A STUDENT OF BEAUTY

Twenty-four hours into a social media detox, Gabbi Pascua picked up her phone and recorded this. Not because it was planned, but because the clarity came on a walk, and she needed to say it out loud. In this episode, she names the fear she's been carrying: wanting to step into the creator and public-facing space but stopping herself from it. She talks about the podcast she started in 2018 and put down because of a seed of doubt, what it's like to navigate funding rounds for a media company while figuring out what it means to be a woman in her mid-to-late 30s, and why stepping away from social gave her the creativity, confidence, and clarity to finally step in.

There's a cost to building something. Time. Relationships. The version of yourself you thought you were supposed to be. In this episode, Gabbi Pascua gets honest about what it's actually cost her to build ASOB Media and the documentary series A Study on Beauty: missed family moments, letting go of material things, and shedding an identity she outgrew. She's in the middle of it right now, and she's sharing what that actually looks like. For anyone who is building something and wondering if it's worth it.
Finding Beauty Every Day is an audio exclusive from A Study on Beauty.

Being seen is something I have been quietly struggling with for over a decade. And in this episode of Finding Beauty Every Day, I'm finally talking about it.
I spent 15 years as a professional makeup artist working in LA, in entertainment, in television. I was trained to stay behind the scenes. And even now, as a co-founder of ASOB Media and creator of A Study on Beauty, showing up on camera, using my voice, putting myself out there has been one of the hardest muscles to build.
In this episode, I share three things that have genuinely helped:
Showing up makes you a better communicator. The cringe is part of the process. It gets better the more you do it.
Nobody cares about what you're doing. But they do care when it relates to them. That distinction changes everything.
The right people show up for you. In your community, in your process, in your corner. And the ones who don't? Let them go.
I also get honest about deleting a blog in 2013 out of fear, getting removed from jobs because of social media, and why I finally decided to just push through.
If you've been holding back from showing up, this one is for you.
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host @gabbipascua
Produced by ASOB Media.

What does it mean to find beauty in starting over? In this episode, Gabbi Pascua gets honest about taking a leap of faith at 32, spending four years unrooted, and arriving at the most fulfilled she's ever been. She talks about comparison, the pressure of being a woman in her mid-thirties, and why she believes fulfillment can't happen without truth. If you've ever felt the pull to do something different and haven't jumped yet, this one is for you.

In this episode of Finding Beauty Every Day, Gabbi gets honest about navigating a challenging season: no permanent address, four years of constant change across Asia, Europe, and the US, and the quiet work of figuring out what actually grounds her when external validation stops being enough.
She shares three practices that have genuinely helped her find beauty in the everyday, not because they're trendy, but because they work for her. Sleep and the discipline around it. Morning meditation and the science behind why those first five minutes matter. And movement, even when you really don't want to.
She also reflects on what beauty has taught her this week: that concealer can only hide so much, and that saying "I'm not okay" might be the first real step toward actually being okay.
This is a show about finding what works for you, not following someone else's formula.

Joy isn't a mood. It's a practice. In this episode of Finding Beauty Every Day, Gabbi gets honest about navigating a heavy season — loss, transition, and uncertainty — and what it looks like to intentionally search for joy when it doesn't come naturally. From a journal she once called "The Good Things Journal" to noticing golden hour light and listening for laughter in public spaces, she shares the small, real ways she's been finding beauty in the everyday. Plus: a peek at what's coming this summer, including a How to Shop series for global travelers.
 
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Gabbi sits back down with Shale Albao, founder of Tadhana Fragrance, one of the first Philippine perfume brands formulated, sourced, and built entirely in the Philippines. In this second part of their conversation, they go deeper into the raw materials that make Tadhana so distinct, the ingredients the Philippines has quietly been exporting to luxury fragrance houses for decades, and what it means to finally tell that story on your own terms.
From ylang ylang's true origins to the earthy nuance of Vetiver Filipina, from calamansi extract to the brand's most beloved scents, this episode is a love letter to Philippine perfumery and the renaissance happening right now in Filipino beauty. Shale shares what it felt like when every step of building Tadhana confirmed she was on the right path, and Gabbi reflects on the gravitational pull of destiny and what it means to sprint toward something before the window closes.

What does it actually mean to take care of yourself when your job is beauty? In this episode of Finding Beauty Every Day, Gabbi Pascua traces the through-line between her career as a makeup artist and the wellness practice she built alongside it — from a career panel at beauty school that changed how she thought about her body, to the morning routines, journaling habits, and spiritual observations that became the foundation of how she shows up.
She gets honest about the early years: the erratic call times, the oversleeping, the missed jobs, and the slow realization that grounding herself wasn't optional — it was professional. She also shares a story about a friend's offhand comment that stung precisely because she was at her healthiest, and what that moment revealed about comparison, projection, and the quiet battles everyone in the beauty industry is fighting.
This one is personal, reflective, and real — a reminder that the most successful people Gabbi has ever worked with all had one thing in common: they knew how to take care of themselves first.

In this first daily audio exclusive, Gabbi Pascua gets honest about comparison, divine-guided pivots, and why she stopped holding out on the audience that was actually showing up. She reflects on how Los Angeles shaped her relationship with health, spirituality, and creative freedom — and why the world is finally catching up to what she's always known: that wellness isn't a trend, it's a lifeline. A conversation for anyone building something different, pivoting with purpose, or learning to stop looking left and right.

In this episode of A Student of Beauty, we sit down with Shale Albao, the visionary founder and classically trained perfumer behind Tadhana. Shale shares her incredible journey from running a chemical distribution business to following a "wild" desire to study perfumery in Versailles and Grasse, France.
 
We dive deep into:
The Meaning of Tadhana: How destiny and "unexpected surprises" shape her fragrance philosophy.
Global vs. Local: Why she chose to base her brand in the Philippines despite the allure of the world’s perfume capital, Grasse.
The Power of Ingredients: Bringing unique Philippine raw materials like Calamansi and coconut water to the global stage.
Starting Over at 38: Honoring your creative "spark" and finding your ikigai (purpose) later in life.
Whether you're a fragrance enthusiast or someone standing at a crossroads in your career, Shale’s story is a powerful reminder to anchor yourself in your "why" and have the courage to start again.