FORMER Miss Universe Malaysia Elaine Daly wears many hats. The model, actress, emcee, host, entrepreneur, wife and mother has for many years been a role model for young women who are seeking to have a good career, balanced with their family life.
She is currently the national director of Miss Universe Malaysia, Channel director of hurr. tv and founder of LeadUp.Asia, which was launched last November to help women develop interpersonal skills to empower them to pursue careers without boundaries.
“I have been running the Miss Universe Malaysia pageant organisation for quite a while, actually,” she said. “I have always been mentoring young women, I have always been asked by cooperations to give talks and empower their staff members. So I figured, why not start my own company? That is how LeadUp.Asia was founded.
“The idea was for students just coming out of school, to equip them with skills to be better versions of themselves when they come out to work. A lot of students these days, when they come out they may have paper qualifications but not the soft skills, the skills to go for interviews.
“I focus on non-verbal communication skills that include grooming and confidence building, where your gestures and body language is super important.”
Daly said that modern women have evolved by leaps and bounds, in contrast to the past where Asian women were once taught to be ‘soft’ and compliant.
“We have got prime ministers [in other countries] who are women. [However] just 17% of CEOs in Malaysia are women. Here, we are trying to break the glass ceiling to show these women and their male counterparts that women can also lead companies, build organisations and build companies.”
Daly’s hurr.tv is an online TV channel that she started just over three years ago. Its programming is targeted towards the mass Malay market and the youth. This same platform also offers online grocery purchasing and food delivery services.
Many people have started similar ventures like LeadUp.Asia, but most do not bring with them the kind of experience and qualifications that Daly has.
“It is definitely derived from experience. I don’t have paper qualifications. It is all experential learning for me. Being equipped with all these skills, I know what is needed. With whatever I have, I want to leave a legacy behind. Not to brag about it, I just want to empower women in a very big way that can make their dreams come true, as cliche as that sounds.”
There were a lot of training sessions lined up before the movement control order (MCO) but they are now on hold because these sessions require Daly to be there in person.
“Just before the government changed, I did this big talk for International Women’s Day with the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development. They wanted me to talk about interpersonal skills and breaking the glass ceiling.”
It was also targeted at women returning to the work force after having kids.
Being a mother herself, we asked Daly what advice she has for parents.
“I think the most important thing I have seen is that kids are molycoddled too much. When they come out to work, they are not as independent. Now, as soon as they finish school, the parents buy them a car. At the age of 27 or 28, they still don’t know how to think on their own feet.
“Parents need to let them go a little, they need to let them be independent.”
