At her summit

MANILA, Philippines - For every woman worth her heels, a job in fashion is a pipe dream. There’s no fantasy more feverish than to work at one of the bibles that every girl looks up to for inspiration. Tara Y. Santos has lived not just one, but three of those dreams.

Tara came to Summit just around the time the publishing company was just one room with a single computer used for writing and doing layouts. She has seen the publishing house grow in almost a Promethean manner. As associate publisher of Summit concentrating on the cult mag Preview, the elegant Town & Country (which features my beautiful cousin Geni Psinakis this month) and the first-ever franchise of Martha Stewart Weddings in the world, Tara certainly has to keep Summit’s triumvirate of style well on its toes.

While Town & Country and Martha Stewart are both franchises from the US, she makes sure Filipinos are not alienated by its content. “Town & Country focuses on people with substance. They usually are people who give back to society and have something to say,” Tara enthuses. “For Martha Stewart we follow a specific template that Martha herself oversees, but Filipinos can still find inspiration with locally made creations for the modern bride.”

Preview magazine is the landmark Summit brand, for which she used to be editor in chief; she now helps manage and promote the magazine. Admittedly, this is what requires most of her attention because of its dynamic nature. The magazine manned by the stylish Pauline Juan along with its visionary creative director Vince Uy (who has admitted more than once that he has no life, being so busy with the cult tome) has become the bellwether for style.

“This month is especially exciting for Preview as it’s entering its 15th year and Pauline’s 10th year,” Tara shares. “We’re also having our annual best-dressed list the following month. Yes, we’re very busy.” The best-dressed list is the Conrad Black-ish journal of the year’s most impressive style mavens (or as Style Bible calls them, “Style Stars”).

For anyone in fashion media, we all know that it’s not as glamorous as it sounds (hello, The Devil Wears Prada). Being in the industry for 10 years as well, I’ve seen more grime than glam setting up shoots and being a serf. However, I can still say it’s the best job in the world, if you’re that kind of girl.

Tara, being one of the pioneers in modern fashion magazines, knows that it takes a spine, and not just stapled-together pages, to make it in the fashion rag world. Here are a few of her hard-won insights.

1. In spite of the glamour, hard work and long hours are needed.

2. Love and live the culture!

3. Do a lot of reading, traveling, exposure to the other media (arts, technology, music, etc.) to enrich and inspire the mind.

4. To excel in this field you need to have a good gut feel and should be able to make sound decisions because it is a very fast-paced industry.  

5. One can expect a fun, dynamic and chaotic experience as no day will ever be the same.