Ylona Garcia's advice to teens: Love yourself

MANILA, Philippines – Ylona Garcia gave a piece of advice to teens today, who are too conscious of themselves.

In the dawn of the social media, it is easy to criticize other people, especially their looks.

However, Kapamilya teen singer-actress Ylona tells them to “embrace” their selves – a lesson she learned the hard way.

“I was bullied for being my skin color, the way I look,” she revealed in a recent interview. “When I was nine, I was really dark. I have a really dark color, even darker than this.”

“I wanted to be white so badly so I asked people how to be white,” she continued. “They said drink or buy a lemon and put it in your skin or something. So I did it and nothing happened. I cried for hours.”

Eventually, the 14-year-old lass realized that what other people think about her does not matter. 

“This makes me who I am,” she said. “I just want people to know that don’t make yourself something you’re not. Just be yourself, you’re born with this. Just embrace it, don’t change just to make people happy.”

“You can’t impress, please everyone. So just be yourself,” she added.

Meanwhile, Ylona wanted her fans to get to know her more through her music which will be featured in her digital concert on July 29.

Although excited, she admitted that she's scared of what other people would think. But on a second thought she said, “I’ll just show them who I am.”

This digital concert will also be the launch of her album “My Name is Ylona Garcia,” which contains nine tracks with four songs she personally composed.