Priscilla Shunmugam was born in Kuala Lumpur to a Chinese mother and an Indian father.

After reading law at the National University of Singapore, she spent a year in England studying dressmaking and pattern-cutting. Upon her return to Singapore in 2009, she began developing the womenswear label Ong Shunmugam. 

Priscilla has had no formal design training and is largely self taught. She manages the Design, Finance, Branding and Strategy departments at Ong Shunmugam, and occasionally services clients on the shopfloor. 

She has been invited to present public lectures on the modern cheongsam at the National Museum of Singapore and New York’s Museum of Chinese in America, and is a regular on the speaking and judging circuit in the Asian design community.