Fulfilling a tall order

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SINCE her secondary school days, Eleen Yong, 25, has often been asked whether she wanted to be a model.

“I grew up admiring models. But I lacked confidence, even though most people thought I would make a good model,” said Yong.

“In college, my taxation lecturer said, ‘You do not need to study anymore, you can become a model.’ This was just after exams, and I thought I had just failed his paper,” she recalled with a laugh.

Careful deliberation: Yong thoroughly assessed her www.global-model.com future plans before taking take the plunge.

Given her height of 179cm, it is probably a surprise to most that Yong had thought nothing about pursuing a career in modelling.

In fact, she graduated with an accounting degree from Tunku Abdul Rahman University in 2005 before deciding to take the plunge into modelling.

“I switched from the Science stream to Arts and Accounting, because that was where my strengths were, and also because it was a ‘safe’ line of work. I also liked doing business-related things,” said Yong.

The decision to switch to modelling came after some part-time shows. Yong’s first beauty contest was a charity pageant.

“It was a great learning experience for me. All I had was my height, and no training. But I liked the idea of modelling so I took up a professional course where I learned to catwalk, pose and everything else related to modelling,” she said.

Graduating in 2009, Yong joined the Malaysian reality television series Ford Supermodels of the World Malaysia and emerged first runner-up, as well as winning the Miss Malaysia International Model of the Year 2009.

Since then, she has gone into modelling full-time, although she knows it will not be a permanent career choice.

“When I set out to do this job, I sat down and thought it out. The things I planned to do, could I still do them when I was older? I felt they could wait, that is why I am focusing on modelling first,” Yong explained.

From the time she went into modelling, there has been a change to her lifestyle.

“For example, I used to stay up late, hang out at the mamak stall for supper. But now, I have to be disciplined and turn in early. It’s the same with my meals, having to eat a balanced diet, I started to embrace a more healthy lifestyle by taking up sports as well,” she said.

Now Yong has also taken up running, although she said it’s still a far cry from running the full 42.19km of a marathon.

“Maybe it is because I never liked running but my friend encouraged me and I am slowly moving from five, 10, 21 and then maybe in the near future, the full 42km,” she said.