Maha Lakshmi: Bullied as a Kid for Having Curly Hair, Beauty Queen Learns to Love and Accept Herself
“I despised my hair when I was a kid because I was bullied excessively for having curly hair. In primary school, kids would throw staple bullets and pour eraser shavings into my hair. At that age when you’re so young and just want to be accepted, it was so hard to fit in.”
“Every year on her birthday, I make sure that my daughter says a prayer for her biological mother. For most, birthdays are about others holding celebrations and buying you gifts; but, birthdays are actually not about you. They’re about your mum, the one who gave you life.”
“The biggest thing I’ve learnt on this journey is that self-care is crucial, especially in parenting. As the saying goes, ‘You can’t pour from an empty cup.’ Anything can happen with the kids, but when I become dysregulated with my emotions, that’s when things go down the drain…”
“When you meet someone for the first time, you always get asked what you do for work. You might reply saying you’re a consultant or an accountant, and by doing so, you automatically put yourself in a box. That’s just very limiting to me, and it took me a while to break out of it…”
“The worst thing I feared came true when I left the company. I was accused of stealing clients’ money. Debt collectors started chasing me and I started receiving death threats from the company’s clients…”
“A lot of people fail to understand that most of the time, the situation these parents are in is not a matter of choice for them. They are in survival mode. It’s not that they don’t have initiative or don’t want the best for their kids. They’re just trying their best to make ends meet.”
“During those two years, he was sober for only six months. Yet everyday, being sober was a mental battle for him, and I wasn’t aware of it. Whenever he was on edge and I triggered him, it took everything within him to restrain himself from drinking his problems away.”
Humans of Sentosa | “My passion’s always been water, whether it’s fishing, diving, sailing. I travelled a lot at the time and was looking for a yacht anyway. And in my searches, I came across a ship in Chicago, and I thought, ‘Wow, she looks magnificent!'”
“Radio gave me my calling, that I should spread joy and laughter wherever I go, and to make a difference, one life a day. And that’s exactly our philosophy at MADLY Gems – to spread joy and beauty and make a difference in a person’s life, one bespoke piece at a time.”
“I knew that if I had shut down the business, there would be nothing left except to look back in regret. I would forever link the business to the death of my son. That cannot be the case. That cannot be the way I remember my son.”
“So if you have the option of pursuing your true passion instead of ‘taking the easy way out’, I highly recommend you do so. It may be scary, and it may not be the thing that pays your bills initially, but believe me, when you follow something you’re passionate about, the money arrives in one way or another.”
“So to all the aspiring dreamers out there, just believe in yourself. There will be external forces saying you’re no good or that you’re lousy, but if you don’t believe in yourself, nobody else will. And if you want to achieve anything in life, you have to fight for it.”
“I’ve been a workaholic my whole life. For someone who’s been working the way I have for the past 16 years, it’s a bit hard to adjust, right? I just love working. But I also realise there is more to life. I should enjoy myself more and take care of the people around me.”
“I started in sports therapy earning less than $50 a month. I was exploited and went through depression and faced so many challenges…but I have a successful career now and I go to work happy to see my clients and loving what I do.”
“Find a business with a mission for the future that you can get behind. In a small business there are going to be lots of challenges and having a guiding star is key to keeping motivated and hungry.”
Inspiring Creatives of Workbuddy | “In these past two years, I’ve had days where I genuinely thought ‘this is the end’. But what I’ve learnt is that being an entrepreneur requires persistence, resilience and never giving up. You learn to cope. You have to.”
Inspiring Creatives of Workbuddy | “Starting a start-up is a long ride with a lot of ups and downs. It’s a grind. If you do this just to become rich, you will probably give up at some point. You need to be a maker and enjoy building new things.”
Inspiring Creatives of Workbuddy | “My vision when we started workbuddy was to tell people that you don’t have to work at the same location everyday.”
“What keeps me going is the love for our community. It makes me happy when I’m able to help a person find halal versions of foods they love. At the end of the day, eating is an activity that brings people together. It seems so simple but it means so much to us…”
In celebration of Singapore’s resilient spirit, Arman Shah highlights home businesses that popped up during this challenging COVID-19 pandemic.
