Iza Calzado is easily one of the most talented actresses of the day. For so many years, she has captivated the public with her charm and acting prowess on television beginning with teen variety show “That’s Entertainment” Monday Group (1992 to 1993), and such drama series as “Te Amo, Maging Sino Ka Man” (2004), “Encantadia” (2005), “Impostora” (2007), “Hawak Kamay” (2014), “A Love to Last” (2017) and the ongoing “Ngayon at Kailanman.”
Calzado also delivered memorable portrayals on the big screen, among them Olivia Lamasan’s “Milan” (2004), “Moments of Love” (2006), “Ouija” (2007), “Etiquette for Mistresses” (2015) and “Ilawod” (2017).
Consistently honing her acting skills, she has reaped the fruits of her labor with several recognitions. Calzado has already won an Urian Best Supporting Actress plum for her role as a wandering spirit in Yam Laranas’s “Sigaw” in 2004. In March 2017, she bagged her first international award when she was named Yakushi Pearl Best Performer at the Osaka Asian Film Festival for Jerrold Tarog’s “Bliss.” She also won Movie Actress of the Year at the 34th PMPC Star Awards for the same role in February this year.
Perfect as her life may seem given her flourishing career, Calzado hardly had an easy journey to get to where she is today. She has had her share of rejections, painful reviews and a long time battle with insecurity.
Being in the public eye most of her life, she had enslaved herself to meet the unrealistic standards of beauty set by media and society for those in her profession, especially since she was obese in her early teenage years.
Calzado was awarded Movie Actress of the Year at the 34th PMPC Star Awards for her performance in ‘Bliss’.
Back then, she had to endure name-calling, an experience which she said, “caused a pileup of insecurities even if I am generally a happy and positive person.” These feelings of unworthiness unfortunately led to more binge eating for the would-be actress.
It was during high school when Calzado became more conscious about losing weight, turning however to extreme measures such as starvation diets in the hopes of quickly shedding her unwanted pounds.
Whenever she hit a plateau, she employed other “shortcuts” and took different weight loss pills.
Her unhealthy route in losing weight, however, proved futile as she would always go back to her eating habits.
The situation only got worse when she joined show business, which doubled the pressure on her to be slim. She therefore resorted to liposuction twice—once in 2006 and another in 2008—which, according to the actress is “something I’m not proud of.”
Calzado treats her late father Lito as her number one supporter and motivator.
After learning the hard way there is no shortcut to a fit and healthy body, Calzado then tried doing regular exercises and having a well-balanced diet. She started making adjustments by avoiding carbohydrates and choosing yogurt, fruits, and nuts for snacks instead. The rest, she said, is history. So far, Calzado has tried swimming, yoga, crossfit and 360 fitness, among others.
Now at 36, Calzado claims she looks and feels the best she’s ever been. Using her voice as a public figure, she has inspired many others to share their stories of insecurity and acceptance. But she’s not stopping there.
Celebrating the modern woman
As a teenager, Calzado experienced obesity and was name-called which caused her a ‘pileup of insecurities’.
To continue spreading positivity to more people of different ages, Calzado co-founded She Talks Asia—a movement that celebrates the modern woman. She Talks Asia provides a space for inspiration and support for women using multiple platforms.
According to the group, by way of on-ground conferences and multimedia content, She Talks Asia aims “to spark, document, and sustain community conversations that help educate, empower, and inspire people who are learning to understand, unpack, and better appreciate the role of women and female-identifying individuals in a fast-evolving world.”
Joining her in the lead of this benevolent movement are three equally empowered personalities who have broken the glass ceiling in their respective fields. They are model, host and creative entrepreneur Victoria Herrera; editor, model, host and culture columnist Sarah Meier; and award-winning social entrepreneur and educator Lynn Pinugu.
To continue spreading positivity to more people of all ages, Calzado co-founded She Talks Asia—a movement that celebrates the modern woman, providing a space for inspiration and support among women across multiple platforms.
Since the group’s inception in 2017, they had already held a record of inspiring campaigns, including last year’s “Every Girl Can” conference and She Talks Asia Summit 2018: “She Is Self Made” last March.
Come September 29, She Talks Asia will hold another inspiring and empowering event aptly titled “#TheBodyLoveRevolution” conference. Happening at Whitespace Manila in Makati, it will take deeper look at topics surrounding body love such as: knowing one’s self-worth, how emotions affect the physical state, myths of body positivity, and media and perceptions of beauty. The conference will also offer different movement workshops on the sidelines.
To effectively deliver the conference’s message, #TheBodyLoveRevolution will feature an impressive lineup of speakers that includes Miss Universe Philippines 2018 Catriona Gray, The Fat Kid Inside founder Erwan Heussaf and renowned photographer Sara Black.
Through this project, Calzado is able to talk about women empowerment and body love to other people who are experiencing the same struggle like them
According to the founders, the event is a continuation of the body positivity campaign that She Talks Asia first launched during Valentine’s Day. It could be remembered that their online campaign saw celebrities Judy Ann Santos, Bea Alonzo, and James Younghusband talking about self-love.
To further drive their message, She Talks Asia will also be having a Body Love Exhibit where they will showcase photos and moving portfolios of women of different body types, from different stages of life.
The main goal of this is to show the audience that no matter what size or age they are in, people have the power to celebrate the body they have been given.
Finally, it was revealed that the profits from the said the conference will be used to help fund body love workshops and module for high school and college students.
With her in leading this movement are three equally empowered ladies—model, host and creative entrepreneur Victoria Herrera (left), award-winning social entrepreneur and educator Lynn Pinugu (right) and editor, model, host and culture columnist Sarah Meier (not in photo).
Body positivity: a long journey
With the nitty-gritty of #TheBodyLoveRevolution already laid out, Calzado brought The Sunday Times Magazine into a more intimate recollection, sharing how her journey actually brought her to She Talks Asia.
“I kind of imposed myself in She Talks Asia,” the 36-year-old began smilingly.
“Early last year, I really wanted to do something on body positivity because it was really taking off in the Western world and I knew my story was perfect. My journey is a perfect example,” she proudly continued.
While she is proud that the country is following suit, Calzado admitted that there still are hurdles when it comes to the body movement here in the Philippine market, specifically because of the local culture.
After learning the hard way that there is no shortcut to a fit and healthy body, Calzado then tried doing regular exercises and having a well-balanced diet.
“We’re quite passive-aggressive,” Calzado pointed out.
“Recently, I had a talk in my alma mater, Miriam College, and one girl asked me, ‘What should I do? My parents keep teasing my sister because she’s big and she has to lose weight so she can have a boyfriend.’ It was very difficult for me to answer,” she began narrating.
“But I told her, ‘First of all, I am sure that your parents just learned this from their parents and from the generation before that so first you understand that they don’t mean it to hurt your sister, but you need to also have a discussion with them and tell them that, ‘Ma, Pa, this is what I’ve learned so far.’ And you know, since you are the one enlightened now, perhaps you should be the one to explain to them.
Now at 36, Calzado looks and feels the best she’s ever been. Using her voice as a public figure, she has inspired many others to share their stories of insecurity and acceptance.
“As they say, it’s harder to teach the old dog new tricks, plus meron na silang pride. It’s hard to be open to what the younger people say and to be schooled by younger people,” she intimated.
Calzado then recalled an experience from her own father – the late actor and director Lito – who used to tease her about her weight, not to demean but instead to motivate her.
“My father was telling me, ‘Kailan ka kaya liligawan?´ Sometimes papatabihin ako sa aparador because I was as big as the aparador and that’s my own father who love me so much.
“Maybe, for them, it was just a playful teasing but children could actually be more vocal, and still respectful, by saying, ‘Dad, that hurts. You’ve hurt me and I hope that it does not happen again.’ I think they will realize your point as a child when you say that instead of just saying they are wrong or fighting them,” Calzado further explained.
Putting a deeper perspective, Calzado said these parents and the majority of the population’s approach stem from the fact that they have been fed the kind of narrative that was far from body positivity.
“It’s very hard to unlearn the negative self-talk. It’s very hard to unlearn judging your body. It’s very hard to unlearn that skinny is beautiful but so is average body, or having folds or having imperfections. I realized that it was easier for me to transform my body than it was to transform my mind. Because until now, ang hirap pa rin. I am still on that path and I think that I am not even 50 percent there. Whereas my body I feel like malayo na talaga ang narating ko.
“So it’s so hard to unlearn, especially culturally, what has been passed on to us. Some people wanted to be praised for being thin, wanting to hear the words ‘pumayat ka’, as if your worth is measured by your weight or your size. It’s very hard to unlearn—probably especially for me because I work in the media—that you are in front of the camera and everybody around you is almost perfect. But you have to really take a step,” Calzado shared.
Before finally parting ways, Calzado said she would like to emphasize another important factor in this journey of achieving body- and self-love among women: that men should be included in the discussion too.
“As women we’ve been targeted to be insecure—by the media and culture—whereas men, they will just be like ‘I don’t like my body, bahala na . But it doesn’t mean they don’t experience it. They just deal it in a different way. We should not also objectify men. Always think, if I don’t want to be objectified in that manner, then I shouldn’t objectify other sexes, right? So it’s hard to unlearn that too even though sometimes it seems fun.
“At the end of the day, if you’re making someone feel uncomfortable by the words that you say, then that’s tough. These are the sensitivities that we have to think about,” Calzado finally reminded.
The post Actress, wellness enthusiast, ‘body love’ and woman empowerment advocate appeared first on The Manila Times Online.