"...you don't just have to be what is expected of you. You can always grow and go above and beyond."
"...as I was going through this whole change, I was scared that people would think that the real me deep down inside [was] changing. Then I realized, I am. But in a positive way."
Liza Soberano saunters onto the set with green hair so bright it’s impossible to miss. Wrapped in leather, face set straight, she looks ready to play a devious gangster raring her minions for a brawl. But this is real life, and the fight in question is entirely with herself—or rather, her limbs. Photographers Cenon and Mav are particular with their poses.
They ask her to reach, stretch, and angle her body in ways she’s not used to. She loses balance, falls short sometimes, but she laughs it off. It’s okay, the room smiles back at her, she’s taking it as a challenge. “I would kind of find ways to explore with my movement…try things out to make it easier for me,” Liza tells me later on, completely honest about how hard the unexpected challenge was for her.
Self-actualization is something Liza wears on her sleeve nowadays. It's clear now that back then, she always had more to say than what was expected of her. Therein stemmed the great nationwide debate: “Why didn’t she speak up sooner?”, “Doesn’t she sound too ungrateful?” If you so much as had a single TV or phone in your house (or your neighbor's), you already know what I’m talking about. The vlog: the actress's statements about her early working experiences, and how she’s finally ready to take control of her own career. Oh, how one single woman’s renewed determination ruffled feathers and stirred up thousands of internet warriors.
ON LIZA: Leather Jacket, DIESEL; Leather Corset and Gloves, BLACKCODE MANILA
Before this, any news of Liza came from abroad. She had signed under James Reid’s entertainment label, Careless, and had started to take strides toward the American dream. She was the envy of many, rubbing shoulders with international celebs, K-pop stars, and even appearing in a Korean reality show, all while booking her debut Hollywood project, Lisa Frankenstein. It wasn’t much of a surprise that when Liza—one of the country’s most beloved leading ladies—hit the Philippine news cycle again, she drummed up a frenzy in more ways than one.
In the last couple of weeks, Liza tried to break down her words—many taken out of context and spun into a hundred interpretations—expounding on every misunderstood sentence: That she was, indeed, grateful, that she’d merely enumerated the facts of her career for loyal fans still eager to see more of her love team with reel to real beau Enrique Gil, that she’d done everything asked of her, everything that turned her into a success story, and that it was simply time to cut the tether and seek out more of her potential on her own two feet.
ON LIZA: Top, bottoms, gloves, CUSTOM BLACKCODE MANILA
“I was working with the same group of people for many, many years who brought me success, who I learned a lot from. I just wanted a new perspective and a new set of brains kind of helping me think of new ways to be creative,” explained Liza during our own sit-down.
At this point in time, Liza is 25 years old. If she had taken the road more traveled, she’d only be a few years out of college. She’s still learning just like the rest of us, and up until recently, she had always seen change as an unpleasant development.
“I grew up hearing from the more experienced people in my industry, ‘Wag ka magbago ah, ‘wag lalaki yung ulo mo.’ So that really stuck with me and I started viewing change as a negative thing. As I was going through this whole career change, I was scared that people would think that the real me deep down inside [was] changing too. Then I realized, I am changing but in a positive way. I'm learning and growing.”
Change, for Liza, is now synonymous with growth. She expounds, “I started in the industry when I was a kid, and a lot of the things that I did at the time, I completely agreed to 100% because I knew that's what was best for me at the time. Having been in the industry for over a decade, I started wanting to explore different things, to go beyond what I think I’m capable of. I’m human, we’re ever evolving and have the right to aspire for growth and will naturally change our minds about things. It's just a natural process, and it shouldn’t be seen so negatively.”
As a self-proclaimed “people pleaser,” Liza resisted her own hunches for half of her life if only to accommodate the comments and criticism being thrown her way. She had turned into a professional shape-shifter, saying yes to almost every request and demand. It became her default response in fear of being misunderstood if she ever put a foot forward, and true enough, the moment she dared speak her mind, the cavalry came knocking on her windows. She knows there’s no affording immunity to responses like this, especially if changing for the better also means finally being heard. It’s just something she’ll have to live with. “I'm trying to adjust and get used to the idea of not being able to please everyone. No matter how hard I try, there's always going to be people who dislike me. I just need to learn to be comfortable with that.”
Among other changes she’s gone through also entailed wiping out her social media; a decision that initially spawned hacking speculations. As it turned out, it was all Liza hitting the archive button on her posts.
The Liza of today has her eyes set on sharpening her tools overseas. She says she wants to be recognized as a “world-class artist and actress,” but she’s also realistic; she knows acting isn’t a forever thing for her and she sees herself switching gears sooner rather than later. “I feel like there will come a time, especially when I hit my 30s, that I won’t want to be in front of the camera anymore. So I want to be able to learn how things work behind the scenes because I really love creating films, and I love anything creative. I feel like that's the direction I'm leaning towards. Creating, instead of being the one in front of the camera.”
ON LIZA: Earrings, KATAW OFFICIAL
Not one to beat around the bush, Liza’s viral rebrand was timed alongside a TVC for all-in-one digital bank app Maya, a partnership, she tells me, built on their mutual pursuit for taking risks, being bold, and “challenging what is considered normal or what society expects from us.” The commercial, which reached 18 million views in just under two weeks, was an eccentric and inventive ad replete with peculiar propositions like an alien invasion in Boracay and giant mutant kittens. More importantly, though, it sought to reflect Liza’s journey as an actress, essentially satirizing all the tired tropes often asked of Filipina leading ladies—the sequence of her strung up like a doll for a fake magazine cover, for example, is a particularly striking image. “We definitely referenced a lot of typical industry experiences, kind of poking fun at them and telling people that you don't have to be just what people tell you to be. It’s okay to be different and to go above and beyond,” explained the actress.
True to her goal of getting a seat at the table and honing her creativity, Liza not only acted out the commercial, she also had a hand in conceptualizing it, from the storyboard to the script. Getting to collaborate on the project was a thrilling endeavor for the 25-year-old. She calls the experience “empowering,” especially when it comes to working with more creatives and maybe starting important conversations with them in the future through art
If the past month has taught us anything about Liza Soberano, it’s that, whether she inadvertently starts them or not, she’s not one to shy away from difficult conversations. After the divisive reactions to her vlog, debates on gratitude turned into a discourse about the Filipino culture of “utang na loob” and just how far it should go. Asked about the issue, Liza maintains, “It's good to be grateful for everything that you have. But being grateful doesn't equate to being forever in debt to somebody. I think that it's unfair that we hold the things that we do for other people, the opportunities that we give other people, over their heads and make them believe that they have to pay for that forever. And so it's good to have utang na loob, but if you work just as hard to repay the service that was given to you, it shouldn't be held over your head forever. You shouldn't be held hostage by things that other people do for you.”
As far as conversations closer to her heart go, Liza’s passion for Save the Children is most evident. The organization credits her as a major catalyst for helping pass the “Raising the Age of Sexual Consent” bill into law last year. The law is considered a “breakthrough in child protection as it increases the age for sexual consent from 12 to 16 years old.” It also “provides for stricter measures for the protection of the child against sexual abuses.”
“I'm excited because now, moving forward, since the pandemic is over, I want to be more hands-on with my work with Save the Children and be able to involve myself more in the projects from conceptualization to execution,” says Liza. From donating regularly to the organization starting 2016, to officially becoming their ambassador in 2021, her dedication to her advocacy seems testament to her capacity for achieving whatever she sets her mind and heart onto. In spite of the gratuitous chatter hanging over her head, at this point in time, no one knows what Liza wants and needs better than herself.
ON LIZA: Earrings, KATAW OFFICIAL; Gloves, BLACK CODE MANILA
One thing's for sure: Liza is now more intentional and discerning when it comes to the brands she works with. Despite all the noise surrounding her name, Liza has her eyes set toward becoming who she is and who she wants to be—and the brands she associates herself with play a huge role in that. "We have to share the same values and it has to be a truly collaborative process," Liza shared when asked about how she partners up with brands these days. "I want to make sure that my personal branding, my personal advocacies, my values as a human being, and the direction I want to go as an artist [aren't] secondary to their branding."
When asked what similar values Liza has with Maya, she shares: "Going beyond what is traditionally expected of us, taking risks, being bold..." She continues: "Also, when I started sharing my personal advocacies with them about Save the Children, that was something they were excited about and wanted to support me on, and that's something that I really appreciated about them. That's why they brought me on as [Maya's] Chief Advocacy Officer." When asked what that meant, Liza shares that as Maya's Chief Advocacy Officer, she has two roles: One is to be able to push their advocacy for Save the Children using her platform as well as Maya's, to be able to help more people, specifically children and young mothers in need. Her second role is more on the corporate side, where her duty is to push that culture advocacy amongst everybody who works in Maya—to empower them and inspire them to be advocates as well. So to Liza, partnering with Maya isn't just another endorsement to add under her belt—it's a milestone that allows her to explore other facets of her life while being able to show up more for the things that are close to her heart, like her advocacy.
ON LIZA: Dress, LA GLAMOUR QUEEN
It's no secret that Liza has her eyes set on Hollywood. “I am making it a point to only do things that I think serve me and make me happy and push for my growth. That's one thing that I've kind of been able to learn in these past few months. And because I feel more confident and comfortable in doing so, I know it's going to happen."
"Am I going to find what it is I'm looking for [in Hollywood]? Honestly, I don't know. I hope so. I will try my best and I will work just as hard as I ever did, but who really knows for sure.”
Produced by Kristine De Leon
Photographed by Cenon Norial III and Mav Bernardo (@cenonatmav)
Art Direction by Bacs Arcebal (@bacsarcebal)
Sittings Editor: Marj Ramos-Clemente (@itsmarjramos)
Styling by Perry Tabora (@perrytabora)
Stylist's Assistant: Kris Deleon
Makeup by Robbie Pinera (@robbiepinera)
Hairstyling by Renz Pangilinan (@renzpangilinan)
Nails by Mimi Qiu Luxury Nails (@minmeluxurynails)
Set Design by Rocket Sets (@rocketsets)
Words by Jam Nitura (@jamnitura)
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This article was created by Summit X in partnership with Maya.
