"At the end of the day, just do what you want and pursue your dreams. Don't wait 5 years, don't wait 3 years. Don't wait next year, DO IT NOW!" -LA Aguinaldo
When I think of the words "Youth", "Inspiration", "Role-Model" etc. One name quickly comes to my mind: LA Aguinaldo. This guy is unstoppable and he just keeps on winning at life! A real jack of all trades, I must say! Now we know why he's called: "THE BOY WONDER".
But what exactly is his secret to success? Here's an interview I did with him just hours before we watched the One Direction concert last month.
Read more after the jump!
*some photos were grabbed from LA's Twitter account and SM Youth's Facebook fan page.
*Hi LA! You're all over the metro with your various ads for a clothing brand and your recent win in a lifestyle contest. Is there anything else that people don't know about you? (Prolly something you will just reveal now hihii)
-I really like adventure and I really like meeting people. As much as possible, I'm just going out with my comfort zone. And I have dreams also, I have big dreams! Actually, I'm starting a food business now. It's already in the works, we already have a place, we're fixing the rent, we have products already and stuff. And it's gonna be around the Ubelt area so watch out for it!
Also, I work with an events company called Vybe. So we bring out indie talents here, we'll bring Charlie XCX here (interview happened last month! Lol.), then we'll bring out Justice by May, FKA Twigs and more big concerts this year so y'all have to watch out for it.
*You are a darling on social media! One Instagram/Facebook post from you is enough to make the fan girls and guys crazy generating around thousand likes and comments! How does it feel to be that popular? Or does it ever sink in to you how crazy famous you are now?
-Wow, darling! No. I mean, I just tweet what I feel, I Instagram what I feel or what I'm doing. For me, it's part of sharing my life with others, and it's always fun to share what you're eating, what you're listening to or what you're doing right now.
And in a way, I get to relate with my followers and the ones I'm following. You know, it's fun for me, social media is really fun! I hope people who follow me also have fun cause I have a lot of fun when I travel, when I go out with friends, when I do my modelling stuff so it's really fun and I'm happy.
*Are you like the OC one with your Instagram feed or are you conscious with the likes and comments your post get every time? How much effort do you put on your social media posts?
-The likes? Not at all! I really just wanna give people quality posts. I'm not OC with my feed, I just post. If I know my followers would appreciate it, I will post it. Well I do put effort cause I'm an artsy guy and I put effort on everything I do. So I just focus on making sure I put up nice posts and stuff.
Maybe a tip I can give is to just post what you feel and put effort on it, make sure you caption it well, like make your followers feel as close as possible to you. Be more descriptive.
*Did you ever imagine yourself and your career to blow up this major?
-Well, I always had the dream. When I was a kid, I was a big dreamer and I would always tell my self: "One day, I will have this, I will have that!". But it still surprises me that I got to achieve so much already at my age and meet so many people, so it's really nice!
*How do you stay grounded despite all the good stuff and the fame you've been receiving?
-You know, I don't know like how fame, grounded whatever. But honestly, all of us don't deserve anything in this world. We were born here with nothing. For me, I'm just thankful for whatever I have cause I know from day one, the world doesn't owe me anything and I'm thankful for everything I have and I make sure I show that to the world, to God, that I'm thankful by appreciating everyone. I make sure I appreciate my Mom, my friends and make sure that they feel appreciated.
-Yeah, cause maybe after college I already applied for jobs and whatnot. But something in my head, told me to try out modelling. During college, I do castings and commercials for fastfood chains, for Globe and all these things but they were just on the side while I was studying. Then I developed a fondness for it and started to enjoy it. I started to enjoy meeting people, then going to different places, wearing all sorts of clothes.
I appreciated modelling in a different light. It's not just a job but an artform in itself. From the make-up, to the lights, to the clothes, to the photographer, to the music on set. It all seems like an orchestra, and everyone is there to make good music.
*Well aside from pursuing modelling, what are your plans in the future? We all know modelling isn't a permanent job, do you have a back-up plan for the future or are you the type of person who goes YOLO and lives for today?
-Maybe not back-up but what I'm doing now is PR and events and business. I'm more on producing events. What I'm doing now is I make sure that I can secure my future and not spend too much, manage my finances wisely.
*You are an inspiration to the youth of today and you are one of the persons I look up to! But for you, who is your personal hero?
-My personal hero is my Mom cause despite everything we've been through, she would always put me first, and put my interests first, and she would always look out for me. And if I think that what she's doing is already over the top, she would always say no and give even more! And at the end of the day, my Mom's on my side and she just wants the best for me.
And of course, my friends (and fans) are always there to support me with everything that I do and keep me grounded, reminding me about life and it's reality.
*What's the best advice you have received and how do you apply it on your everyday life?
-Best advice I have received? "We only have one life to live so make every moment count". And it's true that we're only this age once and we have to make sure that we seize every moment and not be shy and just be sure not to spread negative energy with everyone and always put positive vibes cause we already have a lot of hate in this world and that's too much, what we need is to help each other and positive vibes always!
*With all the things that has happened with your life and career, what's the best lesson that you have learned from the experience?
-Just do your own thing and DO YOU! Just concentrate on yourself, don't listen to any bad vibes or negative comments cause there will always be haters. There are always people who spread negative stuff about you. But you know your own person and you know who you are, and at the end of the day, "those who matter don't mind, those who mind don't matter".
*What's one thing you wish you knew during college?
-I wish I could do stuff that I wnated to do. Like if I dreamt of something, turns out I can possibly do it! It's always a scare, I was not that confident during college and I woukd always be like: "why are people looking at me weirdly?". But at the end of the day, just do what you want and pursue your dreams! Don't wait 5 years, don't wait 3 years. Don't wait next year, DO IT NOW!
*Where can we see or what can we expect from LA Aguinaldo 5 years from now?
-You can see me probably having my own empire. Businesses, food, I've traveled the world already and met so many people by then!
*What's your message to kids/teens/young professionals out there who aspire to achieve what you have reached right now?
-Just DREAM BIG! There's nothing funny about if you think your dreams are too big, it's not! No one can dream too big, so just dream big! And do stuff that could get you to that dream, be kind to people around you, work hard and always give thanks!
So many inspiring words from the boy wonder who keeps on winning in LAyf! (See what I did there? Hihii.) Hope y'all learned a thing or two from all the life hacks he gave! I always tell you guys to never stop dreaming and see? LA's a proof that you could live the dream if you know how to play your cards well!
xoxo,
Yannita*
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*huggs!*
