Sheila Manokaran is an Institute of Technical Education (ITE) graduate and proud of it.
The 32-year-old is also a 2026 President’s Challenge Fellow under the ITE Inspire track, which recognises individuals who have achieved a remarkable career or entrepreneurial success following a technical education background.
Launched in May 2025 by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the fellowship will allow Ms Sheila to run more programmes – career talks, company visits and networking events – through the ITE Alumni Committee’s youth wing.
“Without strong alumni who want to give back, the future generation would not know what resources they have,” said Ms Sheila, who graduated from ITE in 2015 with a Higher NITEC (National ITE Certificate) in Process Plant Design.
She scored a 4.0 grade point average – a perfect score and a turn from her past academic endeavours.
In primary school, she was placed in the lowest-ranked stream. It did not help that the end-of-year exam period usually coincided with the festive season, so the Deepavali conversations were all about grades. House visits became fraught with criticism and comparison.
Fortunately, her parents never thought less of her for it. Her father is Indian, while her mother is a Filipino of mixed Chinese and Spanish descent. She is also close to her 89-year-old grandmother, or paati, who helped raise her and whom Ms Sheila describes as her anchor.
Other pillars of support included mentors and role models such as the late Mr P. Sivaraman, a philanthropist and former chairman of the Sri Krishnan Temple (SKT) at Waterloo Street, who covered much of Ms Sheila’s educational expenses during her years at ITE.
An example was the SKT Study Award, which she received in 2011. It provided her the funds to help pay for school fees and some pocket money to get through the difficult times.
“I think what was beautiful is that the journey didn’t end there,” Ms Sheila noted. She always came back to serve the temple in many different ways, like being an emcee for anniversary events and was involved in SKT’s 2018 kumbhabishekam or consecration ceremony.
In a full-circle moment, the 2026 Fellow would later sit on the very panel that handed her the award and played a role in the transfer of the endowment fund’s stewardship directly to ITE.
The importance of giving back was instilled in Ms Sheila by her parents from a young age. “My mother has always taught us to share whatever we have. People first, then ourselves,” she explained.
This trait is evident in her passion for working with youths from all walks of life.
In February 2022, she co-founded the River Valley Irregulars (RVI) – a youth tech platform and portfolio builder where users can post their queries in an interactive, social media-style forum and discover new opportunities like internships, entry-level jobs and events.
Ms Sheila and her team had previously surveyed around 230 youths aged 15 to 35 to better understand their pain points. They found out that many youths resorted to online portals like HardwareZone to ask questions about their education and interests.
As a result, RVI was created as a safe space for youth to voice their doubts and seek advice from their more experienced counterparts. Through partnerships with various educational institutions and companies, the platform has garnered over 7,000 users.
Ms Sheila was awarded the fellowship during the President’s Challenge Night, which raised more than S$11 million on Oct 25.
Speaking to reporters before the fundraiser, President Tharman said that, while people’s circumstances often shape their opportunities in life, it is important to remove the hurdles they face and give everyone a chance to succeed.
“Everyone, with the right support, and the right people around them, can uplift themselves and, in fact, surprise both themselves and others with how far they can leap, how far they can go in life, and how much they can contribute to those around them,” he added.
