From leveraging online selling to using social media to market her brands, Anna Magkawas reveals how she grew Luxe Beauty and Wellness Group into a multi-million peso business through influencer marketing.

A saying goes, "Choose a job you love and you will never work a day in your life." And this rings true for Anna Magkawas, the Founder and CEO of the multi-million peso brand Luxe Beauty and Wellness Group. Business-minded, driven, and charismatic, Anna built her success through influencer marketing—a surefire success tactic in online selling, given that studies have shown that 70% of Filipinos buy a product from their endorsements.

However, the road to her success was not laid out for her. In fact, the CEO herself shares that it took a lot of trial and error, lessons learned, and a keen understanding of the local market for her to become the entrepreneur she is today. What's more, her roots were not founded on beauty, as she started out as a medical sales representative.

From there, she saw her potential for success—not in her day job, but in her sideline business.

"There was a time na tinignan ko yung payroll ko at yung passbook ko kung saan pumapasok ‘yung money from my sideline. And then, I compared them. Yung isang buwan kong sweldo noong nagtatrabaho ako, isang araw ko lang [sa sideline ko]," she recounts fondly.

[Translation: There was a time when I looked at my payroll and my passbook, where the money from my sideline business was coming in. And then, I compared them. One month's salary when I was working equated to a day's sales from my sideline business!]

In this exclusive interview with The Business Manual, Anna reveals how she paved the way for success through online selling, influencer marketing, and building a brand that empowers women to be their own boss.

Cultivating an Entrepreneurial Spirit

A multi-hyphenated woman in her own right, Anna's entrepreneurial journey started at a young age. "Siguro noong bata pa ako talaga, I really loved doing buy and sell," she begins. "Noong may work pa ako as MedRep, palagi akong may sidelines. So I always sell perfumes and soaps sa mga co-medreps ko until such time na talagang nakita [ko] yung opportunity [sa] bag business noong time na naghahanap ako ng bag for myself."