Beauty queen Abbygale Arenas shares 6 secrets to attain #LifeGoals

MANILA, Philippines — A yawning gap separates pleasant from unpleasant people.  

There are those you want to speak with again and again. And there are those you cannot bear to be in the same room with, even for a minute.  

Beauty queen-turned-corporate image consultant Abbygale Arenas-de Leon belongs to the first category.  The former super model and Bb. Pilipinas first runner-up (to Charlene Gonzales) smiles the minute she sees you. She repeats your name, leans towards you, and hangs on to every word you say.

At the press launch of her book, “88 Things Every Professional Should Know … or else,” Abby looked much younger than her 43 years. Her figure did not give the slightest hint that she has two sons, Ijah, 17, and Eli, 2. 

For those who want to look and feel good or nail that coveted job, that prized client, and everything one’s heart desires, here are Abby’s tips:

1. Start your day healthy.

As in everything, you have so start from within. The rest — your physical appearance, manner of speaking, how you come across — will follow.

Abby greets her day with a half glass of greens and fruits mixed into a smoothie.  The ingredients are kale, spinach, parsley, pineapple, banana, cucumber and celery.  

She buys the ingredients every Sunday, shoots them into a blender, adds water, and downs the half glass for breakfast. Her husband — top photographer Jun de Leon — and Ijah also take her concoction.

The devoted mom lies on her side for hours to breastfeed Eli. Her job, meanwhile, requires her to wear heels the whole time. She eases the back pain through thrice-a-week Pilates sessions.    

With her physical health in place, Abby proceeds to take care of something just as important — her mind.

2. Smile

Abby believes a smile is “the cheapest cosmetic.” So she focuses on happy thoughts to flash that smile that makes her eyes sparkle, lights up the room and infects others.

Others call lines at the corner of the eyes crow’s feet. Abby calls them “happy lines,” the byproduct of smiles and laughter galore. 

She is against saying “cheese” when smiling for the camera.  Saying “cheese,” she explains, makes you grit your teeth. She would rather say “A” or “8,” which gives your lips that happy curve.

“Let your facial muscles memorize the movement,” Abby urged. Before you know it, that winning smile is second nature to you. 

3. Watch your posture

“A beautiful attire is useless if you have a bad posture. It makes you look less confident.  Good posture makes you look professional,” Abby pointed out.

Thus, she advised putting one’s weight equally on both legs (no knee bending), inhaling and exhaling slowly to make one look taller, and other posture-enhancing practices.  Standing up straight, she explained, can spell the difference between getting the job and losing it.

4. Shake hands properly

A firm handshake can get you the job or the client. A wrong one  —  too fast, too weak and too strong — can be disastrous. 

5. Say “I love you” while you still can

“We don’t want for special moments to happen because we’ll never know if there will be a next time. We have to enjoy today. We have to wear our favorite items instead of keeping them in the cabinet for special moments,” Abby advised.

It is the same logic behind saying “I love you” while the person is still around, she added. There might not be a next time.

6. Take a break

It does not matter if it is an hour or a few days away from work. The point is everyone, especially moms, need to get away from it all — the house work, the constantly ringing cellphone, etc.

This way, they can return to the real world recharged, and ready to take on anything once more.  

Abby cannot say it often enough. Poise is a choice. And so is confidence borne of a winning smile and good posture. That is how she’s been getting corporate clients as an image consultant all these years. That is the kind of wisdom she wants to share with millennials, now that it is their turn to shine.