Doing Karen Cheng

This is a story about Karen Cheng.

Karen Cheng is a Perth mother of two who runs a popular blog at karencheng.com.au.
Karen has a typical mummy blog where she shares snippets of her life, covering topics such as women’s lifestyle, parenting and fashion.

Karen Cheng also has a very peculiar habit.
Whenever Karen is dressed up nice, she will go in front of a large mirror, whip out her digital camera, snap a photo of herself in the mirror, and then upload it onto her blog.

99% of the time, her camera will be fully visible, her eyes glancing downwards towards her camera, and her head tilted slightly to the left as she does that.
She does this so often, her readers even have a name for it.

They dub it… “The Karen Cheng pose”.

One day, Karen received an email from one of her readers.
The reader told her that they were going out for dinner when spotted this large mirror. Since they were all dressed up nice, they decided to take a photo of themselves doing “The Karen Cheng Pose”.

SariPartyGirl doing the Karen Cheng pose

A few days later, she received a similar e-mail from another reader. And then another. And another.
Without even realising, Karen has stumbled across a winning formula.
Girls + Nice Dress + Self-Photography = Big Internet Hit.

Before you know it, a Facebook group was created, 1,104 people joined, 664 people posted photos of themselves doing “The Karen Cheng Pose”, TVs, newspapers and magazines go crazy over it, and a full-blown internet phenomenom has well and truly taken off.

Karen was on holiday in Singapore last weekend with her husband to celebrate her 30th birthday.
Since she has many Singaporean readers, Karen came up with this a crazy idea to combine camwhoring with charity.

Her plan is to get everyone together at one place, do the “Karen Cheng” pose with THE Karen Cheng in front of a mirror, and get each person to donate SGD$10 towards the Singapore Red Cross.
Coincidentally, I was also in Singapore during the same time to attend my high school friend’s wedding, so after some e-mailing each other, I decided to pop into her private function when I was in town.

Waddya know?
Being a mostly girls event, there were babes.

Doing the Karen Cheng with Karen Cheng

More babes.

Doing the Karen Cheng with Sher and Huiwen

And even a dog.

Everyone was dressed up really nice to the point that it was like we’re doing a fashion show.
The best part is? I was one of the very few guys there.
So this is what we do.

I was the luckiest man on Earth for 15 seconds.

Fun and games aside, Karen’s little gathering did end up going to a good cause.
It was just a short two-hour thing, but over 100 people turned up for the event and raised in excess of SGD$2,000 (RM4,600) for Singapore Red Cross.

So this is a story of a 30-year-old mother of two from Perth, who loves fashion and camwhoring so much that she unwittingly started an internet trend, brought together many people, and ended up doing something very good for charity.

And the reason I’m writing about this?
Well, with so much drama and crap going on in blogging lately, I think we all deserve a little happy story. 🙂


As a prelude to Rainforest World Music Fest, SingleTrackMind is doing a mini beach concert with a couple of local bands at the Damai Beach Resort, Kuching. Worth checking out if you enjoy live music.
Click here for info.

115 Replies to “Doing Karen Cheng”

  1. doing a karen cheng? not bad huh considering how a habit of one person can develop into a phenomenon. and she used it wisely for a good cause. kudos to her.

  2. Its stupid, wat karen cheng pose la, wat phenomenan la, we all gals do that pose all the time, even b4 she was born or smtg. Tats stupid

  3. is that really karen cheng pose…. because i think many people already use this pose…. but however…. doing charity is good thing to done and we need always doing it…

  4. lol. the world is not fair. =) guys like looking at girls, so traffic flows if a woman camwhores in her blog, regardless of content. but you’ll never hear of a guy becoming popular for a camwhore pose…oh wait, is there a kennysia pose? (male looking nonchalant while females are touching him?) grin grin.

  5. no offense really but wtf? whats so special about her? i know she did a good cause (charity) yes, but to reckon that she got famous from posing in front of the mirror and post the pics in her blog while women have been doing TKCP way before her is just plain ridiculous. well, just my 2 cents anyway.

  6. -.-” karen cheng pose ar? i do it all the time without looking at her blog even once.
    actually all womans do it.. BUT still, at least it brings benefit to the society 🙂

  7. it is really a healthy and meaningful event! for a good cause:) i trust red cross instead of other unknown students who step to u when u are having lunch and ask for donation

  8. Actually i find that this pose is very normal.. i do it quite often when i try on clothes in shopping centres, just that the difference is.. i don’t post it up on my blog… hmmm…
    but again, she gained credits because of that… so we just have to congratulate her on that…

  9. i read about this on FB prior to your post. u sure seem to always be at the right place at the right time eh?

  10. Oh~~~~~~~
    Now only i knew this is ‘Karen Cheng pose’,
    This pose seem comes up very natural while try our clothes in fitting room.
    PS: Kenny, nx time dont wear satin ok?

  11. nice story man. good to know that she used her newfound trend to good use- charity. it’s also a brilliant pose for you to showcase your pic with a bevy of beauties ekekekeke
    [howshouse.com]

  12. isnt this something all camwhores do since like, cheap digital cams?
    dont think it’s a “karen cheng” rather the essential basic camwhore pose.
    btw, saripartygirl did a better version coz got full boob view HAHAHAHAAHA!

  13. Im a reader of Karen Cheng’s blog. Saw ur pic in her blog and knew u would blog abt the event too… so typical of kenny siaaaaaaa…. *yawn*

  14. I looked at the pics u took .. whah lau eh.. you very fat and short la. what a fantastic fatty blogger from malaysia. I pressume you face willl get fatter as you blog along the years since you are going 2 eat more and your metabolism is slowing down as you age.

  15. kenny, please ask Karen what’s her CUP SIZE…..
    looks very bouncy….cant believe she’s a mother of two.
    For sure she did not breastfeed her child.

  16. Hey there Kenny,
    Why don’t you make your own charity drive? Since you don’t have a signature pose nor do you camwhore a lot (tough luck being a male huh?), you can use your blog here.
    One idea came to mind (while I was answering nature call) is to offer to add blogger’s link/url in your blog to all your readers (those who have blogs la).
    Whoever die die want to get link by you (to get traffic) will surely would sell their grandmother even.
    To add a link in your blog (why do I have the feeling I’m repeating the same word here?), one must pay say RM5 to you and that RM5 will go to charity (like maybe my pocket or something since I am poor, pathetic and pelik)
    How are you going to collect the money? paypal… maybank2u… TT… get a dove to fly it to you…
    The link will stay in your blog for a year (up to you on how long you feel like it. Not my blog so not my call) and well, erm… the rest is up to you to decide since I am NOT getting paid for this.
    If you don’t like it, just flush my idea away just like I flushed my shit today.
    Later days!

  17. Yay! A fellow Perth blogger… gaining some fame. Well done to her. I’m not sure why she is famous.. Sure, she was on TV last month(Channel 10), and she’s listed in all types of blog directories. But I’d say it’s what she writes about interests people. I think her quest to get pregnant has been a hit. People *love* hearing about her husband’s sperm count and related matters haha. Also I notice, her blog pics are often snipped around the edges at an angle..is this the Karen Cheng blog pic style? Pity she doesn’t allow comments on her blog.
    But how did Kenny Sia get involved in this, beats the hell out of me?

  18. No offence to anyone out there, but THAT pose is so typical, it bores me..almost every girly blogs have that sort of photo…I guess I’m just that kind of person who doesn’t follow the trends.

  19. it really is a most common pose. girls have been doing it ever since the first digital camera came out =.=

  20. So what if someone is famous for something that seems pointless. Welcome to the 21st Century. Obviously sex sells. So what. At least she got the sarong party girls to donate money to a charity.

  21. wah… I was doin the Karen Cheng pose without realising it a few days ago… and doin the pose leading to charity fund raising is a great cause… hopefully we can c more…

  22. Yeah, Jessica. SOMEBODY actually CHANGED SOMETHING. The comments left by A Chicken with No Name has been deleted by Mr Sia. GUILTY as PROVEN. NOW WE REALLY WONDER whether the MONEY actually went. I guess not many people saw that comment. For those who wants to know but didn’t see that comment, ask those who saw.
    “Another Chicken With No Name”

  23. Any girls game for a Karen Cheng Pose’r?
    This is how you do it. Get naked in front of a mirror and snap away while looking at the camera but licking your lips at the same time and giving a victory sign.
    Sure going to catch up real quick, then we can do a
    charity for autistic kids in Rwanda. Naked…

  24. I start reading your blog last year and get boring few months ago and back to read one month ago, then I read the cat fighting stories in sgp skies and so yaki yaki,then I realise how humble is your blog compare to the yaki-yaki blogger out there,pls stay on earth kenny, dont join the yaki landers…peace man

  25. It’s all very cheesey and daggy. Very Singaporean. Hey aren’t there laws in Singapore that don’t allow gatherings of more than a certain number of people? Or is that only for political protest?

  26. Reading Karen Cheng’s blog as well as your blog already become my favourite pastime for the past one year. She is kindhearted and looks gorgeous…hey Kenny, yot gotta shed the extra fat on your body, looks like you have put on several kilos…take good care..

  27. I think Karen Cheng’s photos are A HIT because of her dresses, not because of her pose. Her pose is boring. Her dresses are TO DIE FOR!
    Perhaps we all should start posing in ridiculous ways to get famous.

  28. yesh! that was a darn hit.. It made its way into facebook and IT WAS SUPERB! instantly u can see how many members joining it.. and it’s increasing day after day.. wootza!
    *DARN, smacks my head* Wish I could join u guys in Singapore for that event, alwez wanted to meet Karen Cheng in person..

  29. stuff karen cheng. she didn’t bloody invent that pose, so it shouldn’t deserve the ‘karen cheng pose’ as people put it. BILLIONS of teenage girls have done that before she has, how bout giving some credit to them as well?

  30. Dang, some jealous readers out there. She didn’t invent the pose, yes, but her readers coined the phrase for her. If you actually read her blog, she is pretty down to earth. She likes girly things and wants to show people stuff she tries on. And since she had so many readers, they started saying that she posed the same way all the time, thereby coming up with “Doing the Karen Cheng.”

  31. damn, you guys are real idiots, she never claimed to invent the pose, it’s just something she did a lot and other girls obviously relate to her because they do it too. credit goes to her because she’s being smart about it and decided to make it more than looking good and being vain. what do the millions of other girls do?

  32. okaaay.
    people have been doing it since forever and why does she get credit for it? heck, i’ve seen people doing it tons better than her.

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