Fashion Designer in New York, One of the World's Finest Poets

Fashion Designer in New York
A Filipino-American fashion designer has been making waves in the New York fashion industry. Josie Natorie, who was born in Manila in 1947, owns and manages Natorie Lingerie. In 2001, she was one of the Asian-American awardees of the nonprofit Asians United to Raise Awareness (AURA) Fund.
Natorie was already a successful stockbroker and investment banker even before she established her lingerie business. She had served as the head of the Manila branch of Bache Securities and as an executive of the investment banking division of Merrill Lynch.

One of the World's Finest Poets
Jose Garcia Villa (Doveglion) was one of the world's finest contemporary poets. Villa, who spent most of his life in a New York apartment, was praised by critics for his beautiful poetry. American poet, e.e. cummings even wrote a poem, Doveglion, Adventures in Value, for Villa. Another American poet, Dame Edith had praised Villa's works as being "amongst the most beautiful written in our time." Among Villa's acclaimed works are Many Voices (1939), Poems (1941), Have Come Am Here (1941), Selected Poems and New (1942) and A Doveglion Book of Philippine Poetry (1962). Villa was born in Singalong, Manila on August 5, 1908.

He was expelled from the University of the Philippines (UP) for writing a series of erotic poems, Man Songs in 1929. He migrated to the United States and enrolled at the University of New Mexico where he edited and published a mimeographed literary magazine. In 1973, Villa who used the pen name Doveglion (dove, eagle, lion) received the National Artist Award for Literature from President Ferdinand Marcos. At 88, Villa died on February 7, 1997. He had lived in New York for 67 years.