Inside the Mind of a Go Getter: Carla Lizardo

In her Podcast alongside Beauty Queens, Pia Wurtzbach, and Bianca Guidotti, Carla Lizardo recalls her early days of pageantry. She remembers walking down the hallways of Ateneo de Manila, sometimes in heels, sometimes in badminton attire - but always with an attitude of truly going after what you want.

Making up her mind to excel in the advertising industry, Carla left a stable paying job to pursue a thing that made her heart sing (even if it meant having to work for free, for awhile), to create opportunities for herself.

In this, Carla Lizardo redefines the definition of a beauty queen as being someone who fearlessly goes after what she wants, and along the way-- empowers others to do the same.

Her personal journey

The excitement in her voice and the light in her eyes give it away-- Carla Lizardo is a natural go-getter.

During a person’s early years, rewards like toys and candies inspire toddlers to do well. For Carla, it was CDs. A high mark for her meant listening to her favorite music. Eight-year-old her was a then a stellar child who spent most of her days reading, studying, and playing badminton. 

Since then, this determined spirit never faded. All throughout her school life from grade school days to her college life in Ateneo, Carla was a straight A student-athlete who constantly challenged herself. 

Carla Joins Pageantry as Student-Athlete-Dean’s Lister:

First heartbreak, friends and fall outs, constantly feeling misunderstood by our parents and all the adults around us, are part of the emotional ups and downs of being a teenager. Although Carla had the same spirit who knew what she wanted and what steps to take to achieve her goals, her biggest struggle then and now is fighting that little voice of self-doubt. 

Even an eloquent beauty queen like Carla has her fair share of insecurities. However, her biggest asset remains the same: her go-getter personality. 

   Without training whatsoever nor prior knowledge about pageantry, all Carla had was a positive posture and grit, it was “baptism by the fire” for Carla when she took up the challenge to become a beauty queen while juggling academics and her tennis training. Being a beauty queen and training for a sport requires the same level of commitment. During those days, she felt like she was on auto-pilot but ultimately, this taught her the beauty of taking things day by day.

To her surprise, her hard work was rewarded with a Dean’s List award, played her best year, and to her surprise, the Mutya ng Pilipinas crown. Despite all the struggles she encountered, she said it taught her to live in the moment and take things day by day.

Life after Pageantry:

“How did your past experiences in college (and perhaps, before that) prepared you for adult life?”

“It was a turning point. It taught me to let go of fear, that little voice in my head saying di kaya. I choose to go for things that excite me. I can’t rely on things to happen magically so I learned how to create opportunities for myself.” 

        Graduating from college, it was clear to Carla that she wanted to pursue the corporate world in the advertising industry. You would think that this top A student who studied hard and did everything by the book would excel in the cut-throat copro world. It was the exact opposite.

            Instead of a stable paying job as an advertising executive, she left after a month to go for things that excited her. She admits it was a privilege and she knew she wanted to turn this privilege into something meaningful. 

She accepted free jobs to build her skills - writing for newspaper companies in the sports section, and eventually being a sportscaster. When asked what inspired her to eye on an unusual goal, she said that it just made sense during that moment and she felt like she could do it especially with her background as a beauty queen and a tennis captain.  Of course, this go-getter did everything to reach just that. She did. 

It also wasn’t always a smooth sailing ride for her to get to where she is now. 

 What do you do when things don’t go your way?

During the pandemic, most of her plans were cut short. Entering her 30s, Carla has set her eyes on pursuing her masters in journalism in Australia to eventually start a family there but she was left jobless and stranded in a foreign place. 

“When things don’t go my way, I get sad and I allow myself to be. But I really don’t like moping around so I instantly try to think of things to pivot.”

True enough, after an e-numan with her beauty queen best friends Bianca and Pia, they gave birth to Queentuhan. Queentuhan started off as a passion project where the girls just candidly talk about their journey as a beauty queen. They also invite other queens to join the show and spill the tea about the world of pageantry. 

Because the podcast gained popularity beyond just pageant fans, they decided to venture out to a more personal type of content. In their Spotify podcast, “Between Us Queens,” Carla, Pia, and Bianca share with us all their important life lessons. What makes the show special is how they make you feel like you’re part of their conversation, sipping G&T with your friends. In the podcast, they open up about rejections they swallowed, crazy things they've done for love (this one’s hilarious!), as well as their early 20 money mistakes. 

It is indeed her greatest asset, that go-getter mindset, that enabled her to bounce back and stir a new route in her life and career. Carla shows us that everything you want to achieve in life starts with the decision to go for it.

What’s next for this go-getter? Carla says she’s focused on living up to her purpose - building a community of empowering women. With all that she’s faced in life, Carla’s ready to take it slow and empower women to feel confident in whatever they want to do. 

If you feel inspired by Carla’s story, you can listen to her podcast with Pia and Bianca on Spotify (Between Us Queens) and follow her game streaming account. 

—alike.com.ph


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