Join the #IamBeautiful Movement

I grew up being bullied by girls and boys who believed that someone with an olive/morena skin tone like me is ugly.  I would sometimes go home crying and my father would see me.  He would ask why am I crying?  I’d tell him about how the neighborhood kids and my schoolmates teases me because I’m ugly.    My father would always console me and and said he feels sorry for these kid who said these things to me because  no matter what they say he believes I am beautiful and someday I will prove it to the world.   That is how my father made me believe that I am and I will forever thank him for being the anchor of my strong self-confidence.

When I’m self pitying because of my skintone and my high forehead, my father would always show me clippings of Ms. Gloria Diaz who is thte Philippines Miss Universe 1969 and was named the Pinakamagandang Babae sa Buong Mundo (The Most Beautiful Girl In the World).   Whenever I feel or think or say I am ugly my father  would say I am not. “Look at Gloria Diaz, she has a small face with a wide forehead, small lips and beautiful nose. You look like her. Someday, you will be Miss Universe.” he would say.

Well, I didn’t get to become Miss Universe, but I am Miss Earth, Miss Earthlingorgeous. And I will forever believe and feel beautiful no matter what other people say.

While I was lucky to have a father who will always say I am beautiful and because of his constant reminder I believe I am.    Unfortunately, I belong to the 7% of women in the Philippines who can describe myself as beautiful. The rest (93% of Filipino women) think they are not beautiful !

A DOVE commissioned survey done last April 2013 revealed that only 7% of Filipinas describe themselves as beautiful

Considering the beauty crowns we’ve won as a nation, the impressive confidence of the Filipina to wield her own happiness, as well as the beautifying resilience of the Filipina spirit, this country definitely does not do justice to how beautiful Filipinas truly are.

This is where Dove is vowing to come in. As a global giant in personal care and as the original champion for real beauty, Dove wants to turn things around. Dove, through its superior products backed by real science and attested to by real women, via campaigns that tug at heartstrings, and by way of efforts that highlight real beauty, takes on the challenge of pushing perspectives to get more women to believe that they truly are beautiful.

Dove defines this new quest through the #IAmBeautiful Movement: a drive that seeks to up that 7 percent and get more Filipina women to love and appreciate their own beauty. The movement envisions that women have the confidence and appreciation to manifest their beauty in their own terms—free from any labels drawn up by society, not defined by gender differences, and abandoning the impossible standards set by media.

n order to support the Filipina in this change of perspective, Dove will rely on the same pillars that have constantly driven its efforts and expertise. At the heart of Dove lies the belief that every Filipina is beautiful, that she deserves only the best products, and that she can reach her full beauty potential by genuinely caring for herself. She does not need to live up to any standard; she is, after all, beautiful in her own right, lovely in her uniqueness, and captivating in her strength.

The #IAmBeautiful Movement fires up from a good starting point, and it also comes at a very opportune time. This is because Filipinas of today seem ripe for abandoning their tendencies for self-criticism, what with eight out of 10 Filipinas saying they’re now satisfied with how they look. While this statistic merits commendation, the challenge still stands: to get women to move beyond being merely satisfied with their looks into actually feeling, believing, and exclaiming, “I am beautiful!” Over all, thinking of oneself as beautiful seems aligned with the Filipina woman’s intrinsic goal of working towards happiness. The commissioned study showed that women believe that looking and feeling their beautiful best are important for being happy. Transitively, women feel their most beautiful when they are also happy and content. These same themes resonate loudly across Dove’s DNA of promoting happiness through beauty and care. Likewise, these same ideas are also echoed by the #IAmBeautiful Movement, which seeks to celebrate the self-realized beauty of the Filipina and enable her to care for herself to ultimately lead a happy, fulfilled life.

Be part of the meaningful #IAmBeautiful Movement now.

Stay gorgeous everyone!