Growth comes in unexpected ways. Sometimes it&rsquo;s going after a path you never knew you would take. In the case of Pia Wurtzbach, she extends her realm of influence beyond beauty and entertainment. As she continues to advocate for women and mental wellness, she pursues a path in fashion with full force&mdash;fueled by the wisdom she has gained through the years.

PHOTOGRAPHY BJ Pascual
CREATIVE DIRECTION AND STYLING Loris Pe&ntilde;a
&ldquo;Oh my god. That&rsquo;s the word of the day,&rdquo; Pia laughs upon realizing how often she mentioned the word &ldquo;mindful&rdquo; when talking about her career. During the interview, the internet was abuzz with the trending TikTok word (alongside &ldquo;demure&rdquo; and &ldquo;cutesy&rdquo;) popularized by beauty influencer, Jools Lebron. The lexicon was quickly adapted by netizens to describe a somewhat satirical approach to being thoughtful and&nbsp;considerate.
But in Pia&rsquo;s case, being mindful is not a trend; it&rsquo;s a practice&mdash;a way of life. It may not be a linear path, but it&rsquo;s a path to pursue regardless of the obstacles that come along the way. From her early days in entertainment to her current ascent in fashion, Pia&rsquo;s mindfulness continues to trickle into various facets of her work and life. One can even argue it&rsquo;s the main driver of her success.

Blouse with maxi bow in silk, Triomphe cap in wool felt, CELINE BY HEDI SLIMANE

You&rsquo;ve come a long way. How has success changed your life? What are the challenges that come with it?
It didn&rsquo;t happen fast. I know the feeling of rejection, not getting the projects, and not reaching the goals yet. With success, it&rsquo;s different. Now the challenge is how to maintain it. That&rsquo;s harder. I feel like the fun was actually in starting out. I keep telling people who are starting out, like young women who ask me for advice&mdash;enjoy this. These are the best years. It looks like you&rsquo;re not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel yet, but it&rsquo;s going to be there. You&rsquo;re going to go back to these days and think, wow, those days were fun. I didn&rsquo;t have anything to lose. When you start from rock bottom, there&rsquo;s no other way but to go up. Everything is a win.
What made you write a novel? I had three ideas for books when I presented them to ABS-CBN Publishing. One of the concepts is a novel. They said this is what people like the most, and I followed the lead. In flights, I would imagine how I would tell the story. I was actually inspired by Lauren Conrad. When I was younger, I loved chick lit. L.A. Candy was her first one. I used to read those books. Similar to L.A. Candy, the book is fiction, but it&rsquo;s loosely based on a real-life&nbsp;story.

Jacket with Claudine collar,Trapeze mini skirt in soft lambskin,Triomphe cap in wool felt,Teen Nino bag in patent calfskin in black, Alma Triomphe slingback in gross grain, Formes abstraites cosmos cuff, Triomphe Bold Ring, CELINE BY HEDI SLIMANE

Since Y2K nostalgia is big on socials, what trends and experiences during the early 2000s are nostalgic for you? After all you were a Candy girl, and&nbsp; you were part of teenybopper&nbsp;shows.
I was just probably following everybody&rsquo;s direction. I was a young kid still looking for her confidence and not really sure of herself. The tunes are what I missed&mdash;early 2000s&nbsp;R&amp;B.
I&rsquo;m glad that there are still magazines out there that are in print. It&rsquo;s a fresh start of a month when you go to your favorite bookstore to see all the new covers. That&rsquo;s where you would find your idols back then. I miss that. We had simple joys. I&rsquo;d pick up a magazine and consult the monthly horoscope if my crush and I will end up together. I&rsquo;ll also find outfit inspirations from there. Social media wasn&rsquo;t around yet at that time. We weren&rsquo;t on our phones all the time.
What projects are you most excited about right now?&nbsp; I&rsquo;m always thinking about the next thing and the next project. That&rsquo;s what keeps me going. You mentioned the book. It&rsquo;s still selling. So, that&rsquo;s really good news. There&rsquo;s another book idea I&rsquo;m working on. It&rsquo;s more of a self-help book. I always felt like it was too early for me to do that because there are still so many life lessons I haven&rsquo;t learned. But you know what? I have to get it started now because I&rsquo;ll keep adding to it anyway.
I also slowly transitioned into fashion in the last two years. It was slow, but it felt fast. I mean, I did a cover with L&rsquo;Officiel. Projects like that&mdash;like doing covers&mdash;are the baby steps I was taking toward transitioning into this new phase. It&rsquo;s been exciting. I&rsquo;m still learning as I&rsquo;m going along. In fashion, there are just so many directions that you can pick. There&rsquo;s no clear end goal. For example, with athletes, the goal is to get a medal. In a pageant, the goal is to win the crown. What&rsquo;s exciting about it is it&rsquo;s such a big world, and there are so many things that can happen. Hopefully, everything falls into place.

Claudine collar blouson and Trapeze mini skirt in soft lambskin, Triomphe boot in patent calfskin, CELINE BY HEDI SLIMANE

You travel a lot. Is travel really worth the hype?
I would 100% suggest it to anyone. I don&rsquo;t see a downside to aiming to travel more. It doesn&rsquo;t have to be a luxurious travel destination. Travel is worth spending for because of the experiences and memories that you get from it. Maybe you&rsquo;re not coming home with a big souvenir that will remind you of that trip, but then it&rsquo;s about the experiences you get from it. It&rsquo;s really the cure for racism and bigotry. It opens your eyes to different people, different cultures, and different experiences. It takes you out of your bubble. It humbles you. When you travel the right way, it becomes a&nbsp;teacher.
With the rise of social media influencers, how do you see your role evolving in the digital age?
To constantly think of the next thing is tough. I&rsquo;m going to put something out on Instagram, but it can&rsquo;t be the same as what I put out on YouTube. Then it also has to be different from TikTok. Part of the challenge and the fun is to come up with new ideas while staying true to yourself or your core. One thing we shouldn&rsquo;t forget is that everybody should have a sense of responsibility for their social media accounts, regardless of how big or small you think your following is. Anything you put out there&mdash;people will see. Everybody has a responsibility of being mindful with what you post online. Social media can be cruel. It connects us all but it could also be used irresponsibly, which will really affect your mental health. We have a responsibility of being mindful and taking care of ourselves and others.

Verneuil jacket, Trapeze mini skirt in cashmere tweed, Teen Nino bag in patent calfskin in white cotton, CELINE BY HEDI SLIMANE

I really love that you&rsquo;re an advocate of mental health. What aspects of it are you drawn to?
Jeremy and I have this routine where we like to leave our phones behind when we go out for a walk, or when we go for dinner. I feel the difference of having my phone with me and not having my phone with me. It&rsquo;s nice to disconnect sometimes. It forces you to look at real life and not look at your screen. I know that it sounds obvious, but no, because when you experience it, you&rsquo;ll see the difference. Sometimes we are so unaware that our phones are the bearer of bad news. Leaving it behind shows we have the power to take care of&nbsp;ourselves.
You&rsquo;re right. Phones can be the bearer of bad news. See the bullying Imane Khelif went through during the recent Olympics. Since you&rsquo;re a spokesperson for many women, how can we lessen the vitriol online and focus instead on empowering each other?
I used to be bothered by these things and really answered back in the comment section. I would get into full-blown arguments. I&rsquo;ve learned to accept that I cannot change somebody&rsquo;s opinion overnight. Fighting misogyny and homophobia takes time. 
It&rsquo;s a behavior that will take a while for people to get rid of. If it&rsquo;s starting to rile me up, I tell myself I can&rsquo;t fight fire with fire, and I can&rsquo;t make a person understand or change their minds by getting angry at them. I can&rsquo;t meet them with the same level of anger because it just becomes a fight. I&rsquo;ve learned to be mindful and be patient. You don&rsquo;t have to be calling names. I don&rsquo;t have to be angry. I can make this person understand by explaining it and giving them time.

Blouse with overturned collar in silk georgette,Triomphe 13 sunglasses in acetate,CELINE BY HEDI SLIMANE

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PRODUCERS Loris Pena and Knelle Rosario 
MAKEUP Justin Louise Soriano 
HAIR Jeck Aguilar 
PRODUCTION DESIGN Aren Dale Santos 
VIDEO Aijalonica Lei
PHOTOGRAPHER'S&nbsp;ASSISTANT Ruel Estrellis, Richard Detita, John Paul dela Cruz, Abel Santos, Iggy Estacio, and Jilmer Carlos 
2ND CAM/PA Rohan Delfin Oncada 
GAFFER Ben Bigs 
PRODUCTION DESIGN TEAM Erwin Arda, Regie Alcayde, Romy Dela Cruz, Vincent Salvante, Erickson Salvante, Yoyo Dumdum, Alexander Hapayan 
STYLIST'S&nbsp;ASSISTANT Maui Rodriguez and Tere Gabat
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Redirection: Pia Wurtzbach

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