Kristine Velasco
MANILA, Philippines - There is beauty in courage and deviance.
At the Miss Teen Model of the World 2007, a 17-year-old Filipina was asked why she was wearing an unusual black dress and a pair of boots during the coronation event. She answered: “It’s because I want to embrace my youth.” With a sincere answer and a winning smile, she effortlessly bested other contestants from all over the world and brought home the crown.
Kristine Velasco, now 21, maintains her non-conformist side to bring out the best in her. Her showbiz career was still blossoming when she left GMA for her studies. While studying, she did commercials for Colgate, Chowking, Coke, McDonald’s and Rebisco, among others. Just last February, she finished Arts Management at the De La Salle College of Saint Benilde. When she returned to GMA Artist Center, however, she entered into an agreement with her mother that if a showbiz career doesn’t work well for her in two or three years, she would proceed to law school. She actually majored in law. “My course is about arts patent, copyright, trademarks, those things,” she quips. To be a lawyer was her childhood ambition and it still is.
The youngest of the four children of Joselito and Teresita Velasco, Kristine says that she is very frank. She directly tells her parents when she thinks they’re wrong. “There’s the respect but they’ve taught us that not because they’re older, they’re wiser. They listen to us kids.” She also has a sister, two years her senior, whom she overprotects, ironically. She just laughs at the thought of asking her siblings, “Am I the youngest here or is it the other way around?”
Her childhood was fun; it also honed her enterprising side. On summer breaks, her parents would give her and her siblings zero allowance so they had to find a source of income. She recalls the first earning that they got from selling mangoes. From that summer venture, Kristine and her siblings earned only P1,200 but they were so happy that the money lasted them for three months. At present, Kristine owns her own line of businesses, which she considers as her greatest achievement so far. She aims to establish a name for herself in five to 10 years.
She may have inherited her eye for serious business from her father. But she got her panache from her mom, a fashion designer. The “classic chic” Kristine, as she describes herself, has Coco Chanel as her fashion icon. She’s currently obsessed with bags that she doesn’t care what shoes or dress she wears as long as her bag is nice. She admits she may have gotten this trait from her mother. “She’s obsessed with bags, shoes, watches. At least ako, bag lang,” she laughs.
She confesses, though, that before the Miss Teen Model of the World competition, she was boyish and had low self-esteem. “I played basketball and taekwondo, and I wouldn’t dress up,” she remembers. She only had three days to prepare for the pageant, like learning to do the catwalk. “I joined simply because I wanted the tour. Maybe it’s God’s will that I won.”
Winning the said beauty contest was the turning point of her life. She says, “When I won, I learned that I could actually try a different side of me. I’ve discovered a different side of Joy (the name she grew up with) — and that’s Kristine.”
Photography by MAU AGUASIN • Styling by REG RODRIGUEZ • Makeup by RIA AQUINO • Hairstyling by ALBERT SERRANO • Orange dress by SESA, neon green dress by PEACE LOVE FASHION • Accessories by ESTRELLAS MANILA
