‘I was really lost’: Beauty course helped N-level student find her calling on the world stage

SINGAPORE – Winnalyn Tay did not enjoy going to class in secondary school.

“All you do is just study and then PE, recess and study,” said the 19-year-old. The only class she liked was chemistry lessons in the lab. “I just like being out of the classroom.”

“I was really lost, not knowing what to do in future... I know I’m going to ITE, but what course?”

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 ITE and felt a spark.

“Which girl doesn’t want to learn make-up? I was also starting to get into skincare,” she said.

After struggling with acne and blackheads, Tay researched ways to manage breakouts and experimented with various cleansers, moisturisers and face masks. “That was when I started to buy and test which ones suited me.”

Tay was happy to find out that ITE’s beauty course, unlike secondary school, was highly hands-on. “It’s not just pen and paper,” she said.

ITE’s 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.

She liked it so much that she signed up to join the beauty therapy category at WorldSkills after learning about it from her class adviser, a former competitor.

Tay will represent Singapore at WorldSkills Shanghai in just over a week’s time. She will face 21 competitors from other countries.

The competition will assess her techniques in a chosen combination of services, such as facial and 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.

“At 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’s rewarding,” Tay said.

She trained in four-hour stretches before and after class from January to July, giving up lunches with her friends.

“I was nervous. I do this so many times a day, a week, but what if on the day itself, I don’t do well? What’s the point?”

Tay was relieved to find her hours of hard work paying off at the WorldSkills ASEAN in Manila in August 2025.

“Once you start, you get into the flow state... Everything you train for, all the steps, will come naturally,” she said.

She walked away with a silver medal and was later selected to represent Singapore at WorldSkills Shanghai.

Her greatest takeaway from WorldSkills is discipline and commitment. “It’s not just a one-time thing. It’s throughout your life... You need that resilience to keep going,” she added.

Gentle does it

Tay, who hopes to specialise in skincare, said the challenge of being a beautician is achieving the results clients want.

“If they say, ‘I want a lift,’ then you have to give them the lift. If not, they’d complain, ‘I paid so much money for what?’”

Beauty is pain, as the saying goes – but Tay would beg to differ. Client comfort is as important to her as the results – both in the competition and at work.

While interning at a facial chain, Tay was pleased when a customer told her that her hands were gentle even when performing an extraction – a procedure that removes blackheads, whiteheads and oil from clogged pores.

“It made me feel like I did my part,” she said.

Tay said joining the competition has made her happier and more confident.

“I didn’t dare to really talk to people,” she said of her past self. “I haven’t got out of my bubble yet. I was in my comfort zone.”

Now Tay has a different outlook on life – she wants to live with no regrets. She hopes to work as a facial therapist and eventually build her own home-based business.

As for her hopes for WorldSkills, Tay said: “I’ll do my best – more than my best, 200 per cent. As long as I come back feeling proud of myself, that’s enough.”