From beauty queen to associate professor, there's no stopping Soo Wincci
If we could pick a song to reflect Soo Wincci’s personality - it would be Queen’s “Don’t stop me now”, because in all honesty, she doesn’t know how to stop. Of course, we don’t mean that in a bad way.
The Selangor-born celebrity wears many hats throughout her illustrious career. She is a singer, actress, composer, host, model, beauty queen, entrepreneur, PhD holder and her latest feat is being appointed as an associate professor.
Being the first Miss World Malaysia to be appointed in an academic position has put her in the Malaysia Book of Records.
The beauty queen who already holds six academic degrees in various fields, agrees that success doesn’t come easy, she owes it all to hard work and dedication.
In an interview with Sinar Daily, she opened up about her journey to being appointed as an associate professor with UiTM Shah Alam at the Faculty of Music, teaching students the subject of music production and business.
“I was really shocked to be appointed to that position.
“I went to the interview and followed the standard procedure like others, but never in my mind did I think they would actually offer me to become an Associate Professor. I honestly thought they were going to reject me,” she said.
Even so, she’s not one to rest on her laurels so that only means she’s working on her new goals to achieve.
DEFYING THE STIGMA
Soo has all the hallmarks of a beauty queen but that doesn’t mean she gets a free pass from facing discrimination and stigma.
Unfortunately the connotation that beauty and brains can’t exist together is still very much out there.
“I’ve had a few professors who thought that this girl wouldn’t graduate.
“I was also the youngest in the class, but I graduated and it’s thanks to my spirit of not giving up.
“I think the beauty queens are actually the underdogs who people would not expect to succeed in the education sector,” she said.
Soo mentioned how most of the beauty queens in this generation graduated with Masters or PhD.
“Look at the current Miss World now, most of them have obtained Masters or PhD. Don’t tell me that only good looks will get us far.
“This generation has it rough. A lot of times you have to break the ceiling, and only then you will be able to see something,” she said.
She advised the young generation to challenge themselves and push their limits because staying in their comfort zone means that they are not challenging themselves.
“Every generation must outperform the previous generation. I might be the first (Malaysian) beauty queen to be an associate professor but I hope there will be more in the future, because my story and journey can also show you how different it is now for the beauty queens,” she said.
To her, education is not just things you can learn in the books but it is a path to make new connections and gain knowledge.
NOT AFRAID TO FALL
Everyone in the industry knows that Soo has never taken any shortcuts to get to where she is today. Failure along the way, is expected.
“Failure makes me learn and it makes me smarter. You fail and learn when you are young and this is my journey as the invincible one.
“It is not about winning and winning. In my journey, there are wins and losses. But I learnt so much from each loss. That resonates with a lot of things so I guess my journey is different from other people because I dare to lose,” said Soo who is fluent in more than five languages.
WHAT’S NEXT?
As a woman of valor, she continues to step out of her comfort zone to try new things.
In addition to preparing for a new single, she wants to further hone her circus skills. Yes, you read that right.
Rather unexpected for a beauty queen, but when has Soo ever been predictable? She said she used to do hoop aerial and dance, among others, but stopped because of the pandemic.
With an art festival coming up this year, she felt that this is the perfect opportunity for her to train again.
Further down her “to-do list” - is to challenge herself by climbing Mount Everest next year! Wonder what else she will conquer after Everest!
