Then in 1992, she put up a cosmetics company and taught millions of Chinese ladies that they no longer have to live with their pale faces. She taught them how to look beautiful with the help of her makeup line which she formulated for Asian skin and Asian features. Her brand was an instant success and to this day is selling in 240 cities in China and enjoying 95 percent brand recognition.
Today, in this new millennium, she is concentrating on her humanitarian endeavors. She has just set up the Yue Sai Kan Education Foundation in China to build schools and award scholarships to China’s poor children. Its subsidiary, the Modern Learning Center, will serve as a Learning Annex type of program that’s designed to teach modern skills to the Chinese – from how to make an investment, decorate one’s apartment, to Western etiquette. Scheduled to be launched on Oct. 8, the school will feature a minimum of 200 classes per month. Yue Sai hopes her programs will enable the Chinese to live a more "beautiful, healthy and successful life."
The woman whom People Magazine called "the most famous woman in China" loves the Filipino people. During a recent lunch that I had with her, I talked to her about Gawad Kalinga, an organization that aims to build 700,000 homes in 7,000 communities in seven years for our poor people. She showed so much interest and was so appalled by the concept. Needless to say, she gave a donation voluntarily. She feels a certain closeness to her Filipino friends Johnny Litton, Jojo and Henry Zabarte, Max and Precious Soliven, Tess Santos, Biba and Norman San Augustin, to name a few, whom she manages to see a few times of the year despite her tight schedule.
The good news for Chinese TV viewers is that Yue Sai has decided to resume her status as a big TV star. She is now engrossed in the production of her new nationally syndicated TV series Yue Sai’s One World, which is scheduled to be aired in China in Nov. 2004. This new 52-part series will feature "everyone and everything the Chinese should know." This 45-minute program will feature interviews of the world’s top celebrities. Among the distinguished guests being featured in the lifestyle series are supermodels Naomi Campbell and Alek Wek, singer Julio Iglesias, international designer Valentino, Oscar awardee Adrien Brody, among others. Soon after the TV show is aired, Yue Sai plans to launch her own lifestyle magazine YS in Shanghai in 2005. The magazine is positioned as a cross between Martha Stewart’s Living and Oprah Winfrey’s O magazine. The guests who have been featured in her TV series will enjoy double exposure in print in her new magazine.
To give you a glimpse of what China will be delighted to see in her TV series, here are some of the famous people she has interviewed, excerpts of the interviews and her insights on their personalities:
Her interview with Adrien Brody, who won the best actor award last year for his stirring role in The Pianist:
Yue Sai: Adrien is more handsome in person than he is on print. He is very slim, 31 years old and not married. His role in The Pianist was so challenging because he had to have that gaunt look of a war victim and he had to lose 30 lbs. to get that look. What is impressive is his closeness to his mother whom he considers the most influential woman in his life. What is funny to me is his choice of pet – a teacup poodle, a very small dog that can fit in your hand.
YSK: Adrien, you have been seen dating beautiful women like Naomi Campbell, and Nicole Kidman, but you are not serious with any body in particular.
Adrien: Being seen with beautiful women means nothing to me. Beauty is in the soul, not in the external looks. I love women but my woman has to be exceptional, like my mother.
YSK: What are your favorite movies and who are your favorite actors?
AB: Meryl Streep, Robert de Niro. They are tops in their art. My favorite movies are Deer Hunter, Godfather, Taxi…
Now, listen to her interview with Julio Iglesias, who’s one of her great idols:
YSK: Everything about Julio is impressive. His house in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic is awesome. He has a joie de vivre that is very infectious and it shows in his fabulous lifestyle, his music is sensational. He is still very handsome at his age. He is so charming and gracious. You can see that he loves people. He hosted me and my crew for lunch and made us feel so important. He opened for us vintage bottles of wine and served us the most sumptuous lunch. But most impressive is his generosity. He sent us back to New York in his G-5 private plane. He did not have to do that, but he did. By the way, he is also the first foreigner in China’s history to receive the Golden Record Award. And in 1983, he landed on the Guinness World Book of Records for selling the most records in different languages than any other musical artist in history. Quite an achievement!
YSK: Miranda is a very beautiful woman and gave you four adorable children. Will you ever marry her?
Julio Iglesias: I would marry Miranda anytime, anywhere. But what is funny and most people would not believe this, is that Miranda does not want to get married! I agree with you. She is a beautiful woman!
Julio’s quotable quote: Fame is a gift from God!
Now we go to Naomi Campbell, the most famous supermodel in the world who has extended her life and career into so many directions. Not only is she a model, she is also an actress, a writer of two books, (Swan and Naomi, a photo book,) and is also trying her hand in business by creating her own line of cosmetics and her own fragrance.
YSK: Naomi was two hours late for our appointment. She requested to have her own makeup artist and hair stylist. This proves that she always wants to control the way she looks. What is surprising is that her grandmother is Chinese. She comes from a family of beauties. Both her mother and grandmother are very beautiful women. What is impressive about Naomi is that at 34 years of age, she is still very much in demand as a model. Her schedule is so jammed up, I am surprised how she could cope with it. In one week, she could be in eight countries. Look, you and I saw her in Paris during the fashion week. Before that, she was in New York, Brazil, and five other countries. She is also involved in some fundraising projects.
YSK: What are your favorite causes?
Naomi Campbell: I am very involved in fundraising efforts for children like Nelson Mandela’s children’s fund and Fidel Castro’s Cuban children’s fund. I believe that children are the future of the world.
YSK: I know that you have studied acting at Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London. Have you always been interested in acting?
Naomi: Yes. I would love to be a serious actress. In fact, I have already made 10 movies total. I co-starred with Madonna in Spike Lee’s film Girl 6 and I also came out in movie with Sylvester Stallone, Whoopi Goldberg, Jackie Chan, Antonio Banderas, Sarah Jessica Parker…
YSK: You started your career at age 15 and are still going strong! What is the secret of your staying power?
Naomi: I try to be as professional as possible and I try to reinvent myself in other fields. Like in 1995, I released a music album, "Babywoman." Then I recorded Lalala Love Song with Toshi Kubota and it was an instant hit in Japan. I was also featured in music videos with superstars like George Michael’s "Freedom," and Michael Jackson’s "In the Closet." Recently, I launched my own cosmetic line and a fragrance of my own.
The above are just teasers of what the Chinese televiewers will see come fall this year. In the lineup are other famous celebrities like Alek Wek, Meryl Streep, Valentino, Elizabeth Hurley, Josh Groban, Sarah Brightman, Dior designer John Galliano, and a lot more. Yue Sai Kan will delight and entertain her viewers by bringing them up close and personal access to these famous personalities. But her audience will surely agree that among all these stars, Yue Sai Kan still shines the brightest.