For these three remarkable Filipinas, wellness means pursuing their life’s passions, and doing it with such fervor that its ripples reach far beyond themselves, impacting other people positively. It means refusing to give up, rising above challenges, finding your purpose and committing fully to it.
Allure Philippines puts the spotlight on a visionary doctor who broke barriers in the country, a clinical psychologist determined to decolonize mental health, and a food creator serving up more than just recipes.
Belg Belgica
Abi Marquez is happiest in the kitchen, where she cooks for her loved ones and shoots videos for her millions of followers. For the award-winning content creator, food offers nourishment and enjoyment not just for her body, but also her soul. “It’s a tool for me to express, to keep people entertained and to show them that I care,” she says.
She inspires her viewers to discover the joys of cooking by making it approachable and fun, while championing Filipino food on the global stage.
Agnes Lopez
It’s her own healing journey that inspired Dr. Marinette Asuncion-Uy to help others overcome trauma. After surviving ovarian cancer, she found the courage to start her private practice and launch her platform The Brown Psych. Dr. Asuncion-Uy, who thinks of herself as a liberation psychologist, helps others unpack generational trauma and reconnect with themselves through inner child work grounded in ancestral wisdom and decolonization. “To do inner child work is not to fix ourselves, it is to come home,” she says.
She offers to others what she didn’t have growing up—resources about mental health and a safe space for opening up. “This is my way of giving back to the community.”
Belg Belgica
National Scientist Dr. Carmencita Padilla has devoted her life to clinical genetics and making sure each child born in the Philippines gets a healthy start, thanks to the Newborn Screening Program. “For a country like the Philippines, a low- and middle-income country, investing in newborn screening is both cost-effective and life-saving,” she says.
Her research has also led to the passing of the Newborn Screening Act of 2004 and The Rare Diseases Act of the Philippines. “Now that both laws are in place and making a positive impact on the lives of Filipino families, I feel deeply hopeful.”
A pioneer in the world of science and medicine, Dr. Padilla is also helping mold future leaders who will continue her good work.
These women are living testament that wellness isn’t one-size-fits-all—it’s deeply personal, grounded in intention, and undeniably powerful.
Makeup: Jigs Mayuga (Abi Marquez), Nicole Stetter (Dr. Marinette Asuncion-Uy) Cats del Rosario (Dr. Carmencita Padilla). Hair: JA Feliciano (Abi Marquez), Brooke Rouse (Dr. Marinette Asuncion-Uy), Cats del Rosario (Dr. Carmencita Padilla). Styling: Geno Espidol and Jia Torrato or Qurator (Abi Marquez).
Frequently Asked Questions
Abi Marquez is an award-winning Filipino food content creator with millions of followers across social media. She is known for making cooking approachable and joyful while championing Filipino food on the global stage. For Marquez, food is a wellness practice — a means of nourishment, self-expression, and connection with her audience and loved ones.
Dr. Marinette Asuncion-Uy is a clinical psychologist and liberation psychologist who founded The Brown Psych, a platform offering mental health resources and inner child work grounded in ancestral wisdom and decolonization. Her practice was shaped by her own healing journey after surviving ovarian cancer. She describes inner child work not as fixing oneself, but as returning home to one’s authentic self.
Decolonized mental health, as practiced by Dr. Asuncion-Uy, involves unpacking how colonial history has shaped generational trauma, identity, and psychological wellbeing — and recentering healing in ancestral wisdom and cultural context rather than exclusively Western frameworks. For Filipinos, this approach offers a mental health practice that reflects their specific lived experiences and community values.
The Newborn Screening Program screens Filipino newborns for conditions that can be treated early if detected at birth. National Scientist Dr. Carmencita Padilla devoted her career to clinical genetics and drove the program’s expansion, contributing to the passage of both the Newborn Screening Act of 2004 and the Rare Diseases Act of the Philippines. She describes newborn screening as both cost-effective and life-saving for a lower-to-middle-income country.
For all three women, wellness is defined by purpose, service, and the impact their work has on others — not by conventional self-care routines. Abi Marquez finds wellness through cooking and connection. Dr. Asuncion-Uy finds it through helping others heal generational trauma. Dr. Padilla finds it through ensuring every Filipino child receives a healthy start. Together, they represent a model of wellness that is personal, intentional, and community-rooted.
