Episode Transcript
Hello, my name is Aziz and I'm the son of a divorced mother. She is really my superhero.
That's why it's important for me to support women to share their uniqueness, their personalities,
perspectives and emotions about this world. In these difficult times in human history,
we need to bring the people of the world together.
And when we hear the voices of women,
when we listen to real lives of women from other countries,
we connect our cultures without differences or stereotypes,
and we get inspired by their stories to live a better life.
That's what this podcast is all about.
My guest today is Sophia Tan.
Pia is a print ad model in Dubai, as well as a student and a brand ambassador for an
aesthetic clinic in the Philippines.
She loves volleyball.
She did extra roles for Vox Cinemas commercials.
She was an extra at Suhaila Bin Leshab music video and her lifestyle studios.
Pia loves painting.
She's selling paintings worldwide on the Instagram,
sophiatan.art, and she is starting to learn the piano.
Pia, how are you today?
Hi Aziz, I'm doing great.
I'm honored, lucky, and privileged to have you here
and very curious about you as a woman.
So I'll begin with this nice first question.
Pia, if your friends and the people who know you best
could describe your personality,
what would they say about you?
Thank you for having me as is. People always describe me as a denure and soft girl and I'm
also quite introverted but I become a social butterfly once I get more comfortable.
So Pia, you're working as a print model and of course you take care of yourself and you have
done that and had experience with music videos. What's your advice to women who might not feel
confident about themselves, they feel they're not beautiful because they compare themselves
to others. So maybe if they're offered opportunities like that, they will say no because they
feel too shy.
My advice for women who compare themselves to other people and to the girls they see
on social media is to remember that social media is fake and we should stop comparing
ourselves to others, and remember that we are beautiful
in our own ways. And being given given being given an
opportunity to use that beauty is like a great thing. And we
should use that.
Thank you. I love that answer. And I'm very curious you as a
Filipina who lived in Dubai, how was adapting to the
culture to the heat to the people? Did you stick with
other Kabayans over there, or did you have an international group of friends?
Can you share that experience?
Well, it wasn't difficult for me in adjusting to life in Dubai
because we moved when I was only four years old.
And we lived there for 30 years.
And I recently moved back to the Philippines,
so it was more of an adjustment for me
because I spent most of my life in a foreign country.
And I'm really grateful for that
because I grew up experiencing different cultures
because of the diversity
and the huge number of expats in the UAE.
And I actually studied in a Filipino school,
but I was still surrounded by like different nationalities
and I still met a lot of people from different cultures.
So as a result, I'm aware of the distinctions among us.
It increased my understanding
on a variety of subjects, including culture, history, and appropriate communication,
which makes it easier for me to get along with others as well. So these type of experiences
have also shaped who I am now. Thank you. And I know you're an artist.
Can you share a bit about what inspires your art and what made you decide to focus on this
field in order, rather than anything else.
I started painting when I was like six or five years old.
And I guess my skills just developed through the years.
And what inspires me to paint is,
I can't really tell what inspires me to paint
because I use painting as a stress reliever.
And when I see something interesting online
that inspires me to paint like a certain picture of a view or an art that already exists,
I make one my own that looks the same, but it's my own version that way.
Thank you. That's really, really, really interesting. And now,
can you share a bit more as someone who lived abroad and interacted with many cultures?
When you return to Philippines, what did you notice about the culture with fresh eyes that
maybe you can share to other people so they understand the Filipino culture?
Because people who grew up there, it's like a fish in the sea, so they don't see as
much about the culture because they're born in it compared to someone who comes and
can see with fresh eyes.
What is unique about Filipina women in Philippines?
What is different about their culture?
Is this like clear or do you want me to explain it more or everything's fine?
Okay, yes, you can elaborate
No, no, sure. It's just you how do you describe filipina women as someone who lived abroad mostly
So when you return you can notice things about how they are that they don't notice about themselves, you know
It's not yeah, you can say all the good things. Just uh, how is it because you grew up around
multicultural people. So what would you say some
uniquenesses of Filipinas compared to other women from
other places?
A personality trait that I noticed in Filipinos, compared
to other nationalities is that, like, they're very
extroverted. And they're also really nice. Like, family
really comes first, like what I noticed. And they're really hard
working. Because I have friends who are like working jobs at a
very young age. And they do that to like earn money for
themselves, like, like to be independent. And I can say
that Filipinos are very open minded. And they're very
hospitable, which is a common trait to Filipinos.
And yeah, that's it.
Thank you.
And to discuss a bit your life in Dubai
compared to Philippines.
Some people will think that Dubai is very,
very competitive, but also there are a lot more
opportunities that come from that.
How would you describe your ability, for example,
you found the ability to be an ambassador
for a clinic in the Philippines, but also you did a lot of work in Dubai. Do you find that Dubai has
a lot of opportunities, but it's very competitive? How is that possibility to find opportunities
for yourself in Philippines compared to Dubai? I know it's not compared in the same way,
but for you personally, as someone who has more skills than most normal people?
I can say that here in the Philippines, it's quite more competitive than in the UAE, but I had more of an opportunity.
I can say that it was quite competitive here compared to the UAE because I was given more opportunities when I was in the UAE, like extra commercial shoots, music video shoots.
And here in the Philippines, it's harder to get jobs like that and it's also not that accessible
from here, like from my, from where I live here in the Philippines because I live in the province
of Laguna and most of the jobs that require print ad models, music video, music video extras,
I have to go to Manila, which is quite far from where I am, and compared to when I was
in Dubai, everything was really accessible through metro and I could look for opportunities
for me online. And then here, not like everything is not really available online. Like you'll
have to go to the actual place to sign up and stuff like that.
I understand. And how is life in the province? It's a big
difference to life in Dubai. How do you schedule your day
now? How do you connect with nature, bond with family, take
care of your mental health? Can you describe it as someone
who lived in a very busy city for many more than a decade?
So, actually, that's why I was saying it was quite an adjustment for me because I was used
to like the city lights, the big and tall buildings.
And then when I moved back to the Philippines, we live in the province, like I see a lot
of mountains and stuff like that, which I usually don't see in Dubai.
I guess time moves faster in Dubai, because there are a lot of things to do compared to when I'm here in the Philippines.
Yeah.
I understand. And to finish this, you are someone, a woman who's building her dream and her future and hustling hard to make your life better.
What's your advice to other women so that they keep going after their dreams and don't give up even when times are difficult?
My advice for women who are chasing their dreams like me is to not give up even if you fail.
And if you do, remember to get back up and remember that when you fail at something,
It just means that you're destined for greater things and that failure may have saved you from
something that is a bigger is a much bigger failure. Thank you so much Pia. It was my privilege
and my honor to share your voice to interview you for this podcast. I wish you all the glory,
all the opportunities and all the success.
Thank you so much Aziz and the pleasure is mine.
