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SINGAPORE \u2013 Winnalyn Tay did not enjoy going to class in secondary school.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll you do is just study and then PE, recess and study,\u201d said the 19-year-old. The only classes she liked were chemistry lessons in the laboratory. \u201cI just like being out of the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really lost, not knowing what to do in future… I know I\u2019m going to ITE, but what course?\u201d<\/p>\n
When her mother suggested nursing, she could not summon much enthusiasm. But while looking up courses in the lead-up to her N levels, she stumbled upon the beauty and wellness course at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College East and felt a spark.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich girl doesn\u2019t want to learn make-up? I was also starting to get into skincare,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
After struggling with acne and blackheads, Tay researched ways to manage breakouts and experimented with various cleansers, moisturisers and face masks. \u201cThat was when I started to buy and test which ones suited me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tay was happy to find out that ITE\u2019s beauty course, unlike lessons in secondary school, was highly hands-on. \u201cIt\u2019s not just pen and paper,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
ITE\u2019s Higher Nitec course in beauty and wellness management teaches students skills in make-up, beauty treatments, nail services, body care, basic hairstyling and salon operations. Tay is in her third year of the three-year course, after which she plans to progress to the technical diploma in this area.<\/p>\n
She liked it so much that she signed up to compete in the beauty therapy category at WorldSkills after learning about it from her class adviser.<\/p>\n
Tay will represent Singapore at WorldSkills Shanghai<\/span><\/a> in just over a week\u2019s time. She will face 21 competitors from other countries. The competition will assess her techniques in a chosen combination of services, such as a facial and a pedicure, on a model over two or three hours. It also tests how she speaks to customers and takes care of their modesty, among other things.<\/p>\n \u201cAt first, the training was very new to me, (with my) having to absorb every technique, having to practise the same thing every day. It gets tiring, but at the same time it\u2019s rewarding,\u201d Tay said.<\/p>\n She trained in four-hour stretches before and after class from January to July, giving up lunches with her friends.<\/p>\n \u201cI was nervous. I do this so many times a day, a week, but what if on the day itself, I don\u2019t do well? What\u2019s the point?\u201d<\/p>\n Tay was relieved to find her hours of hard work paying off at the WorldSkills ASEAN in Manila in August 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce you start, you get into the flow state… Everything you train for, all the steps, will come naturally,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She walked away with a silver medal and was later selected to represent Singapore at WorldSkills Shanghai.<\/p>\n Her greatest takeaway from WorldSkills is discipline and commitment.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just a one-time thing. It\u2019s throughout your life… You need that resilience to keep going,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Tay, who hopes to specialise in skincare, said the challenge of being a beautician is achieving the results clients want.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they say, \u2018I want a lift,\u2019 then you have to give them the lift. If not, they\u2019d complain, \u2018I paid so much money for what?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Beauty is pain, as the saying goes \u2013 but Tay would beg to differ. Client comfort is as important to her as the results \u2013 both in the competition and at work.<\/p>\n While interning at a facial chain, Tay was pleased when a customer told her that her hands were gentle even when performing an extraction \u2013 a procedure that removes blackheads, whiteheads and oil from clogged pores.<\/p>\n \u201cIt made me feel like I did my part,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Tay said joining the competition has made her happier and more confident.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t dare to really talk to people,\u201d she said of her past self. \u201cI hadn\u2019t got out of my bubble yet. I was in my comfort zone.\u201d<\/p>\n Now Tay has a different outlook on life \u2013 she wants to live with no regrets. She hopes to work as a facial therapist and eventually build her own home-based business.<\/p>\n As for her hopes for WorldSkills, Tay said: \u201cI\u2019ll do my best \u2013 more than my best, 200 per cent. As long as I come back feeling proud of myself, that\u2019s enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n SINGAPORE \u2013 Winnalyn Tay did not enjoy going to class in secondary school. \u201cAll you do is just study and then PE, recess and study,\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":84700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/84700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Gentle does it<\/h2>\n
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