Currently based in New York, Ruby is a writer, speaker, media personality, former spoken word author, and VJ for MYX TV North America. She launched her writing empowerment program, “The Glamourbaby Diaries.” She also wrote her first book, “Miss Universe.”
For years, Ruby has touched many people with the gift of her words—inspiring them, moving them, and helping them carve out a positive vision for their life.
Ruby has traveled throughout the United States to speak to universities, helping students develop a more positive approach to living in truth, love and purpose. She especially helps young women. In a time where beauty and fashion can dictate the minds of these young girls, Ruby sets out to empower them with inner strength with an emphasis on inner beauty.
Change is possible
When I met Ruby, she was about to facilitate a discussion in an event, “The Meeting of the Minds Manila.” As she talks about her work with a contagious passion, you do realize that, at the end of the day, change is really possible.
You mixed fashion with positivity and empowerment. How did you do that?
At the same time, when I was in college, I was really passionate about social change. I started off as a writer, as well. When I started learning about social movements and different kinds of culture, I began to use my writing as a form to talk about these ideas.
I asked myself, “How can I create these two worlds together?” I use a tag line, “Glamour girl off to change the world,” and it has to be in a way that’s true to that mission.
It’s difficult for people to see the crossover. I guess it’s because they’re trained to put ideas of “Fashion” and “Empowerment” in separate boxes.
There are people who are using fashion as a means to empower a woman. When you look at designers like Yves Saint Laurent, he has such a history in creating something that supported women’s initiatives, like the first pantsuit. People don’t really recognize that a pantsuit is a power statement. Fashion and social change have already been there.
There was a muse I used for my Glamourbaby Diaries project. Her name was China Machado. She was the first non-Caucasian model who ever appeared in western publications. When her image was used by iconic photographer Richard Avedon, she changed the concept of glamour. So I thought “Why don’t we redefine the concept of glamour?” Before she came along, only white women were allowed to own that term.
So that’s a form of social change, too—redefining the concepts of image and glamour and elegance so they can be more inclusive. So I guess in terms of fashion, social change it’s not a new idea—it just hasn’t been cultivated in a way that brings it to the mass audience.
Fashion was the lens I chose to exercise ideas, because I was so inspired by it. My root was working with young communities.
Spoken word and poetry
In the “Glamourbaby Diaries,” what topics did you discuss?
Mostly arts and education. I was a former spoken word artist. I tried to go into schools to use spoken word and poetry to get them to talk about things that matter to them. In the United States, racism is really big—along with gender differences, sexuality—and they don’t know how to talk about it because no one taught them in the classroom. Spoken word was a way to channel their ideas and their voices. Poetry and spoken word gave them that power.
Tell me about your book “Miss Universe.”
It came out in 2008; I self-published the book. I compiled all my work, and was really lucky because when you’re surrounded by positive people, they really want to see you succeed. These are poems that came from my experiences as a young woman. I named it “Miss Universe,” and people were like, “Oh you’re so vain!”—and I said, “That’s the point!”
I think young women were trained to think of everything in life as if it were a pageant, and the only thing that matters is what we wear and how we present ourselves and our self-image. Channeling all these insecurities and writing about them from my heart, I was really scared at first, as it was so personal, but at the same time, I knew it was a real thing. It was about documenting a young woman’s struggles, and also about being a young Filipina in America.
Every woman goes through a self-image issue, and we can’t blame them for that. That’s what the “Glamourbaby Diaries” is about. How do we redefine glamour so we can own it? How do we stay conscious of these things? We can feed into media, and we also need to be empowered about what we consume. How can we create a culture of empowerment, where people start to think critically?
What’s the most rewarding thing about your job?
Connecting with a lot of people. I see a lot of the girls I work with really grow. I feel like the next generation is going to be taken care of. I think it’s finding other people who have the same purpose. Because we are working on something that really means something to us, it touches us on a personal level and that’s really the thing. We do this for love.
asia : inquirer
