SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome everyone. Today's guest has taken a path that very few would dare beginning her career as a physician before making a very bold decision to leave medicine behind and step into the world of contemporary art. She is now the founder of Silver Lens Galleries, where she has spent about two decades championing Filipino and Asian diaspora artists on the global stage. Let's explore the courage it takes to reinvent yourself, the decisions that shape a life, and what it really means to go beyond the case. Isa, welcome to the show. How are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Thank you, Sohin. All good, all good. I'm very happy to be here. Happy to see you after what it's been now uh six months, maybe.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Six months. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Yeah. Wow, it's flown by. Yeah, all good. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Yeah. And Isa, you know, I don't think I spoke a lot to you during Unit 1. We didn't interact a lot. So I think this is a great opportunity for me to learn more about you, for the listeners as well. Um, and yeah, so I just wanted to start off by asking you you know, you started your career as a physician in the Philippines.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Yes. So what happened?

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Yeah, what no, what drew you to medicine in the first place?

SPEAKER_01 1:17

Well, medicine, you know, in when I was in school, in high school, there wasn't a lot of opportunity to study art. So it was a very traditional background. You know, if you were good at math or the sciences, you got immediately sent to medical school, or you know, you were sort of put on that track for medical school or for some um, I would say, professional, you know, career professional job. I was, I I come from a family of doctors, and I just thought it it was a good life. And uh I decided to to try and and and go for it. And I got accepted into the College of Medicine, the University of the Philippines College of Medicine, which is probably the most prestigious medical school. It is also the cheapest because it's fully subsidized by the government. Um so I was accepted and I decided, okay, this is it, this is what I'm gonna do with my life. So fast forward, so that was um 1991. I went I went I started um my undergrad uh as a biology student in 1991, and then I I I moved into medical school in 1995. Um, that was five years. So I I graduated in the year 2000 with my with my medical degree. Uh in that time, the more I was in the system, I realized that my heart was not into patient care. Um, when we got into the clinics in the third year of proper, there was so much patient care. Um, you know, and and I remember being incredibly busy, incredibly exhausted, but very, very bored and also unhappy. Also at that time, we had a tragedy in my life. My I lost my father, he was quite young. And um I realized that my God, life is too short. And he he was a very generous man. He was able to, you know, he made it, he made his own, he was self-made. He made his own career um in agriculture, and he was able to make some money. And so he told me on his deathbed that if you I he told me straight out, I know you don't like what you're doing. Um, you're not happy. And um don't worry when when it's when when I'm gone, you you can, you know, you can do, you can figure it out. Try look for it, look for what that one passion is, or that that passion is, and then go for it and and try and be the best at it. So it was an incredible, generous spirit of his. First, for a father to tell his daughter, you know, you don't need to be a doctor. And then second, to say, well, and and then you we will have a little bit of seed money for you to figure it out. So that's that's what happened. That was in 1997. I still had two, three years of of med proper left. I decided to finish it as a backup in case whatever this new career didn't work. It was also on the recommendation of my very, very um practical mother who said, What are you gonna do? You know, you you can't just you you can't just drop this because you've already put in at that point seven years. So I took her advice, finished it, and then as soon as I finished it in 2000, I retired. I I took the boards, medical boards. I'm board certified, and then I once I I got my license, I I retired. So that's that's what happened.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

So you retired after you achieved the dream of most medical students of of being board certified, and you were at the pinnacle at that point and you decided to walk away from life.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Yes. It was it was actually, you know, once the decision had been made. And I'm sure many of you, uh many of us have had this decision wherein when we reach a tough decision, everything becomes easier. Even if it's a difficult decision, you know. So what I mean by that is when I decided that I was not going to practice, I really enjoyed my time in hospital. Because it was going to be, it was almost like, this is the last time I don't need to do this, you know. So I'm just gonna have super have a lot of fun. So I I enjoyed it. And really the most impactful five years of my life to date was medical school.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

And then how did you identify the next uh opportunity for you a way of accessing?

SPEAKER_01 5:59

The next opportunity, it was really I knew I wanted to go into something creative. I wanted to go into media, so either film or TV, even publishing, something creative, something that had to do with supporting creatives. I thought I wanted to be a creative, you know, I wanted to be an artist or I wanted to be someone who was, who was sort of the creative element of that infrastructure. But I realized that I was much, much better at admin. I think all the my training as a doctor, you know, organizational skills, professional skills, structural skills, infrastructure, yeah, I I was I had all of that. So I went back to art school. Um, but it's a combination of um theory and practice. So I went to school here at Parsons School of Design here in New York. Uh, I did a master's degree in media and photography at the new school. And um I work part-time for art galleries here in New York, and I also worked as teachers as a teacher's assistant at the International Center of Photography. And that's really where I dipped my foot into the museum world and the art world. And I just thought it was fascinating that you know, you you enter these these these these spaces, these very grand spaces, and it's filled with all these treasures. And these treasures did not walk in there by themselves. You know, there there was um there's a whole system that keeps this infrastructure, that keeps this world going, and I wanted to be a part of that. In 2004, I wanted to open up an art gallery, um, but New York was not ready for well, somebody like me. Um so I was not the right kind of Asian, I was not kind I was not the right gender, I was not the right, I just was not, I was absolutely invisible in 2004. So I I went home to Manila and I opened the gallery there. So I opened the gallery, I opened Silverlands in April 2004, which is now 22 years ago. And that's the only job I've had since. And we opened uh in Singapore, we had a gallery in Singapore, Silverlands had a gallery in Singapore from 2012 to 2016. It was not a successful enterprise, but it was incredibly uh a huge learning one. As we know, when we when we don't when we fail, we learn more. Um, and then um that sort of led us up to opening up a gallery here in New York in 2022. So now I have galleries in Manila and New York. And as you said, we work with Filipino and Southeast Asian and Asian diaspora artists. And um, we have these two footprints, but we also do a lot of shows all around the world through art fairs and collaborations with other galleries and museums. So, yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

Why do you think New York was not ready for someone like you? And uh also after the business did not fare so well in Manila, you decided to No, in Singapore.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

The business did okay in Manila. It was in Singapore today.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

In Singapore. You decided to start in New York.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

Why not quit at that point?

SPEAKER_01 9:37

So the way my business works is my primary partners are artists. So I am their agent. So we have about 20, uh, 32 artists from all over the world that we are the we are the exclusive agents or dealers for. So my job is to look for markets for these artists. And these artists, over the course of the 20 some years, some of them we've had since the beginning. We've been working with them for 20 years, some of them we've had for three years. So we're constantly looking for markets for them, audiences for them. So audiences and then markets meaning um clients, collectors, whether they be private collectors or museums, institutions who buy work. So it's it's sort of a the business is more, it's I guess it's less commodity, it's more relationships. Right. So even if if it didn't work, let's say in Singapore, it doesn't mean that it was an absolute failure. Because what the footprint in Singapore gave us is it gave us sort of a gateway to the rest of Southeast Asia and to infrastructure systems and collections that are interested in in buying art from the Philippines. It's just not a lot of buyers, but they are important buyers. So the market is small, but we've managed to grow, to keep that market and grow it, you know, in the 10 year, now at 14 years since we opened that space. So we continue to do work there. We just don't have a brick and mortar space. So uh every single institution, museum, well, in let's say in the states or pretty much anywhere in the world, they need a Southeast Asian collection in their inventory or in their uh in you know, within their institutions, within their collections. Because as you know, the the Asian diaspora is huge. I mean, we are part of this, right? So this Asian diaspora wants to see itself in these global institutions. So what does that mean? You know, if a high school student from Delhi, New Delhi walks into the Met Museum and they see, you know, an Indian master, modernist, they are painting, they would be incredibly proud. And this begins sort of a conversation or engagement with art and with the Met and sort of being part of that bigger, bigger um system. And that will drive audiences to go into the Met, especially from the diaspora, which is a whole new audience, which they need. Right? So it's it's it's it's a very long game, Sohin. But yeah, so that's what we do. And with regards to uh yeah, the the the that's why failure, failure doesn't necessarily mean failure. It doesn't mean it's a you know we should shift or quit or transition. It just means that it's not the right time.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

Was your thinking this clear when you were going through the journey where you know you felt your Singapore numbers may not be as per expectation?

SPEAKER_01 12:56

Well, yeah, especially when your bank account is is telling you it's time to go, right? Yeah. I mean, of course, there's a lot of I there's a lot of learning and and wisdom that I've acquired over the years with regards to what we do, especially since there's no playbook, there's no case study for what I'm doing. But there are successful gallerists from all over the world who've been doing this for decades. So I sort of, you know, with one one eye on what I'm doing, and then one eye on what all of these people who've gone before me have done. A lot of it is, you know, I know them personally, or uh it's anecdotal from people who've worked with them. Um, but it's, you know, it's really uh it's a very exciting life. Every day is different. I meet people from all kinds of people from all over the world, all doing different things. And it's um it's kind of crazy how how much fun it is. Yeah, and then OPM, why am I an OPM?

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Yeah, yeah. You know, why are you an OPM?

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Because you know, when Singapore failed first for us, when Singapore did not work out in 2016, I really thought, wait a minute, there must be something. There's there is a chip that I'm missing. Um I I went I spoke to several friends, um, and I was asking them, you know, uh, I guess like career people, yeah, I don't know, uh engineers and um, you know, business people about what can I do to improve my business. And I said, you know, I want to go back to school, but I'm too old and I don't have the time to do an MBA. So one of them, one kind friend who was a graduate of one of the Harvard um continuing education programs at HPS, he told me, you know what, you should go and do something at Harvard. And he said, and even if you don't, even if even if you are not in that mindset to learn, it's a mindset to take a break and just sort of be amongst people who are just as passionate and and committed as you are. So that was in 2016. So uh yeah, now fast forward, um, you know, the pan we we all had to deal with the pandemic. Then in last year, around uh yeah, I would say maybe beginning of last year, I just decided to go onto the website. I I'd never gone into the website before. I went into the website, I looked at all the programs, and I thought, okay, this one. So that's it. That's it. And here we are. I've never taken a business course in my life. So my God, so and I struggled through that accounting.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Those modules of accounting. It was like, this is a the reason why I work in art. But um, but yeah, so I I'm I'm in the OPM program. Happily so. I signed on so that I could learn a little bit about business and about how money can make money. And uh, but I've gotten so much more out of it, which is you know, super special.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

Do you think your background as a physician helps you in some way uh in the way you operate your business?

SPEAKER_01 16:21

Yes, definitely. Our business is very structured, everything is on is scheduled. All my, you know, all the artists have files like they were, they were patients, and all my clients have files like they were patients. So there's a lot of data that we've gathered over the two decades about all of this. And uh the training is is it's very structured. It's it doesn't feel like you're working in an art gallery. It kind of does feel like you're working in a yeah, in a, you know, a very, very structured place.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

From unit one at OPM, what would be some of the takeaways that you still find yourself revisiting?

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Yeah, well, the first, yeah, I mean, when I when I got home or when I got back to my real life, as I'm sure everybody else did, um, you know, you sort of sit down and think, wait, what was that? Then I went through all my notes. I went through sort of um highlights from each of our amazing professors, tried to put them into um a chart for my own life and sort of move them into the different categories. So one thing I really took took took away was to hire people who are overqualified and pay them more. So that has actually given me a lot more time because I have better people. And it was good because I was also about to start on a not a restructuring, but sort of uh an expansion. So it worked. So that's one. And the second thing would be a higher purpose. I know on our last day we had it was a day full of lectures from all of the superstar professors, and basically telling us what's your why are you doing this? Or asking us why are you doing this? What is your higher purpose? Yeah, that's that's something that I I think about every day and I try and apply. Yeah. That's I think these are two big things that I've taken from it.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

I do feel like um you are a mission-driven entrepreneur. Um, and I'm wondering how you're gonna approach your purpose once you're done with unit three. I'd be very interested to find out, you know, how how your approach towards I don't I wouldn't call it business, because I don't think you look at this as a business, but towards how you're interacting with.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

Yeah. It's it's it's you know, more and more. I mean, when I, you know, so in just you know, when I told my family I was gonna do this, they looked at me like I was an alien. Like, what is that? You know, especially, you know, from the Philippines. We are not, you know, art is art is not very high brow, but it's not essential. Not in that way. However, this is the reason why there was such a big blind spot. There was a need for this, there's a need for what we're doing. So, yeah, so what what's what what's what's gonna happen? I don't know. I feel like well, the other thing that that that OPM has done for me is to think about how to make money as an art gallery without having to sell art. So that's that's sort of my project that that I you know when we had our when we had what what was it, when we all sort of had to present something.

SPEAKER_00 19:47

Yeah, OPM Idol.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

Yeah, OPM Idol. So mine is um mine is something about that, about all the other support services that that that art needs that nobody does.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

So Amazing. Um how do you look at digital art? I've been hearing a lot about digitization of art, and I'm wondering, you know, what a what a gallery owner like you thinks about that format.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

I think digital art, okay. So there's video art, there's, you know, there were these like NFTs like maybe four years ago, which have completely bombed. Digital is just a um another medium. It would be like painting or sculpture or drawing or photography or you know, sound installation. So it's just another another medium. It has definitely gotten bigger. The artists that we work with who do work in that tech space or digital space, video space, installation space, they have been doing this even before it became a thing. So it was like they were already doing this sort of playing with technology. That's that's how I would um so there are artists, I would call them, they would be more artists who work with technology rather than digital artists. They tend to, they tend their buyers tend to be museums. They are they're not a lot, but I wouldn't jump on the bandwagon because it's it's it's not there yet. Or it's there, but it's not it's not going to be this next big thing. I think next big things tend to be more gaps in history, in art history. So for example, we are the only Southeast Asian gallery here in New York, and we work with a lot of museums who are trying to fill the gaps in their collections because they don't have any artists from these regions from where we come from. So that's sort of and we're the only ones doing it. So it's like it's amazing how we are we we have that whole space, right? So yeah, I would look at I would look at Regions rather than media.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

Anissa, now if you could go back in time to your younger self, you know, looking at the journey from medicine to arts, what advice would you give your younger self today?

SPEAKER_01 22:10

I would tell myself to enjoy my life more. I think I'm I was a very serious, you know, I was I was a student. I was very diligent. It's very serious. I, you know, I I did all the homework. I did, you know, I did everything. And I realized now that I didn't need to. I think school is good to teach you, uh, you know, young school, like, I don't know, grade school, high school, elementary, high school, college. It's good to teach you sort of foundational skills. Normally, I mean foundational meaning how to communicate. I think that's all you need to learn in school. It's like how to communicate, how to read, how to speak, how to write, how to how how you put your ideas across. And if you learn how to do that in school, then you're gonna be amazing. So yeah, I wish I enjoyed more.

SPEAKER_00 23:07

My last question is Is there any book that you've read which has influenced the way you think you maybe want to share with us?

SPEAKER_01 23:13

Yeah. Um, let me think. Well, one of my favorite books, actually a book that really sort of rocked my my world, is called Um It's a Nonfiction book. It's a history book, actually. Uh, it's called uh How to Hide an Empire.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

Hide an Empire.

SPEAKER_01 23:30

How to Hide an Empire. And it's about the US, how the US built its empire through history, through, through basis, and not through, not through colonization, but through territories. It's very interesting. Uh, it's by Daniel Immerwar. So that's one. So I I actually I read a lot, so that's one book that sort of stayed with me. It took my I took my time to read it. It took me a year to read it because I was just so like I didn't want the book to end. And then I still have it. I recommend that book to any migrant who is in the United States to read that book. Um, and then I also read a lot of nonfiction, so I love a lot of Scandinavian detective books.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

Joe Nesbro, is it?

SPEAKER_01 24:17

Yes, love Joan Espo, yeah. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:23

Love a Scandinavian culture and all. My my daughter goes to a Scandinavian school, actually. And it's yeah, sorry to take some um some some bandwidth here, but it's it's on the same philosophy that you touched on, right? That school is just play and expression, learn how to communicate, right? Explore your surroundings, internalize it, and then find a way to build on your curiosity.

SPEAKER_01 24:47

Exactly. And I curiosity is a very big word for me. I mean, that's the driver of my life. I'm endlessly curious. And um, I will hunt an answer down as far as I can, as far as I can find it. You know, so um, yeah, curiosity. Enjoy, enjoy and be curious. Just don't die in the process.

SPEAKER_00 25:11

Very nice, Isa. Thank you so much for your time. This is um this is a podcast I'll find myself listening to a few times.

SPEAKER_01 25:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

I think you've done a lot of your life lessons in this, a lot of wisdom.

SPEAKER_01 25:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

Uh it feels like take the shot, the the lecture we heard, right? Because he always. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

I mean, nothing ventured, nothing gained. So you gotta do it. And if you don't, if you if you fail at it, doesn't mean you failed, you know. And the other thing is, the other thing I realized is people who are, I mean, how many times do you win, right? You can you you don't win. You you maybe if you win once out of, I don't know, once out of 50 times, or maybe for the super successful people, one out of 20 times, that's amazing. But it's in the it's in the trying. Right? It's in the trying. And even like, you know, coming into the HBS OPM program, I'm like, when I saw the stack of of um of readings we needed to do, I was like, oh my God, like, where is the door? Get me out of here. But you know, we did it. It may seem like easy to the people who've done their MBAs, but it's hard. It's hard to think about. Not not just to read it, but to think about what these things are telling you. Because it's easy to read, but it's like, what does this mean? Right? So, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:42

Where is your art gallery in New York for anyone who's listening, if they want to visit?

SPEAKER_01 26:45

Yeah, so the gallery is it's we're called Silverlands. Uh, we exist on site in New York at uh 24th Street between 10th and 11th Avenues. We're right across the car wash in Chelsea. They have a beautiful standalone building. We open shows maybe every six to every six weeks. So I'm actually here in New York because we have an opening on May 14th by an artist from the northern mountains of the Philippines, whose name is Kawaian de Guilla. And then we also have a footprint of our our our big base is in Manila in Makati City, if if I invite if anyone is coming. We also do art fairs around the world. So we do Art Basel Hong Kong, Art Basel Basel, Art Basle Miami Beach. Sometimes we'll do Freeze. We might do Freeze London this year. I'm not sure yet. But yeah, and uh, we're on Instagram. We are we have a whole media team on Instagram. So Silverlands Galleries. So please follow us there.

SPEAKER_00 27:39

That's good. Thank you, Isa, very much for your time. I wish you well and we'll be in touch.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

Thank you, Soyan, and I'll see you soon.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

See you soon.

SPEAKER_01 27:47

All right, bye bye.