Model And Entrepreneur Rissa Mananquil-Trillo’s Inspiring Journey To Being Enough
At the annual She Talks Asia conference, multi-hyphenate Rissa Mananquil-Trillo opened the day-long session with her own conversation on accomplishment and doubt. The hall was full, and abuzz with feminine energy, but the minute Rissa came into view, everyone was rapt with attention.
At the She Talks Asia Summit
Rissa shares her inspiring journey to a roomful of women at the She Talks Asia summit
Model, mom, entrepreneur, writer. Rissa is recognizable, inspiring, aspirational. In her personal journey, she begins with a strong sense of self-worth at five years old. At that age, she marched up to a neighbor’s house to say that his son called her negra when it was inappropriate to do so. “I looked up to my father. He had the brown skin of an Ilocano, he was hardworking, and a devoted family man. I grew up with no notion of color discrimination.”
When a life story begins powerfully in that manner, we are cowed into expecting only a path of golden opportunities laden with mirth and success. Rissa takes us through her journey to be being enough, shows us the importance of self-worth, and personifies the truth that our high heels may trudge unique paths, but they do take us through similar personal struggles.
When you are young, that’s the best time to be unafraid and just go for what you want. Be fearless and never let fear decide your future.
Rissa’s upbringing and strong sense of self-worth gave her the gumption to walk up to the neighbor’s house and call out the discrimination. She set her moral compass from a place of love and respect for her father. By taking a stance against diminishing her qualities, Rissa gained the power to direct her dreams. As a model, she was sought after for her hard work, professionalism, and excellence. The fact that she was one of the first morena models in her batch to make a mark was a milestone in an industry that was used to mestiza standards. At the young age of 23, Rissa became the president of the Professional Models Association of the Philippines (PMAP). As daunting as the task appeared, with the more senior industry players as members, she professionalized the industry on matters such as establishing standardized fees or guidelines on working conditions. She stayed five years as president, and nine years as a board member.
It will never be easy to say no to things everyone else is saying yes to. Compromising what you believe in is, ultimately, shortchanging yourself.
When the gold standard of modeling is a TV commercial project, and everyone is jumping on the bandwagon of whitening beauty products, Rissa was clear and uncompromising on her stance about celebrating diversity. She was proud of her skin color, and would decline many offers that was not in line with her personal values. By the early 2000s, she finally received the dream project that tapped her as a beauty expert, celebrated her skin color, and appeared on TV. It was around this time that she also appeared in a global campaign for a retail brand that championed inclusivity. At the right time, and with the right fit, Rissa came to realize her dream without compromising.
Education is the most powerful tool you can use to change the world.
With an undergraduate degree in management, Rissa quickly realized that as a model, her enterprise was her individuality. She created a personal brand and packaged herself in an industry driven by the basic principles of supply vs. demand to rise above the clutter. Her career was established based on her reputation for being professional: Punctuality, having the right attitude and being better prepared, and always delivering. When you are the model who packs 10 pairs of shoes, brings a full option on the wardrobe, can do your own make-up, and willing to stand atop an A-ladder on a roof deck of a building on EDSA so the photographer could achieve his vision of a headshot against the blurred lights of a row of billboards, surely, your business management degree must be hard at work selling your brand successfully.
What you do with education determines its value.
Never one to rest on her laurels, Rissa completed a master degree in entrepreneurship. By this time, she was slowly building a local make-up brand. Borne of her struggles to find one that agreed with her skin type and tone, Rissa decided to create her own line of cosmetics made for the Filipina skin tone and the humid weather. She shared, “Today, I would like to think Happy Skin paved the way for other homegrown cosmetics brands to enter the market and contributed to this change in culture from prizing what’s imported to loving what’s local.”
The most powerful weapon is the human soul on fire. Pain is important, too. Pain makes you grow.
While it may appear as though everything has been rosy for Rissa, finding out she was pregnant on her senior year in high school was a turning point. She doubted herself but never once doubted that she would make it to and through university. “My life was unlike my classmates’. While they went out and had fun, I stayed in the library between classes. After class, I went straight home because I had a baby to take care of,” she stated. Despite the grueling task of balancing her duties, Rissa turned her pain into a fire that fueled the desire to do even better. She adds, “Just like a bag of tea, you’ll never know how strong you are until dipped in hot water.”
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If you live for people’s acceptance, you will die from their rejection.
During this time of personal struggle, Rissa felt the disappointment wash over her. The good child of her parents, the excellent student, the well-behaved daughter was a pregnant teen attending university. The silence in a home that used to be filled with warmth was painful. “It was the loneliest time of my life,” she shared. But, her own self-worth pushed her to study harder and take back her narrative.
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Always remember, the same fire that melts butter Is the same fire that hardens steel and purifies gold.
From a self-possessed five-year-old to the scared teen and then a successful adult, Rissa personifies how easily she could have let her life fall apart so many times. But she didn’t because each situation is an exercise of choice.
Call it moral compass, personal values, pain, or a soul on fire. So easily we can turn into butter, and just as easily, choose to turn into the fire and become gold. Cease the steam of conscious self-doubt. One thousand one hundred thirty-one words. We are enough.
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