MANILA - A televised greeting from "Asia’s Songbird" Regine Velasquez, whose acne problem she had cured, was the turning point for Vicki Belo, who transformed from self-conscious physician to beauty doctor to the stars.

Belo said Velasquez was her first celebrity client. Self-conscious with her own skin and weight problems, Belo said she considered herself as her first customer, trying out treatments before bringing them to the market.

"Sinabi niya (She said), thank you, Dr. Vicki Belo for fixing my skin," Belo recalled Velasquez’s words during a GoNegosyo forum for women entrepreneurs. More clients trooped to her clinic after the singing star’s endorsement.

Belo said she developed acne treatments after searching in vain for doctors who could get rid of her pimples. Velasquez, she said, used to have pimples on her back.

Solving her insecurities through cosmetic treatments kick started a business that now includes clinics that offer a variety of treatments from liposuction to face slimming and over-the-counter cosmetics that bear the Belo name.

"Sa Pilipinas po (in the Philippines), you turn calamansi into calamansi juice," Belo said, referencing an American saying about lemons.

Asked what advice she would give to aspiring entrepreneurs, Belo said: "Play to your weakness." She said she considered God as her 'best partner."

"Partner ko talaga ang Diyos. Wala naman talaga special sa akin (God is really my partner. There is nothing special about me)," she said.

During high school Belo, said "I don’t think nobody would have voted for me most likely to succeed."