In Dr. Vicki Belo’s guest appearance on MEGA: The Next Move, she shares all there is to know about creating a successful beauty business. Here are five surprising details she revealed on the podcast
Succeeding its pilot with Heart Evangelista, MEGA: The Next Move’s sophomore episode featured Dr. Vicki Belo, the Founder, President, and Medical Director of Belo Medical Group. Here, she gives a tell-all about her beauty empire and the struggles and challenges that preceded her rise to the top. Dr. Vicki is a certified multi-hyphenate, known for being a multi-awarded doctor, an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, a media personality, and a fashion lover, but she made her name first and foremost in being a pioneer that brought next-generation technology to the Philippines’ dermatology scene.
In light of Belo Medical Group’s 33rd year, we can all agree that it has a storied history—one that we get a small peek into through MEGA’s podcast. Throughout her conversation with host and Editor-in-Chief Peewee Reyes-Isidro, we gathered the five most surprising details you may not have known either before the episode’s release. Check out our list down below.
RELATED: Vicki Belo Bares It All in MEGA: The Next Move’s Second Episode
1. Her dad asked her to make their name famous
Something you’ll learn more intimately about Dr. Vicki Belo is that she’s an entrepreneur at heart. But aside from that, she’s also a self-titled “daddy’s girl,” meaning that when her father asks for help, she willingly offers it.
Recalling the early formation of her business, she mentions, “When I was 11 years old, people would always tell me ‘You’re such a marketer, how did you learn to build your Belo brand?'” She says that her dad implored her to help him make their family name famous. And when she asked him why, the simple answer he gave her was that he was tired of people spelling their surname wrong—specifically, with two letter Ls rather than just one. She then went on to say yes and the rest is history.
2. One celebrity in particular helped turn Belo into a household name
Besides Dr. Vicki Belo’s own self-determination and drive to make her brand and business succeed, she shares that everything coming together was also a form of serendipity. When asked about the first celebrity clients that made an impact on her career, Dr. Vicki mentioned two names: Regine Velasquez and Rosanna Roces. Velasquez was suffering from bacne and so she went to Dr. Vicki because of her ex-brother-in-law’s referral. Everything snowballed from there.
Dr. Vicki also revealed that she applied glycolic acid to cure Regine’s bacne, who then went on TV to publicly thank her by name for “fixing her back.” She was new to the scene at the time and was subsequently wowed by the positive reception she received after gaining the star’s approval. The public praise, to Dr. Vicki, was unexpected because she was used to being the “secret of the rich and famous.” But she believes that it wasn’t until actress Rosanna Roces that Belo became a household name in the 2000s. Because the actress proudly displayed her post-liposuction body on TV, Belo went on to become known nationwide. From then on, it’s clear to see that Belo remains a mainstay in people’s vocabulary.
3. She is her own target audience for Belo Medical Group
Growing up with acne and being overweight in her formative years, Dr. Vicki Belo shared that it then became her goal to create solutions for herself, since none were created during her time. From pioneering such things as laser technology and liposuction in the country, she is now focused on treatments that would keep people looking and feeling healthy.
“Bottom line is I specialized in acne because I had a lot of acne. I specialized in pimples because I had a lot of pimples. I had varicose veins so I specialized on that. And then liposuction because I’m fat. So now, where do I go? I’m 66, I want to live a vibrant, happy, healthy life, so we’re doing wellness; we’re doing biohacking,” Dr. Vicki shared.
4. She had a lot of naysayers
Being a pioneer comes with criticism from the type of people who are afraid of change. One anecdote Dr. Vicki mentioned was about the criticisms people had of her treatments, particularly laser technology. Recalling that period of her life, she said, “It was very painful for me to always be criticized, have rumors told about me that were untrue. I never ever harmed a patient, wala talaga, so why are you guys doing this? I never thought in medicine it would be like that.”
On that note, she went on to say, “The trick there is to continue to go forward and really innovate and be the first in everything.” Evidently, her treatments won over the skeptics as many more clinics and dermatologists followed in her path.
5. Belo Medical Group has new products coming soon
Finally, Dr. Vicki Belo gave MEGA the first scoop on Belo’s upcoming line of eye creams to solve the modern Filipino’s problems, taking into consideration issues such as discoloration from lack of sleep. Because she hadn’t found the perfect eye cream for her yet, she instead went the route of innovating one. “So, finally, I have my most beautiful eye cream ever I have found, and it’s Belo Essentials,” she shares, adding with a laugh, “I’m sure they’ll get mad at me for announcing.”
If you want to watch the whole podcast episode, visit MEGA’s official YouTube channel here.
You can also listen to the episode on MEGA’s official Spotify here:
Photos: VICKI BELO, HAYDEN KHO, BELO MEDICAL GROUP (via Instagram)
Featured Image: MEGA ARCHIVES
