MANILA, Philippines - Life — it could be over in a bat of an eyelash. This truth couldn’t manifest itself so gravely as it had on Tessa Prieto-Valdes. It was all laid out for Tessa’s older brother, Louie. He was at the peak of health and geared to be the next Inquirer president, but in the early ’90s, Louie, while on his motorcycle, took an unexpected detour to the great beyond. Two days later, driving home tired, Tessa had her own near-death accident. “The grief will always be there, but you learn to move on. It was because of him that I changed,” she says. Tessa has since carried these tragedies with her, but has made a terrific transformation of it that has inspired many.
“When it comes to fashion, I have nothing to prove. I may not be the taste of some or most people but it doesn’t really affect me. You may follow a trend but in the end, it’s what you feel most comfortable with. I just happen to be comfortable in stilettos, mega platforms and a volume of fabric around me,” Tessa exclaims. For her, fashion has become a way of life and a reflection of a renewed and remarkable vivacity.
Among Tessa’s philanthropic efforts last year was her participation in “Rajo Red,” a fashion benefit of Rajo Laurel, for the Philippine National Red Cross. Together with her Assumption ’81 batch mates, she is currently working on improving Assumpta Tech High School’s facilities in Pampanga. Tessa is also lining up several fundraising fashion events. As of this interview, she is training for the Condura Run, a benefit for Palawan’s Tubbataha Reef. Other than giving birth to her four children, one of her greatest accomplishments so far is her participation in the ING New York Marathon. The major annual marathon is a run that lasts for around five hours and covers a distance of 42 kilometers. Tessa sacrificed a bit of her Sea Princess life and family time to achieve a strict physical and mental discipline for the worthy cause. The marathon’s donation program helps the New York Road Runners, supports US post-collegiate and Olympic development training groups.
A yoga practitioner and daily churchgoer, this Houselife TV host is not without flaws. When this writer asks her husband, Dennis, what he admires most about Tessa, he replies, “Definitely not her spending habits!” In the same store, she can buy 10 pairs of shoes. Before bed, having her delightful truffles at night is another of her guilty pleasures.
Tessa is an Interior Design graduate from the College of Notre Dame. It also helps in her interior design practice that she is a UST Architecture graduate and with that, Tessa’s Venetian-style home is as colorful as the lives of the home’s inhabitants.
What’s the key to her happiness? This woman of allure says, “It’s about not asking too much and being more appreciative. If you make the most of who you are and what you have, then it’s so easy to be happy.”