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This is an excerpt from MEGA June 2025 Beauty Blog.
When Mei Pang enters a space—digitally, on the street, or even at a halloween event, you don’t just forget someone like her.
Although a voice is usually measured by how loud the decibels can go, Mei speaks with a quiet confidence. She commands the space by being relatable, a non-com- promising foundation to her identity. She subverts conservative expectations, but is aware of her actions. That constant mindfulness is what sets her apart from being just a visual disruptor.
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The Canadian-born, Malaysian artist is in constant adaptation and rebirth. A storyteller with layers of softly blended colors and introspective reflections to chronicle her experiences. Her creativity synchronizes across everyday materials: ribbons, pinheads, stencils, foil, jewellery, crumpled paper. She’s found her niche by staying true to herself. A following of 4 million on TikTok, 3 mil- lion on Instagram, 7 million people and counting. Her reach is omnipresent.
But behind the hundreds of tattoos, her vivid make- up and metaphorical and lyrical chimeras in old vlogs (“I imploded into myself like a dying star”) is a woman who has picked herself up, again and again. For Mei, movement is her present flowstate and salutations. Evolution is her anchor.
You’re a first-generation Canadian of Malaysian descent. How has that shaped your relationship with self-expression and identity through your artistry?
Growing up, I felt like I grew up in a purgatory. I was too Asian for the white kids, too white for the Asian kids. I didn’t necessarily fit in perfectly anywhere, which I used to pity myself for. However, I believe that’s been such an opportunity to carve my own path. I didn’t have a reference point to go off of, therefore it’s given me a chance to do whatever is best for me and my identity.
The norm often asks us to conform—but your looks invite people to look twice. How do you stay authentic in a space that profits from curation and marketability?
Ask my closest friends, loved ones and family—you can’t force me to do anything I don’t want to do. I’m incredibly grateful that I have an audience that connects with what I do and companies who believe in me.
Your journey with sobriety is deeply personal. How has it reframed the way you see yourself—and how you present yourself to the world?
Sobriety has taught me who I am to my core. Before sobriety, I clung onto the concept of escapism and running away from myself and my environment. The past 6 years, I’ve had to tackle everything head on and with a clear conscience. How I present myself to the world now is the most vulnerable. I don’t have a “shield” or an excuse anymore.
What mindful rituals or quiet moments keep your creative well full? In a fast-paced world, how do you protect your joy, creativity, and balance?
For the past six years, I’ve been diving head first into movement. Whether it be yoga, pilates, boxing, etc., hav- ing that time to myself without a screen has done wonders for my mental health. I also have a senior cat and dog who keep my time busy.
How do you see potential in materials most people overlook? Is there a kind of training, or inner compass, that helps you find beauty in the unexpected?
It’s hard to describe how I find potential. It’s almost like a checklist I circulate in my head. Does it have a fun texture? Do these two colours make sense? If I flip the image around is there an eye-shape that I can put my own face in?
Discover Mei Pangs’s journey as an artist and how she found her creative anchor through mindfulness in MEGA’s June 2025 issue, now available on Readly, Magzter, Press Reader and Zinio.
Photographed by AIDAN TOOTH courtesy of MEI PANG. Written by SELINA WOO BHANG. Producer MARA GO. Special thanks to P1M AGENCY.
