Celina on winning mode

MANILA, Philippines - She’s what you’d call the beauty-and-brains package. Celina Le Neindre is one of the two Filipino contenders (the other being Jonathan Allen Yabut) with eyes on the prize in the pioneering edition of AXN’s The Apprentice Asia.

The made-in-Asia-for-Asia original production was shot in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur — an adaptation of the hit Donald Trump-fronted US reality series. The face of The Apprentice Asia is Malaysian aviation magnate and Forbes Asia’s 2010 Asia Businessman of the Year, Tony Fernandes, who is most noted for dramatically turning around Air Asia and credited for revolutionizing the airline industry in the Asean.   

Well-traveled and well-educated, with invaluable work experiences overseas, Celina is a food and beverage consultant who has been lending her know-how to restaurants and resorts in the country. If the 29-year-old beauty (who was born in Davao and raised abroad, from Europe to Africa, wherever her hotelier father was assigned) strikes you as familiar, it’s also because Celina has been a commercial model since she was young. 

The Apprentice Asia debuted yesterday night and it remains to be seen who will be the frontrunners, more so if Celina will rise up above the 12 Apprentice candidates and walk away with the chance to work for Tony in one of his enterprises. Before the 12 were selected, they had to go through a battery of written and oral interviews, screenings and even IQ tests. Throughout the season, the candidates will try to outdo each other with skills in selling, negotiation, creativity, management, branding and leadership. During the media preview, The STAR got the chance to talk to Celina, and found out why she is more than just a pretty face and has what it takes to be the big winner.  

Why did you decide to join The Apprentice Asia?

“I think you come to a point in your career where you’re wondering am I just going to punch in and punch out every day, am I just going to work, do my hours and go home? I need more out of life, and I wanted to continue enjoying my traveling, that’s why I became an F&B consultant, I took more time on my own hands, I took my own salary into my own hands, but you work for your own account, you fight for your own income. When I was doing that, I also realized, how can I boost this? How can I learn more? How can I become better? When a friend told me about The Apprentice Asia, I started watching the US series because I hadn’t really been familiar with it, and I thought I have to do this, this is great. Then you get to assess yourself, if I make it then good. If I get to represent the Philippines, I can really show my skills at the same time, learn from other people. I think that’s what really came out in the process — you really get to improve yourself. I think I was up to the challenge. I thought it was interesting. I was quite competitive. Through the show, I hope to be more involved with the tourism of the country.”

If you get hired, what will you be bringing to the company?

“I could bring skills of being able to adapt to different situations, marketing, PR, there are so many things you could do…It was very interesting to get the job. (Although I’m already an F&B consultant) the entire tourism industry is what I’m interested in. And who brings tourism anywhere? Airlines! And for me that is the one thing that I hadn’t done. In my career, I worked my way from the bottom up. If you read the website, they wrote there that I started off scrubbing toilets and washing dishes in the South of France, and that’s true. I really believe in starting from the bottom. It’s the same thing with Tony. That’s why I admire him, knowing that he started from the bottom on his way up…For me, he (is) someone I really want to work (for).”

What is Tony Fernandes like in person? In the season premiere, he seemed strict and well, scary in the boardroom?

“Yes, he’s very tough and very truthful. When you meet him, there’s absolutely no doubt why he made the way he did. I think he’s very interesting. We were able to bond with him after (shooting) the season. (The experience) was really about learning from Air Asia, dreaming big and staying passionate.”

Who, for you, was the strongest and most direct competition?

“I always thought Alex (of China) was too strong like he really wanted to win. Even more so that he was the only white guy on the show, I think he had to really make it so obvious that he was strong and good maybe because he thought he was white he wouldn’t win because this was The Apprentice Asia. So, I guess he really had it in him to prove that ‘there’s no other reason not to choose me.’ I was amazed by Andrea of Singapore, she’s very young, strong personality and she’s a lawyer. Magaling and ang ganda ng personality niya. Another tough competition was Dee from Thailand. She’s quite successful as well and she owns restaurants in Thailand. (But) there was also one candidate that I have no respect for because our values don’t match.”

Did you have to downplay your looks, since in other reality shows it can work against a contestant?

“Unfortunately for me, what often happens is that people have a preconceived idea of who I am because of maybe the way I present myself. I am perfectionist, I like things to be neat all the time, I always come perfectly put together...and the way I talk, so people tend to think that either I’m stuck up or I am snob, and (how I look) it doesn’t help. People don’t want to like you at first, especially women… because you’re competition. At first, I tried (to downplay) but you can’t make bawi first impressions, right? It never plays for me. I always had to come up and make an effort to be extra nice and I realize I don’t have to do that effort, people will learn to like me because they want to. I go on with life like that. But if you bother to take the time to get to know me, you really realize I’m a great supporter, I’m fiercely loyal to the people I love and I think it takes time, it’s like an onion, you have to peel back the layers to get to the core.”

On the season premiere, we saw you guys getting dirty and selling fish at the market. But what was the toughest task for you so far?

“The toughest for me wasn’t the task but it was getting to work my way through my emotions with people because I’m very emotional and soft inside... If people get over that first impression, they’ll realize I’m very transparent. That was the toughest thing, I knew I had to learn to hide my emotions because there are some situations when it’s not always good. And maybe I tried too hard at some point because people really had strong opinions about me, you’ll find out, and then they get proven wrong later on. I think, for me, that’s always gonna be something that I bring with me in my life — the fact that people have this first impression of me, and I’ll have to win them over.”

(The Apprentice Asia airs Wednesday nights on AXN.)