Susan is a Sabah native who’s been all about that art life since day one. She’s always had a sketchbook handy, even as a kid. She went to college in Sarawak to major in Fine Arts, where she dove headfirst into a whole bunch of new creative mediums. We’re talking graphic design, sculpting, printmaking, video editing, photography… you name it, she tried it. And TBH, all those skills came in super handy in the many jobs she had post-grad.

But get this, along the way, Susan stumbled upon another art form she totally fell in love with – makeup. And, like, she’d always dabbled in it before, but never really took it seriously until she realised it was her true calling. And with all the artistic background she had, it was a match made in heaven. Nowadays, Susan’s a total boss as a makeup content creator, using all her talents to slay the game. It just goes to show, you never know where your passions will take you!

In this Insider Spotlight, we speak to Susan all about her journey, and passion.

Interview with Susan

What inspires/ attracts you to creating makeup related content?

This is a funny story because I had no plan to be a makeup content creator in the first place. I just downloaded Tiktok when the first wave of pandemic hit and the country was in lockdown. I was bored with nothing to do at home so I downloaded the app just for fun. I was quickly inspired by all the makeup content on my For You Page. I just thought I could do the exact same thing too to pass the time as a hobby until I realised one of my videos went viral. That’s when I knew my hobby had the potential to be something even more.

As a makeup artist, who is your role model or any MUA that you look up to?

There’s so many MUA that have inspired me but if I have to choose just one, it would be Michelle Phan. She was the one who I wanted to be like so bad ever since I was 12 years old. She was the first person who made me fall in love with makeup when I first discovered YouTube and seeing her growth from being a small makeup content creator until she started her own makeup brand made me believe that nothing is impossible for me too.

What kind of challenge have you experienced as a content creator and how did you overcome it?

I think the biggest challenge I have to this day is creativity burn out. That’s the thing about turning your passion into your career. It’s either going to be great or really bad. What starts out as fun can sometimes be really stressful to see your hard work go unnoticed because of algorithm fluctuations. Once it happens, I have to come up with new interesting content and expand my creativity to keep my account growing. No one is staying for just the same content over and over again no matter how talented you are. You just have to keep up with the ever changing trends every single week without also losing yourself on the way.

What is the proudest makeup look that you have ever created in the past year?

This is very hard to answer because it’s like asking me to choose among my children haha. I love all of my work but I think the proudest makeup look I’ve done this year is my own version of Harley Quinn. I’ve wanted to cosplay her for so long and this year I finally had the budget to DIY the baseball bat and pull together a black and red outfit. I know I had better looking makeup looks but I’m proud of this one specifically because of the love and original ideas I put behind it.

Who do you wish to collaborate with in the future and why?

I’ve been really loving @natashajanewood on Tiktok not only because of her amazing original makeup content but her acting along her process videos really inspired me too which is why she’s the one I want to collaborate with the most.

What is one piece of advice you would give to someone who is just starting out?

Honestly, just do it. If you want to do it, don’t wait. Most of all, don’t ever be scared of being “cringey”. This fear will only hold you back from experimenting and putting yourself out there.

Lastly, what will your makeup line be named? If you ever have one in the future.

I love this question because I have figured this out probably since 2016. I’ll name my makeup line as Ray of San which if you notice is a wordplay of the sun and also my whole branding as sansanray. It will be centered around the inspirations of the sun. That’s all I can say for now as I don’t want to jinx it haha.