WHERE most teenagers make the most out of their free time by doing something they love, a 17-year-old aspiring designer and online shop owner, Bianca Garcia, decided to hit two birds with one stone by doing something she loves while helping people at the same time.

“I remember there was one day in quarantine when I was thinking about what I could do and that’s when I started my business in early June,” said the online shop owner of @bybiancagarcia. “Then I thought of helping out other people—especially the frontliners in the time of the pandemic.”

Bianca is a young aspiring fashion designer who not only started an online business selling accessories but also made and donated PPEs to frontliners.

“I found this page on FaceBook called Lihok Marcela and they were looking for people who could sew, so I messaged them and she sent me 10 pieces of ready-cut patterns to start,” Bianca also said that she would sew the PPEs and send them back to be donated to other people.

“After that, my parents and I started to buy our own fabric. We found our own pattern and that’s when we started to make PPEs and donate them to my dad’s friends who are doctors,” she said.

Bianca set a goal to produce a hundred PPEs which she completed in two to three months. She shared, “I was really inspired. I knew my job was to ensure good quality PPEs for them because the front liners are the ones performing and they had to be protected.”

Since her classes started, she has not been able to make PPEs as often as she used to but still accepts orders from time to time. Instead she focuses on her current business creating scrunchies of all kinds and colors because the production is more manageable and takes up less of the time she needs to also focus on her studies.

Though Bianca has done various projects from designing a runway fashion line for a school fashion show to Halloween costumes for her younger siblings, her interest in designing started when she was only six-years-old.

Using scrap fabric, tape and staplers she made clothes for her dolls. She said, “I learned to hand sew when I was seven and got my first sewing machine from my parents when I was twelve.”

She is currently studying advanced pattern making in the Fashion Institute of the Philippines where she started her supplementary classes on sewing when she was fifteen. The young lady has big dreams ahead of her. “I’m actually thinking of starting a clothing line sometime in the years to come. Just look out for that,” said Bianca.

In the Quaranwins episode with SunStar featuring her work during the quarantine and her journey as an aspiring designer, she urged people to use their talents for the greater good.

She encouragingly said, “Use your God-given talents to serve others. It feels really nice to do something you love to do but it feels even better to do what you love to do and share it with others, for others, and for God’s greater glory.”

This young woman with a heart of gold inspires us to do the same. If you want to know more about her and hear more of her story, catch her in the Quaranwins series!