| EARLY YEARS FOUNDATIONS |
Shirley V. Ting has been award winning since age five, placing 2nd in a nursery Chinese drawing contest. Her early childhood exposure to a small family business: of manning the store, sales, and behind the scenes/stockroom operations, and her exposure to the operations and purchasing aspects of her grandmother’s department storewere basis for structure. Her teenage years used these foundations to manifest early milestones outside of academia.
| ENTERPRENEURSHIP |
Design came naturally, and entrepreneurship was evident when she tasked herself to design the female officer’s Gala Uniforms on to sourcing materials, seamstresses, and coordinating the final delivery of the product within the budget allotted.
| LEADERSHIP |
Shirley, along with 2 friends, launched a caroling group, of Ten (10) to Thirty (30) students, that actively ran for two (2) seasons. Shirley co-directed operations of attendance, logistics, rehearsals, and marketing sales. Her natural leadership ability stemmed not only from her family’s business, but also from the Citizenship Army Training during her teenage years. The training she received as a commanding officer and her leadership capabilities paved her role as a teenage platoon leader of Twenty-eight (28) teenage boys aged 15-17 years old; leading her platoon to constant wins in drill competitions – thus earning her a silver medal for leadership.
| TEACHER MENTOR |
Teaching and mentorship began when Shirley was a training officer for the batch – garnering a gold medal for service. She then undertook a teaching assistant role for Computer Studies to freshmen in her undergraduate years. Shirley has applied her teaching ability to train employees at work, and continues to give lectures on Social Media to different Art Groups.
Thus, her childhood foundations, interests, and learning in various aspects brought forward interest in retail, investments and real estate as influencers of her entrepreneurial approach. Over time this approach has influenced her perspectives, work decisions, affecting her career, and setting her on an offbeat path.
| ARCHITECTURE, CULTURE, VISUAL ARTS |
Shirley V. Ting’s architecture education had honed her sketching skills as well as developed her analytical thinking, while opening new influences in her life, giving her more knowledge about art, thus influencing her to apply various aesthetics to her architecture works. She also became conscious of psychological and sociological needs of people based on their sense of place. She learned that architecture, over the centuries, establishes cultural and societal growth as architecture history informed her about world civilization and different cultures.
She began consulting for independent small businesses to expand her knowledge and take on more challenges utilizing her skills and education to develop concept designs of hybrid styles. While fine arts manifested through a solo feature offer by the Richmond Hill Philharmonic Orchestra (RHPO) in 2012, then becoming a published artist and guest lecturer in 2014. Things seemingly fell into place- where her true leisure activity of creating from imagination she can now apply in her real world profession and in her free time. Fine art for her became another avenue to create and build from two constants in her life – ideas and creations. She continued honing her visual arts creative realm while pursuing an MBA.
Throughout her endeavors, she continues to apply herself in academics, arts, and architecture. She considers herself one of the numerous lucky people wherein majority of her general interests and hobbies are related to her direction, and chosen profession – showering her life with inspirations, puzzles, and patterns.