FRONT AND FEMALE Crest of Change

The trailblazing guests of a women’s forum by Belo and Tatler discuss breaking the glass ceiling, uplifting fellow ladies, and approaching self-care as a means of empowerment

- Mac Fabella

For Women’s Month, the Belo Medical Group and Tatler Philippines hosted a forum titled Women: What Matters Most at Shangri-La the Fort. The powerhouse dermatologist Dr Vicki Belo and Tatler representatives— managing director Irene Martel Francisco, deputy editorial director Isabel Francisco, managing editor Chit Lijauco—were joined by businesswoman Bea SorianoDee, chef Margarita Forés, former Miss Universe Catriona Gray, restaurateur Abba Napa, veteran journalist Korina Sanchez-Roxas, model-entrepreneur Rissa Mananquil-Trillo, and Tatler Homes editor Stephanie Zubiri who joined the forum as panelist. With these multifaceted visionaries at the table, discussions over lunch were insightful, high-spirited and all layers in between, underscoring what it means to be an empowered woman today.

SEIZING POSSIBILITIES

“I feel that today’s woman is riding on the crest of change,” Sanchez-Roxas remarked, touching on the evolving gender landscape. With her takeaway from a Gender Studies course being that “there is no such thing as gender”, she added, “You are who you act to be, who you choose to be…A woman is human and equal to all; the limitations are often self-imagined.”