This Celebrity Founder Sees the Beauty in Shapewear and an Online Wellness Platform

You can tell when Kylie Verzosa means business.

It’s evident when she slips into her own merchandise (a SOLA bodysuit) for this photo shoot and proceeds to pose like she owns it (she does). It’s evident when she gives an editor a withering once-over as a parting glance when she thinks something doesn’t agree with her. And it’s supremely evident when she talks about her business ventures—SOLA, her clothing brand primarily offering shapewear, and andyou, a telehealth platform tackling specific health and wellness concerns such as weight loss, hair loss, and sexual health—that she is serious about them.

Verzosa, a beauty queen, actress, and Business Management graduate of Ateneo de Manila University, has ventured beyond a world made up of bejeweled crowns, klieg lights, and image-as-currency, into the drastically different spheres of tech and e-commerce, with her fiancé,  Danish entrepreneur Emil Eriksen, who is also one of her business partners for andyou, as a mentor of sorts.

“In showbiz, I feel like it’s a very selfish industry,” she says candidly, sharing how becoming an entrepreneur has changed her. “Like, you just have to think of yourself. It’s you, you’re the brand, you’re the star, but with business, you have four teams waiting on you. You cannot just focus on this because you want it. So, [in] allotting my time, I think I’m smarter. I’m using my head, instead of just like scrolling on your phone and just waiting”

Photographed by Kieran Punay. LWRNBRT Leather Jacket.

Verzosa isn’t planning on leaving showbiz—no, she’s not. “I also don’t want to waste what I’ve built for myself and my name. At the end of the day, it’s only me who can take care of it.” But growing a business, as she’s learned, requires a different kind of dedication as well.   “My business partners—they’re on their fourth, fifth business. I’m on my second and I have so much to learn. I feel like I don’t deserve to be in this room, but because they’re just so much more ahead, into tech, into A.I., everything has systems,” she says.

For Verzosa, entrepreneurship has changed the very fabric of her day to day, even the questions that flit in and out of her head. “It’s ‘What, what can I build next? What can we release? What else can I learn from this? What product would be good to launch? Should we open to a new market? Are we ready for this? Those are the thoughts in my head now instead of like, ‘it’s 6 p.m.—what are we gonna post now?’” she shares.

While a wellness platform tackling categories such as weight loss tackles physical concerns that are obviously related to beauty, one could argue that a line of shapewear is not necessarily in the business of beauty—merely adjacent to it. But in understanding beauty as a whole, looking and feeling great, and the confidence is evokes in oneself, is, at the core of it, everything. “I’ve gotten really good comments from our customers saying that it made them feel confident, or even helped them during postpartum or after their surgery. That’s what their doctor recommended them. That is so fulfilling to hear from a customer.”

While Verzosa readily admits that she has a lot to learn, what obviously comes naturally to her is understanding the customer—how they want to look, what they want to feel, their private thoughts, worries, and concerns. And it is in this intersection that she builds on the beauty of customer experience. It is also in this intersection that she is continually discovering the beauty of entrepreneurship.

Below, Verzosa goes into detail about her two business ventures in a conversation with Allure Philippines.

Anyone would generally say that shapewear is fashion. But we feel like it has a component of beauty in it also.

Photographed by Kieran Punay. LWRNBRT Leather Jacket.

Yeah, for sure. I mean, shapewear, one, it’s meant to hold you in the right places and shape you in the places that you want.

The beauty part, I love how it’s just so functional. Like it serves its purpose by being shapewear, by shaping the body, by hiding the, you know, sometimes you always need a little bit of help by hiding the things we don’t really want to show, like doing the sucking in for your hand, the back fat. You know, I’ve gotten really good comments from our customers saying that it made them feel confident or even help them during postpartum or after their surgery.

That’s what their doctor recommended them. So I’m like, oh, that is so fulfilling to hear from a customer. How much have you grown since launching it two years ago? We’ve grown so quick and so fast, better than I actually ever dreamt of and I ever experienced.

We set our goals, but we always reach our goals and then grow above, beyond it. We also succeeded by opening to newer categories, into lotion, into body care, into the intimate space and the basic wear. So it’s growing, we’re growing slowly.

Coming from the pageant world and showbiz, why did you decide to venture onto the path of entrepreneurship?

I was always into business. I graduated [from a] business management [course] from Ateneo, and I just knew I kind of wanted to go that path. My family was also into business, so I’ve always wanted to have something of my own. And when the opportunity came up, I grabbed it right away. That’s how it all started.

And because I’m also trying to balance my career on my own, I find it so important to have a good team.In the process of building the brand, building the business, I want to form a team so that it’ll be able to function, you know, without me. Of course, I’m always there. But I feel like we’ve found the right people and put them in the right system. The reason I’m able to jump from business to business and place to place is because I have good people on the ground doing the work for me that I trust. Without that, I cannot move. I won’t be able to move.

Being an entrepreneur famously takes a lot out of you. How has the journey been for you?

It takes up a lot of time and space and something’s gonna go. I have given up my socials. I don’t think I’m like the most active on socials anymore. But I also think I’m kind of past that part of, you know, like wanting to post everyday and ‘what’s the next outfit or picture?’ It’s gone beyond that. I feel like I’ve grown also as a woman.

Is this the next, is this the direction for the next chapter of your life? Is this a long-term direction?

I hope so. I mean, I want to retire at 40. I really enjoy it. I feel like I’m always still gonna return to showbiz. But I feel like for the future, the path where I am now is the path I need to be taking. For the future I want.

Do you feel that being a celebrity has its drawbacks as well as its obvious advantages in running a business?

For sure. I think it’s pros and cons. I would say if you know how to use it well, it’s a pro because you already built an audience and you have people following you. It’s easier to promote. Cons would be, I guess, the pressure and the expectation. Is this good? You know, is she just putting her name on it? Is it another rip-off celebrity brand, white label? So the more there is to prove.

Tell us about SOLA, your shapewear brand.

Kieran Punay

Basically, we started with shapewear. We’ve been opening to newer categories, into lotion, into body care, into the intimate space and the basic wear. So it’s growing, we’re growing slowly.

 I’ve always wanted to create products that were quality, but also affordable at the same time. I wanted to create a brand and also find that gap in the market. And I didn’t find anyone doing shapewear at that time.

This was two years ago. My team and I were like, ‘what if we do shapewear?’ And I was like, ‘it’s a risk, but let’s do it.’ We were one of the first shapewear brands in the Philippines.

I’m so happy with its success. We are two years now with a growing, lovely team. We are now expanding to essential wear, to basic wear, to intimates. We’re coming out with shapewear for moms. We also expanded to men’s [shapewear]. I wanted to be a lifestyle brand that women and men go to for their basic, everyday pieces and something that they’re proud to wear, that they’re proud to say that it’s a Filipina-owned brand or a Filipina-made brand.

What challenges did you face with SOLA specifically?

Challenges for SOLA would be, I think in the beginning, trying to find the right people. Not everyone is going to be a fit working with you. It’s the matter of putting the right people in the right seat and removing those that don’t necessarily fit. And sometimes it’s not necessarily that they can’t [fit in]. Maybe they’re just given the wrong role. So, I would say building the team and assigning and putting structure in the whole business—that was the most difficult part.

And then the most difficult part now is: how do we bring this vision abroad? How do we scale the business from what is it now? You think an international market would love it the way we do? I think it would [about] be scaling quickly, but also at the same time maintaining the brand loyalty and what we’ve built as a brand.

Do you have plans of branching out into brick and mortar?

Yes, we’d love to in the future. We’ve had one pop-up recently, brand activation, for them to just feel the brand universe around it. I got to meet the customers, the consumers myself.

I would love to try brick and mortar. I just do believe that the future is in online businesses, and I kind of want to focus there, just because it’s easier to scale and to grow internationally. We can just push a button and sell in another country rather than, let’s say, retail, which has to have the space, the brand, the people. So, I kind of like that, this convenience of being in the online space. I really think, especially with A.I. coming, it’s something that is so untapped that I want to be part of.

SOLA has trended and gone viral with people belonging to Gen Z, but then you’re also talking about shapewear for moms. Can you tell us about this ability to bridge out, cross generations, and appeal to everyone?

Photographed by Kieran Punay. LWRNBRT Leather Jacket.

We’ve always wanted to push the boundaries and see where else we can expand. We didn’t just want to stick to one market, but we also saw that there was so much untapped potential with mothers. We got a lot of the stem from a lot of moms asking [for] postpartum [pieces]. “Can I wear this when I’m pregnant? So we were thinking, why, is there a shapewear for mothers? And then, nothing. We just also pushed the boundaries.

We also launched for men. Initially it was just for women. And then, if you look, all the shapewear companies abroad have discontinued their men’s shapewear. So we’re thinking, ‘is the market not good enough? Is it not sustainable?’ So we tried it here with a few pieces only, but it worked. Until now, it’s still in the top 10 bestsellers.

Also, I have to thank the LGBTQ community for loving it. They use it going out to the parties, you know, the girls and the gays. They wear it as a top to the gym. I see men, straight men wearing it to the gym because it compresses them and it’s good for recovery after sports. So there is a market for men.

Tell us about your online wellness services company AndYou.

AndYou is a business founded by my soon-to-be-husband Emil Eriksen and I. It stemmed from us questioning the healthcare system in the Philippines. Why can’t it be as easy as going online and getting the doctor you like, and getting the help you need? If all the industries are moving forward, why can’t healthcare move forward as well?

We have many different verticals. We have weight loss, we have longevity, and then hair loss, and there’s also sexual care.

How does AndYou work?

Let’s go with the weight loss vertical. Sometimes because of our hormones and everything, we need a little bit of help. You go to the website, you book an appointment with a doctor. You schedule an appointment. It’s usually the [same] day of, or a few hours after or the next day. We have doctors 24/7. And then you schedule a 30-minute call with them.

And then the doctor talks to you whether you’re eligible for the medicine or not. And then if you are, they send you to a page where you can finally buy the medicine. But it doesn’t stop there. The doctor keeps on following up with you. You have doctors following up with you one week, two weeks, three weeks: “How do you feel?” We are with you along the way.

It also stemmed from so many people when they get their GLP-1s—where do they get it? They get it from Facebook marketplace. And they get it from like, um, or like a friend of a friend of a friend or like a nurse. There are so many fakes out there and you’re not sure if it’s real or not.

So this systemizes and legitimizes the medicine. And you have a trusted doctor with you along the way.

Photographed by Kieran Punay. LWRNBRT Leather Jacket.

Where does the product come from, and how does it reach the patient?

It’s in a warehouse, and it gets shipped discreetly to your door, the same day or the day after.

Are the doctors all licensed?

Yes, all licensed. They’re all licensed. But they don’t diagnose illnesses. It’s for the specific verticals.

It’s a bit controversial, of course, but we are not excluding the doctors. We are welcoming the doctors. One of our partners is actually a doctor, a longevity specialist.

Do you think this legitimizes using the GLP-1s? What’s your take on that?

25 percent of Americans are already on GLP-1s, without a doubt. I am not against it. I’m actually for it. And I think it is, you know, the future. Sometimes we need help because our hormones sometimes are so imbalanced and we just need that extra help.

One of our main [principles] is [being] discreet. Sometimes there is still a stigma with weight loss medications, because parang nakakahiya, ‘I don’t want my friends knowing it.’ But more and more people are going out there and are being proud that, ‘hey, this helped me lose weight.I really had a hard time after pregnancy. I’m on my third child. Mahirapan akong mag-use ng weight kahit anong gawin ko. It could be age. I cannot lose the weight. And this medicine helped me lose x amount of pounds.’

How has the reception been, and what does it tell us about the state of wellness here in the Philippines?

I think in the beginning, I was also worried. Will this even work out? Do you think the Philippines is ready for an online system? Are we ready for change? Are we going to be susceptible to weight loss medication or GLP-1s? It’s embarrassing for Filipinos [to be taking it]. Am I going to be ashamed for selling this kind of medicine?

And the reception has been so good. It’s been growing so quick. People are happy with the products. Customers come back. I think those are very good signs of growth.

Art direction and beauty direction by Nicole Almero. Photography by Kieran Punay. Makeup by Dave Quiambao. Hair by Bryan “Bee’ Buangan. Styling by Jones Palteng.