1st INAUGURAL WOMEN EMPOWERMENT FESTIVAL 2017 (MRS. MALAYSIA & BORNEO INTERNATIONAL GLOBAL 2017) Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, 13 December 2017 – Malaysia is moving forward towards empowering women to achieve gender equality in leadership and social innovation, a goal for 2030. It is time to realize Women Empowerment Festival and support women in rewriting their own destiny. Women is a huge work force that will shape Malaysia as a developed nation, an undeniable key to economic growth, political stability and social transformation. Women Empowerment has become a significant topic of discussion in recent years. It is said that Women are the main driving force behind decades of growth & the way forward to empowering women to return to work and rise to the top. Countries in the region, that have done the most to tap women’s talents and capacities, have travelled furthest in many aspects of human development.
Entrepreneur and advocate for the empowerment of women, June Yap, the Founder of Shine From Within, who is also the organizer of the 1st Annual Women Empowerment Festival (WEF) and National Director of Mrs. Malaysia & Borneo International Global 2017, June Yap, once a struggling single parent herself, is passionate about helping women to become better prepared, skilled, independent and to follow their hopes and dreams. A firm believer of her own motto, the 6’Cs : “You have the CHOICE, to take the CHANCE or your life will never CHANGE. Unlock your COURAGE and your CONFIDENCE and tell yourself that you CAN, to Shine From Within and Live Your Dreams.” June Yap shared with a tears of joy, SHINE FROM WITHIN have successfully launched the very 1st inaugural Women Empowerment Festival 2017 with a theme “BE BOLD FOR A CHANGE”, which aims to bring together influential Malaysian professionals from the press/media, health, wellness and lifestyle, fashion, art, beauty, property and real estate, hospitality, and technology and finance industries to launch a powerful new platform.
WHY : Women Empowerment Festival 2017 (WEF) ? WEF platform aspires to attract and bring together successful women in business and in leadership to inspire and groom aspiring women who wishes to develop and change their lives. 1st Inaugural Women Empowerment Festival 2017 have appointed 2 Women Empowerment Festival Ambassadors and Mrs. Malaysia & Borneo International Global Ambassadors, and they are both successful women in their own respective industries - Datin Winnie Loo, the Founder of A Cut Above Group of Salons and Datin Jeanette Tambakau, the President of AMSPA, Association of Malaysian Spa and Founder of Jari Jari Spa and Academy in Kota Kinabalu. Also with support of several other strong women, Datuk Aminah Ambrose the President of SWEPA (Sabah Women Entrepreneurs & Professional Associations) and Puan Joanna Datuk Kitingan who is the Advisor of Women Empowerment Festival 2017. WEF celebrates the healthy and balanced lifestyles among modern-day’s women, comprising of the perfect strike between Family, Career, and Personal.
This brand new platform aims to appreciate every Women’s unique qualities & Empower women to return to work and rise to the top. WEF aspires to empower women by giving them opportunities to become agents of change within their communities and industries. Women Empowerment Festival hopes to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset, develop confidence, courage, and independence and build a support network for women. The 5 KEY ELEMENTS of Women Empowerment Festival (WEF) 1. Transformation : To empower women to unlock potentials and be the best versions of themselves, 2. Career : Nurturing and cultivating Entrepreneurship Mindset 3. Family Ties : Building awareness and education to strengthen family ties of the community and participants 4. Charity to Community : We place a strong emphasis on the importance of “Beauty Inside-Out” and aim to instill the term “Beauty with a Heart”, thereby, encouraging a “hands on” approach in giving back to the community of under-priviledged group of women (single mothers) 5. Culture & Tourism : Promoting the culture and tourism of Malaysia and Sabah.
The 3 KEY ACTIVITIES within Women Empowerment Festival (WEF) Firstly, 3 months transformative boot camp program. It is first of its kind, fresh and unique transformative contest that provides opportunities to all walks of Malaysian Married Woman, Divorced and/or Single Mothers to participate. The first batch of this unique 3 months boot camp program commenced in 1st September 2017, where a total of 16 participants who received multiple Personal Development workshops every weekend, transformative learning journey for the selected finalists, where they were each given the opportunity to explore and experience extensive pageant activities, such as self development workshops, fitness and wellness workshops, entrepreneurship / business workshops and family enrichments activities and sharing by successful Women in Business from across industries.
Participants were required to participate in various sponsors event & activities as well as visiting places that are planned according to the pageant itinerary. As for the Socio-entrepreneurship Charity Activity in collaboration with SWEPA ENRICHE 2.0 (Sabah Women Entrepreneurs & Professional Association), participants were required to come out with marketing plan, pitch to promote and sell the products produced by the under-privileged women in Sabah. With support of our Co-organizer SWEPA (Sabah Women Entrepreneurs Association), participants were very fortunate to experience a memorable journey of the greens, the sea, the cultural heritage and food during the 5 days 4 nights of Sabah Tourism, Cultural & Charity Visit, which was hosted by Shangri La Rasa Ria Resort & Spa and Zara’s Boutique Hotel.
The highlight of the 3 months transformative boot camp, is to select 4 winners to represent Malaysia and Borneo at an international pageant, Mrs. International Global 2017 that would be hosted in Kuala Lumpur in the end of January 2018, through Preliminary Judging Round and Final Judging Round during the Grand Finals Gala Dinner to assess their transformation and change at the end of the boot camp. Secondly, In 2018, we will launch the Shine From Within TV: Women In Business and in Leadership Interview Series - a platform for successful Women in Business and in Leadership from across industries to share their personal journey of success to the top and how they balancing their career, family and personal time, to inspire all walks of Women, particularly single mothers, separated women and disadvantaged women. Thirdly, in 2018, we will activate several Talk / Workshops (in partnership with other organizations), by inviting Successful Women of Substance (Entrepreneurs / CEOs) from various industries will be invited to share their personal journey success stories on how they balancing their career, family and personal time.
SWEPA as Co-organizer & Charity Partner for Women Empowerment Festival 2017 This year, we are delighted to have SWEPA (Sabah Women Entrepreneur & Professional Association) as the co-organizer as well as the charity partner for the Mrs. Malaysia & Borneo International 2017. SWEPA is currently led by the President, Datuk Aminah Ambrose, who is a very cheerful and inspiring woman. In this collaboration, SWEPA has supported with providing their Secretariat as the official training venue for the finalists to receive their Bootcamp training during weekends.
Topics covered were Mindset Change, Knowing Self and Other conducted by Miss June Yap, Journey to Entrepreneurship and Socio-Entrepreneurship conducted by Miss Mary Jim, the Founder of MJ by MUS as well as Datin Jeanette Tambakau, the Ambassador fo Women Empowerment Festival 2017 – Mrs. Malaysia & Borneo International Global 2017 and also the Co-Founder of Jari Jari Spa and Academy. In the subsequent months in 2018, SWEPA will continue to support to identify and invite successful Women of Substance to participate in SHINE FROM WITHIN TV campaign, where we will be interviewing successful women in business and leadership role particularly on their entrepreneurship journey.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PRELIMINARY JUDGING ROUND
On the 29th Nov 2017, the Preliminary Judging Round was hosted at our Platinum Sponsor’s venue, Wisma Elken, Elysyle Beauty Training Center. The event marks the end of the transformative boot camp and is the precursor to the Grand Finals Judging Round. Contestants received a significant percentage of their final points and are judged based on 3 main categories. The first category, Corporate Image and Business Presentation Round. Includes, but not limited to, a public speaking and presentation, where contestants will present their startup business idea, a personal branding and image session, where contestants must “put their best foot forward” and create a stunning and lasting first impression wearing corporate wear sponsored by The MOD House, Heels sponsored by Moments and Clutch Bag sponsored by MJ By MUS. The second category, Fitness and Wellness Lifestyle Round. All 16 Finalist wearing sports wear sponsored by YOME Sportswear showcasing a group fitness routine followed by showcasing their individual fitness lifestyle routine, which, they have learned throughout the 3 months boot camp, as well as explain to judges what they enjoyed most and why they enjoy it and what health benefits it provided them. The third category, Talent Round Competition. For finalist to showcase their hidden talents that are swept under the carpet during their day to day lives.
“The goal of the prejudging event is to establish and provide a fair platform and fair opportunity for the 16 finalists to showcase their well rounded inner beauty such as confidence from within, goals in life, command in public speaking and speech, how they take control of their personal fitness and well-being in life and showcase their hidden talents and skills. In addition, the goal of prejudging was to prepare the contestants by giving them their first taste of what it will be like in front of a crowd of almost 500 people, including friends and family members, during the Grand Finals Gala night. They must quiet their nerves and use this as a valuable opportunity to take chances and learn from their mistakes, as well as, solicit feedback from the judges. A panel of 16 judges, comprising of various industry experts, successful entrepreneurs and influential public figures provided feedback, shared their insights and passed on their knowledge today to the passionate contestants. Members of the media were also invited to witness this uniquely and fresh setup of how the Prejudging Round is organized to assess the inner beauty of each finalists.
Our esteemed judges (alphabetical by last name) who was present to witness and contribute their assessment to identify the finalists who shines from within the most. Datuk Aminah Ambrose President of SWEPA Dato Gavin Chan Founder & Principal of Outcast Dance Studio Datin Lea Chan Director of Sirocco Hospitality Group Dato Kee Hua Chee Celebrity Influencer and Chief Editor of http://keehuachee.blogspot.my/ Venus Cheng Founder & Fashion Designer of Niki Chong Vice President of Elken Global Eevon Chua Founder of YOME Sports Wear Janet C Ginibun Founder & Coach of Jazzercize Puan Joanna Datuk Kitingan Vice President of SWEPA Phyliss Lai Nyok Pek CEO of Pressto Asia Sdn Bhd Datin Winnie Loo Founder of A Cut Above Group of Salons Ho Kok Loong Founder & Designer of The MOD House Datin Irene Pang Vice President of Circle Holdings International Datin Jeanette Tambakau Founder of Jari Jari Spa of SWEPA Deledda Tan Founder, Malaysia of V Magic Malaysia Charles Tee Co-Founder & Coach of The Playground Fitness June Yap announced with determination, “Most of the contestants have confided in me that the prejudge for them was terrifying, as some of the judges have been their role models for quite some time and that they were afraid that they might make mistakes.
This is the power of having a panel of judges from various industries, there is bound to be overlap with the interests of the contestants,” For those not fortunate enough to have the honor to listen to the feedback provided by the judges, fret not. As part of the Women Empowerment Festival key activities in 2018, we are targeting to interview the majority of the judges and publish on social media, so everyone can benefit from their experiences. Check out our official facebook page SHINE FROM WITHIN for photos and updates. To find out more about Women Empowerment Festival Program, you can email us at womenempowermentfestival@gmail.com or watsapp us at +6012-2163800. For those not fortunate enough to have the honor to listen to the feedback provided by the judges, fret not. As part of the Women Empowerment Festival key activities in 2018, we are targeting to interview the majority of the judges and publish on social media, so everyone can benefit from their experiences.
GRAND FINALS JUDGING ROUND & CROWNING :
On the 1st Dec 2017, Grand Finals Gala Dinner was held at HGH Galaxy Banquet Hall between 6.30pm to 1230am. “The goal of the Final Round Judging is to assess the inner and outer beauty combined through 3 categories of Judging. The first category, National Costume and Self Introduction Speech. Participants were judged on the most creative national costume and their confidence in speech and elegant pesona. The second category, Shinju Pearls Showcase Catwalk Round. Participants we judged on their charismatic and elegant pesona and catwalk. The third category, Evening Gown and Sharing BOLD STORY TO CHANGE.
Participants were judged on their elegance and poise as well as MOST old story on their personal journey of struggle and how they were bold to change Datuk Aminah Ambrose President of SWEPA Dr Wendy Liew Founder Image Creator Jeff Lu Founder of JTL Empire Niki Chong Vice President of Elken Global Puan Joanna Datuk Kitingan Vice President of SWEPA Phyliss Lai Nyok Pek CEO of Pressto Asia Sdn Bhd Datin Winnie Loo Founder of A Cut Above Group of Salons Datin Jeanette Tambakau Founder of Jari Jari Spa of SWEPA Michael Wang Founder, Malaysia of V Magic Taiwan Shobie Malani Founder, MURFEST Mun Lai Choo (Kai Ma) Mrs. Malaysia International Global 2017 Charity Queen Ambassador 4 Newly crowned Grand Winners during the Grand Finals Charity Gala Dinner, and they are, Mrs. Malaysia International Global 2017 Winner – 36 year old Miss Harine Rathipriya from KL; Mrs. Borneo International Global 2017 Winner – 36 year old Miss Karen Lysa Augustine from Sabah; Mrs. Malaysia International Global 2017 Winner – 47 year old Miss Suganthi Namasivayam from KL; Classic Borneo International Global 2017 Winner – Jennifer Chok Pin Lin from Sabah.
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