BANGKOK, Jan 15: The 2025 PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit (ARES) concluded with a VIP Party at The Athenee Hotel, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Bangkok, gathering four leaders who represent the rising influence of women on tomorrow’s cities.
Presented as part of PropertyGuru Week, the ARES Power Women event emceed by Tina Ryan wove together themes of legacy, inclusion, sustainability, and leadership, honouring outstanding female leaders and reflecting on the ARES theme, “Trusted Marketplaces and Thriving Communities.”
The four ARES Power Women 2025 recipients are:
Ambassador Chantale Wong, a trailblazer in international development and public service, is the first openly LGBTQ person of colour to achieve the rank of US Ambassador. She is recognised for expanding the lending capacity of the Asian Development Bank, where she served as US Executive Director. There, she directed crucial funds toward sustainable infrastructure developments that touched millions of lives across the continent. Her career, spanning service under multiple US presidents, is dedicated to visibility and empowerment, exemplified by co-founding the Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership that opened pathways in public service.
Marine Novita, the entrepreneurial force behind Indonesia’s pioneering proptech platform MilikiRumah.com, is honoured for presenting a challenge to systemic exclusion in Indonesian housing. By harnessing artificial intelligence to power an innovative rent-to-own scheme, Novita and her team are dismantling the barriers of conventional financing. Her mission extends beyond business, making the foundational step of transforming homeownership accessibility to a broader segment of Indonesian society. She embodies a new wave of female-led entrepreneurship that leverages technology to create tangible, equitable pathways to asset ownership and stability.
Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi represented multigenerational excellence and advocacy in Thai hospitality. As executive vice president of The Sukosol Hotels & The Siam, she carries forward the legacy of her mother, 2025 PropertyGuru Thailand Property Awards Life Achievement awardee Kamala Sukosol, while carving her own distinct path. Her leadership extends to her role as honorary president of the Thai Hotels Association, where she has become a voice for the industry at large. The celebration highlighted her specific dedication to elevating the experience and safety of female travellers, ensuring that Thailand’s world-renowned hospitality is both memorable and secure for all.
Ar. (Dr.) Serina Hijjas, a leading architect, is honoured as the driving force in Malaysia’s sustainable built environment and adoption of national green standards. As principal director of HIJJAS Architects + Planners and president of the Malaysia Green Building Council, her life’s work merges aesthetic mastery with ecological imperative. Trained at the legendary firm Foster + Partners in the UK, she brings a global perspective to her mission of sustainable placemaking. Her influence is etched into Malaysia’s skyline through structures like Menara Telekom and the Securities Commission Headquarters and her legacy lies in institutionalising green building standards nationwide. In an era defined by climate urgency, her leadership provides impetus for the industry to design with tomorrow in mind.
ARES 2025 was supported by Sybarite Architects, along with partners such as Bridges, BusinessWorld, Detik, D+A Magazine, Hot Magazine, Inquirer Property, Kompas.com, Kopi and Property, Luxury Society of Asia, Manila Bulletin, Niaga Times, Penang Property Talk, Prop2morrow, REm Thailand, SquareRooms, Tatler Asia Homes, TerraBKK, The Grid, The Malaysia Voice, The Philippine Star, and Top10 of Asia.