Award Winners

Anna Christianne Ho was born in Hong Kong lived in America, Australia and France. She began her movement studies at the age of 7 in ballet and modern jazz and has always been active throughout her adulthood in dance, swimming, tennis, running and skiing. After graduating in Fashion Design & Merchandising & years of work experience in fashion designer houses, she developed an eye for perfection that is more than skin deep. It was during her maternity period of her second child she seized the opportunity to further her studies in fitness, health and to pursue a life in wellness.

Christianne is a certified Pilates Fitness Instructor, Yoga Alliance 500h ERYT Yoga Teacher, a Punchfit Boxing Trainer, and a Master Trainer from Australia Institute of Fitness.

Having lived in 4 different continents, and traveled to countless cities, Christianne decided to resettle in Hong Kong in 2013 and is passionate to spread, share and inspire the local population of a healthy, green and radiant lifestyle. She specialises in an interdisciplinary approach to help her students to become toned & taut, achieving a healthy body and a strong mind using weight and cardio training, Pilates and Yoga practice.

Taibat Hussain is a Development Enthusiast whose work is at the intersection of Education, Women Empowerment, Entrepreneurshipand Public Leadership. She is a well-known champion of women’s right in Nigeria with over three years volunteering experience working with organizations focusing on education for sustainable development, child rights and promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence.

As the Executive Director, Rising Child Foundation,she has been able to mobilize support fund from stakeholders to execute different programs. Her experience working at the community has enabled her to identify some of the challenges faced by young people (most especially females) in a rapidly changing society and she has translated her expertise into advocacy forequal education for all, women empowerment andyouth inclusion and participation. Her values and ideals are evident in the ground-breaking successes of many of the beneficiaries of her efforts and are attributable to her unflinching commitment to making the world a balanced and better place.

Taibat is skilled in community mobilization, mentoring and advocacy. She is a respected advisor, thought leader and commentator on issues of Education, Women Advancement,Social Entrepreneurship, and Leadership. She is reflective and believes in strengthening others through shared vision, insights and perspectives.

Saliza Abdullah is the group managing director of BG Capital Holdings – Malaysia’s 100% women-owned and managed security services company. Under her leadership, the business expanded from a single-family entity to a corporate group of companies with more than 500 employees and has diversified into technologies, risk management, training and consultancy. Saliza is also the founder of BGCH For The Community which is a social enterprise initiative advocating awareness on personal safety founded in 2010. In the same year, Saliza was appointed as a columnist for WANITA magazine and have contributed more than 50 women empowerment and safety articles.

Besides being an accomplished entrepreneur, Saliza is a Crime Prevention Specialist certified by the Chartered International Institute for Security and Crisis Management. She serves as the Deputy President of The National Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Malaysia (NAWEM) and was recently elected as the first woman Vice President in the 40-year-history of The Malaysia Security Industry Association (PIKM). She is also a member of the Asian Professional Security Association (APSA) and Project Director for L’OREAL-NAWEM Women in Business, a social enterprise program which helps marginalized women in the B40 household income in Malaysia.

Born in Ireland, into a family of 14 siblings, 7 girls, 7 boys. I was the 8th child. My family was very poor, but we had good parents so we never went hungry. I learned to look after my younger siblings from a very early age, and therefore, I learned the gift of empathy very early in life, this turned into my blessing. My education consisted of grade school, at 14 years of age I had to seek employment to help with family expenses. However, a life of learning followed even to this day.

Fast forward to age 17, I met and married my husband and had my first child at 18 in Ireland, sadly my child died at age 2 months. 4 years later I had another child while living in London, and when my child was 2 months old my husband died in tragic circumstances leaving me a widow with no income, and not much education at age 22. Needless to say this was the beginning of a life of severe chronic depression and trauma.

It is how I dealt with this depression that has made me a world champion at age 74, I have been featured in several Fitness Magazines and Newspapers worldwide. After several nervous breakdowns which required hospitalizations I became a fitness phenom in my 70's. My videos of fitness and unheard of strength have produced over 10 million views and I opened my own gym at age 75. I hold 11 first place wins in Women's Bodybuilding, my first show I won at age 50, my last show was age 65. Unheard of for a woman! some of my younger clients have gone on to be champions themselves and in turn they spread my legacy of health and fitness. I was the fittest senior in the United States in 2006 at age 72. I also captured an armed thief fleeing from the police at age 65 in Florida. This story went worldwide and I was featured in several TV shows.

I would like to pass on the message that most of the time we have to be our own Healer. We must find what it is that makes us truly deliriously happy and never give up on it. I found this at age 22. I worked hard, in a field where women were not welcome, Early 60's it was impossible to find a gym that allowed women to even enter. When I did enter, 22 years old, looking like 15, my fellow gym members, all male, did not know I was saving my own life. I am now considered a trailblazer and mentor thousands of followers. Now I pass my days in my gym helping both men and women overcome severe depression, chronic illnesses, helping them live a better life through fitness and health. Its so easy to be fit at 25,+ but to remain fit and healthy for 52 years, that is some achievement indeed,