The Future Face of F1 is Here: The unique story of Bianca Bustamante

0:00It is the most expensive sport in the world. Karting, for example, I remember at the age of six, in a year my parents would spend$80 ,000 on me. I want to make it to F1 and be the first female driver in my generation. The world doesn't take well to a girl who wants to achieve something unimaginable. The fame, the money, the status. What fuels you every day to keep going? Bianca Bustamante is a Filipino racing driver who fell in love with racing as a child and became one of the most acclaimed junior drivers in Asia. At just 20, she is the first female F1 McLaren development driver and currently competes in the GB3 championship for Elite Motorsport.

0:41Bianca is a self-taught social media creator and has built a following of more than 3 million followers, one of the largest among her peers. She has been featured on the cover of Vogue Philippines and the 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 list. My dad was an overseas Filipino worker working three jobs just to send money back home to Philippines. And he was so, so personally invested that every time that I would lose, he'd lose as well. I remember one of my relatives telling me to dream less while achieving something in life. Oh, no. And that stuck to me. Like, that was cemented to my brain. I'm going to learn how to manage social media so I can fund my racing career.

1:22And that's what I did at 16. Right now, look at you online. You have millions of followers. Whatever you did works, right? When you made it to the Formula One Academy, huge moment. How did you feel? Going to gym, training hard, very hard. Is that how a strong neck looks like? I don't know. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. You have like little biceps on both sides. I can see that. The statistics basically are telling you the chances of you making it are almost impossible. How do you combat these noises in your head? How do you overcome them and still keep your dream alive?

2:08I think...

2:19Bianca, you are from Manila, Philippines. Can you tell me when was the first moment that you fell in love with the motorsport? Gosh, I think I can't really pinpoint a specific moment in my life because, you know, Philippines, you know, as a country itself, sports not generally encouraged as a career path, as a career choice. You know, I think it is the Asian stigma where you're constantly being pushed to pursue something academically like engineering, doctors, like everything, you know, or like be an accountant or an entrepreneur. So being an athlete, you know, that was like very frowned upon, if anything else.

3:01So and obviously Philippines itself is not a racing, you know, it's not a house of racing, to be honest. It's not like the UK or anything. So for me, it was very hard to kind of find inspiration very early on. But I find myself very, very lucky because my dad, he was, you know, he was the main pillar in my career. And mostly because he was the one that introduced me to my first love, which is racing. He was a very passionate racing driver himself. He never got into cars. He only did karting. And he didn't have the talent or the luck to succeed or to make it. And that's why he made it his personal endeavor to have, you know, an offspring that can follow that path.

3:46So I was introduced to racing at the young age of two, like two years old. I had my own racing suit, helmet, everything. And the age of three, I drove my very first go-kart. It was like a 60cc engine, baby cart. I could barely reach the pedals because I was a small kid. I still am. I'm like 5 '1", 5 '2". So as a kid, I was tiny. Yeah, at three years old, I was going around the track every weekend. And I remember just like absolutely falling in love with it. I think that was like my earliest memory from, you know, my childhood, you know, being in a race car and feeling the adrenaline for the first time.

4:27So, yeah. Wow, fascinating. I guess you learned how to walk at the same time. Yeah, practically. And then you learned how to drive. Wow. So your dad introduces you to the sport. You love it. It becomes a hobby. When did you feel like you wanted to commit your life to this?

4:48Gosh, I think I, again, I find myself in a very, very, you know, grateful position because I did have, you know, that, you know, that racing in my family. That was kind of like our glue. You know, it's what brought me and my dad closer together. it's what you know strengthened my parents relationship you know because we had racing we always had something to fall back onto you know if we were like arguing or fighting and we'd be like oh let's go watch a race next weekend or let's go to a track so I think because it's been such a you know like a permanent thing in my life I couldn't really see myself away from it I couldn't myself doing anything else because I just grew up in that environment where racing you know was was my sole motivator it was my drive it was what kept me going and you know it was my purpose and I remember you know winning for the first time when I was six and telling my parents that I I think I found it I found you know my drive I found my purpose wow jesus and when you were six you said that yeah and and obviously at that age you know like you know no parent would ever believe a kid because like you know you grow up and you know things change the things you used to love you know you fall out of love um but obviously i i didn't i think i really cemented you know my love for the sport at that at that very young age of six because i made the commitment to you know i told my parents that i'm you know i think six was like when I was going into grade school I think I was going to be grade two grade one or something like that and I told my parents that I want to manage my own time schedule and my own you know timeline and pace of how I learn and and with school and academics because obviously it still is very important and I just wanted to be able to manage things to prioritize so I told my parents that I wanted to go home school and like sacrifice you know those you know that kind of that childhood, that part of my childhood.

6:50How old were you? Yeah, I was six. And I told my parents that, yeah, I want to do homeschooling. But that, you know, that meant that I didn't have time to make friends or to go out on school trips or, you know, Christmas parties and sleepovers, you know, and like those like little things, you know, that right now I miss because I completely, you know, I feel so FOMO, having missed out on all those amazing childhood experiences. But at the same time, you know, my career has, you know, gotten me this far. So I guess it is kind of all worth it. Wow. What a story. You learn how to drive at the age of three.

7:33You fall in love with the sport at the age of six. You tell your parents, this is it. This is what I want to do. I want to homeschool and I want to commit my life to this. I've always found that having a supportive parent in whatever it is that you want to do in life is a double-edged sword because I have a lot of friends that they still today in their early 30s, they blame their parents for not being very supportive in whatever it is that they wanted to do. And they didn't end up pursuing it because they didn't have that emotional and also financial support that perhaps you need in those early years.

8:07But then at the same time, I grew up in Spain and I used to play tennis and I competed nowhere near to your levels I competed and I remember that there were some kids in which their parents were very invested in in the careers of of their kids they were still kids right 12 13 14 years old and when their kids would lose their parents would completely lose it exactly and and they would treat their kids as an investment and and we could all see that from the outside and I just felt like this could have a very negative impact on the kids mindset and how it would be shaped in the future how how was in particular your father when how did he react in your losses in those early years gosh I mean I think that is like the hardest thing about being an athlete is that you have to face you know defeats and and losing and making mistakes at a very young age and you know those mistakes having very catastrophic consequences you know it's it's not like you know there's no training wheels when you're an athlete because when you don't do well and you don't train and you don't prepare you get to see the outcome and that's losing and that is both you know very emotional thing to go through but for you and your family and your support and your team and you know i think for for me because i did have so much to lose because i was in a sport that was generally reserved for people with money um you know everyone knows racing to be it is the most expensive sport in the world like you know karting for example i remember you know at the age of six in a year my parents would spend eighty thousand dollars on me you just you know just for racing just for karting and for a lot of people that's like money you spend you know on a household with education and everything and food but for me that was solely just for racing and we didn't have money to spare you know my dad was an OFW so he's an overseas Filipino worker so I didn't actually grow up with my dad he was in America in San Jose California working three jobs just to send money back home to Philippines and fund my career my racing career for like the first two or three years because that's how much he wanted it and he was so so personally invested that every time that you know I would lose he'd lose as well um and you know I think honestly there's a lot of you know I think that affected me a lot and in how I viewed my career and how I viewed you know my success and my worth because I'd always then relay my self-worth to my success.

10:50You know, if I didn't win, then, you know, I lost my dad's money. I lost this X, Y, Z, which was tough, especially at the age of like nine, 10, 11, you know, I didn't know anything. I didn't know anything. I didn't know any better. But at the same time, because my parents, you know, introduced me to, you know, the real world very early in life. I then was able to put value in all of my parents' hard work and sacrifices so that every time I was on track, I would not take any opportunity for granted. You know, I drove every lap as if it was like my last. And I think that is to some extent a recipe you need to have to be successful.

11:33You need to find, you know, that edge that motivates you, that lets to go the extra mile when you feel like you can't, because it is so easy to just, you know, to just give up when you're losing. But then when you have so much at stake and at risk, it, you know, it lets you push everything and push through. So, you know, I'm not going to lie, it did give me a lot of, you know, I wouldn't say trauma, but just a lot of, you know, hardships and mental struggles that I had to push through because of how invested my family were. So what you just covered, the topic you just covered is probably one of the most revealing things that I have witnessed from athletes.

12:19I've recently interviewed one of the greatest boxers of our generation. Her name is Caroline Dubois. And she was telling me exactly the same thing you're mentioning, but just for a different example. So she grew up next to already world champion boxers. Her brother, Daniel Dubois, right now is a world champion boxer and she was younger than him. And probably anybody else or a lot of people in her shoes would have had too much pressure on them that it would have impacted their performance, in that case, in the ring. Oh, people are expecting way too much from me because I'm carrying this surname.

12:56But for her, it was the opposite. She was like, I need to prove everyone. I need to prove myself to absolutely everyone. And this is actually my field. This problem is my catalyst. And in your case, I fundamentally agree that perhaps almost anybody else would feel like the pressure is too much because you're a 9, 10, 11-year-old kid thinking that my dad is working three jobs. I can't see him and he's spending all his money in my career. and the fact that you're using that as your fuel rather than your weakness is just fascinating and I can only think that that is just what the greatest athletes of all time can do.

13:37Yeah it is it's you know it's life is so much about perspective because you can put in people in the same situation and they'll view things differently you know I can put someone in my own shoes and they'll have a different perspective they'll be like what a tough life to live and it's funny because someone on the other side would be like you live such a beautiful life You travel, you race fast cars, you go to lovely events, you're at the gym all the time, you have the luxury to eat good food. And that is perspective. Someone on the other side could say that, wow, what a lovely way to live. And I myself, there's so many things that happen behind closed doors that most of the times don't make it to social media.

14:17It doesn't even make it to my friends or to my family, mostly just to my team. um so yeah life is so much about perspective and also i feel like people don't see the journey they just see the end goal the destination exactly right now if i open your instagram account i see a very successful young girl living her dream and you're so young that people may believe without knowing you and your story maybe she's she's been very lucky or she's been so talented comes from a rich family exactly or something like that but like you know it comes from hard work perseverance and grit and also emotional regulation yeah um if you take the example of entrepreneurship a lot of people pursue entrepreneurship because they feel like they can they're going to gain freedom and money and you know status but first of all very few people make it to that stage also in entrepreneurship and the journey to get there is not nice you you let go a lot of parts of yourself to arrive to that destination and i very much believe that is also in the case of an athlete i want you now bianca to educate me in motorsports in general because i i only know that people start karting and then at some point they land into formula one Now, imagine I'm a child.

15:44Exactly. We need like more than an hour for this. Imagine I'm a child and you need to simplify the journey from go-karting to Formula One. Okay, so I'll try to explain it in layman's terms. So basically, you start with karting. This normally spans from age 5 till 14. And this is like the phase where you learn your skills, your braking, your turning, you know, the fundamental things and the foundation of your driving style. That's kind of like where you find your feet, you know. And then, you know, statistically only ever, I'd say 30, not even, like 20 % of those carters will make it to single seaters.

16:33And that is the next step. When you reach the age of 15, that's normally when you start, you know, testing F4 or any form of single seater is in a junior category. Or you can go into a closed wheel racing, which we call touring car. So there's two paths that you can go to. And the one that is, you know, highly romanticized is single seater because it leads to Formula One, which is classified as the pinnacle of motorsport. and it is because you know as we see for now it's glamorous it's amazing it's fast it's it's so filled with adrenaline um and then there's this the touring car route which is close to the racing's where you'll see manufacturers such as porsche bmw you know the cars you see on the road those are transforming well the supercars you see on the road those are transformed that we sometimes see on the road.

17:28Yeah, that you sometimes see on the road are then transformed with, you know, into a race car and you race them in Nürburgring 24 hours, you have Bathurst, you have Le Mans and, you know, and those are still very glamorous championships. But from karting to those two pinnacle of, you know, motorsport, maybe 2 % make it out of the, you know, out of the pool. and very, very slim numbers. And in those 2%, you know, you'd see one girl. You know, in like a grid of 100 drivers, you'll see one girl, which is not great, you know. And that's what I'm trying to achieve right now, is to go through the ranks.

18:17Right now, I'm picking the glamorous route and the romanticized route, which is Formula One. I want to make it to F1 and, you know, and be the first female driver in my generation, as there hasn't been for a very, very long time. And I'm currently right now competing in what essentially is British F3. So I've gone through the junior Formula ladder of Formula 4. I've done my rounds of Italian F4, Euro F4, F4 UAE, F1 Academy, where I was the first ever female development driver for McLaren. What is F1 Academy, sorry? So F1 Academy is an all-female championship that races alongside Formula One. So in the Formula One package, there's support series that falls under this category, this bracket.

19:07The support series are F2, F3, and F1 Academy. And the F2 and F3 are world championships. So this is like, yeah, the world championships. This is like, you know, the Olympics and stuff of racing. And then you have F1 Academy and it isn't a world championship, but it is a support series for F1. And basically you've got 15 females from all over the world that races for an F1 team or sponsors. So I myself, I race for McLaren. So all 10 F1 teams like Mercedes, Red Bull, Aston Martin will pick a driver that they'll support and they'll put it into their development program and will compete in the F1 Academy.

19:53And you've got, and five brands will also feed in and support the five drivers that aren't in the F1 team, such as Tag Heuer, Morgan Stanley, and, you know, Charlotte Tilbury and all these other brands. And so that's what composed, that's, you know, that is what composes of F1 Academy. And this is a championship that I did last year. And, and yeah, and I've graduated from it and I'm now up the ranking into F3. All right. Let me see if I got it correctly. So you have go-karting and then from go-karting all the way until the age of 15, you can take two different destinations. One that will be to Formula One, which is in this case what you would like.

20:32So let's just stick with that particular example. then you have various different subdivisions like Formula 4, Formula 3, Formula 2 also. Yes, so there is F2, yes. F2 and then ideally you land into Formula 1. One thing that I found incredibly fascinating is that I personally didn't know that Formula 1 was a mixed gender championship and perhaps it's because of what you were mentioning because a woman never drove in that championship for how long? gosh i i've don't i don't have the exact numbers for me but like i'm like five decades six five six decades so so basically you're competing not only against a lot of people but against the statistics that in the last 50 or 60 years no woman has ever made it to the formula and like Like you're also, or I am, me and my, you know, my other female, you know, race, other female racing drivers are competing against is also the fact that the sport was built around men.

21:41You know, we're fighting the system that was made for male drivers. We're fighting, you know, the car that was designed for a male figure, you know, and that is the hardest thing because you have other sports, for example, like rowing. yeah a male rower and a female rower wouldn't row the same boat as a male rower they would have a different length different size it's a little bit lighter it's configured to a woman rower and and that is not the same thing for racing so you know in any championship you go to in f4 f3 f2 f1 men and women have to drive the same cars the same weight same cockpit same steering same tires everything there is no leeway and there's no configuration taking factoring the fact that you know women are built differently in my biggest struggle is the fact that i'm short and i weigh 30 kg less than a male racing driver so that means that i would have to carry extra 20 to 25 kg ballast in my race car which would make my race car heavier and more physical to drive in a sense of weight transfer and everything, because it's not a weight that I carry in mass or muscle.

22:57You know, it's an extra added weight. You know, so all of those things that, you know, a lot of people don't actually realize that we drive the same exact car as a male. And it's tough. That makes so much sense. Do you think this will change? Yes, but again, you know, Rome wasn't built overnight. What is your argument? So if you speak with the Federation of Formula One, what do they answer to this? I think it's just because, well, because we have brought it up, for example, like power steering or even the small things such as requesting for a thinner steering wheel. Because for me, as a woman, I've got smaller hands.

23:41Therefore, I can't grip the steering wheel if it's too thick. and you'd normally have a thick steering wheel because to cater to a male's hand. So we'd requested for a thinner steering wheel to help me grip better. And they were like, yeah, but then we wouldn't be able to sell it to other people and we can't make money. So it is true. You know, it's just the rule of the game, you know, and it's in any sport, in any business, you know, So, you know, it doesn't sell because we'd only be selling to two people, you know, and it's not enough to factor in, you know, the cost of making the wheel, of designing the wheel and, you know, and yeah.

24:26I'm fascinated by people like yourself that just don't accept that the world needs to be in the way that it is. Things can change. So in your particular case, only if my research is correct, there's only 1.5 % of female drivers that have a driving license within Formula 4, 3 and 2, you know, because there's none in Formula 1. And the statistics basically are telling you the chances of YouTube making it are almost impossible. And the fact that nobody has ever achieved it in the last 50 or 60 years makes it even more impossible. So anybody with a sane brain would label you as crazy, right? Yeah.

25:14But it is because there are crazy people in the world that history can be made. So how do you combat these noises in your head? how do you overcome them and still keep your dream alive i think you know i i think when i hear words like that or sentences like that or phrases like that you know one of them i you know i remember being 12 and i told my family my close family not um so like my aunt my uncles my grandparents i was like i'm gonna be you know a formula one driver when i'm gonna be the first ever and obviously you know i was bright-eyed 20 year old girl i was like dream big i would just want a championship in karting national karting championship and i was like i'm gonna make it i'm gonna go to formula one and i remember one of my relatives telling me um to dream less so i'll achieve something in life um and i that stuck to me like that was cemented to my brain because Because, you know, like the only people, you know, well, you know, there are obviously a chosen family, but, you know, blood family.

26:26As a young kid, I looked up to them so much and, you know, and to me, they were for me because, you know, blood, nothing stronger than blood. And to kind of hear them say that, you know, it absolutely destroyed me. But at the same time, I do realize, you know, now that I'm older, that they were coming from a very, very caring place. because now that you know i'm i'm 20 and a little bit older than 12 um but you know i still don't know anything about the world but i'm starting to and i've realized that they only said that because the world can be a very cruel place and and and the world doesn't you know take well to a girl who wants to achieve something unimaginable because it scares them it's it's scary you know It's scary for someone to dream big.

27:15Or that's, you know, kind of what I was told at least. That is a hard lesson that I also had to learn in my life. And the lesson is that even the people that love you the most can give you bad advice. While still loving you so much, right? Yes. And also people that you look up to because they love you, but also they're more experienced in life. They're older. That's what I find fascinating. So that's why doctors can't treat family members because there is the personal attachment, which is obviously very fascinating because, you know, you want to do everything for them. At one point, it clouds your judgment and you can't see what's right and wrong, which is very fascinating.

27:57Exactly, because our friends or our family, they want the best for us, but they are emotionally invested in the relationship. So they cannot be unbiased and they cannot be purely logical in the advices. they're sharing with us. So by definition, there's going to be some emotion attached to it. I remember that when I wanted to become an entrepreneur at the age of 22, I was just, I just graduated from university. I was working and studying at the same time while I was at uni. So I did have some corporate experience, but obviously you're still 22. You don't know anything about anything, right? And I remember sharing this at a Christmas dinner, Christmas lunch, perhaps not the best place for me to share this because then you get everyone's feedback and you don't want everyone's feedback from your family.

28:40And it starts becoming a fight and one person thinks it's... Exactly. And you're like, you know what? Goodbye, I'm leaving. I don't need this. But I remember one of the persons in my family that I look up to the most, he told me that, he advised me, you are too young to start a business. And that advice stuck with me because it is one of the people that I love the most in my life and one of the worst advices I've ever received or heard of, right? And I think we could discuss over a different episode on why that advice on its own is so bad. But it goes back to what we were mentioning earlier, that we shouldn't just be taking on advices from people that we love and love us just because we love each other.

29:23That doesn't mean that the advice is the best one or the best one for you.

29:35so let's leave our relatives and our family members on the side for a bit um i want to talk about the beautiful moment in which when you made it to the formula one academy huge moment especially because it's mclaren you know probably even your you know your relatives we're going back to your family even your relatives exactly that they may not know so much about the motorsports they definitely know about mcclaren so talk to me about that moment how how did you feel gosh i mean yeah mcclaren it's such a household name you know not just in racing and anything it's like one of the biggest companies brand in the world and gosh and to be part of something so historic it is such a dream and both a dream and a curse because wow I made it but like wow I didn't realize how much more I have to work it's like it's like you make it and you think you're at the top but then you realize you still got a mountain to climb um and that's you know kind of what it was for me because a lot would settle a lot would be like you know I've reached it I've done it I've you know I've made it I've signed with McLaren as a development driver I'm racing with F1 Academy I'm traveling with Formula One I'm in the I'm in the f1 paddock you know i'm seen on tv um i mean i remember i was yeah i was how old was i when i when i first got announced i was 18 when i first got announced and that's come that's the point where everything just completely changed for me like all of a sudden i was you know on the front cover of vogue i was invited to all these amazing parties you know i was um working with so many different brands like Google, Pixel, Logitech G, EA Sports, you know, all these like huge companies, you know, they all wanted to work with VIA.

31:30Because, you know, when I was announced as a development driver for McLaren Racing and F1 Academy, that was the largest announcement McLaren has ever made in a sense of, you know, statistically, that was like the most liked announcement that was most searched for a little bit on google it was like one of it was huge um it was a huge moment you know like i gained like 300 000 followers overnight you know i woke up and i'm like wow i remember being 18 and losing my the hell out of my mind i remember like um i think i was in a hotel in in texas because that was yeah the last race of the year of the f1 academy 2023 20-30 season and that's when my client had announced me and I walked into the paddock for the first time and everyone you know everyone's eyes were on me and I've never felt um I've I've never felt that petrified in my life because it's so great to live it you know like you dream of you know those dreams but when it comes true it's actually so scary because you're like you have so much to lose you then have to you know prove yourself prove yourself that you deserve it you know because the imposter syndrome was strong at that point I was like my gosh do I actually deserve this part do I like I'm getting so much love and attention but like you know like and and you know and and I think you know also being 18 I was among the lot I was a very insecure teenager growing up like I think you know as a Filipino you know you know in growing up in a country that used to be in a third world country we didn't have the best access to a lot of things you know one of it being education or the English language like I you know I learned how to speak proper English at the age of 16 that's when I you know started with my brand and doing interviews before then I didn't really speak good English at all like grammar and everything because it's not my first language you know so that made me very insecure as a young girl and then I was racing all over the world in Europe and I was constantly surrounded by a very beautiful and confident woman and I found myself very insecure and that's why I've always you know loved putting on my helmet because no one can see how I think how I feel you know emotions going through my mind in my heart.

34:03And all of a sudden, I get announced and all those emotions and how I looked and how I walked and how I talked were presented to millions of people. And I felt insecure at that point. Thank you for opening up about this. It takes a lot of confidence to share it in this way. And it was very beautiful to hear it. And only naturally, you're 20 years old. Come on. what else what else are we to expect from someone like you you're really you're taking on so much responsibility and there's probably way too much attention in you and adjusting it's only natural do you think you adjusted now are you um it gets funny because i think i do and there's an instance where I mess up or I say the wrong things or I wear the wrong brand or I you know I mess up and I yeah post the wrong things and use the wrong caption and not use the right hashtags and like you know those little things I used to you know I'd yeah I'd crucify myself over those tiny mistakes I'd be like, oh, my gosh, I can't even do one thing right.

35:16Completely blindsided by all the amazing things I've done, right? Because that's what social media does to you. That's what, you know, marketing and media, that's, you know, the very adverse effects of being a brand is that you're opening yourself up to constantly be scrutinized and constantly, you know, potentially being in the wrong because whoever is right in social media nobody everyone's always right for some people and always wrong for others um so i think i have adjusted in a sense of i've just maybe grown a thick face maybe i'm just not as emotionally attached to it but have I have I adjusted in the sense that I I feel con I feel comfortable not really because I did grow up to be very sheltered you know I was at the track I didn't know how to make friends I didn't know how to greet people because those are like very fundamental things that you learn when you're young that I didn't learn because I didn't go to school so everything kind of always leads back to my childhood um but all of a sudden I'm now supposed to be this very extroverted outgoing and lovely person which I I tried to be but sometimes when you're working it feels like an act you know it's like it's like you're performing um and I don't think I'll ever be comfortable with that um but it is part of the job so you you know you push through is this impacting your driving um yeah and then obviously there is the the very important bit is that i'm a racing driver i'm not just a personality um but both things work hand in hand for me to do you know for me to reach my dreams it's not just drive faster i wish it was i think i wish i wish my only problem in the world was driving fast.

37:18But unfortunately, to be faster and to be better, you need money, an absurd amount of money to practice, to train. A single day of testing in F3 costs$18 ,000. To spend a single day, you burn fuels, you burn tires, you drive in circles, you pay money, you pay$18 ,000, and then it's gone. Do you pay these yourself? Yes, I do. So I left home when I was 16. I left home when I was 16. I told my parents that I want to, you know, I want to take away the burden that you guys have carried throughout, you know, my whole life. And I want to be financially independent. I'm going to move to US. I'm going to build my brand.

38:08I'm going to work on marketing. I'm going to learn how to manage social media so I can fund my racing career. and and that's what I did at 16 I moved to US and um and that's how I kick-started this whole journey I learned how to post I learned how to utilize Instagram I learned how to edit you know I I was like the very first CapCut easier like back in the days you know that's I learned how to do all those things you know and you know which which reels work well and I started going on TikTok and like being more authentic and you know and building all these you know brand pillars you know like because with TikTok you have to be more fun and outgoing and personable with Instagram it's a bit more clean cut but at the same time it requires a good story long captions and something people can connect to so it feels like they're part of your journey so you know all of these things, you know, I studied all of it at 16, obviously with the help of my manager.

39:13So he's been with me since day one and he's guided me throughout the whole process. But, you know, to this day, I edit, I post, I write captions, I wrote press release, because I didn't have anyone to employ, you know, to do all these things for me. But it's just, you know, so much more, you know, I think, yeah, it's more heartfelt, the fact that I did it my own. So that's, you know, that's how I started my brand. And that now that's like, that's what pays for racing now. Your story keeps becoming more fascinating. So in order for you to finance the very expensive racing career, at the age of 16, you moved to the US to work on your personal branding, social media, and through that paid your racing career.

40:03It's just incredible. All right. what's the biggest lesson that you've that you've learned in that particular journey so if someone wants to work on their branding because obviously right now we look at you online you have millions of followers whatever you did works right what's the single biggest lesson you've learned in that that there's no recipe to success there's there's not a single youtube video or tiktok reel that you can watch and all of a sudden can give you success overnight absolutely not um because there is no recipe you know what works for me might not work for other people and what worked for other people might not work for me and I think you know when I was 16 I'd you know I'd follow all these things that people did and you know some helped some educated me but I think what helped me out the most was that you know I took all my chances I played all my cards that I was dealt with and you know I I'm a strong believer that you know you miss all the chances you don't take you know regardless whether they fail or not but the fact that you take them there's always going to be an outcome and that can either change you or teach you and and that was my recipe I guess that's what made me you know that's what made me was that I just did everything I posted every day I posted reels.

41:27I was on TikTok. I was on every single social media app. I did every single trend. I danced. I did makeup. I, you know, I, like everything. Go on, go on. Don't stop there. How is it? Did you cook too? I tried, but I don't know how to cook. I can't go there, unfortunately. But like, you know, everything to, you know, and in the end, you know, they might not do well on the algorithm they might not get lots of likes but now it's experience that I now have you know like um for example like um like speaking in front of a camera I remember like always saying no to interviews because I was camera shy or I was scared that people would love you know the way I speak or the the my incorrect use of certain words or my grammar and I was always like I was so scared I remember being interviewed by CNN for the first time when I was 16.

42:30And I was like, I was so frantic. I was so nervous. I couldn't stop laughing. And people just thought I was funny. But no, I was just so nervous. I couldn't stop giggling and everything. And I now realize if I had not done that, I wouldn't have learned. I wouldn't have improved. I wouldn't have been able to watch myself and look back and be like, I could do this better. I could definitely never use that word again. So, yeah. I'm picking two big lessons learned in this particular journey. And I think you can extrapolate these two lessons learned into other aspects of life. But let's take the example of social media.

43:14The first one is that it's a numbers game. And this is something that I discussed with another guest that came to this show. His name is Caspar Lee. He's one of the biggest YouTubers of this country. He's great. And it's a numbers game. There's not a recipe to success. I can tell you that the duration of the video needs to be this length for this particular platform. That the specific music that needs to be used that would entail this amount of engagement, that will not really work. So 2 plus 2 don't equal 4 in this particular sense. It's a numbers game and then maybe something works. But the more you try, the higher the chances of something working.

43:51Exactly. And then the second thing, which is what you're saying, and I think it's beautiful and it's something that can be related to other aspects of our lives, is that we succeed or we learn, but we don't fail. Because if we develop a very unhealthy relationship with failure, the very first thing that we just mentioned won't happen. We won't be trying things. We won't be testing. And because we agree that generally, not only in social media, but in life, it's a numbers game. Your chances are going to be smaller to succeeding in anything that you want to succeed. so i guess it's beautiful to hear it from somebody else for a completely different journey and finding the common denominators um across different sectors all right let's go back to formula one or let's go back to motor racing for for that matter so either formula one academy or formula three how does a day or if you prefer a week of training look like oh gosh um So training for me is the best part.

44:52I love being an athlete. I love going to gym, training hard, very hard. Normally I train three hours a day, five days a week. So it is like a day job, a proper day job. And that consists of weight training, cardio, CV. Also, you know, we've got our strengthening and we've also got our, what we call kind of like maintenance because mid-season you can't really go for prs you know you can't go heavy all the time because you need to save yourself off for a race so like um like a personal record okay yeah so like a pr normally be like oh i feel stronger i want to go for a heavier lift oh you know like your one rep max kind of you know how people would normally train but for athletes you know or a driver like me I can't always go for my max lifts because I have to avoid injury and also I have to train consistently rather than you know going for numbers again you know which is hard because it can be very boring but it's a consistency that gets you race fit and for someone like me I'm So I'm 52 kg and I'm 5 '2".

46:11And that's very petite in the racing world. Because an average driver would be, you know, 175 centimeters, 75, 6 to 80 kg on average. um so i then now have to compete to someone who's that tall and you know that strong with that much much more muscle mass and much more you know cardiovascular endurance because you know i think racing is the only sport in the world where men and women do compete equally you know we're not separated by any category we there are all women championships but we compete and can compete in the same grid um so my training i have to train like a man basically that's what it is i have to train twice as hard as they're training as they're doing because i have to you know catch up it's like a catch-ups game nearly so that's why i have to train three hours a day five days a week um you know uh and for my weight i'm considered very i don't i don't want to make my head too big but I'm considered very strong um for example my deadlift pr is 120 kg so that's more than twice my weight um and and it's funny because I'm very small and petite like if you see me on a road you wouldn't see you wouldn't think that I'm an athlete and that's kind of the build that you have to go for with racing because you can't be too bulky because you have to be petite in the car you have to just fit in the cockpit, which is very tight.

47:46So we have to do consistent training and, you know, and building muscle and also at the same time, building your cardiovascular endurance and conditioning. And I think, you know, one of like the most famous workouts that you'd probably see on social media is the neck plank and the neck workouts that we do. And, you know, it is something that I'm, you know, very proud of kind of, because it's something that I've built throughout the years like you know um your neck is probably one of your I wouldn't say weakest but like one of your least trained muscle group in all of your body like only specific like only specific sports ever train their necks you know specific athletes one of them is in racing because we have to experience quite a lot of g-force lateral g and cornering and acceleration and deceleration and everything and you need to be able to hold your head up and fight that so go for it show me maybe it'll be better if i take my jacket off is that how a strong neck looks like i don't know oh oh wow can you see like yeah so if i do it i don't have that right can you try flexing you're actually flexing your neck oh wow you have like little biceps on both sides so like what i love they look huge so like here you want to touch it yeah right that's okay oh wow yes it's really stiff it's very hard and it goes all the way Oh, wow.

49:30Mine is so soft. Wow. You know, because like if I never touch my neck, right? So I touch yours and I'll be like, yeah, it's hard, but like maybe mine is hard. I'm like, actually, mine is as soft as, I don't know, my puppy dog. All right. Yeah. So we train that. How do you train that? Every day. There's a lot of different things you can do. There's the rotational and anti-rotational training that I do. So for the anti-rotational, you have, so there's like static and there's rotational. So for the static one, it's mostly just holds, like pulsing and holding. um so basically i'd have a neck harness that goes around my neck and someone you know someone strong will pull it oh wow and i'd have to hold still and be able to um yeah be able to withstand that so that's kind of like mimicking the g-force that we experience when we're cornering because it's that's what g-force is like something literally pushing your whole body from you know one way one side to the other.

50:41And is the neck of a man, like, naturally stronger than the neck of a woman? Yes. I think so. As, you know, men are generally stronger than women, you know. Yeah. And just because we're men. So you're at a disadvantage? A hundred percent, yes. Like, you know, the fact that, you know, it's everything, everything, everything in the anatomy, you know, male men are just more physically superior because they have bigger hands, they've got bigger lungs, they've got more muscle mass, they have more bone density, they have bigger necks, they have, you know, just everything. So when you're driving, what are the muscles aside from the neck that are engaged in that, you know?

51:29Core, 100%. It's all core. Core, shoulders, traps, like it's whole body really, because your whole body is going through that motion. You know, it's not like I'm just using my arms, but my whole body is literally experiencing like breaking through a brick wall. That's what it feels like. Because the way I imagine it is it being a very tenseful exercise. And does that increase your stress in any way? Because when I'm tense, I'm more stressed. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. A hundred percent. So I think that's why racing is so complex. And it's such a beautiful sport. And I'm so passionate. I'm talking about it because I get so excited.

52:14So that's what makes it so interesting because you do have the physical aspect. Your body is tense. You constantly have to be because it's going through a brick wall. So imagine going through a brick wall, but then having to race other people and having to break at the right point and having to turn at the right point and making your apexes and making sure you don't go past the white line or you'll get track limits or passing a car or in case a car crashes in front of you and having to make, you know, you know, very crucial decisions such as avoiding a crash. in that split second and you're doing that for an hour which is a lot of strain both mentally and physically um so when you're about to compete and you see the people that you're competing against do you look at their necks and think like oh my god that's a big neck they're gonna be so good yeah um that's a beautiful neck that's a beautiful neck um well normally yes because the bigger it is means the higher up you're competing you know maybe they've been training enough too they've been testing f3 so yeah you do like i gauge it i'm like that's a nice neck that's an f2 neck

53:34if i was told correctly or if my research is accurate you are also or were briefly studying at university? Yes. So my, I wouldn't say my, so in the Philippines, I have a saying called totga, the one that got away. So that's like a dream that you wanted to pursue, but life had little plans or anything. So my totga was architecture. So I love drawing. I'm an artist as well. And I love, you know, portraits, drawing floor plans. I taught myself how to draw floor plans at the age of 14. And I was like, if I don't become a racing driver, I've also got another passion, which I do love. Just not as much as racing, so I hope racing works out.

54:27But there was a point in my life where I did try to manage both, but I realized that one would always suffer. In my very optimistic mind, I was trying to balance two things at the same time, but having both would mean that one would have to suffer more. So I redirected my efforts and my time and my whole life to just pursuing racing full time. But yeah, I did try. I was going to university for architecture. Yeah. How far in your career did you make the choice of kebab architecture? Well, when I was full-time, you know, I only did like a month or anything. Like, yeah, I only did like a month in uni.

55:18So I was 18. Yeah, I was 18. I was in McLaren, 17, turning 18. And I was like, yeah, I want to be a racing driver. It's my first love. It's like Mark Zuckerberg's footsteps, right? So he also quit the founder of Facebook. He also quits university very quickly. He's not doing bad now. No, absolutely not. But yeah, I think, but that is an experience that I, that shaped me. I think missing out on school, it's, you know, it's the main reason why I'm successful, but also one of the main reasons why I am behind in a lot of things outside of work. Like what? Like on like, just the personal things, like making friends.

56:08I've been living in London for two years I don't know how to make I don't know how to make friends to be honest I don't have many friends here because I didn't know I wasn't taught I wasn't in a safe place like school where you can make friends you can cultivate friendships because you're in the same place you do the same subjects and one way or another you'll find things you like and you start being friends but then when you have to do it in the real world

56:42how do I start like you know how do you approach people everyone just feels you know so everyone yeah it is it's scary it's a very intimidating thing to go through making friends and it's so funny because it's like one of my biggest struggle like I don't have any friends and and I and that makes me sad sometimes oh I believe that no I do have friends but and i just not a lot because probably your friends are listening to this and they're gonna be like i thought i was your friend but again that's that's like the hard bit is like you do it's it's like such a fine line like are we like trauma dumping friends or are we just like instagram friends like what is because you know that is like that's such a good point it is because Because I didn't have that normal pathway to life.

57:34I was like 16 straight into the deep end, straight into big mistakes and big consequences and big challenges. Because I learned life through trial and error, through trial by fire, I then don't know how to build up to things. I'm always like 100 % or zero. I'm in it or I'm not. There's no medium because I didn't learn life like that, which makes it very hard to then meet someone and to regulate those friendships and to, you know, even like relationships and stuff like, you know, like having a boyfriend and everything. Like, how do you add that, you know, add, you know, that, you know, having a boyfriend relationship into this crazy life is so difficult.

58:24I guess from the outside, what I can tell you is that you have a very particular life and it's tailor-made to you and your needs and your aspirations and your goals. And just as you mentioned that you don't have a recipe to success for your social media accounts, that you're not recommending someone to do exactly what you did because it may not work for them. I think it might it may be best and this is my my honest view on this topic for you not to try to follow how a regular friendship is built or how a regular romantic relationship should look like because you're not normal and your life is not normal and that's also beautiful right and just letting go of those expectations then perhaps you start flowing in a more natural way because when we try to be something or someone that we're not is when things don't work out yeah oh my gosh yes like I totally yeah resonate with that and you know I think for the longest time you know the past two years like a couple months ago yeah for like the longest time I was trying to strive for normality while living an extraordinary life which just doesn't make sense you know like I was striving for a normal friend group that goes to brunch, bottomless brunch every Friday.

59:44And a boyfriend to go on like movie date nights with on the weekends. But like, how is that even possible when Friday, it's normally free practice, Saturday, Sunday, I'm racing, Monday, I've got events. You know, it's like, it just doesn't make sense. I understand. But that's funny because my idea of friendship comes from like rom-coms. like friends or like um like mean girls like that was like my idea of friendship because i you know like i'd always watch these like college movies and stuff because i didn't experience it so you know you'd yearn for something that you didn't have growing up so for me it was that so i'd always watch these movies and how they make friends like i remember buying a book on how to make friends and like trying to learn from that because when was that yesterday i remember buying it when i was like 19 i still have it with me um because i came to like a point where i was like it was like my last year as a teenager i remember like making this really really melancholy post i was like did i cultivate enough long-lasting friendships you know because like people like age of 19 is like kind of like when you know who your maid of honor is going to be or who your best man is going to be it's kind of like the point where you're like I'm past the teenage phase I'm gonna be an adult I'm gonna be 20 like soon and I guess I was I was you know going through that phase and I realized I'm like I I don't even have like yeah I don't even think I have how many bridesmaids do you like five, six, seven?

1:01:29I don't think I have even enough girlfriends for Bridesmaids. What I believe is important in these moments, and then I'll give you my specific view on your life, but what is important in these moments is not to build up unrealistic expectations, that they just don't match not only your life, but who you are and who you want to be. I'll give you an example of my life because I find it so beautiful that you're opening so much about yours. I'm 29 right now. I'll be 30 in April next year. And I started my business when I was 22 years old, along with my twin brother. And I remember in the earlier years of my entrepreneurial career, and then we were very grateful that it took us roughly two years to be in what I would consider a financially stable and successful place.

1:02:20but most of my other friends that were under my age bracket they were naturally not they were more behind if you compare them to me in their careers right but they were where they needed to be in their lives so they were maybe starting their first jobs and they were doing internships but still going out and I was already having a lot of people employed under me with a lot of responsibilities so I remember so vividly that the people that I gelled the most with were my shareholders, for example, people that were in their 40s or 50s, some of them in their 60s. And in fact, one of my initial shareholders right now is like an older brother to me because that was the type of conversations that I was very comfortable to dealing with.

1:03:04And that's what I was very interested in. And then right now, as I'm approaching my 30s very, very soon, my friends and the people that are in my age bracket, they're all, I wouldn't say, I think it's a bad way of saying catching up with their professional lives, but they're naturally progressing in their professional lives. So right now we are speaking about things that I was very interested in when I was 22, but perhaps they weren't. And right now we leveled off the playing field. And that allowed me to have many, many more friends of my age now in the later stages of my 20s. And perhaps, and this is again, maybe, but that can be maybe something that happens to you.

1:03:44So maybe the people that you want to be right now in close contact with, they're just living a different life that you're not living. Yeah, different priorities. That's what it is. Like not everyone, you know, wants to be Usain Bolt or Mark Zuckerberg. And I do get that. And I think, you know, those unrealistic expectations I set on the friends that I do have, you know, like just because they're willing, you know, just because I'm willing to sacrifice everything for my career doesn't mean they are. Yeah. And I think that's something that I also have to live with as well. You know, I can't, you know, I can't expect that of people.

1:04:24and how are the people within your sports because i remember something that was useful for me back then was trying to meet other young founders yeah are people in your sport like are they friendly or they're just very competitive um so funny so it's like racing is a very funny space because you know a lot of them are very rich like like like just very very very rich like you know the paddock is a very wealthy space and that's why a lot of people want to be in that paddock you know um and that's why it's so glamorized now and because you see you know so many rich people at the track nowadays um and that is the reality and that has been the reality since the very beginning.

1:05:14And that's, you know, like racing was built for, you know, young boys to have fun driving fast cars. And that was always been kind of the stigma that was put on racing. And that's, you know, when you watch movies like, you know, James Dean, like all these like amazing, like, you know, stigma of racing, there is that, it's that, you know, lovely, lovely life. and that's why a lot of people think racing is a lovely you know lovely life um because you know you drive fast cars you party and you probably live in monaco um and you're very rich uh and and you know nowadays only is that starting to shift to change and you know and don't get me wrong it is you know like there are there are amazing and lovely worldly people in the paddock And, you know, some of them are drivers, engineers, mechanics.

1:06:12But I guess you just have to find your people in the paddock because it is very easy to be in the wrong group and be in the wrong, you know, space. You know, there are lots of, you know, bad influences and everything. And I guess I was kind of brought up in that and I had to navigate through that. Like I remember being 17 and being invited to parties because I was racing alongside Formula One and I'm like, I'm not even allowed to drink yet. And, you know, like navigating through all of those things and you will meet some people that are very, very rich and very entitled. Yeah. And, yeah, and that is the case sometimes.

1:06:58So it is kind of very, it's hard to find friendship in a place where it's hard to trust, hard to like know people's intentions. And I, you know, it's the same in any space. It's the same with business, for example. Like as much as you trust someone, like you never really know what's going on behind their minds. Like you never really know what their intentions are, even though you work with them for years. I remember so many stories of people getting screwed over by their own family members over money and over business. So even your own blood could mislead you. So I think you kind of always have to have one eye in the back of your head at the track sometimes.

1:07:45You just never know because it is such a competitive space. There's only 20 seats every year in Formula One. And everyone's going for it. And it's hard to find peace in that. How many people in Formula One out of those 20 seats were born rich and they were able to maybe... 20. 20. Wow. So what makes a good Formula One driver? Is it mainly having access to money and then everything else? Okay. So, you know, like money doesn't erase talent. Absolutely not. like you know and and and you can never shame someone because they're just rich and that's why they're a good driver well no because they've put in the hard work and they've done x y z because racing is such a you have to earn it you know you have to put in good results but the biggest tool that you can have is money because you need money to test you need money to drive if i had if i was a billionaire, I'd be driving every day and I'd be one hell of a driver.

1:08:49I'd be amazing. I'd be great. I'd be so experienced driving, you know, F3, F2, testing, even test Formula One. You know, if I had billions, I could, you know, pay a Formula One team and test one of their TPC, which is like their old generation car from maybe two, three years ago and pay two million to test it for a single day. If you were to calculate, how much does it take? How much does it cost to go from Formula 4 to Formula 1? More or less, a ballpark figure. I mean, right now, currently, like, because it goes hand in hand. Like, one thing that I've had to do to kind of make it in the sport is also evaluate all these changing variables in the sport because it is just so much about business as well.

1:09:39like it's the popularity of racing is growing you know the fact that there's so many sponsors and so many brands that wants to get involved but this also means that it is now more in demand and race teams can charge ridiculous amount of money because they can you know because because it's so popular and i think that is kind of what's happening now there's a big big rise in budget like you know back in the days people would say you know a single year in formula four would costs would cost about 500 000 us now it's close to 800 000 us this is formula four this is just a four because because the because now drivers because you know the system has learned i found out that it's racing so popular so we can offer them 10 different championships to race at and they'll take it because it means it'll give them more chance to make it to Formula One so now F4 drivers are competing in five different championships there's Italian F4 there's Euro F4 there's Spanish F4 there's Spanish Winter Series so you normally you'd have your Winter Series program that you'd be doing from January to February which is four race weekends and then you've got your main championship and some people are doing two championships um as their main either italian or or asian f4 or euro cup or you're sorry euro f4 and then you've got your off-season f4 which is normally in middle east so middle eastern formula four and that's like seven different five different championships that you can now do so you can literally be racing every weekend if you had the money.

1:11:24So imagine competing with that. Imagine competing with someone who has 300 days in a car and you've only got 70 because you don't have the money. So that's the competition. It's skill. But with racing, you can buy skill because practice and laps in the car gives you skill. in your opinion who is the greatest of all time who's the best formula one driver in history i'd say senna senna is you know undoubtedly one of the greatest if not the greatest um was he rich when he started driving yes he was it was very rich he was very rich um and i think that's just you know a common denominator in motorsport because you wouldn't be in racing if you weren't rich you wouldn't even think about it someone who's struggling to eat three times a day wouldn't think of driving fast cars you know someone who is working two jobs and is always doing overtime and struggling to pay rent won't think of driving fast cars so you have to be in some level of comfort comfort living to be thinking of I've got$800 ,000 spare.

1:12:44I'll just go drive at race cars. And that's not a circumstance that many people are in. So yes, a lot of them are rich. And Senna was a brilliant driver. He was a brilliant driver because he had love. He had passion. And he didn't let the sport change him in a lot of aspects. like he changed the sport if anything and this was also back in the day where we had less innovation we had less access to tools such as sim a simulator like you know back then we didn't have any virtual simulator that lets us practice you know any track in any car anywhere they didn't have as a good data system they didn't really have a good onboard cameras so back Back then, a lot of drivers mostly relied on feel, which makes them great because now things can be, you know, very things can be manipulated.

1:13:46Things can be simulated and studied. You know, it's a bit like it's a bit like chess where nowadays, you know, kids can go on the same on their computers and practice different kind of combinations and different openings and different finishes and everything. and mid-game strategy and all these different, you know, yeah, things that you can learn to be better at chess. But back then you'd have, you know, Murphy who played solely on feel. And that's what racing was back then. That's why drivers like Senna are considered great. And how important is the car? So for someone like me that doesn't know, right, about Formula 1, everything.

1:14:29So then I would imagine that then money again becomes very important. Absolutely. You can buy yourself a seat, a great car. You can buy yourself a great engineer. You can buy yourself everything. Like, you know, a championship winning driver needs to have a championship winning car. You know, you can have a bad driver in a good car and win races. You can't have a good driver in a bad car and win races. like yeah you you yeah you do need a good car and that's what gets you to win i want to talk about purpose so it is clear to me that you want to become the first woman to drive in formula one for the last 50 or 60 years but i would like to understand why what's the purpose behind it is it to build a legacy is it because you want to pay off the investment of your parents and give them the life that you want them to have is it because of the fame the money the status what fuels you every day to keep going i think i mean it's it's funny because um you know when you ask that the only thing i could really think of is that because i want because i want to be able to forgive myself i feel like when I've made it to Formula One, I can then finally forgive myself for putting my, you know, parents through all those difficulties.

1:16:05Like my dad having to live very far away from me and my mom and my mom having to be both a mother and a father to me and accompanying me through the track. And, you know, I remember like my mom sacrificing every, you know, single want she had in life just so I could have entry fees, so I could have fuel, so I could have tires. I remember, you know, like every time she'd think of buying a bag or buying makeup or buying, you know, or traveling or even just giving herself nice and good experiences, she'd always think about me first. They'd always put me first. My parents would always put me first.

1:16:46And that is, you know, only something that kind of unconditional love only a parent could ever give and I in in you know obviously there are the debts that I you know I have paid and and everything that you know the money and but I think if but I think there's still some sort of resentment I have towards myself because if if I'd just been selfless enough maybe they would have lived a better life you know my parents are close to my dad's 65 now Now my mom's 42. You know, they're old. And my dad's still working three jobs to support my mom and everything. And I was always wondering if they just saved off all those money.

1:17:29Maybe they wouldn't have to work anymore. Maybe my mom, my dad can just retire. But he can't. And so there's a lot of resentment on myself because of that. And I feel like the only way that I could really, really forgive myself or my younger self is that, you know, is that when I obviously make it and that's what drives me forward and I think in time it will feel less and less that burden I carry it'll feel lighter but right now I'm using every bit of that you know that every bit of that emotion to really fuel me to so that I could go the distance because I think it is so possible you know with the right team and the right support and a bit of luck is doable and on track, you know, is where I make my mark and I want to do that and because of representation as well, because I think we're so close to making it, you know.

1:18:35I'm in F3, I've only basically got two more steps left, but that's two long, very big steps. But gosh, are we so close. so yeah that's what I want to make it because I want to show people that it is possible you just have to work a fuck ton and and not give up I think each and every one of us draws happiness from different sources and it seems to me that good-hearted people like your parents draw happiness from seeing their daughter chasing their dreams, living the life that she wants to live. If we reverse the situation and they would have perhaps not invested in your career and you would be maybe in Manila or in Philippines doing a job that you're not very happy with, maybe they would have more money right now in the bank account, but maybe they would not be as happy to see their daughter not shining and being as bubbly and happy as you are with the life that have right now and also as proud and most likely for them that gives them much more pleasure and happiness than than the money that they invested in you I really I yeah I I really hope it does you know um obviously I don't get to see my parents often because I live so far away from home um and you know sometimes I'd get on the phone with my mom and sometimes she'd cry to me and be like oh I wish we'd just chosen differently so at least I'd still be able to see you every day um because she does miss me a lot and she I remember her telling me that we didn't really think you'd go this far you know but we we bet on you because we had hope that maybe you would and the fact that you did you know makes me sad and happy because I miss you so much my mom wishes that you know I could just be home all the time but I can't because I'm going for you know an impossible dream that is slightly a bit more possible because of all their sacrifices but yeah I really hope that one day um I could see just how proud they are and I know they are just that you know I hope they can come to more races and stuff but it is expensive so I'm not able to do that yet I'm just putting this out to the universe and I truly believe that you'll be able to accomplish that and so much more and I think it's just a matter of time that all of us we get to see that and witness it and see you make history.

1:21:14A lot of people listening to this episode may be young athletes. What would you advise them? What's the greatest lesson that you've learned as an athlete? Oh my gosh.

1:21:26A lot. The list is long. I feel like every day I keep learning. But I think one of the biggest, you know, the biggest aspect about sports has really shaped, you know, me as a person, me as a woman, me as a friend, me as a partner, me as a daughter. It's just with how I deal with failure. Because for a lot of people, it is a kryptonite. for a lot of people it's what destroys them it's what makes them do terrible things it's what makes them give up it's what makes them end relationships it's what makes them you know yeah it's what makes them so so vulnerable um because it is such a scary thing you know ever since you were young in school you were graded you know if you don't reach a certain mark you've failed and you then would have to go through you know a series of punishment like oh you're you can't see your friends or you're in detention or you can't you know leave the house or I'm gonna take away your phone and to us or you know to a lot of people that's what failure looks like is that when I don't meet a certain quota or I don't meet a certain grade or mark or place I am then punished because that's that's what happened to a lot of the kids you know kids then kids now like um so I think a lot of people are then forced to doing things they don't really want because they're just so scared of failing and and I used to be you know one of those people I used I would always you know put myself in terrible situations because I'd rather be it that way than fail you know I'd rather you know do things I don't want than fail and and only now do I have a very healthy relationship with losing because I've I've realized that you know no no absolutely no one is ever going to ridicule you for losing because trying because you tried you know there's so much more there's so much so much more to life than a rank you know I'd get messages from my mom saying that you're worth so much more than the position you finished on track and to hear that from my mom was always encouraged me to be the best to be number one to finish finish p1 because we won't we don't have money because we're poor because you come from philippines xyz you know and and and only now is she actually starting to realize that how much has taken a toll on me because of my unhealthy relationship with failing that my mom has actually changed a lot about herself and how to parent me and how to be a better mother to me in in a sense that yeah she'd constantly tell me that I'm worth so much more than the points I have by the end of the year or the place I qualify and hearing those things has changed who I am so I think you know the only way to deal with it is by taking it day by day you know um because it does get better one day you wake up and then things change things are a little bit better than they were Or, you know, your parents are a little bit kinder or sweeter or loving.

1:25:05And your work's a little bit less stressful. And all of a sudden, you'll just, you'll find your place. If there is one takeaway that you want all of our audience to get from you and from this conversation, what would it be? I mean, gosh, to see how worldly people and places can be and how taking chances can get you so far, not just in life, you know, not just metaphorically, but also just actually get you places, take you to places you've never been, you know, take that job, you know, take, you know, that interview or do that exchange. and you know and meet up with that friend it's like 5 000 miles away you know because it gets you places and all of a sudden it's like a stepping stone one day you're here the next you're there and in a year later you're in a place where you could only ever dream of and and you know and and that always starts with today you know and and and yeah time's always the best storyteller and you just have to keep living in the moment because it's a present, it's a gift.

1:26:20And I want people to just, yeah, live their life, not too worried about what the future will look like and just live today. Bianca, thank you. Thank you so much for this beautiful and inspiring conversation. I have the pleasure and opportunity to be sitting with incredibly successful people in this show and having spoken with you for probably almost two hours. Gosh, was that two hours already? So this is what I mean by trauma dumping. Are we friends now? We are friends. Yes, yes, we are friends. But it is truthfully, and I not only mean it, but I feel this, is that you are going to accomplish what you want to accomplish.

1:27:06I know that. I feel that. And putting it also out there for the universe to listen to it, And it's just a matter of time, in my opinion, and we will all witness you making history, including your parents. Doing my best. It's all you can do. Yeah, doing my best. Thank you. Thank you so much. So, so lovely.