Text by JOSE PAOLO DELA CRUZ | Photography by Dan Yusay Harvey |Hair and makeup by YANA GARCIA
Born in a world that was kinder to sons than to daughters, Myrna Yao knew how it felt to be “second class.â€But as the little girl from Camarines Norte blossomed into womanhood, so, too, did her dream of being first in everything that she does.
Being first comes in many forms. For Myrna, it was being the first to successfully introduce Barbie Dolls to the Philippines. The reception was initially lukewarm, but that didn’t stop her.
“Stores didn’t believe in it. They said Barbie was too expensive and that toys are just a Christmas product,†she recalls. But come hell or high water, nothing dampened her enthusiasm. Myrna marketed the dolls with uncanny persistence, working overtime even if just to deliver at least one to two dolls at a time. That was a long time ago.
And who doesn’t know Barbie now? More importantly, who doesn’t know Myrna Yao?
Today, Myrna is president and CEO of RichPrime Global Inc., the country’s leading distributor of branded children’s products in the Philippines. It is also the licensing agent for global kids brands such as Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price, Monster High and HIT Entertainment, bringing consumer goods more accessible to Filipinos.
But unlike many who define being first by the zeroes in their bank account or by their stature, Myrna doesn’t stop at material success.
The woman who introduced Barbie to the Philippines, after all, didn’t grow up in a world of luxury. While she is privileged to be part of a well-to-do Chinese Filipino family, her eyes were exposed to the plight of others, especially other women.
“I grew up in one of the poorest provinces in the Bicol Region, where copra is produced and sold. I saw all these women in the farm. They come and borrow money from us, work hard and wait for the coconut to grow. When they harvest, that’s the time we deduct advances, and so little is left for them. It’s a constant cycle. So it’s been my dream to help these women ever since I was young,†she shares.
Myrna seems to have found the answer. She used to be the chair of the Philippine Commission for Women and pushed for the GREAT Women Project, a governance and capacity development project that encourages entrepreneurial spirit among women from all classes. She also founded the Filipino-Chinese Business and Vocational Women of the Philippines, which mentors the women in the localities on business.
This year, Myrna added another first on her list, by authoring her first book. The Gift of a Dream shares her passion and journey from being a micro-entrepreneur to CEO of several companies. The book, which aims to inspire women, also urges men to be the wind beneath a woman’s wings, instead of being an albatross around her neck.
“Sometimes the women work so hard and the men become insecure. Even these poor women, in the localities, are having difficulties because they have to take care of the children, they have to do the house chores and serve their husbands, on top of their jobs. Men should acknowledge that everything should be shared by husband and wife — job, house chores and all.â€
Myrna’s substance, is indeed, her style, one bereft of the sense of entitlement many women of privilege indulge in. It is perhaps, in her early adversaries, that she found what grounds her. She looks back at the time when she was in college.
“Although I could have gone to school without working, I chose to be a working student. I went to school in the evening,†says this University of the East alumna, her personal way of making it on her own.
She was proving herself then. She is tried and tested, truly first class now.
