Ladies Who Lunch: The BusinessWorld Female Forum

The Menu

Kalel Chan, corporate chef of Raintree Restaurants which also handles Ayala Museum's Café, came up with several delicious dishes for the guests of Ladies Who Lunch's Wearable Wealth Forum.

See the menu here.

The Venue

The Ladies Who Lunch Forum: Wearable Wealth was held at the Ayala Museum located in Makati Avenue corner Dela Rosa Street, Makati City.

Ladies Who Lunch 16: “Wearable Wealth, Choosing Your Jewelry”

Jewelry has been around for thousands of years as evidenced by crude necklaces and bracelets made from shells, stones, bone, and even teeth, found at archaeological sites all over the world.

Nowadays, jewelry remains as versatile although certain pieces are more valuable than others when made with gemstones and precious metals. These bodily adornments moreover mean different things to different people. Some look at them simply as pretty things to wear and make them look good while others regard them as investments. No wonder the phrase “Wearable Wealth” was coined.

This was actually the topic during Ladies Who Lunch: the BusinessWorld Female Forum held last October 6 at the Ayala Museum in Makati. The by-invitation-only event was well-attended by more than 30 female top executives from different companies.

To kick-off the morning, the ladies were toured around Ayala Museum's Gold of Ancestors exhibit by Lilia Cornelio of the museum's Tours and Education Department. She shared interesting facts on many of the more than one thousand gold pieces on display and affirmed that a lot of the artifacts came from burial sites in different parts of the Philippines. Surprisingly, all the gold pieces were created before the Spaniards arrived to colonize the country. According to her, this was determined through carbon dating of the ceramics found with the gold pieces.

After the guests enjoyed the delicious lunch prepared by Chef Kalel Chan of Raintree Restaurants, BusinessWorld's VP and CFO, Blanca Mercado, welcomed the ladies for an afternoon of learning about what kinds of jewelry to buy as investments and how to take care of them. Mia Florencio

Mia M. Florencio, a third generation jeweler and gemologist from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), enthusiastically shared with everyone her extensive knowledge of diamonds. Mia, who is President of the Guild of Philippine Jewelers and owner of T. Florencio Jewelry, Rafael Jewelry, My Diamond, My Tempo, Technomarine, and Atelier Avatar, briefly discussed a short history of the diamond.

From her, the guests learned that diamond, composed of 99.9 per cent carbon, came from the Greek word "adamas" which means unconquerable. She was quick to add though that diamonds may be the hardest, but it is not the toughest stone. First accounts of diamonds were recorded in India around 500BC.

Mia also drew smiles of appreciation as she flashed photos of famous diamonds on the screen ranging from the Eureka (the first diamond found in 1867 in South Africa), the Cullinan (the largest rough gem-quality diamond ever found at 3,106 carats and which was cut into nine stones), and the Golden Jubilee (largest faceted diamond at 546 cts.) to the Elizabeth Taylor Collection which has the Taylor-Burton diamond weighing at 69.42 cts. and the Krupp at 33.19 cts.

She furthermore discussed the four (4) C's of diamonds as established by the famous de Beers of Africa which consist of Cut, Color, Clarity, and Carat and how all these have to be considered to determine a stone's price. Mia advised her audience to make sure to get a GIA/HRD/EGL certificate when buying a stone as proof of authenticity. Ma.Luisa Unson

Next, Ma. Luisa D. Unson, President of Philippine Jewelry Business Club Foundation, Inc., past President and current VP of Confederation of Philippine Jewelers, Inc., and founder and past President of the Guild of Philippine Jewelers, talked about the metals gold and silver, as well as pearls.

From her, guests learned about pearl myths and tips on how best to take care of these treasures from the deep. She reminded the women to apply perfume before putting on pearls, not after. She also recommends wiping each stone after wearing.

After the talks were done, a fun trivia game dubbed "Bling It On" was played. Whoever gave the right answers got to bring home very nice prizes including pieces of jewelry.

Before everyone left, the ladies were also given a goodie bag each which contains a DVD of Cellercise + a Php1000 off gift certificate, a Segnatempo 20 per cent off privilege card, The Body Shop's tea tree skin clearing exfoliating pads for blemished skin, a pretty little box containing a piece of Ferrero Rocher chocolate, a 40 per cent off Allura coupon, Php1500 Gordon Max gift certificate, and a catalogue plus brilliant restorer that is described as a one minute diamond and jewelry cleaner.

Check out photos from the forum:

Ladies Who Lunch is an event by BusinessWorld and HighLife Magazine, with exclusive media partner Herword.com. The event was made possible by Museum Café, Cellercise, Gordon Max, Allura, Segnatempo, and the official venue Ayala Museum. Text by Ruth Manimtim-Floresca. Photos by Boyet Maglaque.