Meet SUKKI | Actor, television personality and humanitarian

We had the good fortune of connecting with SUKKI and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi SUKKI, what is the most important factor behind your success?
Gosh there are so many things that determine success, but I think for me personally it’s been authentic passion. I’ve always believed that with enough conviction you can move mountains. If you believe in something strongly enough, nothing in the word is going to stop you, you’ll always find a way, no matter how impossible it may seem. To reinforce this, I tend to set myself mini mental and physical challenges, which is probably going to sound silly, but I do things like: okay so if you can climb this hike even though you’re exhausted, you can do anything. Or if you can stay in this ice bath for an hour, then you can do anything. Or if you can hold out in this sauna in the sweltering heat for 50 minutes, then you can do anything. Or if you can stay awake until the early hours to help someone, then you can do anything. I constantly reinforce my mind and body to believe that everything is possible, it’s just a matter of endurance, grit and stamina.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I think I’m most proud of the artist I am now, and looking back at where I’ve come from to get here, from working at a computer desk to burlesque to film and television. It feels like I climbed this mammoth cliff, and I’m at the top now, ready to skydive off. But the climb was steep as heck. I’m proud I got through that, and that it – hopefully! – only changed me for the better. From campaigning to legitimize burlesque in Singapore and winning, to being featured on those first television shows, the Nights of Burlesque documentary, the Latex Fashion TV series, to making it on Netflix and seeing my face and name on a billboard in Times Square… it still doesn’t seem real. It’s also crazy to think that for many people hearing my story, this is how it starts, and I’ve got this whole legacy ahead of me yet to come. It’s wildly exciting. I wake up every day bouncing out of bed at the prospect of “another day on Earth!” I think the lessons I’ve learnt along the way are: stay true to your word, stay honest, stay loyal, and above all stay kind. I’ve never been one to feign aloofness merely to appear cool. I also don’t believe that the more successful you get, the more inaccessible you should be, in order to increase demand. We’re all humans, doing our best to achieve fulfillment, it’s so much more fulfilling and faster if we do it together as a big family.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Wow! Okay so first of all we’d start the day with home-cooked breakfast at my house, feeding my pet squirrel, Bert. Then we’d grab a coffee, maybe at Joans on Third, and head on over to Santa Monica to play on the beach and walk the pier head over the ocean. We’d maybe grab lunch on the go, head back to mine for a quick shower, and hop in a car to Downtown, picking up something from Nimbus Coffee along the way. Then The Ace Hotel, Soho Warehouse, or an apartment at night with a pool overlooking the city, just to take in the buzz of the city. The next day, perhaps breakfast at Bricks and Scones followed by a meander around West Hollywood, and the theatrics of Hollywood itself. In the evening we’d get ready to be carbed up at either Craig’s for, well, Craig and Peter of course, or Joans. I was also recently introduced to Jitlada, which I’m now monumentally in love with. Where I’d take a best friend for the first time in Los Angeles is probably much hipper than my day to day! Malibu is also a must, I think for the contrast of bougie grandeur mixed with sea-view hikes. Finally as the week closed, I’d take them on a rummaging vintage shop followed by a soul-food bar hop guided by one of my more in-the-know social local friends. I’d end the night with dinner made by a bunch of us laughing in the kitchen followed by music on my balcony at home, just taking in the joy of being alive and in a place like this, during a time like this. Los Angeles can be a funny old place, but it has it’s moments, and in those moments it can feel like you’re on top of the world.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There’s so many people I’m grateful for who got me to where I am, from strangers in the street, to friends who have become family. At some point I’m going to write a list of absolutely everyone I’m thankful for, and the list keeps growing day by day. So I think today, it makes sense to shoutout the person who I’m grateful for this week, and that person is my uber driver, Jay. Jay picked me up at lunchtime on Sunday 18th September. As I got into his car, a hot mess, I realized that I was running late. I wasn’t just running late for any ordinary meeting, I was running late to watch the Rams in the SoFi Stadium. This might seem rather inconsequential, however I’d been invited to join by one of the people who produced one of my television shows, who has now become a dear friend. I’d just got back to Los Angeles. I’d just re-found the momentum in my career. I’d finally got back on my feet. So you see, this wasn’t just a meeting, it was a defining moment to reestablish myself. Jay didn’t know any of this. He just knew I was a person in his car that needed to get from A to B and was running late. But for some reason, and I believe it’s because of who he is, this became one of the single most important driving missions of his day. Jay hit the pedal, nipping through traffic, driving as fast as he legally could as if his entire life depended on it. We cheered together as each minute was shaved off the uber arrival time clock. Minute by minute Jay clawed back time for me, as if this was his journey, as if he himself was running late, impassioned above and beyond to deliver me, a complete stranger, to my destination as if I were his own daughter. Suffice to say, 10 minutes shaved off the clock and 40 minutes later, we arrived, exactly on time, the pair of us sweating profusely through the shared experience of automotive exhilaration. I thrust open the car door and thanked him with all of my heart – and five stars – only to hear his final words: “you can do this, you’ll make it, the stadium is that way… all you have to do… is run!” – This gentleman, although I may never meet him again, didn’t just deliver me to the stadium, he delivered me to the next chapter of my career. So wherever you are, Jay, I hope you know that you, sir, are a hero. You’re impossibly brave, as an immigrant father in America, supporting your family and your son. And I hope everything you’ve ever wanted in your life comes true, you irrevocably kind, kind man.

Instagram: www.instagram.com/SukkiMenon

Other: https://rollingstoneindia.com/sukki-menon-singapora-breaking-boundaries-with-burlesque/

Image Credits
Photography by: Rachel Sherlock, Karolina Skorek, Aidan Orange, Latex Fashion TV.