Ylona Garcia’s journey has seen her blossom from being a reality TV spectacle to becoming the voice of a connected generation that dreams and values self- expression.

With her distinct energy that keeps her “vibing,” she inspires over 4.3 million Instagram followers who revel in her music and fashion.

She thrives on happy notes, loves life, and invites fellow youths who look up to her as a role model to do the same: “Give love with every chance you get—there’s not enough of it in this world.”

Ylona expresses love in so many ways—and one of them is being hands-on with fan interactions.

“The way I’d personally give love is being as present as possible when fans come up to talk to me and making sure I respond to them using their first name and being attentive to what they are saying,” she told Tobeyou.

She showed a full expression of this love last December during the Manila edition of Head In The Clouds music festival.

“When we heard that the performance was canceled, my immediate reaction was to go hard for the meet and greet. We originally planned 20-30 minutes for it but at that point, I didn’t care about time. I cared more about meeting everyone who had waited for me. The fans deserved it. There were even fans that flew in from Paris, Singapore, Italy, etc. I wanted to hear about everyone’s experience at the festival,” she said.

She celebrated the warm support of her fans who have defined a memorable career milestone in 2022: releasing her iconic single “Entertain Me” to launch Valorant’s first-ever Filipino hero Neon.

Garcia looks into the new year with more visions of success. She sets herself up for it by surrounding herself with people that inspire her to do more.

“I surround myself with people who are way better than me at everything: mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally. That inspires me to push myself even more. Seeing people around me push themselves to be the best version of themselves makes me want to go the extra mile,” she said.

Tobeyou chatted with Garcia about staying creative in 2023 and beyond.

How do you stay creative?

I stay creative by learning new things. Seeing, hearing and feeling new things really help me as well. I’ve been properly getting to know downtown Los Angeles and the landscape has been giving me a sense of peace. It can get overwhelming at times because there’s so much to take in. The way I balance it now is by talking through it with my friends and journaling when I go through my emotions, which, by the way, are always super intense. But as of recently, they’ve been coming from a place of peace and I want to incorporate that into everything I create.

What habits are you taking with you in 2023?

The habit of gratitude and just always saying thank you instead of sorry. I still struggle with this, though. I have a habit of apologizing for everything and I want to switch it to a more positive note. The habit of working out daily, eating three times a day—happily and healthily. And just keeping my overall health in tiptop shape so I can do the most I can with the time given to me. I hope that keeping these habits inspires people to want to do the same if not more for themselves.

What themes and messages do you want to express through your music next?

Unconditional love. I want to teach the difference between conditional and unconditional love. It means everything to me. For most of my life, I surrounded myself with some negative energy and until recently, I learned what unconditional love looks like. With respect to the people that have taught me this, I want to make sure that I’m able to pass this on through my future music and everything else I choose to do with the hopes that it helps people.

Are you still interested in going to university? What would you want to study?

If I ever went back to university, I would love to learn all types of languages. Truly understanding someone in their native language and having meaningful conversations with them mean the world to me. Being a polyglot would definitely be on the list! —CONTRIBUTED