FOR OVER a decade, Winnie K has been busy not only putting out music through Chinese New Year compilation albums (she is among the several artistes usually featured), but also doing a lot of charity work for various organisations, including being one of 13 Red Ribbon Celebrities for the Malaysian AIDS Council.
She is especially proud of all the Chinese New Year albums she has been featured in over the years.
“Did you know that the Chinese New Year albums from Malaysia are considered the best in the world? I have gone on radio and TV for interviews in China, and they are impressed by our Chinese New Year albums. I told them that it was the culture in Malaysia.”
Winnie K (shortened from Kok) has come a long way since representing Malaysia on the reality talent show Asia Bagus at age 13 (she won the Singapore round, and was the first runner-up at the finale in Tokyo).
In 1998, she had the honour of performing during the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony at Bukit Jalil Stadium, and in 2000, she hosted travel show Destinasi in Bahasa Malaysia.
Winnie released her first album called Happy In Love in 1999. Since then, she has gone on to release three more solo Chinese albums, one solo Malay album and has been featured on several other compilation albums.
She is also a much sought-after model and product spokesperson.
Winnie is also a very charitable person who is willing to help out whenever she can. Speaking about her involvement with the Malaysian AIDS Council, she explained: “They contacted me over ten years ago. They asked me if I wanted to be one of their Red Ribbon ambassadors. I said definitely. I like doing charity work.
“I don’t only work with organisations, I also do charity work on my own. When people contact me for help I will go and do things like delivering food to old folks homes.”
Winnie said she is ever willing to help out when it comes to doing shows to raise funds for charitable causes.
Though she did not hail from a wealthy family, helping the underprivileged was something she has been doing since she was a little girl. She would give up her pocket money for someone who needed it more.
“It makes me feel good to be able to make someone happy,” she said.
“When I became a singer, I really appreciated the fact that I was able to help even more people.”
So if a friend tells her that they are organising a charity or fundraising event, Winnie will often pitch in to help if she has the time.
“It doesn’t have to be a big event. I don’t mind performing at small events.”
This year, the Covid-19 pandemic has thrown a damper into some of her plans. But Winnie is still soldiering on.
For this year’s Malaysian AIDS Council fundraising event, she performed online to help raise funds.
“To be honest, performing online is very different from performing live. This is the first time in all my years in the industry that I had to perform online. You can’t see the response of the audience.
“But we have no choice. This is the new norm.”
Winnie added that the livelihood of many local entertainers had been affected greatly by the pandemic.
“So many of my shows have been cancelled since February. These include my shows abroad. But I have to try to think of alternative opportunities.
“To be honest, I was quite frustrated for the first two months (when the MCO was announced) . But I still try to think positively.
“I actually have some offers to do an online reality show for a company from China. I am currently in negotiations. The idea is to allow viewers to follow me as I go through my usual routine, such as cooking and kick-boxing.”
Though she has tried her hand at acting before, appearing in the musical drama Beautiful Life and the 2005 mystery-horror film Potret Mistik, Winnie said she is essentially a singer.
“If there is a good offer, I will think about it. But I lean more towards singing.”
