Pinoy chocolatier Raul Matias elevates Philippine flavors to world-class status with his unique creations, now proudly Manila-made.
He left for the States a physical therapist. Eighteen years later, Raul Matias came home a chocolatier, bringing with him a chocolate brand that was slowly making its name in New York’s elite circles.
He called his chocolates Machiavelli, [...]

Filipino-American musical theater actor Stephanie Reese’s journey to find her roots in the Philippines occurred three years ago, at a “time of great despair.”

“I gave up my singing and acting career because the man that I had fallen in love with died in a car accident. It turned my life upside down,” relates the Seattle-born soprano.

From being an ambitious and successful actor and singer—she played Kim in the European production of Miss Saigon, and Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Tuptim in The King and I, both in West End—Stephanie became withdrawn and was ready to give up on life.

In 1994, Mary Grace Dimacali, a homemaker and mother of five, had a dream of building her own business selling ensaimada and fruit cake she would bake from her own home kitchen. The problem was, she was a psychologist by training. She didn’t exactly have the tools to make the dream a reality. So she went to the US to learn baking at the Pierce College in Los Angeles. When she came back, she took a master’s degree in business from the Asian Institute of Management.

Upon graduating in 2001, her five-year plan was to take her ensaimada business, which was gaining popularity from her participation in food fairs that pop up at Christmastime, and translate it into a growing, sustainable enterprise.

Los Angeles-based Pinoy vocalist Charmaine Clamor is putting the Philippines on the world jazz map with jazzipino, a hybrid sound that combines the swing of American jazz with Pinoy soul.

With her evocative and sensuous voice, Charmaine has been compared to legendary jazz figures like Sarah Vaughan and Cassandra Wilson, and this talented Filipina shows that she deserves every recognition. She’s made the top 5 on JazzWeek’s world (#2) and traditional jazz (#5) radio charts simultaneously–a rare feat–and was named one of the 100 Most Influential Filipino Women in the United States. Critics predict that her recently launched My Harana: A Filipino Serenade will most likely head toward the charts again.

Fil-Australian actor Rowena Vilar has received much praise for her portrayal of Anita in the Stages production of West Side Story.

“It’s great to dream big,” says Melbourne-born Pinoy actor Rowena Vilar, who started in classical ballet and got into musical theater by chance. Just five years into her musical theater career, Rowena has taken on the roles of Kim, Gigi, and Ellen in the Sydney production of Miss Saigon, performed with Hugh Jackman in The Boy from Oz, and is now playing her dream role as Anita in West Side Story, produced by Audie Gemora of Stages and directed by Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo.

Joanna Ampil in her musical theater debut in the Philippines as Maria in West Side Story, opposite Christian Bautista. Photo by Jeff Arcilla.

She is to the West End what Lea Salonga is to Broadway. Theater actor and singer Joanna Ampil was 17 when she was whisked off to do Kim in the London production of Miss Saigon. Over the years, she’s made a name for herself, playing Mimi in Rent, Eponine and Fantine in Les Miserables. She was even handpicked by British composer Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber to do Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar.

Furniture designer Ann Pamintuan, decked with her own jewelry creations–gold-, silver-, and copper-plated brooches, rings, and bangles made from leaves and roots of trees. Behind her is one of her furniture designs.

In this Q&A with curator Sonia Ner, Davao-based furniture designer Ann Pamintuan, one of the members of the globally respected Movement 8, talks about her design philosophy, her fluid artistic process, and how, despite her lack of a design background, she found her groove.