Iya Villania looked back on her journey from growing up in Australia to eventually building a career in Philippine show business.
In an episode of the Kami Ang Inyong Mga... Podcast, Iya shared that although she was born and raised in Australia, she grew up closely connected to Filipino culture and the Filipino community.
"My mom would produce Filipino concerts in Australia. And then we also had a Filipino and Asian grocery store," she recalled. "And so she would produce Filipino concerts along with friends. And so we'd have Martin Nievera, Pops Fernandez."
"Although I was born and raised in Australia, I was still deeply rooted in the Pinoy culture and community," she added.
Through organizing concerts, her mother eventually became friends with several managers and personalities in the Philippine entertainment industry. Among them was talent manager Arnold Vegafria, who later became instrumental in helping Iya start her career in the Philippines.
"So eventually she became friends with managers of you know these artists, and then she became friends with Arnold Vegafria. So, Arnold was my way when I came here as my manager. He said, 'Okay, you know what? Come to the Philippines. Ako ang bahala sa'yo. I'll help you out.' And also tito Randy Santiago. He would also say na, 'Oh, come to the Philippines. Come and visit me, sa... MTB (Magandang Tanghali Bayan)," the television host said.
"And so these were the connections that I had mula sa Australia na when I came here sila 'yung kakilala ko," she added.
Iya moved to the Philippines in 2002 and began auditioning for different projects. However, breaking into the industry did not happen immediately.
"My first job was, well I had to audition for all sorts of things. Siyempre kapag baguhan ka, hindi ka pwedeng mapili. So, I was auditioning for commercials, whatnot. I was also rejected many times," she recounted.
She eventually landed her first regular job. "I came here 2002, got work 2003 as a game jock [for] IBC 13," she said.
Looking back, Iya said she initially thought waiting a year for a break was already a long time. She later realized how fortunate she was to find work within that period.
"Luckily enough for me after a year I got work and I thought that in the year that I gave myself to look for work, I thought that was already long but now I realized, ang ikli lang pala ng panahon. I happened to just be very blessed and lucky to have landed work within that year because I know for others it takes many years," she said.
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Her early hosting experience also helped her become more comfortable speaking in front of the camera.
"It was through that show that I started getting comfortable talking to myself on the camera and then eventually found my way to, well transferred [to] GMA because I did Click" she said.
"I did Click for a time. That's where I met Drew (Arellano). And then after a year, [in] 2004 I went to [ABS-CBN]," she relayed.