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CLICKR MAGAZINE CLICKR MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2011 OCTOBER 2011

CLICKR MAGAZINE CLICKR MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2011 OCTOBER 2011

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Words By: Kristine Dabbay Photography By: Dyowi Contreras

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COVER STORY / KAREN DAVILA

“What’s your life’s soundtrack?” I ask Karen. She quickly answers, “RENT” the musi-cal. It was as hectic day, she rates it as a “7 out of 10” in terms of level of demands. She wastes nothing in her 525, 600 minutes of 2011, shuf-fling her communication in BBMs, tweets, and live talk. While she’s busy in her professional af-fairs, I become submerged in my own thoughts. On one hand, there’s a part of my judgment filled with brain junk food otherwise known as the teleserye. On the other hand, there’s teleradyo acting as a sort of morning vitamin. But where do you get the soul-stirring shows? What stories make the spirit soar? I entertain these questions as I wait, together with CLICKR creative, Jaeson, for Headstart to wrap up. Both of us were awed on how eloquently Karen spills her questions to Koko Pimentel who at that time will be proclaimed as a duly elected senator. As Karen’s voice reverberates inside the newsroom, I suddenly remember how her docu-mentaries can be the soul-stirring kind. So when the opportunity knocked to accompany Karen in the Krusada shoot, I had no second thoughts.¬ Early in the day, Karen takes us to her home to prepare for the shoot in the afternoon. Her space is covered with white walls and works of art. The huge paintings and state-of-the-art furniture are enough to impress any onlooker. It’s neither too big nor too cramped. It felt like home, not the mansion you would expect from a TV personality of her caliber. Once in a while, you would be greeted by her trophies. Who wouldn’t be proud of her achievements? A little unsure of her career’s highlight, she ponders, “Highlight? I don’t know—perhaps being a Young Global Leader for the World Economic Forum? You have to be under 40 and successful in your field to be named as one. There were only 3 Filipinos named as YGLs last year in a batch of 300 chosen worldwide.” Indeed, she is

used to such honors. Just the previous day, she won the Best Female News Presenter for the Comguild Awards. Aside from those, she has won the grand prize for UNICEF Child Rights Award 2005 for her documentary Batang Preso (Chil-dren in Jail), the Silver World Medal in the New York TV and Film Festivals 2007 for Palobo Boys (Rugby Boys), and was a TOYM awardee in 2008, the country’s highest honor for any pro-fessional under the age of 40. One might recoil in inferiority upon seeing her résumé, but what’s exemplary about her story is how she doesn’t fo-cus on her celebrity status. Of course, she minds the awards but she cares more about the work she’s about to do next. Imagine, she worked as a contributor for CNN World Report for four years pro-bono. That just shows how she never equated success to material gain. She’s the type who would go through the dangers in distant lands just to deliver the news. She says, “Well, as a person I believe I am successful because I’ve done something of my life. I don’t live just for myself, but for others too—I want to be of service to my viewers, listeners, my parents, my children and even my friends. I love well.” The labels attached to her name are just the tip of the iceberg. Just like Carrie Bradshaw, her favorite character from Sex and the City, who came to New York searching for labels and love, Karen started with a fair share of setbacks. She really wanted to go to Parsons School of Design in New York and become a fashion designer. But the scholarship she ap-plied for eluded her. On the plus side, she relates to Carrie because “she’s a writer, funny, a hope-less romantic, a best friend, and a person with a good heart,” she says. One of her professors from the Uni-versity of the Philippines in Diliman noticed her flair for public speaking, and as they say, the rest

is history. She launched her career in broadcast-ing by joining Saksi, Brigada Siete, and Probe. Calling the world her classroom, she can’t help but be a teacher as well. She shares the lessons she acquired from journalism. Among them, she reveals three: “One, I don’t know everything. Most journalists feel they know more sometimes than the source or interviewee and they don’t learn themselves. Two, listening is the most important skill. I learned this along the way, I’m convinced I was a terrible listener when I was a child, but getting older and being on ANC Head-start has helped me. Three, empathy is what you need to be able to relate people’s stories—whether in politics, human interest, or social issues. You need to be able to understand, or at least get why the person is saying this, or that to make storytelling more effective.” Empathy—big word. This same word is responsible for having Mahatma Gandhi lead his countrymen to freedom, for Winston Churchill to convince a multitude to fight in the beaches, for Mother Teresa to stay in Calcutta, for Ninoy Aquino to fuel a revolution. This, matched with tenacity, is Karen’s driving force to drill to the very core of our world’s problems. She says that if she’ll ever have a biopic, she’d want it to be called Inner Core. “I guess every-thing in life, success or failure is about that,” she says. With empathy, other’s loss is never any-body’s gain, but rather, it becomes everybody’s pain. This is sensitized in her World Vision travels. Among them is going to Kenya and reporting the spread of AIDS, perhaps because of prostitution and practices such as “wife in-heritance” and “wife cleansing,” the latter, an in-tercourse with a dead husband which is believed to cleanse the wife’s soul. Another cherished ex-perience is going to the MILF camp in Lanao del Sur and knowing from experience that children

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were used as weapons for warfare. Again, this is only a scratch on the surface of her work; but what she does so well is to articulate the truth, no matter how uncomfort-able it is. So when I glimpsed the depth of her convictions as she talks to the patients’ relatives in the Orthopedic Center, I felt my guard being shattered. Being whisked away for a day from a cozy 9-5 was a step closer to reality—with its stench, tears, and sweat. I couldn’t wait to catch the episode on TV. “How do you react when you see yourself onscreen?” I ask. Suddenly, her lighthearted nature arises. “I hate watching myself as an anchor. (Laughs) I actually am not narcissistic that way! As in! What I watch in full are my documentaries—only because I look at how I’ve weaved the story together, and then say—I could’ve done a better job,” she says. Led by her example, I was energized by her mood. There I was overwhelmed by merely being a visitor to her crew, and there she was dealing with all sorts of stories—the good, the bad, and the ugly. Despite the challenges, she remains positive. She chooses to act instead of mope. She enthuses, “Right thing on

TV? ANC! Also, inspirational and education programming. Wrong thing? Too much teleseryes all over on all channels. Entertainment has to find more genres that don’t en-courage Filipinos to be histrionic.” Drama kings and queens as Filipinos can be, Karen also had to undergo a dramatic stage in her career. It happened during Fer-nando Poe Jr.’s death. She gave a public apology to FPJ’s wife Susan Roces which elicited a tumult of reactions from the people. “My Su-san Roces interview was a tipping point. I had offered my resignation right after. I could’ve done better, but [I] learned a lot from that. I can’t get into the details anymore, but people know deep inside I didn’t mean anything hurtful by it,” she says. As her favorite quote goes, “He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.” Obviously, Karen has bounced from ground zero to continue what she started. She talks further about politics in the media and politics on the grand scale. “There is no comparison. Politics on TV is just interpersonal. But then again, as they said—all politics is local,” she adds. This kind of industry

could crush the fainthearted or if not, it may just leave one jaded. Karen, though, doesn’t accept defeat; instead she dives right into the heart of matter—even consider-ing interviews with Oprah, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama as dreams to accomplish. Everyday’s a fight and it’s good to have some-thing to wake up to every morning. “ANC Headstart has changed my mornings. I am literally excited to interview my guests! I am inter-ested in any and every topic, we move the news forward during the day and it feels good to be able to make that difference,” she shares. Apparently, her com-munication channels aren’t limited to television. She blurs the threshold between above and below the line communication via social media. “Social Media is a new way of connecting and relating to your audience. [It] absolutely goes well with TV and print. Social Media is limitless,” she says. A self-confessed Twitterati, she laughs at the thought of imagining her life without Wi-Fi and gadgets. I, for one, have witnessed her agility in shifting from 2 Blackberries and an iPad all the same time while talking to me.

Always booked and on call, you might wonder what’s her day like when she’s free. Prob-ably, you’ll catch her watching her favorite romantic comedies such as The American President and Love Actually. Funny how both films have political figures in them such as Michael Douglas’ role as the American president, and Hugh Grant’s portrayal of London’s Prime Minister. In reality, you could only go as far in trying to escape the life you’ve chosen. And hey, what a fulfilling life Karen has. She gets the chance to be a guest in shows like Showtime where she can sing Lady Gaga songs. Endearingly on the defense, she quips, “That wasn’t singing! Bad Romance is like super easy to sing for people like me who are tone-deaf! (Laughs) I’m easy, I read, [I] like going around, I’m such a regular happy person on a daily basis.” But this happiness is multiplied by her advocacies for World Vision, Asian Cultural Council, Go Negosyo, and Habitat for Humanity, just to name a few. She admits, “YES. I want to do everything—business, clothing line, travel, managing a corporation, public service—life is more than

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1. You Tube singing sensation Maria Aragon @mariiiaofficial on ANC Headstart! 2. Boy Abunda joins BANDILA on October 3! 3. with tunying and pochoy! 4. WOW! “No To Fakes” Ambassadors @TessaValdes & @BamAquino on ANC Headstart! 5. Working at Sofitel, awaiting Koko proclamation w @ryan_chua & @sandraguinaldo 6. We LOVE @noelcabangon !!! He soothes, awakens and inspires the soul... 7. with tunying and pochoy again! 8. Tonight on @krusadaTV ! Solar Energy lights millions of poor families in the provinces! Samahan nyo ako! 9. Tnx COMGUILD for voting for me as Best Female News Presenter!!! W my Lyceum Batangas Twitter friends! 10. Saturday night out David & Lucas w their Cherry Sprites! 11. Just intrvwd Andrea Jung, CEO of Avon. Her famous quote “Follow your compass, not your clock” 12. Hello Guys! Dinner w @itsmekrisaquino & @orangedenims on a Saturday night! 13. All out on a Saturday night! @saychiz & @itsmekrisaquino w @orangedenims & Bibeth! Hubby DJ took pic! 14. Happy Bday @cesdrilon !! Picture taking after the show! 15. coming senator Koko Pimentel on ANC Headstart! 16. with Coach Rio at Starbucks live tweeting! 17. Bagong Henerasyon Partylist Rep. Bernadette Herrera Dy talked abt “Corporal Punishment” on Headstart. 18. At AFP Theatre, receiving COMGUILD award! W @gretchenmalalad & GMA7 winners, w Tonio Magsumbol! 19. @Vicdallas and I with the Phil Dragon Boat Federation in DZMM! 20. @ilovesumosam to open here at ABS! Bumped into mega entrep @marvin_agustin

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TV.” I couldn’t agree more. Most times, a television is just a box with an antenna—a tool for celebrities to gain cachet in the industry. But for Karen Davila, it’s a means to up the ante. If peo-ple’s lives have been dependent on TV, why deny this privilege? It is, after all, a tool to spread a singular vision that involves letting people know that they are the masters of their late nights on the couch, they vouch for their lives, and they’re the masters of their fate. TV may be popularly known as a machine for killing time, but Karen shifts the paradigm—television can actually save lives.