Young And Living Awesome means bringing your bright ideas to life.
She looks like Jennifer Aniston,” says host and volleyball player Gretchen Ho, who is seated to my left at the launch of Idea’yala, a new campaign of the Ayala Malls that encourages the youth to release their ideas into the wild. The campaign is the brainchild of Paloma Zobel, who is onstage, looking like a young Rachel, her hair casually swept to one side, revealing her pink peony necklace, which she made herself. Beside her is Mariana Zobel, who someone else on the table said looks like a brunette Kate Bosworth. She is an Idea’yala mentor and collaborator, as well as an associate within the corporate strategy group at Ayala Corporation. Jaime Urquijo Zobel is also a guest mentor and collaborator for the project. I am at the table of Idea’yala guest mentors and youth innovators —DJ and Manila Music Festival co-founder Katrina Razon, TBWA chief creative officer Melvin Maganda, graphic designer and illustrator Dan Matutina, founder and designer for Risque Designs Tal de Guzman, and Gouache Bags founders Ann Enriquez and Louie Poco. They are all young entrepreneurs and professionals who have, themselves, successfully pursued out-of-the-box ideas via unconventional methods. We all look on as Paloma and Mariana present Idea’yala for the first time, yet, celebrity lookalikes aside, seem at ease with the task at hand. It is, after all, a project they have lived and breathed even before it was even born.
Idea’yala is a competition that presents the youth with the challenge of imagining innovative mall experiences and developing new entrepreneurial and design concepts that are viable, sustainable, market-inclusive, and/or have the potential to address the country’s social and environmental concerns — even possibly shaping the mall of the future. In turn, it nourishes young minds through talks by the guest mentors and youth innovators, where they share their experiences on starting up a business, using social media to their advantage, and getting their ideas to a wider audience. Paloma, who graduated from Parsons School of Design and worked in product development at Esteé Lauder and Tom Ford, and one of the mentors of the shortlisted teams, shares the philosophy behind Idea-yala: “It can be very hard to have a good idea and not know where to start. What’s good about our generation is everybody’s so text-savvy. We do have the fundamental tools to begin, but once you have your product or your service, how do you get to the masses? That’s something that you need to learn. That’s something that you need advice on. I, like anybody, found that hard. It’s hard out there and that’s why Idea’yala exists.”
“When I was a kid, apart from wanting to be a Pink Power Ranger, the idea of being a designer in any field was always very appealing to me. I’m always full of ideas and love brainstorming, which is why I’m so happy to be a part of Idea’yala, the perfect platform to feed creativity,” she shares. “At Parsons we were always encouraged to take risks and challenge ourselves and then, living in New York, I learned that it’s all about going with your gut and taking advantage of every opportunity and always keeping in mind that you’re only as good as the company you keep.” So Idea’yala was created to be a group activity that encourages the youth to collaborate with people — even strangers, who they find have the right tools and skills set for their vision.
So how did Idea’ayala — itself an idea — come about? “The idea came because I graduated from a major that married business and designs and it really gave me the tools to go out into the world, take our ideas to the next level. So when I was here last December, I sat down with the really awesome Ayala team, thinking, ‘We should start a platform in the Philippines that should do something like this for the youth, that could give them an opportunity to come together and voice out all their ideas. So many of them are kept in, no platform to put their ideas out in the real world. So we thought of putting together a summit, a challenge, in which experts from the real world would come in and share their expertise from their respective fields. Idea’yala started from there and it’s still growing. I really hope it can be a model for the future,” says Paloma.
Mariana, who started her career at JP Morgan in New York after graduating from Harvard with a degree in Social Studies, adds about her cousin, “She might be shy to say, but she worked with the Ayala Malls team to develop the idea strategically in terms of helping drive the concept, drive the challenges and help the Ideators guide the participants.”
“Today’s generation benefits from an increased access to education. That’s kind of pushed our generation to be openminded. You can be here, but be everywhere at the same time. It’s also upped the bar in terms of competition. There’s so much access to information that it pushes everything into the limelight, and forces you to really think about what you’re doing, what its relevance is. Our generation benefits from all this access, but it’s also our biggest competitor,” Mariana adds. Through Idea’yala, the young generation of innovators will be able to focus their imagination and ideas toward a specific purpose, under the guidance of those who’ve already learned the ropes.
As the two kickstarters return from the stage, Don Jaime Zobel de Ayala, their Lolo, greets them and whispers, “Congratulations. How are you? Are you happy?”
“He taught me to always be passionate in what I do. Life is too short to be doing something I’m not fully invested in. My parents and Lolo have always been extremely supportive of my interests and endeavors, such as Idea’yala. They taught me not to be afraid of failure as long as I learn from every experience,” she says. “My biggest dream is to fulfill every task I give myself, stay motivated and happy, but most of all to have an impact. Big or small, I want to have had the privilege of improving somebody’s life.”
“I will never stop learning from my mother and my grandparents,” says Paloma. “They are truly inspirational people who have years of wisdom and experience. Apart from teaching them how to use their iPhones, it will be a few years before I can truly say they will learn anything from me. I do hope, though, that I bring a fresh and new outlook to their lives.” And with Don Jaime — the artist and photographer — already getting the hang of taking group selfies using a monopod, we think they already have.
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Groups of five can apply for Idea’yala via the video booths set up in Ayala Malls until Sept. 25. Application caravans are also scheduled to tour seven campuses (Ateneo de Manila: September 15-19; De La Salle University: September 8-11; Mapua Institute of Technology: September 3-5; University of Asia and the Pacific: September 9-11; and University of the Philippines-Diliman: September 16-19; University of Sto. Tomas: September 22-25; Southville International School: September 22-25). Each team will be asked to come up with a fresh, innovative idea for Ayala Malls. The 30 shortlisted teams will undergo workshops and mentoring sessions that will allow them to learn though an exchange of ideas with co-participants and experts.
The winning team’s project and concept will be implemented by Ayala Malls. Roundtrip airfares and accommodations for a trip to El Nido Resorts, Palawan; Ayala Malls prepaid cards worth P 10,000; and internships at Ayala Malls will also be awarded to the best teams. All Filipino nationals, and foreign nationals residing in the Philippines for the entire duration of the competition, ages 18-24 years old, may apply for the competition. In cooperation with VISA, Samsung, MYX and Tiger 22, Idea’yala encourages the youth to contribute their ideas to better benefit and improve the lifestyle experience of families and communities.
For more information, follow the #YALA on Twitter and Instagra, or visit www.ideayala.ayalamalls.com.ph.