‘Life is what you make it’
Ihave always believed that education is the great equalizer — and the story of Jhett Tolentino lends credence to this belief. Born in the slums of Iloilo, this young man experienced hardships living in an impoverished community. Told by his parents that they would not be able to send him to high school, the bright young man found a way to obtain an educational scholarship through the help of Meguko Society, a charitable student organization at the Jesuit-run Sophia University in Tokyo that raises scholarship funds for indigent children in India and the Philippines.
The scholarship only covered high school, but Tolentino was able to convince Meguko Society to extend the scholarship until college, enabling him to finish accounting at the University of Iloilo.
Jhett migrated to the US in 2002, working in various fields that included finance and healthcare. But it was in the business of producing theater shows that he found his niche — receiving his first Tony Award for the comedy Vanya
and Sonia and Masha and Spike in 2013, making him the second Filipino to win the prestigious award. He won two more Tony Awards in 2014 for A Raisin in the Sun (Best Revival of a Play) and A Gentleman’s Guide to
Love and Murder (Best Musical), followed by a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album for The Color Purple, which he produced in 2016.
In 2016, Tolentino became one of the 10 participants in the annual Filipino Young Leaders Program (FYLPRO), which was jointly implemented by the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Ayala Foundation and the non-profit FYLPRO organization.
Just recently, the Philippine Embassy in Washington, DC organized a private screening of Life is What You Make
It, an autobiographical short film that Tolentino wrote, produced and directed, and which served as his FYLPRO legacy project.
In the film, the award-winning Broadway producer underscored the importance of getting an education, saying the course doesn’t matter as long as one gets a diploma because this will distinguish one from the rest.
“I was one of the millions who wanted to take a shot at the American dream,” Jhett narrates in the film, recalling the time when he migrated to the US, armed only with his accounting degree and a steadfast determination to succeed.
Expressing hopes that the film would encourage other young people to pursue education to break free from the chains of poverty, Jhett also shares plans to set up a scholarship foundation for underprivileged students in the Philippines.
According to Patrick Chuasoto, the Philippine Embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission, what he found most impressive about the talented Filipino are his passionate advocacy of education and his dedication to empowering others. “It is challenging enough to attain personal success and it is still harder to look beyond oneself and help others realize their full potential,” Chuasoto noted.