Sunday, August 18, 2013

10 Things You Should Know About Karen Davila


How Karen Davila learned to give unconditional love
“I would describe myself as extremely driven to succeed, extremely passionate, and obsessed when I put my mind to something and when I commit to something. I think it is the secret of succeeding at work,” Karen Davila says.


We start our mornings with her insightful interviews and end our day with her delivering the biggest news, but in between all that, she juggles her family, coverage and tapings, advocacies, and a social life. What does it take to be this superwoman? Here are 10 things you should know about Karen Davila.

1. On Karen Davila, the teenager: “I was the type that either you love me or you hate me.”

“I think there was a part of me that was always like this,” she says of her chosen career path. “In high school (Colegio San Agustin) I was the photographer and a school paper editor, in a way I always had that creative writing side. The English teachers always loved me, and I was always the contestant for the declamation contest.” She takes after her father, Armand Tirol Davila, her being very driven and a go-getter, as well as her hyperthyroidism that has always made her very active.

“If someone really knew me they really liked me, and those who didn’t know me too well would think differently of me. I really had haters, girls who just didn’t like me. Malakas ang dating ko. I always felt confident with what I could do, it was mostly that. I knew i had something to offer. Di naman ako genius, but I was bright essentially.”

2. She confesses she is a workaholic (“Absolutely!”) and doesn’t remember the last time she felt bored.

“I would describe myself as extremely driven to succeed, extremely passionate, and obsessed when I put my mind to something and when I commit to something. I think it is the secret of succeeding at work,” she shares. “Before, work used to run our lives. It would have to be that what work said, that’s how your schedule ran. Frankly, that is an unhealthy way to live. You can’t make an entity run your life. You have to have a balance,” she warns. Karen now makes it a point to travel more, spend more time with friends, and above all, make time for her family.

3. On the saying that “something’s gotta give”: “For a while it was my health. I had to quit bad habits.”

“The cycle I will say is tough,” Karen explains. She gets up at 6:30 a.m. to do Headstart, has coverage during the day, does Pasada 630 on DZMM in the afternoon, goes home to spend time with her kids, heads to Bandila by 9:30 p.m. and ends work at midnight. “The reason I can’t complain is I feel blessed and grateful. Ang daming salesgirls umuuwi ng Cavite at Bulacan 11 p.m., papasok ng 8 a.m, ganun din yun. Except yung akin, physically dependent because the voice needs sleep.

“I saw a doctor often. I had to give up bad habits that affected my voice. I had to give up coffee completely. I wake up to Headstart on hot water! I don’t drink wine during the week, only weekends, and maybe a max of three glasses. Any spare time I sleep. The only socials I can afford are on weekends. I work out more. You know, it’s hard. The time management is insane with me,” she admits.

4. Karen Davila in numbers:

5,000: Amount in pesos of her first salary straight out of graduating in UP, as a reporter and anchor in GMA

30-plus: Number of journalism awards won here and abroad. The most meaningful one? “The TOYM Award in 2008.”

1,019,026: Number of followers on her Twitter account @Karen_DaviLa. She has 60,508 followers on her Instagram account @iamkarendavila. (As of press time.)

1: Dog they currently own, Lexi (named after Lexington Avenue in New York City where they bought her), a hypoallergenic Havanese.

200: Average number of text messages she sends out in one day.

5. The secret to a successful marriage despite being a successful career woman: “You have to build up each other, you have to watch out for each other. I think that’s important.”

“DJ (Sta. Ana) and I have been married for 12 years, together 6 1/2 years before that. DJ is a very quiet man, a patient man. Marriage is not easy. People are always very in love when they start but what makes people stay together is the decision to really love and commit,” she says.

1. Respect: “I am very fortunate DJ is a very loving man. He has allowed me to shine in terms of being in the klieg lights. And I respect DJ’s achievements and work.”

2. Connectedness: “What I learned later on that I didn’t know when I was younger, you have to do many things together. Because if you don’t, you can grow apart in the marriage. There was a point that the only thing we had in common was our career. We now spend more time together. And kung may kwento, instead of sharing it with your friend, share it first with your husband.”

3. Vanity: “You really have to make an effort to look good! Para you have that excitement still.”

4. Security: “I’m also very conscious because when we enter a room, more people tend to pay attention to me than my husband. Si DJ, I’m very fortunate, is very secure that way. He’s not the kind of guy who is going to make a big issue out of that. In fact he’s the one who will guide me and say, ‘Honey, you can do this,’ or ‘You can do this better.’”

6. On handling the diagnosis that her son David had autism: “I refused to believe there was no cure. I knew I had to do something.”

“I gave birth at 32. I loved being a mother but I didn’t know what the milestones were because I was very busy working. Thank God I have my mother (Purita Davila) to support me. The very tragic thing was I didn’t see the signs early on. I always thought David was a quiet child. Lolas would say maybe he would start speaking late. But at 3 1/2 years old he started throwing a lot of tantrums, lying on the floor, screaming everywhere. And every time there were other kids he was not interested to play.

“It was a good friend of mine, Small Laude, who was the first to detect and say, ‘Karen, I think David has a problem. You need to bring him to a Developmental Pediatrician.’ It was only then that Dr. Alexis Reyes diagnosed him being in the autism spectrum or having autism,” she recalls. “I cried.. I blamed myself. I asked God why him and not me.. This must be because I did something wrong. We asked is there a cure, and the doctor said no. And it broke my heart. DJ and I really broke down. We cried about David for so long.

“But the difference is, this is where being driven and obsessed helped, I started to research. There were parents who were treating their children through Biomedicine and the Casein gluten-free diet.”

They were seeing a Defeat Autism Now doctor. “We did that for nine years, from four to 11. He has done stem cell twice. We have been committed. I am very passionate about this. I am on an endless pursuit for David’s best.

“Alam mo, the real one person who taught me how to love was David. You have to be so patient with children with autism. They don’t respond like regular children. Sometimes when the intervention is not full, they cannot show you love back. There were very painful times when David was around five, he was not hugging me, not saying I love you, he could not look me in the eye.. and nothing is more painful to a mother. So what David taught me was unconditional love. Love that was one-way, literally coming from you alone. But, praise God, now David has completely bloomed, he is now really close to me, says ‘I love you Mommy and Daddy’ all the time, he speaks to us, we converse, he has friends,” she says, beaming.

“Lucas was an accident too! Everyone was a great accident,” she says with a laugh. “I gave birth to Lucas when I was already 38, and I was petrified. I was too scared that my second baby might have a condition and I might not be able to handle it as well. When I was pregnant I had to make sure I did things carefully. I didn’t eat fish, I had omega 3 oil straight from supplements, I had extra vitamins, I breastfed longer. There is no specific cause but  all I can say is I did things differently. Lucas is the biggest blessing in the sense that he brings so much riot and chaos to our house! He is so madaldal, he’s like me. He is a little Karen!”

7. Karen’s most impressive interview subjects ever:

1. Howard Schulz, CEO of Starbucks: “What’s amazing about him is that he came from a very poor family and today is one of the richest men in the world, because of how he made Starbucks global. But he is so down to earth. At the age of 60 he still goes all around the world to visit his workers and branches. He is a businessman who cares.”

2. Suze Orman, financial guru: “She was a waitress. She was duped out of US$50,000 by one of the agents of Meryll Lynch, so she started learning more about finance. She is quick, on point, natural. I love people that are natural, they don’t study their answers. She’s very open.”

3. Mohammed Nasheed, former Maldivian President: “He was tortured while in detention. But he chose to forgive all his torturers. He was very young, in his early 40s. What he did was he confiscated all the wealth of the past dictator and put it back to the country. He may not have been one of the most successful presidents but it was impressive because he was trying.”

4. Juan Ponce Enrile: “At the age of 88, JPE’s memory is very sharp. He is very quick. His recollection of history, although controversial, is very detailed.”

5. Washington SyCip: “He is 92. Ninety-two! He is an icon. When he guested on Headstart, he came in one hour early and was watching me blowdry my hair,” she laughs in embarrassment. “He said, ‘You know what, Karen, I just have one thing to tell Gabby (Lopez). I will tell him to change the sofas in the makeup room.’” (Those particular sofas are quite worn out.)

“He is friendly and charming! He’s very sharp, unafraid to say what he thinks, goes to work every day, and he’s funny. When asked what his secret is, he winks and says, ‘I wink at pretty girls.’”

8. Her strategy to growing her money: “I am a very big saver. For some time now, I’ve been saving 80 percent of what I earn.”

“I do earn better money now. But that is also with the help of good negotiation. It doesn’t come out of nowhere. If you are a broadcast journalist in any part of the world, you negotiate your contract, and for this I have to thank Boy Abunda,” she reveals. “Tito Boy came into my life when I was already removed from TV Patrol in 2010 and transferred to Bandila. When he called me I was in Hong Kong and I was already told. Which for the record I found to be okay because it also happened in the past — to Korina and me. I do understand the decision. I saw in him a genuine friend who cared about my circumstances. Here kasi we are very uncomfortable discussing money, nahihiya tayo to say ‘I’m worth this,’ and I think that should change.”

“I don’t have a business but I save. At one point in my life, my whole TV Patrol talent fee went to savings and I was living on my salary from Correspondents and reportorial, and my husband’s salary. I am able to buy good investments now. I invest in very safe mutual funds. Plus I am not a victim of a collection of expensive bags. Relatively speaking, I have to say, matipid ako!”

9. Known for her effortless and easy style, Karen shares her top fashion picks:

1. Dresses: “I don’t have the time and energy to pick and iron clothes so I started wearing a lot of the DVF wrap dresses and Techie Hagedorn’s Alegre dresses. No fuss, it’s easy.”

2. Blouses: “I live in Zara. All their blouses, long sleeves, so airy and easy.”

3. Jeans: “Gap. I may have a designer jean but I hardly wear it. Gap jeans I have all the cuts and I can wear it from coverage to dinners.”

4. Shoes: “I live on my tributes! And now I like the pointy heels. Zara, Saint Laurent, Christian Louboutin. I have few, but quality pieces.”

5. Watches: “I love watches! I share with my husband. I am not a jewelry person, I don’t really buy diamonds. I wear my Patek Philippe Aquanaut forever. Then a Breguet and a Rolex Explorer.”

Karen’s first dream was to be a fashion designer.

10. On what more she wants to prove and to who she wants to prove it to: “There’s nothing else I want to prove except to be the best version of myself.”

“What I want to do now is improve on the reputation I have already built. That I am a journalist na di tatanggap ng pera. People don’t think it is a big deal, but it’s a very big deal. I want to have an untarnished reputation. I don’t want to have political or envelopmental journalism baggage. I want to be known as fearless or fair. I would never want to patronize anyone corrupt. There is balance to it.”

* * *

It may not seem it with how fun-loving and bubbly Karen is, but she didn’t have an easy life all the time. “There was a point in time when I was in college, we had no money, we were broke. It was at that point I said, I don’t want to be poor. I don’t want to be like this forever. I’ve experienced it and I want to succeed,” she reveals. With a strong anchor on family, a solid value system, and an infectious zest for life, she became what she is today. “Is there anything else I would want to achieve? To live each day — in the most present and loving manner — in every aspect.”