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October 2, 2023 31 mins
You have an eye for looks that excite, always moving fashion forward? Have you ever thought my style belongs on the runway? Meet Lydia Querian, she is using her vision in fashion to share Filipino culture while honoring the art of weaving and the elders that came before her. Join us in this episode as we get a behind the scenes peek at her journey towards her debut at Paris Fashion Week. We talk about the excitement, the groundwork that got her company, Daily Malong, here and how she’s been able to bring her family along as she checks off accomplishment on her goals list. Lydia talks about how she gathered up the courage to leave a comfortable job to take a leap towards her true passion in fashion and now, this wife, mom of a beautiful baby girl, who is also expecting another has put her stamp on Fashion Week with more exciting things to come. Come along, let’s give flowers to this working warrior woman who was recently featured in Vogue as she celebrates her Filipino heritage while educating the world and making us look stunning!

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Episode Transcript

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(00:00):
This Mama got Drama back for anotherepisode. I can't believe we're already in
season two and so excited to finallyhave one of our amazing sisters on the
podcast. Whether she is an awardwinning artist and music, dance, fashion,
she's taking over all of these industriesand she's continuing to do this greg
work. Let's make some noise forLydia carry out. She's here with us

(00:22):
today. Yay, Hello, Ray, how are you? Thank you for
having me? Hello, thank you, thank you for joining us. I
mean it's already a juggle, rightbecause you're doing all of these things,
working on all of these projects.You have a baby girl, and again,

(00:42):
congratulations again. Yeah, it's awhirlwind of like chaotic but also blissful
moments, right you know. Yeah, this this second one, I wasn't
really expecting it, but it's here, another big, big girl. So
I think I was actually hoping fora girl because you know, there's too

(01:07):
much toxic masculinity around. I feellike I need to breathe, you know,
stronger and like badass women. Yes, and you are a badass woman
and you're the one to do it. So let's talk about the fashion line
because it's been nothing but excitement.I mean, you've already taken over New
York Fashion Week. Now you're gettingready to launch in another way. What

(01:32):
is it? What's the newest excitingnews when it comes to fashion for Daily
Malone? Well, we are goingto Paris this year. Yeah. Yeah,
I was telling Ray earlier that,you know, I think there were
producers that were impressed on my runwaylast year in New York and they were

(01:53):
like, oh, you should bebringing this to Europe. And I was
given an option for Milan or Paris, and I was like, oh,
I want to go to Paris.We're going to Paris and I can only
do one. I always like havingmy family over with me. I don't
know if people have observed my socialmedia at all. My daughter is always

(02:16):
attached to me and whatever I do, so you know, I want to
make it sustainable for my family andnot make it too crazy. So yeah,
we're going to Paris. I loveit, love it. We'll tell
the folks a little bit about DailyMalong that are just living under a rack
and not really understanding what's going onhere. Yeah. Well, let me

(02:38):
give you a brief history. Icame from radio. I actually used to
work with, right, But youknow, on this side, during that
time, I was in a lotof deep cultural work, right I was.
I was doing like folk dancings,doing music, doing community work.

(03:00):
And then you know, part ofthat is being able to immerse in different
indigenous communities in the Philippines. SoI went south. Southern Philippines is like
one of at that time. Becauseright now, honestly, I'm so blown
away by how you know, commonyou know, all these cultural stuff is

(03:23):
anymore. And you know, propsto whoever are like organizing in the Philippines.
They've made it really really popular,Like big influencers like Brett Munrock for
example, he's wearing it, he'swearing my clothes, He's wearing all of
these you know, other had wovenindigenous textiles in his clothing and it's really

(03:43):
really beautiful to watch. But duringthat time, I think that was over
ten years ago, we went tominda Now in mainstream news, Meanda now
is the most carry part of thePhilippine supposedly, right, They're like,
oh my god, that's where theIslamic you know, you know, whatever

(04:05):
the rebels are and all that stuff. And I was just like, you
know what, it's just like goinganywhere. I'm gonna I'm gonna get on
the plane, I'm gonna do this. My parents were like, what the
heck are you doing? And I'mlike, I'm going on an adventure.
I had to find something for myselfat that time, and I was also

(04:29):
going through like a tough personal momentat that time, so I was like,
you know, I needed this.I went and it was the most
peaceful, most artistic, most incredible, most delicious food that I've ever had
in my life. And I'm like, what am I thinking? You know.
And the thing about that is,you know, being an immigrant at

(04:53):
that time, I think I've onlybeen in the States for like, you
know, five or six years atthat time, it was good to see
the perspective of how it is beingan immigrant person, and then also how
it is coming back and really diggingdeeper into your own culture. Even if
I grew up there. You know, it's very western nice where I grew

(05:16):
up, and they adore Western things. So being able to find and see
the deepest, rudest, you know, indigenous things that is not that is
Filipino, that is not like it'spre colonial, it's pre Philippines and it's
you know, it's not something that'sbeing shown out there in Hollywood or whatever.

(05:41):
Right, So I'm like, oh, this is incredible. And then
I realized, like, you know, these these textiles, the weaving materials
that they have, this could belike a fancy thing on the runway,
but anybody and where this this isnot very different from any big designer sting.

(06:03):
So I started bringing like ten piecesand sewing a bunch of things,
and then you know, it wassold out for like a week or a
week or so, and I waslike, okay, this is it.
Sent out my resignation letter. I'mlike, I'm doing this. I'm taking
the leap. And then yeah,that's when I started it. And you

(06:27):
know, next thing, you know, I'm dressing up people that are in
Hollywood, you know, costume designingfor like this, I have a upcoming
field that I costume designed for.You know, there's there's a bunch of
opportunities that showed up and it's incredibleto you know, to be in this

(06:48):
journey and then also vis a visbeing a mother at the same time.
Yeah, I mean, it's it'sone of those things too that you know
you're you're able to bring your childrenalong for right, because you kind of
have the ability to make your schedulewrap around, yeah, around your family,

(07:08):
around your life. Right. Well, So after that one trip,
I committed myself to going back andeven like exploring other indigenous communities northern,
southern, you know, eastern whatever. And it's not just learning about their
waving weaving culture, it's learning abouttheir lifestyle and basically like understanding how do

(07:31):
I reindigenize myself so that I canapply these ancestral knowledge right to my own
family life. Because kids, they'rethey're like incredibly smart, and you know,
they know they care about their community. They know that they're they're this
small piece of a bigger family anda bigger community. So they're very motivated

(07:57):
to contribute to, you know,to their community. And like part of
it is, you know, understanding, like what does the mother do,
what does the father do? Likethey're farming being they're basically entrepreneurs. They
go out there to trade their goodsand then they come back, but their
their family is always attached to themlike a breastfed for two years and like

(08:18):
she she basically was just attached tome while I'm doing all these things,
and like for a lot of peopleand for a Western mindset. You know,
what we would think is that Ihave to go to work, I
have to leave my kids somewhere andall that stuff, and that's normal.
You know, it's really really difficultto survive a family in the Western society.

(08:43):
But I'm fortunate that, you know, everything that I've saved up in
my whole corporate career, I waslike, this is why I did that,
is because I need to be inthis situation where I'm able to focus
on my family and also do somethingthat I really, really, really I'm
passionate about eventually, and you know, my kids will grow you know why

(09:05):
that and maybe eventually taking over whateverdoing something better than I am. You
know, that would be amazing,And that's exactly the seed that we're trying
to plan. I mean, howhow has it been for you though?
Because you are literally building something froma ceiling from the ground up doing it,

(09:26):
you know, like you said,breastfeeding your baby all throughout now with
a new baby on the way,I mean, how has it been for
you juggling all of that. Well, there was this book I was reading.
It's called Hunt, Gather, Parent, and it's also similar to what
I've been trying to learn around theseindigenous and pre colonial you know, communities,

(09:48):
is that you make your family apart of your life, and then
you'll also let everybody around you beresponsible for that one kid when you create
a child or when you you know, yeah, when you procreate and you
decide you wanted to have a child, you know, it's basically your your

(10:11):
parents, that your siblings, everybody'sresponsible for that kid. And it's basically
like creating that village that you needaround you to be able to take care
of your child, not just you. It doesn't have to fall on the
mother all the time because you're alreadybreastfeeding, you're already giving like five percent
of your life. You need toallow other people to like really really have,

(10:39):
you know, the ability to takecare of your child and be able
to allow your child to like havethat interaction and experience love from other people.
So it's fortunate to have like mybrother and my mom, my mother
in law, you know, theywere here helping me around during the process
of like growing that whole thing,and we had a few friends in and

(11:01):
out of our house, like tryingto like support you know, the little
things like cooking at breakfast or likeyou know, I don't know, tidying
up the kitchen, or like watchingwatching my baby for like an hour or
so, and then for me tobe able to go back to her after
those are like big things, right, and then you know, bringing her

(11:24):
over to the Philippines help a lottoo, because she's experiencing how it is
to be in an even bigger communitywhere everybody cares for each other, right
right, right, you know,like Okay, someone's gonna pick up your
mess if you know you can't doit, and then you can go ahead
and rest that kind of stuff.It's it's it's different, you know.

(11:46):
It's basically like reindigenizing the way thatwe are living our lives because we're so
used to isolating ourselves and then beingdependent on like oh, I'm just gonna
put our childcare or I'm just gonnayou know, you know, have someone
take care of her, babysit her, and then I'll go live my life
and then go back to her.Like the way the chemistry of the mom

(12:09):
and daughter relationship is different as supposedto, Like when you're actually being surrounded
by a village that cares about you. Yeah, yeah, and the village
is so important. We talk aboutit all the time. We give our
gratitude for our village because without it, like we wouldn't be able to survive.
And you know, you talk aboutthese little things that the village can

(12:31):
do for you, but I meanthey're huge. When you're juggling, like
being a parent who hasn't slept much, you're actually trying to chase after some
of these dreams and goals you have, and this little person is just looking
up at you for anything, right, It's like that village. Those little
things means so much. The littlemoment, Yeah, like throwing the diaper

(12:56):
on the trash or oh my gosh, you have the trash and putting it
on the bind. That's the bigdeal because that's five minutes of your life
that you could actually be spending withyour daughter. Yes, yes, and
it means so much. So youknow, it is really important to build
that support system around you. Noteveryone has, you know, that ability,
And sometimes it does take you saying, you know what, my friends

(13:18):
are actually my family now and thisis this is who's gonna be around us
and who's gonna help us during thistime. I mean, let's let's jump
back into the fashion part of itthough. I mean you're traveling a lot,
you're moving around a lot, you'rebringing the whole family along for the
ride, which is amazing and beautiful. But what is it about the fashion
piece that just was like, thisis this is me? This is what

(13:39):
I'm gonna do. I've always lovedfashion, Like I don't know, when
you see me in the office,I always dress up, like, no,
I don't want it. Sometimes it'sweird, sometimes it's nice, sometimes
it's very like modern. Sometimes I'mlike I just feel like being God right
now or whatever. But I've alwaysloved fashion. And you know, but

(14:01):
like I mean, growing up ina Filipino family, there's always this thing
where like, oh, you gottabe a doctor, that's be a lawyer,
don't be a nurse or whatever,right, and you know, in
the Philippines, they signed to schoolso they don't have a choice. It's
like, okay, well this iswhat my parents want me to do.

(14:22):
And then I met them on youknow, in the middle, because it
was quite a it was quite therebel when I was growing up. I
was like, oh, you needto do this. I'm like, oh,
I don't know if I want todo that really, So I took
a business courseh had my master's degree, but like I realized, like whatever

(14:45):
I learned there did not really likeresonate with me, and I didn't use
it. Maybe the diploma helped,like, you know, push me forward
a little bit, but like whenI moved and migrated to the US,
it's like all those are useless.So I was like, well, how
am I going to make this happen? Because I already I know how to

(15:05):
sew. My inspiration was my grandma. She taught me how to sew an
apron when I was like in secondgrade or whatever. And then since then
I was just like I like puttingtogether stuff. I like fixing, like
you know, the little terror onyour shirt and all that stuff. And

(15:26):
then you know, Project Runway comeson television and I'm like, oh,
I'm all over it. Yeah.So when I was trying to figure out
what I'm gonna do in my lifeafter that whole eye opening trip, I
was like, I'm you know,this is an opportunity and you know,
maybe I should try to make ithappen. Right after I sent out my

(15:52):
two week notice, I hopped ona plane to go to New York Wow,
went on a program with Parsons andthen you know, came back,
did some online stuff and then youknow, it's it's a it's a year
and a half certification program. AndI'm like, I actually don't really need

(16:14):
that technically because I already know howto do everything. I just really need
to make it happen. So I'mjust like, right, well, I'm
gonna make it happen now. Andthen I started selling with friends and family
and all that stuff, and thenyou know, Instagram, Facebook helped all
the social stuff, and then youknow it's there. We're in fashion week.

(16:36):
You're a fashion week, and Imean the pieces are not I mean,
it's like so natural the way youtook this indigenous fashion and brought it
to the runway like it just belongsthere, you know, and you make
it so modern yet so like culturallyinclusive for the historical piece of it.
I mean, if you haven't checkedout these ps, you definitely need to

(17:00):
get on social media. Of course, give them the handles. Real quick
handle is at daily Malo. It'sd A I L Y m A l
o n G. Website is alsowww dot daily molon dot com. Yeah,
I mean, right, stunning.It's stunning, like like you look

(17:21):
at it and you're just like you'reswept away, but you're also like,
so it's it's it's like first class, right, Like it's like it really
has that elite kind of feeling too. Well, that's the thing is that
you know a lot of these thingsare very incredibly intricately beautiful, right,
rights something that's not being represented aspart of our culture, right And you

(17:48):
know when when when you look atwhen people talk about Filipino culture or Philippine
culture outside of the Philippines, it'snormally like you know, the Philippine nana
butterfly sleeve dress. It's the cheapness, the manipactus and all that stuff.
Nothing wrong with that. You know, there's still representative of our culture.

(18:08):
But you know, how do youreally represent over seven thousand islands. It's
a big, big, big countryof different subcultures in it, and over
one hundred and forty two ethno linguisticgroups, Like how do you represent that?
So, you know, I feelI felt the need to be that

(18:29):
kind of like voice and vessel forthese communities who are quite honestly being kind
of erased from like that whole mapyou know, because the culture that we
know in the US and in theWestern societies are you know, very Manila
centric, which is the capital.There's nothing wrong with that, but you
know, again there's a lot more, so much more that so yeah,

(18:56):
and you know, all the goldtrimmings, all the really intric weaving those
are like, you know, they'revery chic, they're divine when you look
at the runway that you know,it's it's something that everybody in Hollywood or
you know, in your or wherevercan be wearing. But like, why
are we not talking about it asa representation of our culture? You know,

(19:18):
And that's kind of like the coreand the soul inspiration of all of
it is that you know, beingable to like bring it out there and
like, you know, let theworld see and understand that this is not
just a limited, monolithic culture.It's not a very diverse one that's composed
of many other you know things excitingand I can't wait to see what we

(19:41):
you know, get get a peekat when you share with us what's going
to happen at Paris Fashion Week,and you gave us a little hint that
you're going to be in an upcomingmovie. Can you give us any little
kind of well after fashion Week lastyear, so I was offered to go
to Paris. And then there's thishe's a visual artist of a big Marvel

(20:07):
movie, okay, and he decidedto go on his own feature film,
and he said, I want youto design my costumes. So we just
finished shooting the series. It's notgonna be a Seriou's gonna be a short
for now, and then it's goingto be eventually a series end of May,
right after the whole Goncers prostow crazy. And then while all of these

(20:33):
is happening, I was like,oh my god, I'm pregnant. Wow.
Yeah, we just finished shooting everythingin the middle of May, and
I think they're on editing right now, so it should come out pretty soon.
But yeah, that's a lot,right, Like you're you're putting on
your hand your show that you haveGoncious Paradise. If you haven't heard about

(20:56):
it, please look it up,please be a part of it. And
then you're you're designing for a videoof basically a movie shoot right Like it's
it's you're on the set, rightand you're pregnant. I mean, this
is a lot. How do youone of the time, I don't know,
right, twenty all of them justlike fell in my lap, and

(21:18):
I'm like, yes, ee,do I do with this? You do
it and you succeed and you thrive. Yeah, you thrive, and then
like your daughters or your sons willwatch you get over that whole you know,
crazy thing, but like become out, resilience, stronger, and even
the best person. Yes, youknow, life is short. I you

(21:41):
know, you don't want to passon opportunities when you don't to, right,
And then yeah, you just bringyour family, bring your family along.
Well. One of the things welike to ask our moms that are
they're doing all of these amazing things, is you know, what are you
doing to maintain your self care?Because it's so important right, Like you're

(22:02):
caring for so many things around you, your business, your family, your
extended family, your elders. Whatare you doing to maintain self care?
Well, first of all, weneed self care for all the moms out
there. That's like the number onething you don't want to forget that I

(22:22):
always leave one or two hours formyself. May that be like early in
the morning, late at night,It's gonna be just a meat time.
And I like doing it early inthe morning because when everybody's sleeping, it's
very peaceful. I greet the sunrise, you know that kind of stuff.

(22:42):
So wake up at like five inthe morning, I do my workout,
my meditation, you know, drinka cup of tea, and then when
my daughter starts making noise, andyou know, I'm back on the job.
But you know, self care isnot just about getting a massage or

(23:02):
you know, being able to geta facial or get your nails done.
It's about having that really like solemnmoment for yourself and being able to just
really understand what am I feeling rightnow? What does my body need?
What does my body want right now? That kind of stuff, and I
get it goes back to that villagethat you have. You need to lean

(23:26):
onto that, right You need tobe able to like bring your child to
your village and say, hey,I need a break, you know,
let me walk, let me walkover the mall, or like go hike
the park for a little bit,or like, you know, whatever that
is. You need to be ableto listen to your body. You know,
I think that amazing incredible moms whoare like who like you who are

(23:55):
like, you know, doing thework and then also at the same time
like raising chill in right, they'reable to like find that time sitting on
a corner not being bothered by anything, or being able to like run a
mile or whatever that is. Youknow, it's gonna be like you time,
and you need to find that timeonce a day, yes a week,

(24:18):
no, once a day. It'svital. It's vital. I mean
I think that you have you know, you're you're just beginning. Even though
we've seen such great success for youalready, I feel like this is just
a tip of the iceberg. Andyou did something really kind of earth shaking,
right, Like you took a leapquit a job where you were actually

(24:41):
doing well, right, and yousaid, no, I want to do
this. This is where I'm passionate. This is where I find you know,
life right. And so what issomething that you would tell that woman
that's like, ooh, I wantto do this. I really want to
take the lead, but I'm justI'm comfortable. I'm safe, right,

(25:03):
I'm secure where I'm at. Whatdo you say to that woman to just
say, hey, this is themotivation that you need to take the leap
here's the push. Well I usedto say that, like, oh I'm
comfortable right now. I could justbe collecting that paycheck every month, right
right, But you know, discomfortis beautiful. The risking things is beautiful.

(25:26):
It's part of you know, theworld is a balance of the nice
and the not so nice. Andsometimes if it's so cruising, that's all
nice. There's sending balance in yourcheek, in your you know whatever,
your body, your soul, andyou need to allow your body to experience

(25:47):
that discomfort. It's kind of likeit's growing pains, it's being able to
you know, Okay. Making achild is an example, yes, yes,
you know. You you have sexwith someone and then you create this
human being in your womb. Likeright, there's there's a discomfort around that,

(26:12):
not always like oh my god,roses and soft satin bed and all
right, you know, and thenthe pain that comes with it is something
that you lean on to because thatwill flourish and feed your soil to grow.

(26:37):
It's not just about getting to whereyou want to be in a beautiful
and graceful manner. Sometimes graceful lookslike you, I don't know, I'm
gonna use dancing terms sometimes graceful lookslike you know, you twisted an ankle,
you know, and then you stillcome out like in a very presentable,

(27:00):
beautiful, you know, like nothing'shappening kind of and then you take
your bow in front of your audienceand stuff. But yeah, it's it's
a balance of life. If ifyou don't allow yourself to experience the hardships
of life, motherhead, career andstuff, then you're not getting you know,

(27:23):
you're just gonna be where you are, which is okay too. But
if that's your comfort zone and youcan't really take any more risk, how
about it. But if you reallywant more out of life, you need
to be comfortable being uncomfortable. Yeah, that's true. That is true.
I mean, it's it's the discomfortis a real thing. But you can

(27:48):
do it and you can push throughit, and once you come out on
the other side, like you said, you're gonna be this stronger version of
yourself that's more educated, that's morebuilt for you know, thriving. Yeah,
it's like giving birth right, it'sso painful. Your body changes,
you know, you your body goesthrough a lot of things, and then

(28:08):
when the baby comes out, youtotally forget all of that, and then
you see the kid and you're justlike, oh my goodness, I made
this ship right right right? No, And that's that Actually that that kind
of goes through your head for thecoming weeks. You're like getting to know
this human being. You're like,oh my god, this yeah, I

(28:30):
made this, you know. Andthen even more so, they start growing
up, they started being a smartass. They started asking and I'm like,
oh my goodness, that ship camefrom my vagina, Like what the fuck?
You know? I made that?And then you know, there's there's
like a there's like a combination oflike this blissful moment of like, wow,

(28:52):
I'm a mother, and then allat the same time, like how
to fuck this has happened, Andyou're still in awe because it's a miracle,
right right, Like because you leanedinto that pain and into that discomfort
of being able to be pregnant forlike nine months, it doesn't stop,
Your motherhood doesn't really stop. Embracethat pain, embrace all of the discomfort

(29:15):
around it, and then you growa very beautiful child that that's about to
rock the world too. Yeah.Yeah, and you talk, you said,
you know, you go through thatnine months. They lie to you,
it's ten it's ten months. Okay, people here, you still need
to heal after that, you needto heal. Yeah, it's it's a

(29:38):
long process. But it's amazing tobe in this journey, on this journey
and and so grateful right for theopportunity to be this human beings parent.
I mean, it's it's amazing.But we're excited to see when new things
you take over. We're excited tosee you on our TV screens or movie

(29:59):
screen and we're just gonna be onthe lookout, of course, follow Lydia
and the whole crew at daily mylong, there's gonna be so much to
check out. Oh, we're soexcited for my runway on Paris is September
twenty nine to thirty. Nice.So we're kind of like my that's why
I blurred my background. I wastrying to like clear it's so bessy in

(30:22):
my studio right now because we're preparingfor all of that. We're leaving in
two weeks. So yeah, it'sa lot. It's a lot, and
you have to transport all this stuffin child and my big as belly.
Oh my god, it's a lot. It's a lot going on. It's
a lot going on. Well,we can't wait to see what's up next

(30:42):
for you guys. And congratulations againmommy number two. Continuing to grow the
tribe. Love it, love it, love it. Thank you for coming
on with us on this Mamma Godrama. And we're gonna have you back
on once you have the baby,so that'd be like February and we'll we'll
talk, yah, we'll talk everythingthat went down and how twenty twenty four

(31:04):
is kicking off for you. Allright, Thank you so much, Thank
you for having me, lovely loveto have you, and we can't wait
until the next time. We'll talkto you soon. Talk soon.
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Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

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