Beauty queen finds her footing in the US

PETALING JAYA: Miss Malaysia first runner-up Christina Chelliah ( pix) gave up a good job with a stable income in the legal profession for an entertainment career in the United States.

Christina, who holds a law degree from the University of London and had a fiveyear career with the Malaysian Bar as an advocate and solicitor, made the move to New York in 2013.

Christina, who is here on a short holiday, recalled the legal profession being a stumbling block to her real career path as she had to sacrifice a lot, including her modelling jobs when becoming a practising lawyer.

Christina said she even had a tough time getting approval from her firm and the Bar to be featured in a campaign for the University of London, of which she was the Malaysian ambassador.

“That was in my first month of practice in the legal firm … they even had to have a meeting for that.

“Since then, for five years, I did not take part in any modelling, and that was my life,” she said.

Practising law would however always be a part of Christina, who even after moving to the US, is still involved as a parttime law tutor.

“I found this International Centre for Legal Studies (ICLS), an online school, which is a registered centre for the University of London, providing tuition for those pursuing a law degree.

“I am now in my second year teaching. And since it’s an online school, I can grade the students, and post notes from anywhere,” she added.

The Miss Malaysia Tourism World 2002 said that it also made sense to move to New York so she could be with her fiancé, Chris, whom she first met when she visited the US in 2010.