After Cream Silk celebrated its 30th year anniversary in 2014 by unveiling over 150 Beyond Beautiful Filipinas in partnership with 6 of the Philippines’ top magazines, it is elevating it another notch in an effort to inspire Filipinas to go beyond their perceived possibilities. They created the World Class Filipina advocacy. And…to kick off this advocacy, Cream Silk chose one who hardly needs any introduction and whose achievements cannot be questioned because she is indeed world class. She’s none other than LEA SALONGA!
I’ve followed Lea since I first saw her as a little girl singing in Annie. Then saw her again years later on stage at the Cultural Center of the Philippines as Kim in Miss Saigon. Then at a 2011 media event, I finally got to chat with, and meet her, in person!
Lea is best known for her Miss Saigon role but she has established herself as a world-class talent for many other things: a Tony award, Eponine and later Fantine in Les Miserables, the voice of Princess Jasmine in Disney’s Aladdin and the voice of Mulan. She is currently on a concert tour in the USA performing at the Town Hall in NYC, which is why she could not make it to the event.
The stories of these world class Filipinas have been put together in a film called Cream Silk Portraits: Stories of World-Class Filipinas, done by internationally acclaimed director Marie Jamora, known for her film Ang Nawawala (What Isn’t There), which won several awards in the Cinemalaya Film Festival and premiered in international film festivals and competitions such as the Slamdance Film Festival and the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.
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| Film director Marie Jamora |
The #WorldClassFilipina advocacy will be officially launched with the premiere of Cream Silk Portraits which will be shown on ABS-CBN and GMA7 this coming April 25, 2015. Cream Silk Portraits will feature some of the most beautiful and successful Filipinas in the country. These include Anne Curtis (the princess of all media), Heart Evangelista (celebrity and artist), Toni Gonzaga (multimedia star), and of course, Lea Salonga. They are just some of the inspiring and beautifully talented women who conquered inner fears and break out of their molds in order to achieve so much more. The film is not just about their successes, but more importantly, about their beginnings and struggles before achieving their successes. It shows how they themselves never thought they would end up world-class but nonetheless, pursued their dreams and made them a reality. How inspiring for those of us who still have doubts as to how high we can make it as a woman in this country.
Don’t forget to catch Cream Silk Portraits this April 26 on ABS-CBN and GMA7. Be inspired to become a world-class Filipina yourself.