When Doors Open

It is uncanny to find someone you’re so used to crossing paths with in a school hallway, be someone prominent –someone whose name is uttered excitedly by everyone’s lips and whose face graces the front cover of a celebrity magazine with a headline screaming: RISING STAR. And you falter in your steps, pick up the publication, and hear something akin to the universe’s wakeup call –that dreams can happen in reality and that there are living evidences that were once subtle occurrences in your mundane life.

Named after Canadian rock singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette and German Baroquecomposer Johann Sebastian Bach, ACT alumna Johann Morissette Amon chose to live up the namesake and stepped onto the center stage –into the spotlight where all eyes glared down on her as she unveiled every piece of emotion and sang her heart out. Her unwavering voice and relentless endeavors took her to places she never deemed to be.

Photo from Google

In 2012, Morissette made her Broadway debut as she starred as one of the main characters of the Repertory Philippines rendition of Disney’s Camp Rock. A year passed and her idol, Sarah Geronimo, turned for her when she brilliantly belted Beyoncé’s Love on Top in the Voice Philippines first season. She may have only ended up as one of the semi-finalists, but her career in the music industry flourished. Zoom into 2016, she is now a regular in the ABS-CBN’s Sunday noon time show ASAP, together with Angeline Quinto, Jona, and Klarisse De Guzman as the Birit Queens.

A self-titled album, live performances in foreign countries such as Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, and Taiwan, and a duet with international pop star Jessie J, all of these is just the beginning to her quest in etching her name among the greatest female singers in the Philippines –and hopefully, the whole world.

Loquinario with Sara Lahbati. Photo from Instagram.

If we could define Jongz Bendebel Loquinario, another successful ACT alumnus, in just a single word, he would be “passionate.”  Working as a makeup artist, wedding planner and on top of that, a fashion and costume designer, he has never been better.

Word of Loquinario’s artistic ingenuity spread into a national scale, and his stunning creations have been worn by female celebrities such as Bangs Garcia, Jessie Mendiola, Myrtle Sarrosa and Sarah Lahbati. His latest projects include pieces sported by candidates ofCebu Bikini Bodies 2016 (April 16) and Mr. and Ms. Press Freedom 2016 (September 16).

“I am in love with every detail of my masterpieces. Each designer has an inspiration and in my case, I want it to be beyond what people has expected,” he said in an article written in Escooped.com, Cebu’s Top Local Fashion Designers.

- Maria Eloisa Garcia