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Having celebrated her 23th birthday in July, Bay Doucet loves celebrating small wins and little goals rather than waiting for one big moment to define her from a career perspective.
In terms of her work, Bay can be considered a triple threat: she is a
model, graphic designer and freelance content creator.
“I’m very honoured to be able to work with some brands that I admire and look up to through my content creation work. It’s been an honour to be the face of brand campaigns through my modelling work,” enthused Bay.
“And I’m extremely humbled to still be given a chance to learn and slowly improve my craft, whether it’s video editing, photography and graphic design,” added Bay.
“I studied Communication Design in university, and I’ve always enjoyed creating content for Instagram. I think the pathway into my career was extremely non-linear. I kind of learned to go with the flow, which is how I’ve ended up doing all kinds of odd jobs,” explained Bay.
From internship as a retail assistant and interior designer to working as a content and communications strategist at curated platform RIUH after graduation, Bay has done it all.
In November 2020, she decided to wholeheartedly pursue freelancing as she was receiving freelance work offers at her full-time job. Since then, it has been seven months of freelance content creation, graphic design and modelling. Needless to say, Bay is grateful for all the opportunities.
All the things that she learned from photography, lighting and makeup helped her tremendously to create content for brands. Most of all, her personal thoughts and ‘photo dump’ on Instagram have attracted people to resonate with her, personally.
For an honest and unfiltered interview with Bay Doucet, read this week’s instalment!
I think the most challenging part for me has just been the loneliness of WFH. Sometimes it’s really nice to bounce ideas off other people or just catch up with friends, which can sometimes be a source of inspiration for my work.
But I’ve been alright. I do enjoy working on my own. It’s pretty peaceful to be able to work in my own time. I’m incredibly grateful to still have work, so I’m trying to complain less about the loneliness and just continue pushing through.
Everyone going through WFH is struggling to separate work time from rest time. It can be difficult when our desks are just a few steps away from our bed. I’ve been trying my best to schedule rest and still keep my weekends free to maintain a form of work-life balance.
My biggest personal lesson learnt during the pandemic: reach out to people. I think we’re all lonely right now and while it’s okay to just stay in bed and watch Netflix, it’s been helpful to go out for walks or call a friend just to talk. Or plan Zoom call nights with friends to play games and catch up (my friends and I make a rule that we aren’t allowed to talk about the pandemic). It helps.
Also, don’t overbook my week. The first few weeks of this FMCO, my schedule was pretty empty. So, when work started coming in, I was tempted to say yes to almost everything – it was nice to be busy and occupied.
But saying yes to five deadlines in the same week was extremely stressful (especially because it’s so easy to work till 2 am when you’re working from home). I needed to adjust the amount of time necessary for each project since I’m essentially doing everything myself: from conceptualising the idea to shooting, editing, being in front of the camera, you name it.
This MCO, I’ve made it a habit to go on a walk almost every day. We spend so much time indoors, it’s easy to get a little sad or depressed.
Whenever I start having depressive thoughts, things like going out for a walk for at least half an hour, feeling the sun on my skin or calling a friend helps me maintain gratitude during this time. And it helps me get out of my head.
I’m not going to lie. It’s also really lovely to take a day off and binge-watch a show. But I’ve found going on walks, moving my body and making sure I eat well has been the most helpful for my mental health.
I really look up to my mum. We work in different industries, and her career path has been different from mine. Still, I look up to her determination and drive. She’s been my role model when it comes to work ethics, standing up for myself and knowing my worth when it comes to work.
When it comes to a career path I hope to emulate, I’m not too sure. I’m still figuring a lot of things out at the moment and dipping my toes in a lot of different industries. I used to be the kind of person who had to plan for my future and career. But lately, I realise that as long as I can work and continue to create things that I enjoy, I’m okay with whatever direction my career path takes me.
I’ve always been into many different things, so choosing just one thing to pursue has been difficult. My mum has been so encouraging when I wanted to explore other interests, and I really value that.
I could make up something that sounds like good advice to tell you, but realistically, my work-life balance hasn’t been the best throughout this pandemic. Some days I spend all day in bed, some days I work 9am to 2am. Having a freelancer schedule doesn’t help because work tends to be a little more sporadic, but I try my best to make sure I have time for myself throughout the day.
Like I mentioned: making time to call a friend, go on a walk, have a meal with my mum or clean my room, these are all little things that keep me sane. So, I try to make sure I check off at least two to three things I enjoy doing throughout the day.
Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there, whatever it is you want to do. I’ve learned that one opportunity leads to another as long as you do your best and leave a good impression.
I’ve noticed ‘word of mouth’ tends to take you quite far in Malaysia. People want to work with people they enjoy working with or have had a good experience with. So, never disregard the importance of client relations, maintain good relationships with your current and previous employers. You really never know where a job might come from.
Simple. I really don’t wear makeup unless I have a reason to. I like experimenting with colourful eyeshadow looks when it comes to home content shoots. Otherwise, I’m just a tinted lip balm girl from day-to-day. I do like a lovely dewy natural blush, some brow gel, a little liquid highlighter and a bold red lip, though!
I love Sunnies Face Cheek Tint in the shade disco, really buildable and dewy blush. I also love Chanel Beauty lipsticks! My favourite is Rouge Coco Bloom in the shade Sunlight or their Les Beiges Lip Balm in the shade Warm. I am also into Sofwanah Cosmetics Mesmerize Brows, Mad For Makeup Dot Glow Liquid Highlighter and Spotless Second Skin Serum Concealer.
Must-have products in general: I love candles, and Mood In Jars makes refillable candles which I think is incredible. Am I allowed to say I love my mattress? It’s from Joey Mattress, and it gives me the best sleep. Lastly, We Bare Bars solid face cleansers. I love using this in the morning, and it literally gets me out of bed. And a special shoutout to Room 203 Coffee that keeps me and my mum caffeinated every day.
Walking, yoga, stretching. I also like to go out to my yard in the evenings with a chair, sit down and drink. Cooking has been quite therapeutic lately as well. But I think my most considerable wellness activity at the moment is going on walks.
My main hope is that all my loved ones make it through 2021 safe and well. Career-wise, I don’t have a lot of big goals for the year. I think the pandemic has put many people under a lot of stress, and I’m just trying to take things one day at a time. I hope to do more home shoots since I enjoy them as a creative outlet.
I also hope to start a personal project this year, but we shall see. I don’t want to make any promises!
Having just turned 23, I really can’t say what my most significant accomplishment is yet. I feel like my life has just barely started! Every day when I wake up and do something new for the first time, it is a significant accomplishment for me. I view life as a series of small wins and little goals to celebrate, rather than waiting for one big moment to define me and who I am in my career.
I’m very honoured to work with some brands that I admire and look up to through my content creation work. It’s been an honour to be the face of brand campaigns through my modelling work. And I’m incredibly humbled to still be given a chance to learn and slowly improve my craft.
I think sometimes even I forget that I’m only 23! It’s easy to forget that I still have so much space and time to learn, grow and figure things out.
Sometimes, people assume if you have a large following on social media, you’d have everything figured out. I don’t. I’m still figuring things out every day, and I think that’s okay.
Maybe I’ll reach out when I’m 60 to let you know my biggest accomplishments. Still, for right now, I’m happy and content with my tiny wins and little achievements while I continue to figure life out.
Merdeka, to me, stands for unity. It reminds me of how I felt when I got my AstraZeneca vaccine a few weeks ago. When I was sitting in the hall with hundreds of people to fill out my consent form, I was looking around and saw Malaysians of all ages, races, cultural backgrounds and religions.
Even though we have to be apart now due to social distancing, we’re all in this together. So, hopefully, life can go back to some resemblance of normal and we can go out safely again and put this pandemic behind us. From #kitajagakita to #rakyatjagarakyat, and the current Bendera Putih campaign, all these campaigns were started by everyday Malaysians to help their fellow Malaysians in need. That’s what Merdeka is to me. Realising we all call this remarkable country home and that we’re all in this together to make it better.
Myeppo Talks To… is a weekly series in which we profile dynamic personalities. It is out every Monday. For more on Bay, follow her @baydoucet on Instagram.
