Myeppo Talks To: Elaine Daly, Kavita Sidhu and Tong Bingyu: Empowered Women, Empower Women, Presented by BABOR

In partnership with BABOR, myeppo recently hosted our first virtual talk show Myeppo Talks To: Elaine Daly, Kavita Sidhu and Tong Bingyu: Empowered Women, Empower Women.

For this debut outing, myeppo was honoured to have Victoria Ong as the moderator/interviewer. A former TV journalist and producer with Channel NewsAsia, Victoria is also a seasoned MC/moderator with over 15 years of experience in hosting live and virtual events.

She is joined by a panel of esteemed celebrities: Datin Elaine Daly (national director of Miss Universe Malaysia), Tong Bingyu (award-winning actress and producer) and Kavita Sidhu (entrepreneur and actress). 

Our three guests all share a striking similarity: they have won a beauty pageant at one point in their lives. Elaine was herself Miss Universe Malaysia, Tong was Miss Malaysia Chinese Cosmos and Kavita was Miss Charm International. Each has a beauty pageantry background, but all had to evolve to become seen for more than their looks.

“Pretty is having a good appearance no doubt,” says Tong. “But beauty is something that shines from within. As a woman, we have to have confidence in ourselves. Take up every challenge in our life and be brave and confront every failure. Just accept the imperfections.”

According to Elaine, who is exposed to international beauty pageants, beauty is very subjective. And sometimes, you can be unfairly judged on outer appearance. “Throughout the years, I have had people who doubted my ability, when it comes to certain things like acting in a challenging role. No matter what industry you’re in, there will always be sceptics and you just have to prove them wrong.”

Adds Kavita: “Society has put pressure on what the ideal beauty should look like. For me, real beauty is confidence and having presence. It doesn’t matter what you look like, its how you show up. Now, that’s real beauty.”

“Women’s empowerment is still progressing in Malaysia, but there are inspiring women everywhere,” Kavita goes on to add. “For me, my mother is an incredible role model. I only realised this a few years ago the impact of what she did in the 70s, being a doctor and having to break that barrier without realising it. She and her team of women doctors paved the way for younger generations. So, that’s inspiring and empowering to me. It’s something that we need to carry on doing in order for women to have a better workplace.”

Tong agrees and sees a promising future: “We have more strong females in the workforce who are also leaders. Regardless of the gender, everyone should be treated equally.” 

To hear more of Elaine, Kavita and Tong Bingyu’s thoughts on their inspirational women, their role models and how they’ve been keeping up during this pandemic, be sure to watch the video. 

Many thanks to our sponsor BABOR for bringing this panel to life. “When myeppo came to us with the idea of hosting a panel about women’s empowerment in Malaysia, it was right up our alley as it aligned so strongly with our brand values,” says assistant marketing manager of BABOR Clover Quah.

“BABOR believes that beauty is more than just a pretty face. A truly beautiful woman triggers new ideas and inspires through her charisma, strength and courage. This has been a founding value of the BABOR brand since its inception in 1956, and with more than 60% of our workforce being women, we have walked the walk since day one. We couldn’t think of three women that better personify these qualities than Datin Elaine, Tong Bingyu and Kavita.”

If you would like to learn more about the BABOR products used by the guests on the panel, click here.