It was after one of my events I have emceed, I walked down the stage whereby a stranger asked me "So, how long have you been in the entertainment industry?". And I said "Hmmm, I work for the IT company". Quite suprised, he said "Owh, I thought you were a professional emcee". I was pretty much on cloud nine. I mean its not everyday, some stranger sing praises right? :) And well, I received some saying "owh, she can do it, she's jacyln". Little did they know, it was easier said than done.
I grew up a chatter box and everyone knew it. But I never got it on to stage, till of course I was in college. It was a beauty pageant, whereby I stepped on to stage - gleaming with pride to see my mom smiling at the front seat, and then it happened - stage fright. Words could not come up, and I started blabbering - it was a nightmare to remember. Well, that is for me, but my family thought it was a good joke to talk about every chinese new year, and possibly any family reunion. And to be honest, nobody knew how it negatively impacted me. Every night, if unfortunately I thought about it - my mind will constantly replay it over and over again.
And then one day, I took charge of it. I went to my mom and said "Look mom, I am going to join another beauty pageant". And well, she laughed and told my family, which then laughed at me. On the day of the competition, my mom being the 'mom that need to be there to be a good mom' reluctantly came to support. There, I took a deep breath and told myself "This is it. I know what I need to do". I stepped on stage and delivered my speech smoothly and even managed a laugh or two in the crowd. My mom was, well speechless. At the semifinal round, my mom called her friends and my family for support. They were reluctant too but well, as I delivered my speech, I could practically see their jaws dropped to the floor. My sister, a former beauty queen said "oh dear, I need to find a new place for my trophies".
And so, after winning the semifinals by 70% vote, someone asked me "You're a born speaker". I tell them "No, I'm not. I learn that we tend to gain everything when we say something, and tend to lose everything when we don't". And that was the motto I live by every time I am on or off stage.
And as random as it may go, I was inspired to write this story because I met individuals at the National ICT Conference event held at Putrajaya International Convention Centre (07-08/07/2011) :) Most of them said "Perempuan ni... pandai cakap! / This girl, she's a smooth talker!"
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