Small Laude celebrating Mother’s Day (From official IG Small Laude)
“HELLOOO, welcome back to my vlog and, of course, no baaashing!”
The familiar spiel is not simply spoken by vlogger/influencer Small Laude; it is delivered in an exuberant singsong, and very animatedly. Many women have been mimicking this schtick, which playfully ends with, “It’s for funnnn!”
Big fan and fellow vlogger Phemy Acob expresses in Tagalog how much she enjoys watching Small’s vlogs. “Ang cute niya, guys. Napaka yaman niya pero napaka-simple at napakabait kaya idol na idol ko siya, guys.” (She’s cute. She’s very rich, yet very simple and very kind. That’s why she is my idol.) Acob apologizes for the colorful printed dresses that she wears because they’re not branded like her idol’s. She flat-irons her hair to approximate Small who is always well groomed. “Napakaganda niya (She’s beautiful),” gushes Acob, who is particularly skilled at aping Small calling the nanny. “Yayaaa, come heeeere!” The pretend yaya, Acob’s little cousin Hannah, admonishes the virtual audience, with flourish, “No baaashing!”
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the socialite-influencer has truly arrived. It is no exaggeration to say that, even in these pandemic times, Small has grown big.
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Since this writer’s interview with her in early 2020, Small’s YouTube subscribers have swelled in number from 14,300 to 1 million. Her Instagram following, as of last check, is at 381, 000, impressive for someone who’s not an entertainment personality. Her fans have created a TikTok account out of edited grabs from her channel. The posts on this account pull in as many as 18 million and 19 million views, depending on the content, and despite her not having control over the account.
It’s not just socmed numbers that bear witness to Small’s steadily rising popularity. Advertisers woo her for paid partnerships in her vlogs and IG account @smalllaude. She has endorsed a ready-to-assemble furniture company, an electronics giant, a multinational consumer goods company, a sports drink, and a disinfectant. However, she has turned down some big-time offers—from service providers, a processed food brand, and a detergent— saying they didn’t suit her image, or there was some conflict of interest, or because they would unnecessarily involve her intensely private children. Small has appeared in a TV commercial for a tissue brand and knows that mileage from TV pales in comparison to the views and on-demand replays on digital platforms.
She holds up a piece of mentholated candy and says it’s perfect for summer
Just the same, she limits her vlog to one or two product placements per episode. In the recent Good Friday vlog, she opens her front door carrying a bag of mentholated candy before the family drives off to their hometown in Nueva Ecija. She holds up a piece of candy and says it’s perfect for summer.
With her public self becoming more and more impactful, she has a talent manager— Jojie Dingcong, whose talents include celebrity doctor Vicki Belo and family—Hayden Kho and their daughter Scarlet— and actor Derek Ramsay. Herself a “Belo Baby,” Small has become the billboard girl for Belo Zoom Lift, the doctora’s latest anti-aging and face sculpting procedure. In a photo with the Belo Babes, Small appears with actresses younger than she, among them Anne Curtis and Solenn Heussaff.
Amid the soaring cost of living, the weak peso, pandemic anxieties and overall uncertainty about the future, this vlogger/influencer is a refreshing change.
“During the first lockdown, people migrated to YouTube,” Small recalls. “That’s when they discovered me and my channel.” Yaya learned to use the iPhone to record content, which was then emailed to the video editor. When restrictions eased, the video team ventured out again, in PPE, taking swab tests before every shoot.
The lockdown vlogs present Small giving viewers a peek into her family life and showing them around her house and garden, clad in jogging pants and kaftans. “Then I got tired of wearing them,” she remembers, laughing. “My family said I should do OOTD. I was a shopaholic long before the pandemic, hoarding Valentinos, Guccis, Pradas…When I became a vlogger, I did endorsements and appeared in magazines wearing clothes that I had bought a long time ago.”
Small is always impeccably put together, whether she’s going shopping or having merienda with her kids. The makeup and nice clothes help bring out her bright and chirpy public persona.
Her most viewed vlogs (upwards of 1 million hits) so far are those that show her whole family. Her personal favorite, “Who’s Most Likely To… Challenge” includes her husband Philip and their kids PJ, Michael, Timothy, and Allison. It is total slapstick, with the kids gamely slamming their faces into trays of white powder if an embarrassing question—such as “Who takes the longest to get ready?”—pertained to them. Views for this one totaled 1,108,923, with 7,630 comments.
‘Buy lang nang buy; maraming budget—sa gulay’
Snippets of Small’s private life are always a win: Grocery shopping for the help and staff with sister-philanthropist Alice Eduardo. Getting ready for New Year’s Eve in their Los Angeles home. Making the vendors at Farmer’s Market happy with her philosophy, “Buy lang nang buy; maraming budget—sa gulay (Just buy; there’s big budget—for veggies).” Bulk shopping at S& R and snapping up meats as though preparing for Armageddon. Harvesting papaya, calamansi and herbs from her garden with her coterie of helpers.
When she’s not glammed up for her vlogs or socializing, Small spends a quiet day “resting, eating light meals and sitting on the roof deck and admiring the lemons and pomegranates on her trees.”
Rest means lounging on the sofa or lazing in bed, clad in her silk Victoria’s Secret pajamas, while reading magazines or watching Netflix. She loves to shop online at such sites as Dolce & Gabbana, Nieman Marcus, Matchesfashion and Net-a-Porter. She admitted that, in the past, her shopping habits were excessive. “Dati, grabe ako! Unbelievable! Since this pandemic, I think before I buy,” she said. “I still have to unbox the things that I bought in the States.”
For Small, it’s not the numbers but the quality of feedback that matters. “I don’t have a million followers, but the engagements translate to over a billion,” she points out. Subscribers thank her for relieving their boredom, sadness or anxiety. One law student found inspiration before taking the bar exams. A cancer patient became more hopeful after bingeing on the vlogs. She wrote to Small saying, “You’re my happy pill.”
The vlog has become aspirational for fans in the middle class, who get to see that it is possible to be glamorous and still remain down-to-earth and lively. In fact, that comes naturally for Small, who has been spirited and spontaneous since childhood. “I always look at the bright side,” she says.
Friends are amused at how easily she laughs off body shaming. When anyone says she’s fat, Small shoots back, “I‘m voluptuous. If I were thin, with a haggard face, I wouldn’t look this young or this beautiful!”
Fun is her foremost consideration. The last time she cried, she says, was when two of her house help— “my angels,” she called them— took their leave to go back to school in Antique. “They were like my kids,” she explains. She gave them a send-off they would remember for sure, a carefree weekend with her in the Eduardo family rest house in Tagaytay.
Her current household staff consists of 12, who are close friends with the help over in her in-laws’ home right next door.
“My in-laws are the best!” Small exclaims. Her family lived with Phillip’s parents for 26 years (until late 2019) on the recommendation of a geomancer. Coming from a family of professionals and businessmen in Nueva Ecija with no known Chinese ancestry, Small married into the Laude family of Chinese-Filipino entrepreneurs whose businesses include confectioneries, fast-food franchises, and investments in Taiwan. Her mother-in-law, Elisa Laude, doted on Small and her children, and later helped the couple build their own house, designed by architect Eduardo Calma, next door.
“She bought me clothes and jewelry and gave my kids their allowances. She’s very attentive and caring,” says Small.
A flashy lifestyle and now fame have failed to inflate her ego. “Everyone says I am still pretty unaffected— that’s a bonus for me,” she reveals. “I can never let certain things go to my head.”
‘Every day I pray, “Lord, I want to think like You.” Many people look up to me’
Her children were initially embarrassed when she launched her channel. A vlogger at her age? Who does that? Now their friends are thrilled to get a selfie with mom, and even ask to be greeted on any of her platforms.
“My children are realizing at last that what I’m doing is sensible,” says Small. “Pero hindi puwedeng magyabang o magsuplada. (But you can’t be arrogant or snooty). The more people tell me that I give them hope, or even just make them laugh, the more I am humbled and motivated to continue doing good. Every day I pray, ‘Lord, I want to think like You. Many people look up to me, and so I don’t want to make mistakes.’ I mean that. I should be able to show my viewers the difference between right and wrong. I must help them avoid doing anything that they are bound to regret. Everyone is going through something at any given time. My goal is to be compassionate at all times.”
