Lila - Not Your Cool Average Girl

National footballer and model Lila Tan may look poised on the outside, but the second runner-up for Miss Universe Singapore 2021 once struggled with her own body image before deciding she would define confidence on her own terms.

- Grace Ma

A national footballer was among the top three winners of Miss Universe Singapore last year, which few would have expected. Add to that, second runner-up Lila Tan was a pageant rookie, and at the age of 18, was one of the youngest finalists in the competition.

It was Lila's uncle who encouraged her to take part in the pageant. I'm a very messy person. I'm very all over the place, confesses Lila, a finalyear student at international school Hillside World Academy. The competition didn't feel like it was something I would fit in, but I thought I'd just give it a try. I had to come face-toface with my anxiety at times, learn to speak my mind, and overcome my stage fright.

The past two years have been a whirlwind for Lila, during which she was spotted by her current modelling agency Misc. Management via her Instagram (@lilaatan) - she currently has over 15K followers and regularly posts photos of herself in Y2K-inspired outfits. On the sports front, Lila was called up for trials with the national Under-19 women’s soccer team in 2020. She was later selected for the squad going to the Asian Football Confederation Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers last September in Tajikistan. By the end of 2021, she was part of the national team.

The 19-year-old, who can speak fluent French and Mandarin, spent 14 years of her childhood in Shanghai, where her French mother and Singaporean father were working as a corporate general manager and a business consultant respectively. The family were back for their annual holiday in 2020 when international borders were shut, and they decided to stay in Singapore permanently.