ALTHOUGH people have varying opinions of Tim Yap, the TV host, eventologist and entrepreneur who owns eight high-end clubs (including the recently opened Fever Luxe Lounge at the Hotel Sofitel in Manila and the Republiq Club in Resorts World Hotel, one thing that stands out is the fact that all this success was not handed to him on a silver platter. Instead, he is one of those who started with a burning passion to follow his heart’s desire.
“People are quick to judge me because they think I came from a privileged background, and the truth is we had nothing and I had to work hard for every single thing that I have,” Yap said, looking back on the early years of his life when he had to secretly attend his theater rehearsals after winning the lead role in a show to mark the 25th anniversary of the Repertory Philippines, as his parents and his school didn’t allow him.
However, according to him, “there’s an innate rebel in all of us.” Obviously, he didn’t let anyone get in his way so what he did was take the jeepney to the rehearsals and come back in the evening just in time for his service. “My parents thought that I was just rehearsing for a school play until they saw in the newspaper that I got the lead role in the show.” He was able to keep his secret for almost three months.
He also remembers that during summer, he would intern as a crew or production assistant, and was grateful to take even the smallest role available just to be in the production. “In one show, I was the puppeteer inside a plant.” He would also did behind-the-camera efforts. “First scene it was a dead flower shop. I had to get dead flowers but the theater had no budget. What I did was, I went to Quiapo and Dangwa with a sako and picked from the garbage.”
Even when the path was challenging, his years in the theater arts was apparently the turning point of his life as this was the time where, aside from realizing his thirst for more learning and experience, he wanted to be surrounded by creative people.
But as the years went by, he felt more at home in being a bridge—”introducing people to another, forming alliances, forging partnerships, friendships and marriages,” Yap said.
This “passing of energy” manifested in him when he was yet young. Being born in the Year of the Dragon, he remembers that he used to earn money from a Chinese custom wherein before a Chinese couple move into their house, a dragon boy had to make rounds in their bed and take pictures. “I was paid P8,000 per gig,” he proudly said. “I didn’t know I had this luck that whatever I touched, at least beds, would turn into a hot bed of passion for a couple.”
Looking back at the productive years of his childhood where he was exposed to the bittersweet realities of a commoner’s life, he is grateful as it enabled him to develop a work discipline that prioritizes any job—whether may it be big or small —and not minding starting from scratch.
Today, honed by his past and guided by his philosophies, he has achieved a number of things in the showbiz industry (a term that he says makes him get queasy) and in the clubbing industry, from which his perseverance was awarded figuratively 20x more than his earnings along the way. Among the many titles he holds is as the tweetmoso-in-chief of Tweetbiz Insiders of GMA News TV and as the event planner who’s most in demand.
For aspiring hosts, he has this to say: “In public speaking, throughout my fear of being judged, I realized that they are not there to judge me. They are there to actually listen.
“Once you take away the consciousness away from you, and think about the person you are talking about. You become a better host because you let go of yourself,” he added.
Meanwhile, for his clubbing business, he also has a deeper thought that some people seem to miss out. “When I put up my clubs, I want to put a venue where i can bring more people together. A venue is a bridge. A party is an occasion where you are bridging people. Ang dali dali para sa kahit kanino na manghusga na party lang yan. From the beginning, I would always look beyond the surface, go deeper, see what’s invisible.”
(www.asianjournal.com)
(OCIE May 27-June 2, 2011 RedCarpet pg.2)
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