<p class="p1">At 26, Gabbi Garcia has been in the spotlight for over a decade &mdash; and she&rsquo;s set to stay there much, much longer.</p>

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<p style="text-align: center;"><span><strong>PHOTOGRAPHY</strong> Charisma Lico</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span><strong>CREATIVE DIRECTION</strong>&nbsp;</span>Loris Pe&ntilde;a</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>STYLING</strong> Yanna Lopez</p>
<p><span>G</span><span>abbi Garcia is </span><span>busy</span><span>. On the day of the cover shoot for<em> </em></span><em>L&rsquo;Officiel Philippines</em><span>, unexpected rain delays proceedings by a couple of hours, pushing it beyond the cutoff on </span><span>the call sheet. But Gabbi and her team are determined to get everything done &mdash; this interview included &mdash; because tomorrow, she&rsquo;s off to film at 5 AM on location. They&rsquo;re also racing to get that done because Gabbi is flying out of the country for about a week. &ldquo;For a vacation?&rdquo; I ask. No, for work, says Gabbi&rsquo;s rep from the Sparkle GMA Artist Center. </span></p>
<p><span>This week isn&rsquo;t the only busy one for Gabbi. She&rsquo;s had a busy year to date: On March 9, she made her debut as one of the hosts of </span><em>Pinoy Big Brother: Celebrity Collab Edition</em><span>, which keeps her busy for most of the week. She&rsquo;s also starring in </span><em>Slay</em><span>, the first GMA-produced Viu Original murder mystery series, where she plays Amelie. Next, she has a series on Netflix called </span><em>How to Cheat Death</em><span>, which she shot in 2024 with her boyfriend and fellow actor Khalil Ramos. And lastly, Gabbi is reprising her role as Sang&rsquo;re </span><span>Alena in </span><em>Encantadia Chronicles: Sang&rsquo;gre</em><span>, a spin-off of the 2016 reboot of the iconic 2005 </span><em>fantaserye</em><span>. </span></p>
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<p><span>And those are just the main things she&rsquo;s working on. In between, Gabbi is making various appearances and doing brand work, like the trip she&rsquo;s taking. It&rsquo;s a grueling schedule even for a 26-year-old. But at the shoot, despite the rain-induced delay and her packed calendar looming over her head, Gabbi makes </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">no complaints. And when it&rsquo;s time for the interview, which was scheduled at the end of the day, there isn&rsquo;t a trace of fatigue on her face. She lights up, adorned with Tiffany jewelry, which amplifies her duality as an elegant and edgy muse. She quickly delivers an eloquent and thoughtful answer every time. She is </span><em><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">on</span></em><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">. And it&rsquo;s here where it becomes clear that the name Gabbi Garcia isn&rsquo;t just a passing fad, nor a celebrity making the most of her turn in the limelight &mdash; Gabbi is setting the stage for a long career ahead.</span></p>
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<p><span>Throughout the day, Gabbi is a consummate professional. Every photo layout and video take goes smoothly, and the interview ends in just 30 minutes. Not because she&rsquo;s in a rush, but because she simply knows what she&rsquo;s doing and knows exactly what to give. It&rsquo;s easy to watch her, whether in person or through a screen, because all the hard work and skill she&rsquo;s built over 11 years in show business shines through effortlessly. </span></p>
<p><span>Not that there isn&rsquo;t sufficient proof &mdash; there&rsquo;s more than enough of Gabbi to watch these days. But how does she manage it all while staying so grounded? &ldquo;I really like what I&rsquo;m doing,&rdquo; she says. The answer almost sounds suspicious, like it came out of an </span><span><em>artista</em> </span><span>media training handbook, but it makes sense later. &ldquo;I find time, I make this conscious effort to try to manage every single thing,&rdquo; she adds, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tiring, yes, it&rsquo;s exhausting, but I enjoy what I&rsquo;m doing, so I really do it.&rdquo; </span></p>
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<p><span>"I'm not afraid to say no."</span></p>
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<p><span>Being busy is something that comes naturally to the GMA star. &ldquo;I get anxious when I&rsquo;m not busy,&rdquo; she says, &ldquo;But I can&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;m a workaholic, because I try to balance everything else still.&rdquo; She gets restless when she doesn&rsquo;t have anything on the books. </span></p>
<p><span>To maintain her sanity, Gabbi divides her time between two &ldquo;seasons.&rdquo; She&rsquo;s currently in her hustling season, where she goes all </span><span>out and fills her schedule to the brim. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m working every single day,&rdquo; she says. But once that&rsquo;s over, she &ldquo;harvests,&rdquo; taking a long break and enjoying the fruits of her labor. But this all depends on how many things she&rsquo;s juggling&mdash;if she has a day to spare in between, she&rsquo;ll gladly take it. It&rsquo;s a balancing act that&rsquo;s constantly in flux. </span></p>
<p><span>This adaptability is also the key to her evolving career. Primarily known as an actor, Gabbi only became serious about hosting in 2024, when she co-hosted </span><em>Miss Universe Philippines</em><span>. </span><span>&ldquo;After that </span><span><em>MUPH</em> </span><span>stint,&rdquo; Gabbi shares, &ldquo;I felt that this is a place for me.&rdquo; Gabbi is set to co-host the pageant again on May 2. However, she is aware of celebrities becoming hosts just because they&rsquo;ve gained some traction. &ldquo;I try to make this conscious effort so people do not see me as just, you know, another celebrity hosting, holding the mic,&rdquo; she explains. &ldquo;I want to be credible.&rdquo; </span></p>
<p><span>That&rsquo;s why Gabbi has deliberately tried to educate herself and improve her craft as a host, even seeking the mentorship of&nbsp; </span><span>&ldquo;King of Talk&rdquo; Boy Abunda. Under his wing, Gabbi has learned invaluable lessons on &ldquo;keeping the energy up, trying to control the program, and setting the conversation [so it&rsquo;s] not boring (</span><span><em>laughs</em>).</span><span>&rdquo; Additionally, Gabbi says that one important aspect of hosting is ensuring things go in the right direction. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re the one holding the mic, so you have to be responsible.&rdquo; </span><span></span></p>
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<p><span>Being a host is a completely different discipline from being an actor, so I ask Gabbi what it&rsquo;s like to constantly switch between the two. &ldquo;You know what, it&rsquo;s a blessing that I transitioned into hosting in the latter part of my career,&rdquo; she replies, explaining that her years of experience have helped her balance the two with ease. &ldquo;I feel like I&rsquo;m more mature, more... a woman to handle </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">everything,&rdquo; she shares. &ldquo;So for me, [juggling hosting and acting isn&rsquo;t] hard, it&rsquo;s more of a learning experience and a way for me to grow even more in this industry.&rdquo; She has fallen in love with it: &ldquo;I feel like it&rsquo;s my favorite angle of my job at the moment.&rdquo;</span></p>
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<p><span>In contrast, Gabbi&rsquo;s acting process is about looking inward. &ldquo;My process is just really the truth,&rdquo; Gabbi says. &ldquo;It all comes </span><span>down to the truth inside of me.&rdquo; She&rsquo;s a student of Ana Feleo, the renowned acting instructor who teaches the Eric Morris System of Work, which aims to remove distractions such as emotional blocks, tension, and insecurities. The goal is to treat acting as living and being, or in Gabbi&rsquo;s words, living your truth. </span></p>
<p><span>This mindset also shapes the way Gabbi chooses her projects. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s more about the impact and purpose,&rsquo; she says.&rdquo; She is discerning about which projects she chooses to attach her name to. </span><span>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t easily say yes &mdash; I also say no to some, and I&rsquo;m not afraid to say no,&rdquo; she adds, saying that her work &mdash; whether acting, hosting, or working with a brand &mdash; needs to align with her values. &ldquo;I choose them wisely... I feel that&rsquo;s also important, that it&rsquo;s at par with </span><span>my values.&rdquo;<br /></span></p>
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<p class="p1">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy that it&rsquo;s an industry I get to grow in &mdash; and that I get to stay.&rdquo;</p>

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<p><span>For Gabbi, being responsible with the platform she&rsquo;s built </span><span>is of utmost importance. &ldquo;Especially now on social media, it&rsquo;s crazy,&rdquo; she says. Gabbi takes being a role model seriously: &ldquo;&lsquo;Cause a lot of little girls are watching me.&rdquo; That sounds like it could be a conceited answer, but with Gabbi's 13 million followers on Facebook, 10 million followers on Instagram, and more spread across different social media, responsible is the first thing you hope she would be. This isn&rsquo;t just coming from the perspective of the </span><span><em>artista</em> </span><span>being an enterprise, it&rsquo;s from experience: &ldquo;I remember when I was a kid, I used to watch these celebrities,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;So I have to be responsible.&rdquo; </span></p>
<p><span>It would then be easy to think that there&rsquo;s a lot of pressure on Gabbi, much of which can seem self-imposed. But that&rsquo;s not something she worries about, especially now that she&rsquo;s stepped into two arguably iconic roles in local pop culture: Sang&rsquo;gre Alena and a </span><span>PBB </span><span>host. Messing up a job with a great lineage and cultural </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">weight is not something you can easily bounce back from. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m very overwhelmed,&rdquo; Gabbi confesses. &ldquo;[But] I&rsquo;m very flattered... At the same time, I&rsquo;m just really enjoying,&rdquo; she says. The unspoken pressure is certainly there because of how big the projects are, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">but she makes a conscious effort not to add to it. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s good to be nervous, it&rsquo;s good to be pressured, but never forget to still enjoy,&rdquo; Gabbi adds, &ldquo;&lsquo;Cause at the end of the day, the work is already hard. So don&rsquo;t make it even harder.&rdquo;</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></p>
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<p><span>Gabbi doesn&rsquo;t want to rest on her laurels or be pigeonholed. &ldquo;I just really want to be a well-rounded artist,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;A timeless artist.&rdquo; She&rsquo;s not aiming to have a designated title like the stars of yore &mdash; &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not aiming to be &lsquo;the phenomenal one&rsquo; or be &lsquo;the superstar of all superstars,&rsquo;&rdquo; Gabbi says &mdash; she just wants to have a long-lasting career. For her, that is the mark of success: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s harder to sustain than to be on top.&rdquo; </span></p>
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<p><span>This now brings it all back to why Gabbi is so busy. She has her hand in an increasingly countless amount of projects precisely because of that stage she&rsquo;s building for the long run, and that&rsquo;s harder to do if you stick to one thing. &ldquo;Competition is tough, yes, but as long as you grow and always reinvent yourself, then there will always be room for you,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not just stuck in acting; I also venture out into fashion, into hosting, so that I can stay for the long run.&rdquo; For Gabbi, work isn&rsquo;t just work. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a constant adventure in this industry, and as a Sagittarius, I love adventure,&rdquo; she shares. </span></p>
<p><span>It&rsquo;s a theme that permeates her life. In her off season, when she&rsquo;s not booked to the hilt, Gabbi fills her calendar with another form of adventure. &ldquo;I love to travel,&rdquo; she shares. And even when she&rsquo;s on vacation, Gabbi is still taking in everything to grow. &ldquo;I feel like I learn so many things by traveling,&rdquo; she says. The place that&rsquo;s had the most impact on her is Barcelona, Spain, &ldquo;because of its food, fashion, art&mdash;it&rsquo;s just so rich.&rdquo; On the other hand, the one place that </span><span>does </span><span>get her to turn off her brain is Hawaii. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a very adventurous person,&rdquo; she says, &ldquo;I like things fast-paced. But </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">whenever I go to Hawaii, everything just shuts down. So that&rsquo;s my break from everything,&rdquo; she explains.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">By now, it&rsquo;s clear that Gabbi&rsquo;s life is by no means &ldquo;normal,&rdquo; and there&rsquo;s no indication that she plans to settle down for a quiet life soon. But she entertains the question anyway, when asked if she sometimes wished she had a normal life: &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t get me wrong, sometimes that passes in my head,&rdquo; she reveals, &ldquo;But, you know, I acknowledge that&rsquo;s just a thought because I&rsquo;m tired.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s just words in her head, and she </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">knows </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">she wouldn&rsquo;t trade in her life for something else. Whenever the thought does cross her mind, though, she just tries to &ldquo;pause and try to breathe, and try to remember why I&rsquo;m here in the first place, why I&rsquo;m doing this,&rdquo; she says.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">After all, Gabbi knew this life was for her ever since she was a kid. &ldquo;I had this desire to perform in front of a crowd, to talk to so many people. I&rsquo;ve always been an extrovert,&rdquo; she shares. She loved to join co-curricular activities in school. &ldquo;I would join cheerdancing competitions, I would join the choir... name it, I would sign up myself. So it&rsquo;s not a surprise that I ended up here.&rdquo;</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></p>
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Slip dress, CAROLINA HERRERA Coat, RUBIO Hardwear earrings in rose gold and Hardwear watch, both TIFFANY & CO.

CARMELA CACHO Hardwear graduated link necklace in rose gold and Hardwear graduated link necklace with pavé diamonds, both TIFFANY & CO.

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<p><span>Gabbi has been doing this for close to half her life, and for someone to reach that milestone at 26 is a rare achievement. &ldquo;</span><span>&lsquo;<em>Di ko ramdam na</em> </span><span>11 years </span><em>na &lsquo;ko</em><span>,&rdquo; she says, &ldquo;&lsquo;Cause the industry is constantly evolving.&rdquo; For example, when Gabbi joined showbiz, she notes that social media wasn&rsquo;t the business it is now. &ldquo;Maybe that&rsquo;s why it didn&rsquo;t feel like 11 years </span><em>na pala</em><span>, &lsquo;cause every day is new,&rdquo; she adds. </span></p>
<p><span>That&rsquo;s what keeps her going, despite her incredibly hectic schedule. Being busy while genuinely loving what you do is an increasingly rare combination, especially when many young people are feeling burnt out. This sense of discovery and eagerness to learn is why Gabbi is here and will be for many years to come. There&rsquo;s already a long road behind her, but an even longer one lies ahead. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy that it&rsquo;s an industry I get to grow in &mdash; and that I get to stay.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span><strong>PRODUCERS</strong> </span>Loris Pe&ntilde;a and Knelle Rosario</p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align: center;"><strong>MAKEUP</strong> Justine Navato</p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align: center;"><strong>HAIR</strong> Jay Aquino</p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align: center;"><strong>VIDEO EDITOR </strong>MV Isip</p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align: center;"><strong>DIGITAL EDITOR</strong> Maura Rodriguez</p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align: center;"><strong>ASSISTANT STYLIST</strong> Frances Laman</p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align: center;"><strong>PHOTOGRAPHER'S ASSISTANTS</strong> Jaz Orbe, Ruel Lopez, Mark De Castro and Erwin Arda</p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align: center;"><strong>STYLIST ASSISTANT</strong> Tere Gabat</p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align: center;"><strong>VIDEO ASSISTANT </strong>Livvy P&eacute;rez</p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align: center;"><strong>SHOT ON LOCATION</strong> One Hectare Creative Grounds, Quezon City</p>
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Playing the Long Game: Gabbi Garcia

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