As the daughter of the most prominent dermatologist in the country, her surname is synonymous to beauty. Because the apple never falls far from the tree, Cristalle Belo Henares is on a mission to help mother Vicki achieve her “vision of making the Philippines the most beautiful country one person at a time.”
Henares is doing this by “making the Belo expertise available to Filipinos of all walks of life via Belo Essentials,” a line of beauty and skincare products designed to be affordable without sacrificing effectiveness.
“I was 24 when I started the Belo Essentials business. I was very insecure. I didn’t think I had enough experience or knowledge in starting something so big,” she recalls, “However, my mom kept encouraging me and masked it all as ‘play.’ She kept reminding me, ‘We’re just having fun; we’re just playing.’ That made it less intimidating for me.”
An important lesson she learned early on was to work with people who were at the top of their game: “I hired A-plus players because I learned that A players hired people who were better than them. While I was learning real-life business skills from my managers, I underwent formal education from the University of Western Australia.”
But it doesn’t mean that it was an easy road all throughout. Belo admits to having to battle with her fears – “fear of being not good enough, fear of the unknown.” Yet through it all, she pushed forward to reach new heights.
“When I’m feeling down, sad or not good enough to conquer certain things, I always pull myself together and put things into perspective. I listen to stories of other people who have overcome adversity and I find strength in that,” she shares.
While being a full-time businesswoman, the heiress to the Belo empire finds time to nurture her other passion.
“I am a teacher at heart,” she reveals. “In between college and setting up Belo Essentials, I was a Jesuit Volunteer assigned in Bukidnon, teaching preschoolers for one year. I ultimately want to alleviate poverty through education.”
She and a group of friends set up the MovEd (Molding Optimism and Values through Education) preschool: “We currently take care of 500 students across Navotas, Pasig, Parañaque and Bicol. We realized that the highest dropout rate happens in Grade 2 because of the lack of school preparedness so we wanted to address that.”
When asked to define success, Henares has this to say: “It is the thought of waking up in the morning and having direction, knowing that what I will work on is going to change lives. It’s having a purpose and continuously feeling fulfilled every single day.”
Makeup by Lourd Ramos and hair by Leonard Dulza of Creations by Lourd Ramos Salon
Special thanks to Epicurious Manila and Wicked by Cravings of The Cravings Group for providing the food during the shoot
