You've seen her several times in news outlets, shows here and abroad. She's absolutely proud to be a Filipino American. She's also a businesswoman, lawyer, and author. One who doesn't hold back when she needs to speak. She just released her third book properly titled "Look Younger When You're Older - No Botox, No Surgery (Philippine Edition)" under Anvil Publishing last December. This is available in leading bookstores (now part of the best sellers list!) including National Bookstore and online shopping apps Shopee and Lazada.
She is in the country for a few days for a book signing event at the National Bookstore Edsa Shangrila Mall branch. Guests were treated to discounts on her new book, prizes, and a short meet and greet with the woman of the hour Atty. Loida Nicolas Lewis. She dedicates this third one for her family, specifically her grand kids who keeps her company on regular days.
Mind you, this isn't the first time Atty. Mon Abrea hosted Ms. Loida Lewis after meeting several times in the US. He says "It's an honor and privilege to host Tita Loida when she was here last year, this year, this is her despedida because she's leaving tomorrow for NY. I love her wisdom, and meeting at Harvard, I thought she was very feisty and frank. I got connections to make sure she's going to know me before I left school. We tried online and it didn't work, we both forgot about the zoom meetings. We met at Harvard Club later on for lunch, and joined her activity. I met a lot of successful Filipinos through Tita Loida, and what folks may not know is how generous she is. She introduces you to people, she's a mother, a good friend, and when there are times people lose hope, she's a source for that. We are all privileged to be in the presence of our 80 year old friend, who doesn't look like it, Ms. Loida Nicolas Lewis!"
I asked Ms. Loida about taking a breather at this age and she says "I don't consider waking up in the morning as work, I still work even after selling the company because I as trying to build another one. For me, work is not work if you love what you are doing. When folks ask me when I'll retire, I'd say NEVER. Because there's always work to do. When you rest, you die. That's the real rest. When you're still alive, you do what you LOVE to do. You have to enjoy whatever is in front of you. If you're working, do it good, do it well. Joy is our secret ingredient. When you are Christian, God loves you. My good husband may have left but I'm still here. People should look at the positive side of things, and always say THANK YOU LORD! Don't emphasize the negative things in your life, don't mind the vampires and don't do it to yourself. You deserve better."
Tax Whiz Atty. Mon Abrea
Here's more of our conversation on video:
It's such an awesome experience to talk to Ms. Loida, and I've felt how much care she pours out for others while keeping her cup full. Their outlook, and what good things they do while building their network, not minding their net worth because from their eyes, it will follow. Ms. Loida's book also concentrates not just on physical beauty, but more on spirit. There never will be an end to learning, on having the right mindset, to never think of growing older, maintain that young mind, great goals, and value for oneself. If you want to get a copy of the book, it's available on Shopee and Lazada. I also linked it on the youtube video to make it easy.
Had so much fun yesterday at the UNIQLO Flagship store in Glorietta 5 in Makati City. Press, Vloggers, Bloggers and Influencers were treated to first dibs on how they celebrate 10 successful years in the Philippines. While we were there, I was one of the few people who got to join games as they asked hints of the new collection they're releasing to commemorate the occasion.
Their thrust is having a UT collection that's ICONIC. They collaborated with brands that have been in the lives of Filipinos, because of course, they are LIFEWEAR. They then announced that the THE BRANDS UT PILIPINAS include JOLLIBEE, SAN MIGUEL BEER, NATIONAL BOOKSTORE and SELECTA. Much of them had the official logos of these brands, Jollibee had the bee logo in the front left side, San Miguel Beer had the San Miguel Pale Pilsen label on the black shirts. The one for National Bookstore had pockets with the classic red and white stripes design of the old National Bookstore logo. Then Selecta was a bit more colorful putting the actual Selecta trike with words TENENENN a couple times, a thing that these machines play when they're out on the streets and getting kids sweet treats these days! Which one takes your fancy?
Thanks to Myke Soon of MixofEverythingLifestyleBlog for the shots!
They are also doing a lot of promos using the Uniqlo app so make sure you download that as well. They have showed me a few CSR projects they do with re-used fabric from cuts made on alterations of jeans in the store. They sell them to local women who sew and buy the product back as bags, they were awesome looking! So really, there's no waste happening with this clothing brand.
Thank you to the good people from UNIQLO whom we were able to spend our afternoon with. I like the new UT shirts you came out with as you celebrate 10 years in the country, that's no small feat! Congratulations!
Paying taxes hasn't been something people love on face value. For starters, it's complicated, it takes a LOT of effort, expensive, and not to mention you don't really have that much motivation because of politics, or corruption and just base it off just by being a responsible citizen and hope your taxes won't go to waste in this country.
The Asian Consulting Group (ACG) has recently launched an update for the TaxWhizPH App. In a nutshell, this is their version 2.0. This app can compute your taxes with up to date rates and policies. It also guides you to take photos of your receipts, so in case there's need to file for VAT transactions and come tax time, you'll be notified when to pay as it's got calendars for it. The app was developed by ACG and for those who don't know, President Nadine Lustre had a hand for the creative part of this app. She's quite involved since the start and now that it's released, she's quite happy with it.
Nadine was game answering several questions about the app, and how she manages working with the ACG team, and her businesses. She personally knows how hard it is for an ordinary joe to file taxes and glad that ACG and the TaxWhizPH app can help a lot of people.
Mon Abrea also launched his new book IWAS BUWIS-it 2022. This is a step by step guide on how to file taxes including those who are into YouTube, the influencers, and businesses. We asked Mon about how he feels about recent news of politicians not paying taxes, I like what he said about it as it MAKES TOTAL SENSE. Check out our coverage of the event on this video.
Currently, the app is available on beta and can be downloaded through QR code on Android. Please make sure to follow the ACG social channels for updates about it or check the Google Play Store. It's also FREE which means you don't have to pay to use it. You can also talk through chat, email as they've got support for that too. The book is going to be available through ACG and leading book stores nationwide, you can pre order through them or National Bookstore. See? There are a lot of people who still care about the country, and now this would make it easier to do our part as citizens.