It's baffling to know that women suffrage in the Philippines only happened 80 years ago; that's not even 100 years! Without feminism, Filipinas would still remain in the shadows of their male counterparts and it's still happening today, even with the world's openness towards female empowerment.
What men can do, women can do better… in heels! In the e-commerce world, we see a lot of male personalities such as Jeff Bezos - founder of Amazon, and the Samwer brothers behind Lazada, but what about women? That's about to change with the popularity of Glamourbox in the Philippines.
We got a chance to talk to one of the most influential women in beauty and e-commerce. Taking the industry by the reins, former Binibining Pilipinas Universe and CEO of Glamourbox Lia Andrea Ramos has shared with us her success story and how she dominated both the beauty world and online shopping.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/BQNUGzyhPIt/
… we wanted to reach out to Filipinas and give them options…
From winning Binibining Pilipinas in 2006, 25-year-old Davaoenya Lia Andrea Ramos would have never thought about establishing an e-commerce business 6 years later. "After my stint as Ms. Universe Philippines 2006, I modelled a little bit abroad and went back to the Philippines after that." according to Lia, "I ended up working in PR & Media Relations in one of the top firms in the Philippines for over 2 years," she continued.
Being a UP (University of the Philippines) graduate, success in the PR world would have been easy to grab for Lia. It came to a point where she wanted to start her own company. Not knowing how or what it could be, she knew she had to do it online, "I was looking for a big idea that I could start in the Philippines, and my friend and I stumbled upon this business model in the US called Birchbox (a beauty box subscription model)."
The idea was to provide Filipinas with options in skin care and cosmetics by sending them a selection of brands to try out every month. "It was a great way to discover products by sampling it first, and there was an element of surprise to it as well," she (Lia) further stated "the whole thing was brilliant, and because of my beauty background, we thought it was a natural fit. That was how we started Glamourbox." Pushing forward with this idea, the site shipped out their first box to subscribers in November 2012.
Becoming a premiere beauty online shop in the Philippines, Lia had big shoes to fill in to lead her new company and to provide what her customers needed. Two years since they first shipped their boxes, GlamourBox became distributors of brands never before seen on shelves at drugstores or department stores in the Philippines. According to Lia "We realized that there were a lot of brands that were not yet available in the market. We ended up bringing in brands ourselves and we became distributors." So aside from their product discovery platform which is the beauty box, Glamourbox also has their own online store.
Being brave and having courage are two things that are definitely important, as well as taking risks.
Even though Lia didn't have a background in coding and how to run a website from a technical point of view, this didn't stop her from creating her own start-up. With her experience in PR, she created great relationships with different brands here and abroad and further expanded her business online.
As a woman, being in the e-commerce business was not as hard as anyone would imagine. When asked about obstacles she encountered establishing her business, she replied "I am lucky to say that the Philippines is a matriarchal society where we hold women in very high regard, and that I came from a beauty background." Establishing Glamourbox was a perfect fit for the beauty queen. However, the Philippine start-up market is not the same as it is in other countries. According to Lia "Raising money for capital is not easy in the Philippines," she stated that "raising money is one of the challenges for start-ups in the Philippines no matter your gender is."
I would define success as doing something that fulfils you and allows you to wake up each morning and feel like you’re doing something out of passion.
For Lia, moving from one career to another was a breeze but it did not come without challenges. From her beauty pageant days, you would think that she would move forward to showbiz as what her predecessors would have done. Instead, Lia pursued a different career path and eventually settled as an entrepreneur. "Being an entrepreneur taught me to take risks and to commit," Lia said, "I have to admit, there were times when I found it so hard and I found myself so close to quitting, but my advice would be to keep pushing and moving," she added.
Establishing Glamourbox, Lia wanted to use the Internet as an opportunity for Filipinas to get access to premium-quality skin care and beauty products. This unique business model paired with a passion for success, Lia Andrea has achieved success through hard work and sheer passion. However, she stated "That being profitable means being successful, but more than that it is also doing something you are passionate about and affecting lives in the process," when asked to define success.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/BKMru9ogTyz/?taken-by=liandrearamos
Never lose faith even if it's not an easy ride.
Glamourbox is an e-commerce store for women by women in an environment where they can learn from each other. According to Lia, there are two secrets to becoming successful "One, surround yourself with people who inspire you and people who you can learn from (especially when it comes to business), and two, it will never be easy but you have to stick to it and keep learning from your experiences." For the beauty-queen-turned-CEO, becoming your own boss is never easy but it is definitely a fulfilling job saying that "I wouldn’t trade places with anyone right now. I love that adrenaline rush of solving a problem and moving on to the next challenge."
Asking for advice for women who want to get into pageants, Lia enthusiastically replied to "Find a really good trainer. I was lucky to have several great trainers (Aces & Queens group) to help me prepare for the pageant." She further shared "be confident and let your personality shine through, and pray that luck is on your side, because after all, beauty is subjective.” Apart from that, she also gave advice for Filipinas who want to get into the start-up industry. Lia believes that women are great leaders because they (women) are nurturing, compassionate and can be firm as well.
Knowing the challenges of changing career paths, Lia has some words to share to those who want to change their careers, she said to "Always seize the opportunity. When an opportunity presents itself to you, take it." It wasn't an easy ride to change from becoming a beauty queen, settling in the United States to pursue modelling, becoming part of an NGO, pursuing a PR career, and then setting up her own start-up. It was a challenge and Lia took it like a Filipina - strong, confident, and proud.
