Growing up, Vicki Belo, founder and CEO of Belo Medical Group, never imagined she would become one of the most sought-after names in beauty. But childhood bullying planted the seed for what would become her life’s mission.
As a child, Belo was openly adopted, which made her the target of cruel comments from classmates. “One day, they said, ‘Ay, pinamigay ka kasi ang pangit mo.’ Then another kid added, ‘No, it’s because she’s mataba.’”
The words stuck. “I was crying and crying, but it really entered my heart, my mind, my psyche,” Belo recalls. That moment shaped her purpose: to help people feel beautiful so they would never experience the pain she did.
Her fascination with skincare started early. By age 12, she was struggling with acne and visiting dermatologists regularly—but she noticed something was missing. “The clinics were always packed, the wait times were long, and after all that, my pimples just kept coming back,” she says.
Sitting in waiting rooms for hours, she began taking notes. “One day, when I have a clinic, I’ll have fresh flowers. I’ll make it beautiful,” she wrote. At the time, she didn’t realize she needed to be a doctor to do it. But once she did, she was all in.
Belo went on to study medicine and dermatology, determined to create a modern, patient-centered beauty clinic—one that prioritized experience as much as results. Today, Belo Medical Group is a leading aesthetic clinic in the Philippines, known for cutting-edge treatments and high-profile clients.
Looking back, Belo sees those childhood insults differently. “I just wanted people to feel loved and beautiful.” That mission turned childhood pain into a multibillion-peso business—and changed an industry in the process.
This article includes quotes from an interview originally published by Esquire Philippines, authored by Henry Ong.
