One of the brands that inspire our team is homegrown make-up brand Happy Skin. We had the pleasure of working with them back October 2016 for their 3^rd anniversary where we came up with a special collection inspired by lovable princess characters.

Happy Skin co-founder Rissa Mananquil-Trillo also shared with us her personal beauty philosophy for her Style Stories feature back in 2017.

Rissa recently did a book signing of her first book entitled “Read My Lips: What It Takes to Build A World-Class Homegrown Brand” during the Philippine Readers and Writers Festival held at Raffles Makati. During the event, she talked about the process of creating what she calls her part-memoir and part-business manual.

Happy Skin co-founder Rissa Mananquil-Trillo talks business and beauty in her first book

“I wanted it to be different from other business books. I wanted to make sure the content was not something you can find on another business book or on Google or YouTube,” she described.

“A lot of people think that business is just about A + B + C + D but being an entrepreneur tests your values. In this era, strong values and a strong sense of self is so important especially if you want to get into business,” Rissa shared.

“When I was in graduate school, I would listen to my classmates and professor and they would share real-life experiences. I wanted to be able to give that to the readers.” The book is also Rissa’s thesis but she didn’t tell her book team and publisher Summit Books until it was ready to be printed.

“The pressure of something so permanent is indescribable. It’s not like social media where you can edit or delete it. We probably proofread it a million times and I would rethink some things I’ve written. I wanted it to stand the test of time so that even if you read it 5 years from now, it will be relevant."

Apart from answering questions about entrepreneurship and sharing her life experiences, the book also includes interviews with notable business owners like Coring Ramos of National Bookstore and Ben Chan of lifestyle brand Bench. You can also find insights on inner beauty from personalities like Lucy Torres-Gomez and Heart Evangelista-Escudero.

Congratulations on this milestone, Rissa!