FYI She's got spunk - PROAZN.COM COMMUNITY: Asian Men and All Races of Women Coming Together

AZN · #1 (**permalink**) 08-15-2008, 10:27 PM

She's got spunk
Sobrina Rosli
Brunei Times
Publication Date: 15-08-2008

With talent and determination, beauty shouldn't confine a woman to fields of endeavour typically associated with the fairer sex. Take it from Paula Malai Ali, who has excelled in a career in a male-dominated industry.
She strode into the sportscasting arena equipped with experience and a healthy dash of spunk. Thirty-two-year-old Paula is a top Bruneian talent known to sports fans in the region. However, Paula, who will be among the panelists at Asia Inc's 'Women In Business' forum next week, did not rise to where she is overnight. The journey began about 15 years ago. Born to Bruneian and English parents, she left Brunei at the age of 18 to venture into the glittery world of showbiz. She began in theatre before moving on to different areas like television hosting, radio deejaying and modelling.
"I left high school at 18 and moved to Singapore. I worked with a theatre company for about two years and when I was 20 I was back in Brunei. I've always had itchy feet and get quite restless being in Brunei," she says, recalling her early days testing the waters of entertainment. Six months later she went to Malaysia to continue pursuing her dreams in show business.
"I did not want to move too far away from Brunei, so I went to Malaysia with the view of becoming a theatre actress. I did a lot of plays at a lot of theatres for about a year and a half."
Malaysia not only opened a lot of opportunities for her to pursue her dreams as an actress but also brought her to different fields within the industry where today she is now a key addition to ESPN Star Sport's strong group of presenters. "Malaysia is a great place, I eventually did radio work and my first television show and then more things on magazine covers and all that snowballed and created a name for myself. I've always known what I wanted to do, I followed my gut instincts and went to places where I thought I would be happy doing (what I wanted)," she says.
Today, Paula is a well-known and sought after Eurasian beauty in the entertainment industry in Malaysia as well as in the region. "I confirm 110 per cent that being overseas helped me achieve my dreams. Right now I reach millions and millions of households in Asia whereby if I were in Brunei I would not reach even half a million people. It is a big job which comes with a lot of pressure but as long as you do your best, you can make it."
Between 2002 and 2007, Paula was the face of the cosmetics line Silky Girl to which she lent her popularity and fan base for brand expansion in Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore markets.
Proving her worth in the commercial industry, for three years between 2003 and 2006 Paula became the 'national ambassador' in Malaysia for Longines, a Swiss high-end watch manufacturer which is also a member of the Swatch Group. She has also graced the covers of glossy magazines such as FHM, Men's Review, He, New Man Marie Claire, Her World and Female. Paula has graced various networks like Channel [V] for four years. During her stint there she covered the Grammy's and interviewed high flying artists including Sting, Janet Jackson, Alicia Keys, Russel Crowe, Halle Berry and Robin Williams.
She has also hosted shows like Remote Control, The Ticket, Billboard Charts, Videoscope, (V) Countdown, The Inter(v)iew and Men In Music. Shifting away from entertainment hosting to sportscasting was a new learning curve for her.
Paula is a presenter for the Formula One pre- and post-race show--Race Day and Chequered Flag with Steve Dawson--and the weekly sports highlights show Seven@Sevenas well as anchoring a STAR Sports' news programme, Score Tonight.
"I think I have always been fairly confident in my abilities, I think there is a fine line between being confident and knowing that you still want to learn in every new job. You cannot be too proud. When you come to an interview, screening or audition with the conviction you are as good as or better than the next girl, you are already half way in," she says. Her lengthy list of achievements includes being a VJ on Nescafe Hot Ones as well as being featured in a special episode on the Oprah Winfrey Show which profiled successful women in their thirties.

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