Miss Malaysia Universe 2009 second runner-up, model and lawyer-in-training Claudia Sibert will be the special guest at tomorrow’s Starbucks Live & Inspire session.
Komunitikini: How did you begin your journey?
Claudia Sibert: It all began when I finished my SPM and my older sister took me in for casting. From there, I managed to book jobs whilst studying. It started off with fashion shoots twice a year then it increased to as often as twice a week. Of course the major boost came right after Miss Malaysia when I was practically casting for commercials on a daily basis and going in and out of fitting outfits after outfits.
I had to put a halt to all that so I could concentrate on this coming exams.
What does difficulty and failure mean to you?
Difficulty to me is just a challenge. the more difficult, the higher the achievement! So to me, difficulty would mean to embrace it and do your best!
Failure? There’s no such thing as failure. If you fail, it only means you have to try again. When a difficult goal is not reached, it’s never a failure because you could end up with another result. Like me skipping my CLP exams last year for a shoot in Bangkok was not a failure, it only meant I could sit for the paper this year!
Which figure in your respective field has inspired you the most?
I’ve got many fields at the moment. In the local entertainment field, I have not been in it for long to have sparked any inspiration from anyone in particular yet. If I could name a few it would be Elaine Daly, Harith Iskandar and Yasmin Yusoff.
As they are not just entertainers, I believe. They are diversified in many other fields. Like Elaine’s a lawyer and Harith has a very nice restaurant in Hartamas.
In the legal field, I will have to say my ex-boss Charmayne Ong who is one of the top notch Intellectual Property lawyers in the country and the fact that she is a woman makes her enviable.
How have people responded to your work?
Besides seeing the glamour, I believe once people get to know me better, they will realise that I am not all about the glitz and the glamour. I believe they appreciate me better after knowing me and then seeing me in magazines or on TV. Because when you see me in person, most of the time, I am without makeup, without the fabulous designer clothes you see on magazines
and without such perfect hair.
So I believe it sort of gives them the extra confidence in thinking “Hey, I could be in magazines too!”And I take a lot of pride in making people feel good about themselves, that way.
If you are the minister in your respective field, what would you do?
I would localise all models and TV personnel. I believe Malaysians have it all. We have the Malays, Chinese, Indians, the Pan Asians and the Mat Sallehs that are born here (considered Malaysian) so why do we need to import foreign models? We have enough talent, exquisite beauty and no Malaysian looks like another so we have uniqueness as well. So, I would definitely
localise talent. Apart from that, I would probably give the local moviemaking industry a bigger budget!
What can we expect this coming Thursday?
Well, I will be speaking on discovering inner beauty and as much as I hate to admit this, I am still discovering mine so its a little hard for me to teach another this. However, I can share a little bit of my experience and how to be better individuals on a conscious level so it could effortlessly become a subconscious attribute. I will most probably share some philosophical
ideas that I’ve been reading about and also what other mentors taught me.
I believe that I may be of some help to those in their adolescenct years who are confused as to their identity and always trying to mimic someone else they admire.
I will touch on matters of self-satisfaction and to first know what makes you happy before you can make others happy and make others perceive you as a person with inner beauty. It’s my belief that you first have to be self-contented before you can make others happy. And inner beauty to me is all about how others perceive you and not how you perceive yourself.
CJMY
