The woman who has all the fun

At 80, famous people like Marlon Brando, Alfred Hitchcock, Donatello and Gautama Buddha have died, but for Filipino-American business leader Loida Nicolas Lewis, 80 is even the perfect opportunity to celebrate beauty.

“No Botox, no surgery” at 80 — that is the milestone Lewis has marked with a new book, Look Younger When You’re Older, the follow-up to her internationally-published Why Should Guys Have All the Fun? An Asian American Story of Love, Marriage, Motherhood and Running a Billion-Dollar Empire.

“This book is a testament to living well from the inside out,” broadcast journalist Karen Davila said of Look Younger When You’re Older, as printed on the book’s back cover. “Loida is living proof that aging gracefully — and naturally — is not only possible, but powerful.”

In an exclusive interview with DAILY TRIBUNE, Lewis explained why she decided to write the book at 80 years old.

“I wanted to write it when I was 75, but I couldn’t until I’m close to 80 and I said, I have to write it. So it came into my mind. I’m 80. No Botox, no surgery. That’s my next goal (to write a book),” she said.

Inner beauty

Apart from being a memoir, the book shares key takeaways.

“The most important is not physical beauty, but inner beauty,” she stressed. “Very positive thinking; and everything in moderation.”

A lawyer in both the Philippines and New York, Loida is the widow of Reginald Francis Lewis, reportedly the first African-American to build a billion-dollar company, TLC Beatrice International Holdings Inc., and was listed by Forbes as among the richest Americans.

In 1992, Reginald donated $3 million to Harvard University Law School, at the time the largest grant in the school’s history. The school later renamed its International Law Center the Reginald F. Lewis International Law Center, the first major facility at Harvard named in honor of an African American.

In 1993, when Reginald was only 50 years old, he was diagnosed with brain cancer and died only two weeks after diagnosis. Unable to finish his book with a working title Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun?, Loida finished it for him together with his original co-writer Blair Walker.

“So then the publisher said, ‘Why did you put Asian American?’ During that time, there was Asian hate. So I wanted people to know that an Asian American is just like any American. We have hopes/ We have dreams. We have failures, you know, and we have success,” she expounded on why she put An Asian American Story of Love, Marriage, Motherhood and Running a Billion-Dollar Empire in the title of her Why Should Guys Have All the Fun? book.

“Beyonce said it loud and clear, asking ‘Who Rules the World?’ Well, I think that has been answered by Loida Lewis!” singer Dionne Warwick said as testimonial to Why Should Guys Have All the Fun?. “She knows how to have fun in ways women only thought of, by showing it can be done! Brava, sister.”

Right thing to do

But having all the fun did not mean spending all her husband’s wealth and marrying another man for Loida.

“If you’re married to a king, you don’t settle for a prince,” she said when asked why she didn’t remarry and instead focused on her and Reginald’s two daughters and by now, five grandchildren.

Likewise, instead of just keeping her husband’s billion-dollar company for herself, she decided to sell it out to someone who she believes could drive it to more success.

“Reginald Lewis wanted to buy a company to create wealth for the family because in the African American community, there is no intergenerational wealth,” she shared. “So his purpose is to create wealth, and I did not know this, but but he did tell me part of his estate, 10 percent, goes to the foundation for scholarship for art and culture, etc. So 10 percent is Biblical tithing, OK? So you know, you have to know to give back.”

For her, more than the wealth her husband created, the greater treasure she holds dear is her unwavering faith.

“I don’t think about legacy,” she said when asked if she wrote her books as a part of her legacy, “I do things because it’s the right thing to do.”

“If you do the things the right way, you don’t have to worry about the future,” she affirmed.

“The three secrets of my success is number one, goal setting. Second, obedience — to the code of ethics, 10 commandments, the golden rule… Number three, determination — whatever you wish for in life, just work hard toward it. So if you put them together — goal setting, obedience and determination – they spell ‘GOD’.”