Happy International Women’s Day! The most important day (after Christmas and Easter, of course) of the year. It’s a time to celebrate our womanhood, our tremendous strength in numbers and the fact that literally no one would be here without us. We basically run the world.
Kidding aside (not really kidding though we do run the world), I am loving this special day more and more each year. We at Lily celebrate today because in doing business we have gotten to know so many women who are present-day heroes. This year, we are celebrating three women who inspire us with their stories of courage, resilience and hopefulness amidst adversities.
I’d love you to meet Chris Valerio, Daniela Gamboa and Nicole Soriano.
Chris Valerio
I met Chris through our Valentine’s Day giveaway promotion as she was one of our winners. When the team sent a congratulatory message to her via a direct message on Instagram, we were met with a surprising and heartwarming response:
I was so moved by her response and positivity that it gave me this idea of honoring women for International Women’s Day. I reached out to Chris to learn more about her story. She links me to a Facebook post of hers where she shares her gruelling but character-building journey from being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer to entering the safe zone and being told by all of her doctors that her condition is stable.
She shares five things that kept her going in her journey to complete healing: hope, gratitude, trust, humility and prayer. Chris recounts, “When I first knew of cancer, I didn’t cry. When I knew it was stage 4, that’s when I bawled…I lost my sister and dad…what would make me different?” The same night when they broke the news to her that she had stage 4 cancer, she met a group of women online who were either going through the same thing or have gone through it successfully. She shares, “God must have heard my thoughts, ‘So you don’t have survivor stories eh? Here’s 35.’ Now the group’s close to 50+ and everyone is a survivor.”
Gratitude carried her through her difficulties as well. “I am grateful for prayer warriors…for a wonderful workplace…for well wishes, for elevator doors that open when I’m in a hurry, for traffic signals that go green when I pass, for rivers, for beach trips…for every day I wake up and I’m alive…I am grateful I can even drink water when water can’t pass through my throat last April. How’s that for an eye opener? Every curveball thrown to me was an opportunity to thank God and grow with Him.”
What struck me the most is her change in perspective and her learnings about humility. Chris recalls, “Someone in this journey told me that we lose all of our hair so that we focus more on God and that has stuck to me ever since. In this time of scheduling that hair rebond…taking that selfie, working that overtime – when all has been stripped of you – you only know that there is only God to schedule, plan, book time with, and work for.”
Chris wears Emma in Mother of Pearl
How inspiring it is to hear about a woman go through the toughest time in her life and yet have such a positive outlook in life. It puts having a “bad hair day” into perspective. When we step out of our situation and look at the things to be grateful for instead of focusing on the unfortunate ones, we have a paradigm shift. A notable attitude that we can all learn from this woman of incredible strength and character.
Daniela Gamboa
Daniela or Dan is my friend and batch mate from high school. She is also the managing editor of Bride & Breakfast and the Senior Account Manager for their digital marketing company, Catapel. In relation to Lily, she modeled (so effortlessly!) last year for a collection in collaboration with Bonita the Label.
Dan wears Cay in Shell and Lao in Jade
Last October 2018 she was diagnosed with what doctors call Mixed Connective Tissue Disease, which shows symptoms of several autoimmune diseases– Polymyositis, Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis. Dan explains, “Basically, my immune system went haywire and started attacking my body instead of protecting it, and it was my muscles that suffered from it.”
In a blog post where she shares about her autoimmune disease, she explains her blood test results, which showed extremely high numbers for SGPT, SGOT, Total CPK (SGPT and SGOT – indicators of liver damage when high; CPK – released into the blood when there’s muscle damage).
SGPT Normal: 5 – 55, Results: 254
SGOT Normal: 5 – 34, Results: 682
CPK Normal: 29 – 168, Results: 8,359
The autoimmune disease caused drastic changes in her body. There was a lot of falling hair. She went from 115 lbs to 94 lbs. She recalls, “Since I lost a lot of muscle, standing up was difficult. I couldn’t raise my arms, open cans, unbutton my pants, lift anything, enter a car on my own, go up the stairs. My back would always be painful or uncomfortable; it felt like my spine was on the verge of bending or breaking cause I couldn’t hold myself up well.”
She was hospitalized twice and after being prescribed multiple medicines, none really proved to address the cause, only the symptoms. Her numbers kept going up.
So she and her family decided to take a more holistic approach to her healing. Dan starting eating better and saw a functional doctor. Daily intake of fruits and veggies; no to gluten, sugar, processed food, and dairy (causes of inflammation in the body). When she started watching what she ate, her blood test numbers started going down:
As of December 20, 2018
SGPT Normal: 5 – 55, Results: 302
SGOT Normal: 5 – 34, Results: 387
CPK Normal: 29 – 168, Results: 3,725
She started an even stricter diet last January 2019 and is doing even better. She no longer needs a wheelchair and does basic exercises. She has more energy now and can last a whole day out of the house when before being under the sun for a few minutes was incredibly draining for her.
“Food truly is medicine, and there’s so much to learn about what we take in now that can benefit and harm our body,” Dan says.
In another blog post, she shares important realizations in her path to recovery. My favorite realization of hers was when she talks about opening her heart: “And when I took time to rest and embrace slowness, I realized that there was a lot going on in my head and my heart, a lot of heaviness I was unnecessarily carrying because of pressure and the need to ‘fix’ things and get things done a certain way…But once I lost control, I started to see things in a different light. I started to accept. And things have lightened up one way or another.” I am guilty of being a control freak and hearing this from her coming from a place of humility is inspiring and a good reminder to simply let go of the things you can’t control.
Aside from changing her lifestyle, she had a change in her heart and mind. I believe this to be as crucial in any form of recovery because the body, mind, and heart are indeed one. The body will not fully heal without mending both the mind and the heart.
I am in awe at how Dan has gone through the past few grueling months with such grace and maturity. She is still on her path to full recovery, but her faithfulness and optimism are much stronger than her autoimmune disease.
You can read more about her autoimmune disease here and her realizations here.
Nicole Soriano
Nicole is my younger sister who, if you have been following Lily since 2017, has appeared on Lily’s Instagram feed as our muse for that year’s Holiday collection.
Nicole wears Dinah in Ebony
Nicole is a sexual abuse survivor. Not victim – survivor. She is incredibly wise beyond her years. Although she is three years younger than me, I seek advice from her because it is always fair and level-headed.
So when she told me that she will come out with her story on Facebook of when she was sexually assaulted six years ago (only I along with a few of her close friends knew about it), I said go for it. It wasn’t done on a whim; Nicole carefully thought it through and was even encouraged to write by a spiritual mentor.
She is a gifted writer; writing is a form of expression for her. She was silent for six years and this was the only way she imagined that could give her peace in her heart.
Read about Nicole’s story here.
Now she continues to use her skill in writing to spread awareness on sexual abuse and violence against women. A CNN Philippines article recently came out entitled “This exhibit challenges the belief that the way a woman dresses causes assault”. It was written by Nicole.
Her advocacy is to be a voice for abuse victims and to educate people about abuse. She wants to put a name and a face to abuse survivors and to remove the stigma they carry. They don’t have to live in silence, in the shadows. They don’t have to live in shame. There’s nothing to be ashamed about. It was never their fault.
Nicole is a role model of courage and strength and I’m so so proud to call her my sister.
I’ve come to realize that one thing these women have in common is that they did not simply react to the ordeals they were faced with. They took a step back, reflected and consciously decided how they would respond to their situation and the kind of attitude and mindset they were to have. That in itself is power. They did not allow their experience to dictate how they live their life. During the times when they had the least control over their bodies and the course of their life, they had the most control over their minds and hearts.
Each woman also shared about their strong support system that helped them through their hardship. We all do need some loving.
Give your mom a tight hug today. Compliment your colleague on a job well done. Help your little sister or daughter with her homework. Let’s lift her up today and every day.
<3 Stella
Apply the discount code ONEWITHWOMEN19 at checkout to receive a 10% discount on orders placed between the 8th and 10th of March.
]]>Lily x Bonita Summer 2018 is Lily's first collaborative collection with Bonita The Label launching on May 27th at 10 AM here in our online shop. Decked out with shells and mother of pearl, this collection is inspired by one of my homeland's most prized possessions and claims to fame: her beaches.
The names of every design of this collection is named after a beach or an island in the Philippines that I've been to or been dying to go to. Meg is short for Marimegmeg, one of my favorite beaches located in El Nido. Lao in Jade is named after Panglao, an island that's close to my heart because it was where one of my best friends held her wedding ceremony and reception. Sico is named after Sicogon, an island in Iloilo I recently visited with my boyfriend, Mico, and his officemates.
I'll be sharing with you my visual diary of a short, but definitely sweet and reclusive trip to Sicogon and how I ended up loving having zero cellular network for 4 days.
Our view at dusk on our first night in Sicogon. It reminded me of the moonrise I saw in Jávea, Spain.
I was itching to have at least one bar of signal even for just a few minutes on our first day on the island. Because if I didn't post it on my Instagram story, did it really happen?
In fact, it did. And it happened in high definition because I was fully attentive to my surroundings and the great company I was with. Second day in, I began to appreciate the digital detox and basked in all of this.
View from our dinner spot during our first night.
The gang snuck out at night to have wine on the beach. Mico's idea.
We set out to go island hopping the next day and visited Islas De Gigantes, which is known for its photos that are usually taken from the top of a hill on the island. It took us 40 minutes to get to the top because of the long line of tourists wanting to take a photo of the famous view. Here's my take of it below along with a pair of Cay in Shell earrings.
Islas De Gigantes is also known to have rocks stacked on top of each other spread out all over the island. Sam in Tiger Eye is our version with shells.
We had an amazing lunch by the beach where we ate the freshest seafood that were caught a few hours earlier: fish, squid and scallops that we bought at PHP 1 per piece! I'm salivating just thinking about that lunch.
Flowers outside our room and Meg in Champagne
Of course, I wouldn't pass up an opportunity for a short photo-op by the beach. Pictured above are Cor in Red Agate, Suri in Tiger Eye, Cara in Onyx and Mari in Onyx.
On our last night we watched the sunset out on a jetty and spotted these kids searching for scallops - probably my favorite memory of the trip.
Me wearing Sico in Rose Quartz feeling recharged after 4 days of having no phone signal. Can you believe Mico took this just with his iPhone? The quality of cameras on phones now is incredible!
Leaving you with this photo I took of Sicogon in a serene slumber. Can't wait to go back.
<3 Stella
]]>¡Hola! Stella here, one of the women behind LILY. What better way to start this journal of sorts than with LILY's origins.
As mentioned in our About page, LILY's transformation from pure concept to physical being happened one afternoon when I was playing with my mom’s (the other brain behind LILY) stash of semi-precious stones and vintage gold links and made a pair of earrings. That was LILY’s nativity. But I won’t be expounding on that story.
Rewind a few months back at exactly this time last year in 2016 when I was in Spain for three weeks to celebrate one of my best friends' wedding and to discover the country for myself. I will tell you that story. One, because it is way more interesting and two because that was the true beginning of LILY – when she was conceived without me even knowing it.
Have you ever heard of a woman who was pregnant, but at the same time did not know she was pregnant only until a few months later when her baby bump was undeniable? That's the best way I could describe what happened.
A few days before we launched LILY’s first collection back in March this year, I scanned through photos of my trip to Spain and was inundated with nostalgia. It was the first time I travelled overseas with my boyfriend, Mico (I named these babies after him and garnered this reaction from him half joking, half serious: “Why am I the least expensive pair?”), and my dear friend Nicole, who was one of the muses seen here in our Pre-Holiday Collection. We landed in Madrid on the 14th of September and then took a train straight to Valencia. My friend Roseanne, who was also a muse in Pre-Holiday ‘17 and was then the bride-to-be, resided in that town with her fiancée, Nacho, and his family.
I looked through the photos of places we visited when Roseanne toured us around her new hometown. Valencia was filled with vibrant colors and people with enviable tanned skin (I eventually realized that having tanned skin was inevitable if you lived under the Spanish sun).
Calle Cirilo Amoros in Valencia
I channeled my inner Scott Schuman and took photos of Spanish people in their street wear.
My travel companions from left to right: Nicole, Roseanne and Mico.
Colors, colors, colors!
I skimmed through a few more photos that took me to our next destination, Javea, a coastal town near Valencia where the wedding was held. It was incredibly dreamy. Javea is definitely one of my favorite places in this trip (I still can’t decide which tops my list as Granada is a strong contender).
But more importantly while looking at these photos I started to spot the elements that I could still imagine vividly whenever I thought of Javea: the pastel colors of the moonrise, the cool blue walls of the room in Parador de Jávea where we got dressed before the wedding, Roseanne’s beautiful floral wedding gown, the fuschia flowers that matched the sky at the wedding reception and many other fond images that still conjure up a soft smile on my face whenever I recall them.
I realized then that these elements were, in one way or another, present in the pieces we made for LILY. The pastel blues, yellows, and pinks in the moonrise were seen in Nicoles. The blue Mico earrings were in the walls of the hotel room. The fuchsia flowers and skies in the wedding reception were in Natalies.
Top: A moonrise in Javea; bottom: Nicoles in light blue, light yellow and peach.
Top: Mico waiting in the room in Parador de Jávea where the bridesmaids and maids of honor got dressed before the wedding; bottom: Mico in dark blue
Top: The Filipino crew in the wedding reception; bottom: red and pink Natalies
I found more uncanny resemblances in the other parts of Spain we visited.
Top: Alhambra at noon; bottom: Gigi in lapis lazuli and rust
Top: Flowers in Generalife; bottom: Carolines in red, yellow and lavender.
The food, the architecture, the culture, the gregarious people, and plenty other elements were stirred together as rice, beans, chicken and saffron would be to make a scrumptious plate of Valencian paella. An idea was cooking that consisted of all those ingredients. It later manifested itself during that one afternoon of tinkering with jewelry components and the creation of a pair of earrings that was randomly put together. Voilà, LILY was born.
It felt right to tarry along that path for the next few collections including Pre-Holiday ‘17. We continue to draw inspiration from this country that offers so much more than Massimo Dutti, Rafa Nadal and jamon (not underrating them in any way at all especially jamon because I ate it for breakfast every single day – who wouldn’t hoard it when it melts in your mouth and was sold at 1 Euro a pack).
I’ll end it at that and leave you with a couple more photos and our Pre-Holiday '17 pieces straight from memories of Spain I hold dearly.
Top: Mico sporting a denim jacket outside Casa Montaña, one of the most popular tapas restaurants in Valencia; bottom: Laureen in denim
Clockwise: Flower girls wearing their flower crowns; Angelica in ivory; Flower girls; Emilia in ivory
Roseanne was a vision in her wedding gown.
Clockwise: Bridesmaids, maids of honor and flower girls walking up to the church; Anne in ivory; Roseanne and Nacho as newlyweds; Carmelita in ivory
Clockwise: My dapper date; Michelle in yellow; Michelle in green
Nicole in awe of the interiors of La Sagrada Familia.
Clockwise: A tiled wall in Alcázar of Seville; Erika in blue; Erika in green; Erika in yellow
Clockwise: Apartments in Toledo; Angelica in maroon; Angelica in rust
Me being giddy in Alhambra
Ciao!
Stella
Photos are owned by Christella Soriano
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