What Happened When I Finally Felt Seen in Media as a Filipina
One of my favorite movies growing up (and to this day) was Troop Beverly Hills . While I’ve always adored Shelley Long’s portrayal of a glam Beverly Hills housewife-turned-troop leader, there was one character who especially stood out: Lily, one of the members of the Wilderness Girls troop. Played by Aquilina Soriano, Lily was Filipina, which was unheard of back in those days. Seeing Filipinos in movies and TV shows was not common and is still very rare, so seeing her meant a lot to me (especially because I ended up joining Girl Scouts later myself). It wasn’t until around high school that I began to comprehend just how big of a deal it was to see another Filipino person on the big screen. Alexa Tietjen , the beauty and influencers editor at WWD, says that her mother, who was born in Manila, would get really excited whenever she found out a singer or an actor was Filipino. “That would really stand out to me because it didn't happen very often,” says Tietjen. She says she rememb