Women Lines

Samantha Wong is the Chairman for Sengkang Woman Executive Committee, in Singapore.

Confident, pleasing, helpful, a woman with a big heart, Ms Wong has dedicated herself for the work for women in the neighbourhood Community Club.

Womenlines will love to report about Ms Wong who is dedicated to her job to do goodwill for womenfolk around, through various activities and support of the Community Club.

She is a Singaporean and whole heartedly she is putting up efforts to integrate immigrants in the local society by supporting various events like Dazzling Divas, new immigrants’ gathering,etc.    She is involved in community activities for last 20 years. She is very passionate about reaching out to new immigrants in Singapore and integrate them within the local society. Dazzling Divas , organized last year was one such event which was based on Bollywood songs and dance theme. Ms Wong relates very easily with women of different races, this was quite visible in Dazzling Divas as she dressed herself in Indian attire, which helped in bringing comfort level between her and Indian group. This event helped to bring various immigrants, basically Indians and Singaporean ladies on one platform and have fun together. She herself enjoys meeting women from different races and motivates them to explore their things of interest. Ms Wong has supported many ladies to start various interest groups like Dragon Boat group, book reading group, Fitness groups, Morning walk group and many others which help ladies to pursue and enjoy their hobbies with like minded people.

In her 20 years span of experience in the community she has seen various phases of its growth. She remembers, in early days it was difficult to outreach immigrants as they were very close knitted group. She is grateful to the Community Club for supporting her through various grants and other helps to organize different activities in the centre. Some activities like helping out in the MP’s meet-the-people session every week and helping residents with their problems is really fruitful.

Ms Wong wants to involve more women in the Community Club’s activities. She considers the Community Club as an excellent platform to carry out various activities of one’s interest. Ms Azeeza Jalaludeen, member of Sengkang WEC is a big fan of Ms Wong and she considers her to be a very good mentor who is very creative and innovative and who has different ideas for empowering women.

Hats off to Ms Samantha Wong for her endeavor in field of women empowerment and emancipation.

Suicide by 11 yr old girl-not a joke, a harsh reality!

11-year-old reality show participant Neha Sawant , committed suicide in India.  Police have cited pressure to perform well in studies as a possible reason for her suicide .

“Class VI student Neha was found hanging by a dupatta to a ceiling rod inside her Sai Darshan Apartment house, Dombivli, on 2 Jan morning, police said. She had participated in three TV dance  reality shows, including the popular Boogie Woogie, and was a student at a dance academy. Police suspect she might have taken the step after her family took her out of the academy as they wanted her to concentrate on her studies.”

I am in loss of words to express my gried, shock, sympathy….or any other emotion I want to express for this little girl. Its a check for every parent. Mind you, your kids are no more kids in today’s e-world. They are mature enough to understand meaning of death and how to carry suicide act successfully. Now who is to be blamed? Parents, for pressurizing her for studies, or the reality shows who makes stars out of our small kids and snatch their childhood from them. Should we blame Neha herself for taking such an extreme step.

No parent can ever imagine that their kid can take such an extreme step and that too at such a small age of 11 years. My whole hearted sympathy with them. At times I ponder that when we want our kid to excel in everything we forget to think that in process of achieving excellence are we ignoring our kids happiness. Why is it necessary that every kid should be a star. Why parents feel ashamed that their kid stood second in class and missed the first position by half marks. In order to satisfy our parental ego we just crush our kids happiness and never realize that what in reality gives him happiness. I never say that if your kid wants to dance then let him ignore his studies. Just trust your instict and communicate with the confidence with your kid eye to eye , explaining hin the importance of studies and how it will help him to excel in other fields. The most important thing you can give to your child is your time with such constructive communication (which should never sound as boring lecture).

Lets stop acting as a cop parent and create a world of fun and happiness around our child. His life should be filled with fun activities, shades of various colors, dance, music, and of course studies but in a fun way.

While I have been spending the last 2 weeks of December 2009 just relaxing and spending time with my family, especially my little girl, I have witnessed the frenzy of Christmas shoppers in both the cities of Singapore and Malaysia – the two cities I am currently based in.

I work with a lot of women in my field of training in Personal Image and Empowerment and I have discovered that many women are very concerned about their appearances and how they can beautify themselves better.

This leads me to the topic on personal brands and labels. Whether we like or not we are constantly judging people by their looks on the outside. We have been guilty of branding others based on education, looks, weight, “perceived intelligence”, colour of the skin, colour of their hair, height, wealth, culture, who we marry, the bags we carry etc etc. We are constantly branding others and in turn are branded branded branded.

Companies who sell consumer products know just how to tap this emotion of insecurity to further promote their products.

Women I work with in my training are concerned about what others think of them especially how they look like. Often they are unhappy when others misjudge them based on their outer appearance and want to know how to make themselves appear “IN”. Male prisoners I work with also have an insecurity issue about how society will brand them after they leave prison. They want to know how to fit in, how to re-brand themselves away from their criminal past and how to be accepted. Executives and CEOS that I work with also want to learn how to make themselves look more trustworthy, approachable yet representable of their position and to basically learn how to fit in better with their group.

Basically this is represents human behaviour and in today’s highly society, people are getting even more concerned with how they are perceived by others. From my experience, women particularly are more concerned about their image and how others in the society see them. Again, whether we like it or not, we are always branded by others. My take on this? Brand yourself first before others brand you…and do not allow yourself to be branded by what material things you have or wear.

So how do you brand yourself and what should your brand be? Well, the vision is YOURS.

1. First of all, what is the industry that you want to brand yourself in when it comes to your career? When you stay in an a certain industry, people will remember you as the person who bakes cakes, or the entrepreneur mom, or the lady who organises events, etc. You want to be remembered as someone people can associate with a particular industry. The danger of people who moves around too much across industries often is when people cannot associate her as someone committed in her career…and that would be her “brand” !

2. Who is your target audience? Who are you basically branding yourself for? Is it for your work? For your customers? Friends? How do you want yourself to be perceived by them? Always remember that your audience will remember you based on the first time you presented yourself to them so be yourself, be honest and be comfortable. Often people are not themselves the first time they meet new people that they get comments like, “you know, the first time we met you we thought you were…….., but now, wow! You’re not at all like that..” It sounds like a praise, but really, it is a message that what we project may not be who we really are. This can go against you in the future when you are in a job interview, meeting new people or presenting for the first time to a group of potential clients.

3. Which of your personality traits and passions will resonate with your target audience? Similarities always make people feel closer together so highlight the similarities whether in the language and “slang” you use, or clothes that you wear. However, always keep in mind to be yourself. Do not put on a fake accent your lie about your background. A person does not have to learn lie detection skills to feel a fake.

4. What is the most important skill the target audience should know about? When you can relay this message through your work, through promoting your brand to others, this skill will remain in the minds of your target audience.

5. What makes you credible? Integrity, responsibility, commitment are values that people will remember you by. A strong personal brand is when a person hears your name or sees you, a certain positive feeling or thought comes into play. This feeling or emotion that others feel about you is that brand that you carry. Remember, whatever comes out of your actions, your mouth, your thoughts and reactions creates this brand called “YOU”. If you constantly say things that are not reflected in your actions or the results that you show constantly, your brand becomes “untrustworthy”.

How do create reinforce your brand through your demeanour ?

1. Dress according to how you want to be perceived

2. Always take care of your personal hygiene. Often times, people dress well and say all the right things but the two major deal breakers are bad breath and body odour. Somehow these overtake a person’s good personal brand.

3. Do you look rested ? Women have this advantage with makeup to camouflage tired looking eyes J

4. What you wear everyday also affects your brand

5. What comes out of your mouth when you speak

6. Who do you surround yourself with constantly

In this new year, many resolve to make positive changes with their lives – some of these resolutions could be to re brand or reinvent themselves. You can create your change. However, be aware of that perhaps the people who do not support your change or trust your change mostly come from family members who claim they know you better. I believe that only you know yourself better and the best way is to present the real you to others and not be someone you are not just to please others.

I wish you all the best in this NEW YEAR ! May all your New Year resolutions come true faster than you expect. I know one of my resolutions include to brand others less and work on myself more. With Love & Respect,

Murshidah Said

M &Z Empowerment Centre in KL and Singapore

Founder and Director