
Who better illustrate what it's like to be a woman than an empowered, outspoken, and inspiring woman like artist-influencer Winnie Wong a.k.a. Penelope Pop?
The woman is a young multi-hyphenate who juggles being a digital art teacher, an illustrator, an influencer, and co-founder of Future Faces Manila, a foundation that supports art students from low-income families.
And it's completely understandable why pH Care chose to partner with her for the 'Speak Up, Girl' event, where she showcased some of her thought-provoking artworks and also participated in the panel discussion with fellow artist-influencers Sara Black and Soleil Ignacio.
During the 'Speak Up, Girl' event, Winnie did a walk-through of her artworks with GMANetwork.com, where she revealed the meaning and inspiration behind each of them.
Winnie's first artwork titled 'The Period' resembles a tarot card and shows a naked woman curled up inside the petals of a pink flower. Winnie revealed the idea behind the illustration by saying, “It's meant to represent a tarot card. You know how tarot cards tell your future? This is the most accurate one because it happens for every single woman. A period is a beautiful thing.”
Winnie also added that the ultimate goal of the illustration is to end the stigma against women's period. She also encourages everyone to stop making other names for it and call it what it is: menstruation, monthlies, or periods.
Winnie's second artwork is called 'I'm Okay' and it shows pairs of identical-looking women who are wrestling each other.
Winnie explained, “It's about the struggle of being politically correct all the time and what is the boundary or what is the borderline for it. I've created a piece where there's two people -- it's the same person -- they're fighting with themselves.
"So, I'm always talking about this constant dialogue in your head, that you're always fighting with yourself 'cause you're so competitive. It's embedded in me already. So, I try my best to be like 'I'm okay. I'm fine.' We really should try to shift from that dialogue of just celebrating everybody and every person, women or men.”
The artist-influencer also said that 'I'm Okay' is meant to inspire women to speak up and not be held back by the fear of being criticized or tagged as politically incorrect, because she believes that women's opinions and thoughts are just as valid as anyone else's.
Winnie also proved that she practices what she preaches, as she shared during the panel discussion an instance when she chose to speak up even though she could lose followers.
Winnie revealed, “I've actually spoken up a lot on Instagram. I don't think that I fear facing backlash. I have faced a lot of backlash. I've spoken up about abortion. It is a very tough topic here in the Philippines.
"My mom has told me several times, 'Don't speak up. You're gonna lose your followers.' and I'm like 'I don't care.' If I wanna speak up about a lot of things on my channel, about art (or) about body positivity, then I should be able to say what I feel in a very constructive manner.”
No doubt, Winnie Wong a.k.a. Penelope Pop is all about woman empowerment. And what's most admirable about her is she's not just all talk, but she walks the talk. Hopefully, Filipinas will follow her lead and find their voice, so they can share their powerful ideas and opinions.
Happy Women's Month, to all fabulous and fierce Filipinas!