My Thoughts as Miss Singapore Supranational 2020/21

Event Photographer Turned Pageant Queen — Shifting from behind the lens to in front of one

I was the photographer for the Miss Singapore 2018 Pageant. I remember a couple of people at the gala dinner asking me why I wasn’t getting ready for the show, mistaking me as one of the contestants.

I laughed — the girls were in swimwear and 6 inch heels, I was in a tee, jeans and sneakers. I never thought I was model material — I’ve always been more comfortable behind the camera rather than in front of one anyway.

Here’s one of the shots I took back then:

September 2020 — I’m back from New York, out of college, building a travel-tech product, and kickstarting a career at Google. I was somehow convinced to give the pageant a shot by Eileen, my college friend who was crowned Miss Singapore in 2018 after hearing her story.

One of the biggest doubts I had other than being able to juggle multiple responsibilities, was whether representing Singapore for Miss Supranational would be a career limiting move as a female founder — would investors or…