About
I'm Nejla.
Eternal thinker, strategist, mother, educator, investor, partner, writer, mentor, student.
Above all, human.
My life has taken me from the shores of Algeria, via the Swiss Alps and the streets of Paris, to Singapore, where I’ve made my home for the past twenty years, with a pit stop in Shanghai along the way, where my daughter was born. Made in China!
My career began the way the best ones often do, by accident. A happy fall into the watch industry introduced me to a world of extraordinary people and a culture I still love deeply. It was never the plan. But then, very little has been.
What followed was a decade building THE FIFTH COLLECTION from the ground up. We were early, betting on the second-hand luxury goods market in Southeast Asia before most people took it seriously. We developed AI tools that went on to define how the industry operates to this day. And in a market notorious for opacity, we chose to sell something different: reliability, knowledge, trust and a standard of customer service the industry had never seen, and still miss. The awards followed. But more importantly, so did a lens I’ve never taken off.
Having the headspace to finally build intentionally, I’d realise something: from my corporate and entrepreneurial journey to my closest friendships, I am often the best-kept secret in the room. So I’m about to do something totally out of character.
Own it publicly.
Today I’m deliberately building a portfolio career, one that spans consulting, board work, teaching, speaking, and investing. No single title covers it. I’ve stopped trying to find one — I’m not the one you can label. The Missing Script sits at the intersection of all of them, sometimes where ideas start, sometimes where they land
“I was so focused on building a career, there was never much room to think about how I actually wanted to live.”
But here’s what none of it taught me.
None of that happened by following a clear map. And the one I’d been given, conventional, outdated, and missing entire chapters, wasn’t going to take me where I actually wanted to go.
Along the way I’ve had to figure out a lot of things that nobody teaches you, not at school, not at university, and certainly not in any boardroom. The roadmaps for building a career with intention, staying well for the long run, navigating identity, motherhood, money, and meaning. I’m still figuring them out. The difference now is that I’m doing it in the open.
The Missing Script is not a guru platform. There is no manifesto, no ten-step programme, no polished version of a life that is actually messier than it portrayed. It is simply a place where I share what I wish I’d been given sooner, across strategy and career, health and identity, culture and the things we rarely talk about openly. And where I do it alongside people worth listening to. Expect interviews with names you’ll recognise, and more importantly, with people that the limelight hasn’t found yet. Expect soul-searching alongside the practical. Because what I believe we’re all quietly after is a life that is meaningful, balanced, and genuinely ours.
I’ve always held on to the belief that there are only two things nobody can ever take from you, your reputation and your education. Everything here is an extension of that. My obsessive, occasionally neurotic search for the next script. Shared openly, so you don’t have to search alone.
The next script is already being written. Come and read it over my shoulder.
Nejla Matam-Finn
For my daughter Little D — this is your scaffolding. Build whatever you wish. Love maman.
“You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
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