COVID 19 has brought everyone to a standstill. And in light of the current situation, the Metro Manila Pride March did not take place in the usual fashion. But that doesn’t stop TÉVIANT from showing up to honor the LGBTQ+ community and join the fight for equality. The brand launches #FreeToBeMe–a three-way campaign which aims to help everyone express themselves fearlessly and creatively.

#FreeToBeMe Virtual Pride Parade

TÉVIANT invites everyone to join a virtual pride parade by posting your best pride look on Instagram and using the hashtag #FreeToBeMe. Best two looks will win a fabulously curated TÉVIANT Pride Kit. See video HERE.

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In an exclusive phone interview of Stylish Magazine with TÉVIANT founder Albert Kurniawan, the beauty visionary shared the inspiration behind the #FreeToBeMe campaign:

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“I have a female fan who recently messaged me on Instagram, and shared her personal story about her closeted gay friend who committed suicide in December 2019. And it was because he had it in his head that he would never be accepted fully by the society for being himself,” Albert narrated.

“She further told me that that friend of hers even had to stay and work in Singapore for ten years. It was because he believed that he would never be free to be truly himself. The story got me in tears because as open as we are today about some LGBT issues, there are some areas that we are still backwards in terms of genuinely and wholly accepting our LGBT community. And for me, I want to send a strong message that we are all free to be ourselves. And I am not saying that about the LGBT community alone. Everyone of us, LGBT and all genders, we should be free to be ourselves and to believe in ourselves. We all deserve freedom to be ourselves.”

Walking the Talk

#FreeToBeMe is geared to giving back to the community. As a kick-off last July 26, Albert Kurniawan himself delivered donations to the Home for The Golden Gays — a shelter for the elderly LGBTQ+.  To furthere help the community, Php 100 for every Teviant product sold from June 25 to July 5 will be donated to Home for The Golden Gays and other lesser fortunate communities.

“It has been  a conscious effort on my end to really focus on helping less mainstream non-government organizations and less fortunate communities, like Home for The Golden Gays. With this pandemic, we have been very active in giving back to the community. We started last March with giving TÉVIANT products to frontliners at the San Lazaro Hospital, then giving grocery packages to some communities in Valenzuela and Caloocan, and now helping Home for The Golden Gays have a permanent place to live in,” he said.

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The beneficiaries of Home for The Golden Gays had recently lost their original home and had to move to a whole new residence. “The property is too small to properly house all our senior LGBT members. So I really wanna help them get a better place by giving them funds from the proceeds of our sales. For every purchase of our product, P100 will be donated to Home for The Golden Gays  and other communities we are supporting. TÉVIANT is still a relatively young brand, and with our small efforts like this, hopefully we can further help our LGBT members at Home for The Golden Gays  and other less fortunate communities.”

The makeup maven behind Heart Evanglista’s and Megan Young’s iconic beauty looks  also mentioned that TÉVIANT gave the beneficiaries some items for hygiene like alcohol and tissue as well as grocery packages, and some TÉVIANT vanity mirrors and the brand’s best-selling eye makeup products.

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“I feel like TÉVIANT‘s eye makeup products can boost anyone’s morale now that we are all wearing masks, and it is especially uplifting for our LGBT members at the Home for the Golden Gays. They still used to organize drag shows and perform before this pandemic so I am hoping once they can perform again, that our vanity mirrors and makeup products can help them beautify themselves again. I personally gave away grocery packages too, and I even met the iconic Markova herself who also stays at the Home. I watched her biopic movie where she was played by Dolphy and I was happy to meet her in person. I listened to their stories and learned some of their challenges. I wanna bring awareness that they too are affected by this pandemic and they also need help,” the makeup artist said.

Albert shared that months ago, he also felt initially depressed about the effects of pandemic. But he chose to still look at the brighter side of things, uplift himself and do his part in helping people who are struggling even more during these dark times. “I told myself, will I just cry and pity myself, or actually stand up to inspire people to have hope? I chose the latter. I want to extend my help and share hope to people around me even with our humble efforts. I believe we can all get through this together if we share hope and inspire each other to be strong in these challenging times. ”

TÉVIANT for Everyone

TÉVIANT wants to arm everyone with extra confidence, color, and pride through its products. In partnership with various influencers, TÉVIANT offers 10% off on top of their already-slashed-prices on all their products on Shopee and on their website.

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“Celebrating, supporting, and embracing equality has always been at the core of  TÉVIANT. With everything that’s happening in the world right now, we want to make sure that no one feels alone and unaccepted. Pride has been one of our most colorful festivities to celebrate and fight for inclusivity in diversity, love, and just being oneself. Even in the time of COVID 10, we won’t let Pride be cancelled. TÉVIANT is bringing the festivities online through our #FreeToBeMe campaign,” the TÉVIANT CEO said.

Pride is a feeling, a culture, a recognition of dignity and equality. While TÉVIANT recognizes the gravity of the pandemic, it is in no way letting it stomp on pride. Now, more than ever, is the time to look after one another and champion love and solidarity.

TÉVIANT is an LGBTQ+-owned beauty brand that continues to promote inclusivity in diversity by bringing premium and best quality products to..

Check out teviantbeauty.com or follow @teviant on Instagram to learn more anout the campaign and cop your favorite TÉVIANT products.

 

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