Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

If you are reading this weekend paper on Saturday, Nov. 22—this day is quite eventful for Reflections. As I write this, we are heavy in preparations for the final year of Reflections—our 20th year.

Please watch out for the photospread of this momentous event to be published here on Asian Journal in the coming weeks. Thank you Asian Journal for all the support throughout the years! I also want to thank the community for marking your calendars for this one evening in November for the past 20 years. The Reflections committee feels very blessed to have your support.

Reflections 20 is a milestone. On this occasion, we are honoring outstanding Filipinos who have made waves for their excellence, professionalism, kindness, and contribution.

Besides the awardees of excellence, we are also celebrating our very own young and beautiful women whom we will crown as Reflections queens.

Our featured designer is the effervescent Lou Razon and to present her couture collection are the Fil-Am community’s most distinguished women, among them Cher Calvin, Shirley Gorospe and Maria Quiban.

What a treat indeed that these ladies of distinction have agreed to walk the runway for this event!

The world-class performance of Stephanie Reese, an international singer and actress, is another highlight we are proud to include in the program. Child wonder Edsel Sotiangco is also presenting a number.

Much detail was devoted into designing the Reflections 20 stage courtesy of the very talented Miki De Jesus.

There were a lot of people who have toiled to make this production a reality—thank you to everyone!

It’s hard to believe it has been 20 years since Reflections started. I still remember the very first year when my peers and I pulled our resources to stage a production that revolved around beauty and fashion. Who knew it would turn out to be an annual tradition!

Reflections Year 2 teemed with more excitement as we were able to get renowned designer Rene Salud to present his creative pieces. The runway was glittered with the hottest models of that time—Bong Dimayacyac, Lorna Legaspi, Desiree Verdadero, and of course, the incomparable Melanie Marquez, who strutted her stuff as only she could.

Thinking about Year 3 of Reflections makes me sweat because I can still remember all the hoops and loops I had to go through to get that show together. I had a vision, yes, but I was also just a novice event organizer so you can imagine all the logistical headache of having to connect with people in Manila, pre-Internet, and trying to get visas for models and participants. In the end, it was well worth it. Department store giant Rustan’s had agreed to be part of Reflections III featuring the collection of the talented Criselda Lontoc.

Reflections IV was one of my favorite years. Instead of holding it at a hotel, we went another direction and staged it at the historic Palace in Hollywood. Lou Diamond Phillipps was an awardee and tearfully reminisced about his childhood playing in the streets of Olongapo. On the fashion side, Richard Gomez and Gretchen Baretto modeled clothes by Louie Mamengo and Randy Ortiz.

Year 5 of Reflections was exceptionally riddled with the most challenges. Grabe ang sakit ng ulo ko ’nun from start to finish. We brought the show from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, which we discovered does not work. This is another long story in itself. But I learned lessons that year that I will always bring with me.