The bond between Noon and her mother remains strong today. Noon cites her mother as the living person she most admires, due to her loyalty to her husband and her unconditional love for her children. This despite the fact that her parents have been separated for the last 10 years. Noon can’t help but still harbour the dream that one day they will re-unite. Noon moved to Hua Hin over a decade ago now, not long after her father was posted to the town. She had visited a number of times on family holidays as a child, but it wasn’t until she was an adult that she began to appreciate Hua Hin as a city of art and culture, with a slower pace of life than she had encountered living in Bangkok.  Noon was pleased to discover the vibrant Cicada Market with its artisans, the place where she first worked, selling handmade hats, upon her arrival in Hua Hin at the age of 27. Noon now lives with her daughter and mother and remains single even though there is a willing stream of men vying for her attention. Noon is hopeful of finding love with her ideal partner yet is in no rush to jump into a relationship just for the sake of companionship: she wants the real deal and nothing else will do.

Noon’s adaptability and ingenuity have long been evident. Upon her parents’ separation, Noon’s mother was without a regular income. It was at Noon’s insistence that her mother turned her hand to selling curry puffs, one of her culinary specialties. Her mother the cook, Noon became chief of sales and promotion, a position she cheerfully holds to this day as their stall has become a feature at craft and seasonal markets throughout the local area. You are firmly encouraged to try the curry puffs if you encounter them, but be warned, they are addictive, this being from personal experience. One is never enough! Thank goodness Noon sells them in batches of five.

Noon’s position as a well-respected artist in Hua Hin has recently been augmented by the re-boot of the Museo Auto Classica in the Bluport Mall. Noon was invited to submit her portfolio for consideration by museum management and was quickly commissioned to complete a mural featuring images of iconic cars along a 35-metre-long stretch of wall on Level 2 of the mall, outside the museum. With an associate, Noon worked for just over a month designing, sketching, painting and then adding the finishing touches to her masterpiece. It may be a bold prediction, but the mural is likely to attract as many admiring glances as the cars themselves. Now that Noon’s mural work is complete, she has been commissioned by the Intercontinental Hotel to paint some of its huge walls adjacent to Bluport shopping mall, as the hotel creates a public park as a check-in point for tourists and local residents alike.  Noon’s work is clearly attracting a huge amount of positive attention and she is in high demand around town, recently installing 3 huge jazz music panels on the observation deck of the Holiday Inn. Of course, Noon’s art is much more than murals, and inspiration for her colourful works is clearly drawn from the beauty of the local environment, both beach and mountains. Her creativity brings constant happiness to Noon’s life as she is able to forget any worries while she is composing her works, unable to imagine her life without art. Noon’s Facebook page, Nakawan Towised, is a great way to contact Noon if you are looking for original decorative artworks to brighten your personal space.

Click through the image carousel on the right to view some of Noon's recent works

However, for Noon, like the vast majority of artists, making a living solely from her art is yet to become a reality. So, to supplement her income, Noon has become a distributor of Amway, or as the company prefers to call them, an IBO (independent business owner). Amway brands itself as a multi-level marketing company, where successful IBOs recruit and then mentor downstream sellers, and then receive a portion of their sales. Noon challenges herself to be as successful in business as her own Amway mentor, Khun Oeh, who at only 5 years older than Noon, makes a million baht a month from her business. Amway has been present in the Thai economy since 1987, with Thailand now acknowledged as one of its top 10 markets worldwide.

Noon’s favourite Amway product is Nutrilite, an all-plant protein powder which can be made into a meal-replacement shake with either skim milk or water. Noon can’t live without Nutrilite and credits it with her weight management.  Looking at Noon’s social media accounts, few would ever suspect that the poised and elegant young woman in all the photos was a chubby child who lacked in self-confidence.  It was during Noon’s university years that she lost 20 kilograms of weight and became more body-positive, to match the optimistic and upbeat attitude she had always carried in her mind. Indeed, Noon expected that she would remain in Bangkok at that point in her life, and was engaged in building up a career in modelling. If Noon could go back to her early teenage self and offer one piece of sage advice, it would be to not eat too much in the first place, as losing weight requires such hard work and dedication.

Personal and professional compliments are regular things for Noon, who is aware that she is influential in the lives of others. Noon takes pride in her ability to be a problem-solver, with an interest in listening carefully to people and then helping them think of a good way forward. She acknowledges that everyone faces adverse times as well as good times in their lives, but the mark of a successful individual lies in their attitude when facing difficulty. Noon focuses on seeing every problem as an opportunity for growth and is determined to be a strong, positive role-model and example for her daughter Nitan. If Nitan grows into a young woman with even half her mother’s tenacity and perseverance, she will be very lucky indeed, as Noon is quick to concede  that self-management is a weakness and she is prone to working too hard and not relaxing often enough.

One tangible way that Noon seeks to help others is through cross-promotion on various social media platforms. Noon enjoys dining out, attending events and being a bit of a fashionista, regularly posting about her exploits and so gives a little boost to local restaurants and entertainment venues. Noon and Nitan clearly delight in their time out together and often choose to wear complementary outfits, curated with Noon’s superb sense of style. Like most parents, Noon has some concerns about the impact of social media usage on her daughter, but knows forbidding it or shielding Nitan from it entirely will not encourage positive habits, personal resilience, or knowing how to respond appropriately when difficulty inevitably arises.

Noon chooses to start each morning with her daily self-talk where she sets her goals and expectations for the day. She knows that she alone is responsible for her happiness and so she makes a deliberate choice to be joyful each day. Noon is thankful that she can honestly say that she “likes everything I am”, although gaining weight, even a small amount, can bring annoyance. However, the desire to maintain her ideal weight is not enough for her to forgo some of her favourites such as French fries and milk chocolate which are her guilty pleasures, nor the oozy, cheesy goodness of a pizza with Parma ham. On a fine, free day, you are likely to find Noon at a nice restaurant just soaking up the atmosphere. Although she is very well-travelled within Asia, Noon finds that the tranquil turquoise waters of Bora Bora in French Polynesia are calling to her, so a holiday there is now high on her agenda, now that her mammoth mural is complete.