Welcome to Made in Asia, Lifestyle Asia’s podcast series that aims to connect cultural dots and communities across Southeast Asia through the power of voices and storytelling. This episode, powered by Nespresso, explores what it means to thrive and persevere in the arts industry today, and how creativity is fuelled through mindful rituals and daily routines. And today, for a casual chat over coffee about the perks and perils of the fashion and entertainment industry, Lisha Ho joins us — fashion model, actor, content creator and resident ‘It Girl’.
With love since 1986, Nespresso has kept reinventing café-quality coffee at home, opening up a world of new tastes, recipes and rituals. Because when you love coffee, you keep asking: What Else? Throughout Lisha’s career—which has flourished for more than 10 years now—she has cemented herself within the industry, and so this question is frequently at the back of her mind. She lives her life through a kind of duality: a fierce and rather serious persona when she works; bubbly and a little ‘crazy’ when she’s among her friends and peers, loving fast cars.
Lisha was discovered by a stylist at a beauty pageant years ago (after being peer-pressured by her friends to), and she has quickly built up her portfolio since. In the early days of her modelling career she was already flown out to Hong Kong for a gig, then Shanghai, and later Milan and London, before settling back home in Malaysia.
“I’ve met people in different countries, and sometimes I would still get culture shock,” Lisha says. We’re talking about how we receive compliments, and she admits that perhaps due to her Asian upbringing, she’d gotten used to instantly denying any praise that comes her way. “I remember the first time I was in Milan, I saw that they were, like, so open. I was like, ‘Oooh!’ They would just come and kiss you, and give you a hug. It felt really good. I love people hugging me. I feel like it’s a good way to know a person and connect with them more deeply.”
Now more than a decade into modelling and fashion, Lisha has built up a lot of confidence and trust in herself. “People’s opinions are just opinions,” she affirms, when asked about the one thing she has mastered since she first started out. “So, I’ve mastered how to block out the noises and really trust myself a little bit more. Because when you’re in this industry, a lot of people will give you different kinds of opinions. Back then I would get really depressed, but now I’ve come to embrace myself.”
What makes an ‘It Girl’ it?
Lisha’s time in Milan also taught her an important lesson when it comes to taking rejection. The life of a model of course comes with its perks, living in the glam of it all and getting to wear the best clothes. But the rejections are so frequent, so upfront; you learn to build a tough exterior through that.
“It’s not about you,” she affirms. “Sometimes it’s just not right for you. But it’s not about you. Not everything is about you. So, you have to accept the fate but there’s always something better ahead. Even though you’re a very good model, you are very skilful… sometimes it’s just maybe the season of the outfits. The clothes don’t fit your vibes, or don’t fit the character that you’re bringing in. It’s not about you. It’s just that they’re finding the right person to fit in their collection. So, you have to accept and trust yourself a little bit more, and be patient. Because I think there’re always a chance, and a chair for you to sit on at the table.”
As a self-proclaimed workaholic, Lisha grew into this mindset just two or three years into her career. She’s always been someone who is independent and learned to take care of herself at a very young age: “I started cooking since I was five years old, because my mum was too busy and I had to cook for myself. I would cook rice and fry an egg and put the sauce on. I had, like, a little stool to stand on.” She moved out at 17 years old after her SPM exams, because she always felt that she “needed more freedom” — citing her Aquarius roots for her free-spirited nature and her ability to adapt herself to her surroundings no matter where she is.
In her opinion, what truly makes an ‘It Girl’ boils down to having their own opinion, not just about the outlook but also how they express themselves, and how they carry themselves as they walk into a room. Jennie Kim and Liu Wen are only a few names that come to mind when Lisha thinks of the ‘It Girl’. “I really like their style, and the way they express themselves,” she says. “Not only are they really good in the sense of dressing up, but they have the confidence, like they don’t care about others’s [opinions]. They just stay true to themselves.”
Embarking into the acting scene, and what comes next
More recently, you might have seen Lisha on screen. She didn’t quite plan out her dive into the acting world — again, going back to her Aquarian nature — but it just so happened that the particular drama series that she debuted in had been looking for a model, and she fit the role to a T. “I find it very interesting,” Lisha says of acting, “and very fun to express myself. I feel like I enjoy acting a lot, because of the emotions and the character, and also the story behind [it].”
She recounts the first-ever scene she had to do, calling it “horrible” because she was overthinking it. Moving from modelling on set to acting was a bit jarring for Lisha — she was used to having to think about what to do with her body, so that sometimes following a simple directorial task became difficult. “I was thinking about it too much,” she shares, laughing. “Because as a model, you have to impress the designer. But in acting, no. You need to be a bit more natural than that.” Since then however, she has gone on to appear on various dramas and web series, including her most recent stint on Love Algorithm (2026).
Even in her day-to-day life, Lisha is someone who goes with the flow. She doesn’t tend to plan out her week or the rest of her life — she takes it day by day, and prefers to see where the wind will take her. In that sense, her ‘routine’ is no routine at all, and so every day looks just a little bit different than the last.
Hosted by Martin Teo, Editor-in-Chief of Lifestyle Asia KL, Made in Asia highlights the importance of mindful rituals and daily routines in its fourth season. Stay tuned as we bring you fresh conversations with some of the brightest trailblazers and voices in Malaysia and Singapore.
Special thanks: Crowne Plaza Kuala Lumpur City Centre
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Note : The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.
