JANELLA SALVADOR

NADINE LUSTRE

It is a little too hard to believe that Nadine Lustre still gets a dose of pressure at this point. With a glowing professional résumé that boasts of sold out concert performances here and abroad, skyrocketing box-office sales, impressive ratings for TV shows and even bringing her vision come to life through a hot-selling and well-received beauty collection (aptly called Lustrous), as well as recently winning a Myx Award for Music Video of the Year for her co-directorial work for James Reid’s hit, The Life, she seems to quite frankly have it all. But as it can be quite hard for people to believe, the multi-hyphenate hypercreative is but human, too.

Uncharacteristically a little sheepish, she reveals her dream of being able to write music for her own album. Like a long-kept secret she could no longer keep, she let it out in what seemed to be a stage whisper, as if toeing the line between expressing her true desires versus keeping it in to incubate to its full potential. “Now, that’s pressure,” she laughs when we express delight and perhaps a dash of excitement to the prospect. “I’m not necessarily good with words, with writing—yet,” she admits. “That’s why I’m learning. I’ve been reading a lot lately.” You have to hand it to the young lady, when she wants something, she goes for it with unmatched drive. Not only that, she also intends to go into it prepared.

This is perhaps what makes Nadine Lustre the woman and star that she is—she dreams big and works hard, but never to boast or impress. Whatever she does, it is to feed her persistently creative soul and to give a sense of joy to others. In fact, this has been the dream for her ever since she started wading through the tempestuous waters of show business. “Actually, my main goal when I entered showbiz was to make people happy. I’m happy that I’m still doing it, and now, I get to inspire people as well. The dream hasn’t changed; natupad lang siya,” she reflects. “I realized that no matter how tired I am, kahit feeling ko ‘di ko na kaya, but at the end of the day, I’m making people happy—so that pushed me to keep working hard.”

Without a doubt, Nadine works really hard, and everything she is accorded with now is a direct result of the hustle she has toiled for over the years. And she doesn’t just stop at skating by; she goes for it and dreams even bigger than she did the last. Couple that with her penchant for honesty and realness, then her being a poster-child for the Millennial generation of the Philippines is warranted with good measure. And just like any other rabid Millennial navigating the throes of adulthood (and a generation before them), Nadine Lustre is a glowing, nay, lustrous beacon that ensures the rest of the world that the future is not only going to be better but the best—yet.—ARDC

“I’M STILL HAPPY THAT I’M STILL DOING IT, AND NOW, I GET TO INSPIRE PEOPLE AS WELL. THE DREAM HASN’T CHANGED”

The human mind is such a beautifully complex thing, really. Much has been said and written about it, often in the romantic and highly visceral sense. But when it comes down to it, nothing comes close to the ability of the mind to override everything once it has locked itself to a goal, dream or something of the related sort. Much holds true for Janella Salvador, who just a few hours before being dolled up and swathed in a frothy fantasy of a Furne One creation, she had just barely settled into the city, incidentally coming straight from a trip to Dubai.

Game-faced and ready to go, she buckled down and nailed all of her shots in blazing time, with no signs of slowing down or exhaustion to her. This isn’t the least bit surprising as barely even a year ago, Janella Salvador was the subject of an opportune trip to Portugal for Making MEGA. “It was a step towards where I want to be talaga,” she verbalizes of what she files as a once-in-a-lifetime, soul-stirring sojourn. “It’s really when I went to Portugal with MEGA that made me realize so much about myself. I really learned a lot,” she reiterates. “When we were talking, even the things that I was saying, I didn’t expect them to come from my mouth. It made realize that even if sometimes you feel down or under appreciated; you just have to focus on the things that were given to me instead of things that aren’t there yet.”

There is clearly something different to the entire being of Janella Salvador—and we mean that in the nicest possible way. Watching her interface with the people around her, even as far as coalescing wisdom and whimsy to her words, is without being patronizing, a joy to witness unravel. “You will see a different Janella,” she declared during the early promotions of her Making MEGA documentary last year. Sure, everyone boldly says that at many a point of their lives, but for the young actress, she really did enact a wave of change to her life. It isn’t something from left field either, as during the course of our travels around the perpetually sepia-tinted city of Algarve and Lisbon in Portugal, Janella Salvador has made mention of it being a crossroad in her life.

Today, she has cleared the fork in the road. Eagle-eyed and focused on a definite direction all on her own accord, she chalks this paradigm shift, again, to her Making MEGA experience. “I’m not saying just because ha,” she assures us. “When I read the whole [article about me], even I learned a lot more about myself. Seriously, I felt like I got to know myself even more because of it. It was a direction to a more mature me.”

Settling into this self-prescribed new chapter in her life, Janella Salvador makes sure that despite moving forward, she anchors herself to what really drives her sans all the layers of the day-to-day. “No matter what happens, it’s important to remember why you started in the first place,” she reminds us, including herself. “It is what will keep you grounded and motivate you to keep on going.”

Spoken like a wisened woman who has gone through the wringer? Well, whatever the case may be, Janella Salvador is set to command a future that is even more than ever before. —ARDC

“IT MADE REALIZE THAT EVEN IF SOMETIMES YOU FEEL DOWN OR UNDER APPRECIATED; YOU JUST HAVE TO FOCUS ON THE THINGS THAT WERE GIVEN TO ME INSTEAD OF THINGS THAT ” AREN’T THERE YET