Fanny Serrano, Bhoy Navarette and other hair and makeup artists also went through the same rags-to-riches story – but look at how successful they all are now. Ricky Reyes owns one of the most fabulous mansions this side of town and is regarded as one of the outstanding citizens of this country because of his livelihood projects for the underprivileged.
Listening to their life stories, there was one factor that made them strive and succeed in the beauty business: Poverty.
It’s different in the case of Celeste Tuviera, one of the youngest architects of beauty today. (Rosanna Roces is now her chief client). The daughter of the revered Tony Tuviera, who produces Eat Bulaga for Channel 7, Celeste had never known financial hardship, but went on to become a hairstylist just the same.
Although she could easily inherit one of her father’s many businesses on television, Celeste chooses to stand on her feet snipping away and coloring hair during the long business hours of the family-owned Symmetria Salon, located at the Fox Square Building in Connecticut St., Greenhills.
Her passion for the beauty business began at an early age. Celeste remembers that her family used to live in an apartment right next to a beauty parlor in San Juan. A great part of her playtime was spent observing the neighborhood beauticians and their assistants at work – to the point that she wanted to become a manicurista herself when she grew up.
In the beginning, her girlhood dream of becoming a manicurista still amused her parents. But they didn’t find it funny when Celeste still insisted on going to beauty school in college.
No, the Tuviera couple didn’t exactly look down on the profession of makeup artists and hairstylists. Oh no, not at all. Mr. Tuviera, in fact, helped a lot of them by giving them casual plugs in Eat Bulaga. (Remember how Ricky Reyes became a household name after Chiqui Hollmann thanked him every day in Eat Bulaga for the "crazy colors" on her hair?). It’s just that Mr. and Mrs. Tuviera wanted a more conventional profession for their daughter Celeste and the beauty business can be such a maddening world.
The dutiful daughter that she is, Celeste obeyed her parents and took up Interdisciplinary Studies at De La Salle University. But right after she was done with her degree, she went again to her parents to ask, "Now may I go to beauty school?" The answer was still no.
As a concession, the Tuvieras put up Cuts Salon in Annapolis in Greenhills in 1997. Celeste was made to do managerial work, while Bong Bella, whose chief client is Martin Nievera, was made to cut and style the clients’ hair. Although the salon made money, Celeste wasn’t very happy. She itched and ached and yearned to do the clients’ hair while behind the counter counting the day’s earnings.
After a few years, the Tuvieras finally gave in to their daughter’s dream of going to beauty school. No, but it wasn’t going to be in just any other beauty school in some dark alleyway in downtown Manila. Celeste was going to the very prestigious Vidal Sassoon Academy in Santa Monica in California.
Attending this school established by Vidal Sassoon himself wasn’t exactly as easy as pulling gray strands from the head of your grandmother. The tuition fee, for one, was pretty steep. The Vidal Sassoon Academy, in fact, charges as much as the Ivy League schools in the East Coast.
From Celeste’s end, there was also the matter of leaving behind a young son, Niño, who is now 10 years old. But she took one deep breath and conditioned her mind to the fact that she would spend a year away from her son while pursuing her dream of becoming a hairstylist.
The discipline enforced by the school was practically no different from West Point – except that they had scissors, not guns, at their disposal. In fact, they were encouraged to have their shears on hand at all times (even at home) – for dexterity.
In the beginning of the course, she became a shampoo girl and was made to do the laundry (towels and bibs). Eventually, she and her classmates were taught how to do makeup, facials, nails and, of course, hair, which was the main focus of her cosmetology course. It was a grueling year for her, but she came back armed with so much knowledge on the art and science of hair.
At Symmetria, she now counts Hilda Koronel, Patrick Garcia, Sharmaine Suarez and Maribeth Bicharra among her many celebrity clients.
Rosanna Roces, of course, stands out among the celebrity names she handles. Actually, Rosanna is not just an endorser, but also a friend, a dear, dear friend to her. Their friendship started on the set of the Vic Sotto-Rosanna Roces-Charlene Gonzales sitcom 1-for-3 when Celeste used to visit another dear friend, Malou Choa-Fagar, who was then in charge of production.
In 2000, when Celeste was still slaving it out at the Vidal Sassoon Academy, Rosanna, then on a US tour, lived with her at her California flat. Celeste will never forget how Osang took very good care of her – cleaning her house, scrubbing even the bathroom tiles and floor and, yes, cooking some of the best meals of her life. Rosanna would go to the grocery every day and come up with elaborate meals – baked salmon complete with delicate sauces – during her entire stay at Celeste’s place. "She knew there was no one to look after me, so she took good care of me like a sister during her stay there," Celeste, recalls, relishing that moment she spent abroad with Rosanna Roces.
And now that she has her degree from Vidal Sassoon, Celeste takes time off from work at the salon and braves the Saturday afternoon traffic to do Rosanna’s hair for Startalk on Channel 7. Rosanna, from her end, is obviously pleased no end with Celeste’s work and can’t thank Celeste enough for making her (Rosanna) even more beautiful and more stylish on television.
According to Celeste, she has observed that people watch Startalk not only for the features and showbiz issues, but also to check out Rosanna Roces’ hairstyle. She says that she made this observation even way before she handled Rosanna’s hair.
I never thought about this before (and I thought I was a keen observer), but maybe she’s right. And I’m not about to argue with her. Celeste Tuviera may be young, but being one of the best in her field today, she obviously knows what she’s talking about.