No MMFF for Dingdong and Marian this year

No MMFF for Dingdong and Marian this year | Daily Tribune

Business-minded Andrea and David

Actor Andrea Brillantes is highly credible these days every time she declares that she has no love life. She hasn’t complained about missing the feeling of being in love. She’s too preoccupied with business ventures and endorsements to bother to fall in love. She would rather rise financially.

The ex-girlfriend of star cager Ricci Rivero recently joined a jewelry company and a perfume business as an investor, not just endorser.

But naughty-looking actor David Licauco has been doing her one better: the ex-basketball varsity player has been “secretly” keeping a girlfriend, engaging in restaurant and construction ventures, and acting in TV shows and movies left and right. About a month ago, he even joined on-screen-only sweetheart Barbie Forteza and other GMA7 Sparkle stars in a roadshow in the US and Canada.

And, oh, at the media conference for his latest TV series, Pulang Araw, on GMA 7, he wowed everyone with his knowledge of Philippine history. He outscored his co-stars in a history series in a quiz on Philippine “trivia.”

Brillantes recently acquired P2.5 million worth of shares in LVNA by Drake Dustin, a Filipino-owned luxury jewelry brand. Andrea’s latest venture shows she’s well aware that a career in entertainment might not last forever.

Declared the former child star who also owns a beauty brand. “Something sparked in me that I also want to be a businesswoman and not just an actress... I’m 21 now, it’s a nice age to explore and to invest on things.”

Brillantes also launched new scents for her own makeup brand Lucky Beauty on the same day that she renewed and signed a longer contract for beauty milk brand Dear Face.

So how does she handle her business ventures without giving up her profitable livelihood as an actor?

“Tinututukan ko po siya lagi ‘pag wala akong taping. Actually, kahit nasa taping ako nakatutok pa rin po ako (I focus on them when I have no tapings. Actually, even when I have tapings, I am still focus on them),” replied Andrea at her contract renewal with Dear Face Beauty Milk last week.

Proof of her hands-on style is the expansion of her cosmetics brand. Lucky Beauty introduced three new scents, namely, Diary of a Lady, Stories for a Girl and Letters from a Woman. All bottles retail for P777 on leading e-commerce platforms in the country.

The young actor-entrepreneur is happy with the way her life is going, as well as with her fellow Gen Zs who are into putting up their businesses after going through the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Licauco owns Kuya Korea, a casual restaurant in University of the Philippines (UP) Town Center in Quezon City that serves popular Korean dishes. He also runs Sobra Cafe, a dining spot in Alabang that serves Filipino comfort food.

“I also have a construction company actually. My own. I have a partner who is an architect,” Licauco revealed to media.

The company currently operates within Metro Manila. The actor-businessman confided how he realized he can go into the construction business himself when he was putting up his own restaurants.

“Nu’ng kino-construct ‘yung mga restaurant ko, na-realize ko na kaya ko palang gawin ito nang mag-isa ako. Bakit pa ako kukuha ng contractor? So dahil doon, naisipan kong gumawa ng construction company,” the actor bared.

His company currently does fit-out construction, but he is looking into doing government projects.

He concluded with a good advice: “I feel like gano’n naman ‘yung buhay eh (life is just like that). You just never know kung saan ka pupunta (where you might go). Just taking all the opportunity that you can get and accepting it. Galingan mo na lang lagi (Just do your best in everything).”