What's in... Fay Hokulani's gym bag

Who: Miss Fay Hokulani, 27, is a Singaporean model-turned- fitness trainer who has also hosted TV shows.

Singaporean model-turned- fitness trainer Fay Hokulani, 27, has come a long way - from being a frail teenager to becoming a fitness trainer, TV host and an Adidas ambassador.

"I had low blood pressure when I was young, so I would always faint easily," she recalled. As a result, she could not participate much in sports.

Her passion for health and fitness started only when she became a model. It is a profession she had never dreamed of.

"I always wanted to be an artist or designer, or something like that," said Miss Hokulani, who holds a diploma in Visual Communication from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa).

Her intended career path took a different turn, however, when a talent agency scouted her to participate in the Teens magazine modelling competition. The then 18-year-old went on to finish second runner-up and her modelling career took off.

"It was really fun, as you get to play different characters and wear different clothes," she said.

But in her final year at Nafa and while still modelling, she found herself putting on weight due to always staying up late and having a diet of junk food.

With the pressure to stay thin for her modelling work, she turned to skipping meals and over-exercising.

The turning point came after she read a book her aunt gave her, titled Body For Life, by Bill Phillips.

It inspired her to eat right and exercise in the right way.

"It has stories of people who changed their diets and their lifestyles, and it gave me an idea how to get started," she said.

After she graduated from Nafa, Miss Hokulani took some time to stay in the United States with her aunt.

When she returned to Singapore, she had a newfound passion for health and fitness. She started to blog about it and drew from her own experiences.

The blog led to job opportunities and she started getting castings for hosting gigs. She hosted her first television show, on the Okto TV channel, in 2009. She then went on to host football programmes for Astro SuperSport and ESPN FC.

As more people asked her for fitness tips, she decided to apply for a fitness trainer licence so that she could dole out "professional advice". This was during a work stint in Kuala Lumpur.

This eventually led to her becoming a part-time fitness trainer. And yes, she juggled that with her modelling and hosting careers.

Not one to stay still, she even took up yoga and is now a certified yoga instructor.

But her wanderlust is acting up again.

Next month, she will be moving to Manila with her boyfriend, Mr Charles Wright, 30, a senior commercial manager of an international tequila company.

"We are both literally just going to move there and start to explore," she said.

"Life is too short to just stay in one place," she added.

This article was first published on Mar 25, 2015.
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