in categories where bodies, health, pleasure, identity and shame complicate the obvious answer.
Based in Singapore. Working across Southeast Asia.
Connect on LinkedInExperience across
In their words
“Olivia’s articulation of our strategy turned one of the most taboo categories into great executions that drove us to greater heights - in creativity and in business result. An achievement we never dreamt we’d reach.”
“Olivia is unerringly accurate at digging into human motivations and turning them into sharp, compelling strategic propositions - watertight, and appreciated by any creative who worked with her.”
Start a conversation
Thirty minutes. Tell me what you are trying to understand, change or launch. We will work out whether Kalara is the right partner for it.