Our Supreme journey - Supreme ako!

Serendipity played a big part in it. I can still remember my first day in my new home here at The Philippine Star. The welcome was warm and the smiles were bright. I had brought in with me a team that to me, is the best and the brightest of young Manila. Their interests spun the whole spectrum of youth culture — brilliant minds that translate the language of now into news.

Some of them have been longtime collaborators, others, new acquaintances. One thing that I am proud of is my intuition with people. I have this ability to spot talent right after one conversation. Having been in this industry for a decade now, I can sniff the real from the fake a mile away (okay, for some it is still hard to recognize).

Supreme started because we wanted to be a better version of ourselves. We needed to challenge ourselves to take things to a new level and at the same time be nurtured in an environment that thrives on creativity and growth. We couldn’t have found a better home.

Seeking characters to fill up the Supreme Big Brother house came naturally. Somehow, everyone just gelled together. There were no overlapping egos and each one’s eccentricities just seemed to spark more electricity. Working with Team Supreme each week has given me aside from a multiple personality disorder, an enriched and comprehensive perspective on how it is to be supreme.

Pop star trend-spotter Gino de la Paz has been writing about the new and the now for about five years now, and I just happened to invite him to write a column when I spotted him at a Preview party, where he was once an editor. Aside from being contributing editor for Supreme, Gino is an online editor for The Financial Times and is an avid fan of Yo Gabba Gabba.

We met Pepe Diokno through an open call, and he even wore a trench coat for the interview. He showed us this ‘zine he made along with his classmates in La Salle Greenhills and talked about an awards show he produced, with a tissue roll sprayed with gold paint as trophy for “The Toilet Awards.” I was immediately smitten. Currently a student of UP, Pepe is also a filmmaker and is the chief of Supreme.ph and SupremeTV. According to the Star advertising department, Pepe is the high school crush ng bayan. Take that, Sam Concepcion.

I sent Paolo Lorenzana a text message inviting him to write profiles on Supreme subjects, and he gave me a response that rendered me speechless that I couldn’t even send a response back. He was that good. Each week, this wordsmith never fails to impress with the way he expresses his thoughts. He goes to the extent of going to places like prostitution dens (for research, for research), jailhouses and where the swell-headed stars stay just to get the story. He is also the editor-in-chief of Status, the free magazine that keeps the urban beat grooving.

At the elevator at my condo, tired from work, I leaned over and noticed this girl who was beside me — she looked familiar. “I think I know you,” I said with a confused smirk. It happened to be Tara Sering, the author of chick lit bestsellers, fresh from her stint in Singapore. She had just relocated to Manila and was about to visit her boyfriend, who happens to be my neighbor. We ended up talking for an hour, and on the spot, offered her spot here at Supreme. She received her first Palanca Award last Sept.1.

I am amazed at how voracious a reader Jan Sarabia Ong is. I am more of a book buyer than reader but I know how important it is to encourage the Me Generation to read — now. I met Jan while doing a TV segment on his mother, my spiritual adviser of a neighbor. Since joining Supreme, Jan — even in his tween phase — has been the best team player one could ever wish for, and continues to raid National Book Store and Fully Booked looking for a “booking” — or that book whose cover and content he can judge.

Raya Mananquil is part of Team Supreme not because of any other relations outside the fact that we truly believe in her advocacy of wellness and health. This girl practices what she preaches, and is a model’s model in the way she chooses to live her life. We are all for young people promoting advocacy — people need that, people want that.

David Milan, as I’ve mentioned in an earlier column, is my sounding board and resident technoprobe. He is the first to arrive at the office to check layouts and the last to leave — an indispensable Supreme gem. Jojo Gamboa, Jerry Tanegra, Boy Suerte and Rey Rivera all do wonders for our layouts and have been so patient with us, from sunset to sunrise, literally.

All of the above mentioned people and more comprise Team Supreme. I used to be a spoiled brat. Now I take on the role of a parent, an apprentice, a media mentor and moderator. All of the hard work, endless nights, impossible shoots, slick scoops and Supreme exclusives have been more than worth it. Sounds cheesy, but really, every drop of sweat, blood and ink is all for YOU.

This Supreme special collector’s edition issue features our team’s collective insight on what it takes to be Supreme, as well as a shoot that brings back celebrations of childhood past, mascots and all. It’s our birthday, and we’ll fly high if we want to. This special issue is a co-lab between us and Ramon Tan Mangila of Pix Republic Studios — from the shoots to the parting shots, it has been a viaul joyride. We also bring you the 22 new faces of Fashion Watch — more than fierce, they are “ferosh” and “tarosh!” changing the style landscape as we see it.

Same time last year, we introduced our OFW series. OFW stands for overseas Filipino winners. This year, we gathered Pinoys and shot them at Central Park. For this we have the tandem of X and X — New York-based Xander Angeles and Xeng Zulueta to thank for.

Supreme also highlights, via a special series of a collaboration with Nokia, a new breed of fresh, young guns — “ActiVisionaries” or the New Activists we call them, along with Myx VJ hopefuls — who will take the world by storm signal, full bar.

For this issue alone, we shot more than a hundred people, slept a total of zero hours, gained 10,000 calories, gave birth to 1,001 ideas, traveled nearly 10,000 miles and back.

Finally, we are ONE.