Unleashing women power

Yao believes in helping other women help themselves — Eloisa Lopez

Focus on what you want; take the road less traveled; expect hardships to come your way—and know that you can overcome them.

These are the life and business lessons Myrna Yao, the power woman behind Richwell Trading Corp. (local distributor of various products such as Goodyear Tires, Barbie, Fisher Price and Chicco), hopes to impart to her fellow women as she takes on a new role: that of president and CEO of Grace Cosmetics Philippines Inc.

“You have to be happy with what you are doing. It should be something you think about even in your sleep, so that in the morning, you really want to wake up to able to do it,” says the founding chair of the Philippine Federation of Local Councils of Women.

In Yao’s case, it was her passion for helping women that moved her to bring into the country Grace Cosmetics, a 34-year-old Australian family-owned and operated brand, after experiencing the products’ effectivity herself three years ago.

“I had a friend recommend it to me, and I felt the changes—my melasma on my face was cured,” she says. “After two years of using it, I said, this product is very good. I want to bring it here.”

Grace Cosmetics’ products are all aloe vera-based, including an inner aloe leaf juice one must ideally drink every day to help reduce signs of aging.

Yao admits, however, that getting the distributorship was not an easy feat.

When she met with the brand’s owners, direct-selling company Pro-Ma Systems run by Julie Fittler-Charanduk and her family, Yao saw that they were very “somewhat protective” of their products, given the fact that they handle all of their other global operations.

“When I met with them, they started asking me why I wanted to distribute [Grace Cosmetics], because apparently they get so many letters [from interested distributors], and they don’t give it to anyone. They handle US, Canada, UK, Australia, Papua New Guinea,” says Yao. “But when I told them how I wanted to help women in our country, to have [Grace Cosmetics] as their source of livelihood, they became interested.”

The deal between Yao and Pro-Ma was officially sealed in January last year.

Since Yao had no experience in the direct-selling business model, she says Pro-Ma gave her “the whole template.”

“Our companies share the same values. They also want to help people,” she says.

Empowering women, especially in the financial aspect, is one cause which is very close to Yao’s heart, as she herself had to go through many trials to achieve the entrepreneurial success that she has today.

Starting as a microentrepreneur selling blouses, Yao slowly built her business empire (she started by selling blouses, before getting the distributorship of Goodyear tires, followed by Barbie—and the rest is history) through sheer determination and perseverance.

“I had to go through a lot of challenges, especially since I also had to raise four girls while running every aspect of the business myself—accounting, purchasing, marketing, sometimes even driving to do deliveries!” she recalls. “Imagine, when I started Barbie, no [stores] wanted to buy it. They would tell me, ‘come back when it’s Christmas [season].’ And even when I was able to sell some even when it was past the holidays, my products got shelved during school opening time. So what did I do? I sold Barbie at a discount depending on how much school supplies they bought. That surprised people.”

Still, Yao says she wouldn’t trade her experiences for anything in the world, as they molded her to become the strong woman she is now.

“Empowering women economically helps them become more confident, become better mothers, wives,” says the still fresh-faced, youthful and fashionable 66-year-old.

Her venture into Grace Cosmetics is also Yao’s way of innovating her business, she adds.

“I had been praying to God to give me another business. In the 1980s, we started with tires, and we became the biggest distributor in the Philippines. When I felt that I had reached my peak, I looked for something else,” she says. “Since I’ve always loved children, and I saw how other kids couldn’t have toys like my children could, I decided to go into toys. Now we’re quite big already in the toy business, so I said, I want to go into something else. And when I saw Grace [Cosmetics], I said, this will definitely benefit women, especially those who want to go into their own business.”

She is quick to note, however, that she doesn’t want Grace Cosmetics’ “leaders” to just sell for the sake of selling.

“I want them to really try the products themselves first to see how it works. It’s difficult to convince people [to buy] if they haven’t tried it themselves,” she says.

Her advice to such women—and even men—who have taken on the challenge of selling Grace Cosmetics, or are starting another kind of business: Make sure it’s something you really want to do.

“Otherwise, you will just become lazy and you won’t be able to see it through,” she says. “The passion needs to be there.”