When Gunel Babazade, an Azerbaijani, took up a stint during her undergraduate years in Keppel Offshore & Marine’s Caspian Shipyard Company in Baku, Azerbaijan, she was won over by the warmth of the yard culture.

Little did she guess that her heart would also be won over by a foreigner who worked at the yard. The gentleman was none other than Mr Liew Yuen Chen, affably known as YC, a project manager on overseas posting from Singapore, who was to become Gunel’s husband.

Two years after they were married, YC completed his overseas assignment. After some deliberation, Gunel arrived with her husband in Singapore in August 2008.

Today, Gunel works at Keppel Integrated Engineering (KIE) in Singapore, as an executive in the marketing and proposal team, while her husband works at Keppel FELS in Singapore.

Gunel has yet again been won over, not only by the abundance of learning opportunities afforded by her new workplace, but also by Singapore, whose many colourful cultures and traditions fascinate her.

Adjusting to new life in Singapore has been a pleasure because Gunel has always been passionate about travelling. When she was in high school, she had participated in a one year student exchange programme in the United States. Before that, she had enrolled in a German school when she followed her mother on a four-month business trip.

Gunel was already well acquainted with and had fallen in love with the renowned Garden City when she vacationed here with her husband in the past. Currently, Gunel is relishing the opportunity to learn about the Infrastructure business.

Working for a leading global company which develops leading edge solutions to address the global communities’ pressing environmental needs brings meaning and satisfaction to Gunel.

She shared, “Sustainable energy and water solutions are of growing importance to cities around the world. Looking at how efficiently and carefully Singapore is organised and developed as a city, I look forward to learning more about the water and energy business from my colleagues and appreciate the exposure I get at Keppel Integrated Engineering.”

Apart from satisfaction at work, Gunel is increasingly endeared to Singapore. She observed, “Singapore functions like a ’whirligig‘, a kind of spinning wind vane. Though tiny compared to its neighbouring countries, it can nonetheless move with great speed around a stable axis, propelled by the strengths of its people, which impresses me.”

Won many times over by all things and people Singaporean, Gunel is certainly enjoying a new world of possibilities currently opened to her.