When 1.74m-tall, 23-year-old full-time tutor Miss Aishwarya Nicole Tan secretly registered for Miss World Singapore earlier this year, she viewed it as a personal “side quest” to step out of her comfort zone.
With zero modelling experience and a self-proclaimed status as just a “selfie girl,” she had no idea she would walk away with the national crown on her very first try.
Due to her height, Miss Aishwarya’s family and friends always encouraged her to enter the world of beauty pageants.
After putting it off for many years, she finally decided to give it a shot this year.
Although she had the strong backing of her loved ones, she said she ultimately entered the competition for herself.
“For the past seven years, I have been working as a full-time tutor, teaching many students. Most of the time, I would teach classes seven days a week,” she said.
“Along the way, I realised that the time and attention I spent on myself was dwindling. Entering this competition was one of the decisions I made to change that situation this year,” she added.
With absolutely no prior experience in modelling or beauty pageants, she was clueless about the challenging journey that awaited her. She opened up about initially feeling intimidated by the other contestants.
“Many of those who competed alongside me were people who had specifically trained and prepared themselves for beauty pageants for several years.”
“I didn’t know many of the techniques and nuances that they were familiar with. However, I worked tirelessly to learn them. I am incredibly happy to have won the competition as a result,” she expressed.
Hospice Care Advocacy
Through this pageant, Miss Aishwarya realised that a person’s character and beliefs are far more important than superficial beauty and glamorous outfits.
She believes that a compassionate heart and a willingness to help those in need are what truly matter for a beauty queen.
It was based on this very belief that her advocacy campaign for the pageant was born.
Her greatest regret in life is not having spent enough time with her grandmother.
“Since childhood, I was very close to my grandmother. However, due to a heavy workload from 2020 until her passing in 2022, I was unable to spend much time with her,” she shared.
Deeply affected by her grandmother’s loss, she designed her advocacy campaign around hospice care centres.
By participating in hospice-befriending training, she stood as a role model for her loved ones and encouraged them to join the cause as well.
Beyond the elderly, she is actively involved in efforts to help anyone in need.
Although Miss Aishwarya carries herself with immense self-confidence today, her path was not a bed of roses.
As the only daughter of a Peranakan father and a Tamil mother, she faced a fair share of teasing and bullying during her childhood. She shared that she frequently experienced identity crises at school.
“My classmates would look at me strangely when I went to Chinese class since I was slightly tan.”
“As time passed, most people were able to understand my identity better. However, it was hurtful to be treated differently by many when I was young,” she said.
Budding entrepreneur
Aside from being a beauty queen and a tuition teacher, Miss Aishwarya is also an entrepreneur.
She runs a quick-sketch caricature company called “Speedy’s Doodles” and a small media production house with her partners.
Instead of traditional photographs, “Speedy’s Doodles” provides hand-drawn caricatures at events. She highlighted that the company actively tries to provide more opportunities for young artists.
Having won the national ‘Miss World’ title, she will be representing Singapore on the international stage in Vietnam from August 9 to September 5.
She mentioned that this will be a completely new experience for her, as she has never travelled alone or even with friends before.
“Right now, my only focus is to give 100% of my effort to the competition. I’ll worry about winning and losing later,” Ms Aishwarya said with a chuckle.
