I ADORE MARLA MINIANO

i rili adores and envy her (i sucks huh) she's so nice and down-to-earth kahit na hndi nya ako kilala peo she's so...i was like one of her fans...lol...God bless yoy Marla... ang galing mo residenz wrtr kna pla s candy mag as in asst. ...wow ang gling!? i wana be a writr too and too pathetic it may sounds but i wanna be like you...God Bless Marla!

http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/you/2bu/view_article.php?article_id=93439

Sweet, sweet life By Marla MinianoInquirerLast updated 05:08pm (Mla time) 10/09/2007
MANILA, Philippines—As a teenager, I wanted to be a lot of things—a teacher (like my mom), a lawyer (because I thought wearing power suits and killer heels would be cool), a shrink (I was intrigued; think of all the juicy secrets patients could spill!), a model (I gave up on that soon enough because I was stuck at 5 feet), and a botanist (I have no idea where that came from).
But what I really, really wanted was to be a writer for my favorite magazine.
I read Candy from the very beginning, since its launching year in 1999. I looked up to the cover girls, hunted down the items in the fashion pages, read the feature articles over and over again, and daydreamed about my favorite Candy cuties (can’t spill who!).
More than anything else, I admired the team behind the magazine. I was a true-blue Candy fan girl.
In the summer of 2004, I was surfing the Net when I saw a call for entries to the new batch of the Council of Cool, a group of young Candy writers. I was in my junior year in college, and had a relatively manageable schedule, so I sat down and started writing my application essay.
I struggled with it for days. Was it too corny? Too cheesy? Too ass-kissy? I considered not sending it in and just waiting for the next batch the following year. But I was already 19 then, and the age limit was 20. The following year would be too late.
It was a classic Now or Never scenario. Swallowing my doubts, I printed out my essay and delivered it personally to Candy headquarters.
A few months later, on a lazy Saturday morning, I got a call from then lifestyle editor Mimi Tiu. “We read your essay and we liked it,” she told me, snapping me out of my post-Friday-night-gimik stupor. She asked me to e-mail her a short movie review for my final task, and a couple of days later, confirmed that I had indeed gotten into the council.
I was thrilled. But looking back, my excitement did not even begin to compensate for how Candy changed my life.
In a span of less than two years, I moved from Council of Cool member to intern to contributing writer, until I finally landed the editorial-assistant position after graduation, officially becoming part of the Candy team—and fulfilling my high-school dream.
More than teaching teens what clothes to wear and makeup to buy, telling them how to deal with crushes and boyfriends, and updating them on the latest in music, movies, and celebrities, Candy is every girl’s best friend. It teaches her to value her relationships with her family and friends. It makes her realize that teenage drama and angst are just part of the growing-up process. It helps her become more creative, more confident, more comfortable in her own skin.
So I did get my high-school dream. And along with it came opportunities for this shy probinsyana to step out of her shell, chances to work with the most talented people in the industry, and, of course, with eight lovely ladies I can proudly call my friends: Mia, Mimi, Angel, Jennie, Margaux, Macy, Roch and Steph.
The Candy team is a happy, crazy, wonderful family, and I am extremely blessed to be a part of it.
Right now, I still want to be a lot of things. There are new options to explore, new loves to chase and, yes, new dreams to aim for. But the best part about being a Candy girl is that you believe in yourself enough to know that anything is possible.
My life—as well as the lives of the hundreds of teen girls I am hopefully touching in my own way—gets a little bit sweeter every day.
Marla Miniano is the assistant lifestyle editor for Candy Magazine. E-mail her at marla@candymag.com.