Sophia in the footsteps of her mom, grandmom

MANILA, Philippines - She is the granddaughter of Pilar Pilapil and the daughter of Pia Pilapil and former supermodel and now athlete of the Philippine Team Gerry Gonzalo. While her family tree defines her genes, Sophia Pilapil Gonzalo is a woman all her own.

Sophia is studying Bachelor of Science in Leisure and Tourism Management at a well-known college to fulfill her passion and goal to be a flight attendant. In school, she is also busy with co-curricular activities and sports. Other than being a student, she works as a model.

Sophia describes her usual day: “Get up early in the morning for school, accomplish school stuff and hang out with friends. On weekends, I work part-time as a model. So I don’t really get enough rest as a usual schoolgirl but I enjoy it. It’s something I do which releases my stress and problems. It makes me forget and just enjoy.”

During her free time, Sophia is usually home with her family just watching TV. She is also active on social media, saying her “social life is kinda up there thanks to social media and my part-time job which is modeling. Which makes it fun and I’m so grateful for it because at some point it takes the stress away.”

Sometimes, she’ll be out with friends or spends time with her boyfriend Kyehl Nicdao, an architect based in Pampanga.

“I rarely go to parties. I’m the type of girl who just chills out and stays home. I’m not really fond of noisy places. I do go out with my mom because she parties sometimes but I seldom go to clubs,” shares Sophia, who adds that she also seldom sees her boyfriend because their schedules don’t jibe.

Sophia says her love life is “a little complicated and a little bit too personal to share.” Besides having met Kyehl in Boracay while doing a documentary for her finals in school, being in a long-distance relationship with him, Sophia prefers keeping the details to herelf.

“I love him yet... as you all know, life pretty much throws a lot of crazy twists and curve balls around! So yeah, taken yet complicated,” she laughs.

The swimming and volleyball enthusiast keeps her figure at 38-27-38 through exercise and a well-balanced diet. Staying beautiful may be easy for Sophia, many thanks to her genes. She does not even do treatments that much and swears her beauty is “all natural.” Her secret lies in “staying strong and happy.”

“No matter what stress you go through, which makes you not feel beautiful and ruins your beauty routine. It’s okay to feel bad for a while but you always have to pick yourself up back again. Staying strong and being happy would show how beautiful a woman can be. Do what makes you happy and it will show,” she says.

Personal hygiene is also very important to Sophia. She believes that it all starts from there, then everything with beauty and health follows.

Although she looks like someone who already knows her life path, Sophia says she is still in search of her permanent direction in life.

“After college, I’m planning to apply as a flight attendant at an international airline company. Although in the future, I probably would want to be more than just a flight attendant. Being a flight attendant is one of my biggest dreams, yet I would like more and be a boss someday,” ends Sophia.