If MTV Asia is the opiate of the youthful masses then veejay Donita Rose is the one they are most addicted to. In Singapore and beyond she is the source of countless teenage crushes – and their parents couldn't be happier. ANNA MARIE MONTEMAR-ORIONDO finds out why.

Life couldn't be better for Donita Rose, and she makes no attempt to hide it. Her positive vibes all but radiate in the twinkle of her eyes, in her sweet smile, and especially in the ebullient way she talks about her life as it stands at this moment in time. An MTV video jock for a year now, Donita has experienced such incredible breaks that she herself seems amazed they have actually happened to her. Like having a job, which she completely enjoys and all the accolades that have been showered her way. Not to mention the accompanying perks that enable her to visit places and meet showbiz superstars, an opportunity she would not have had without her passport as an MTV jockette.

She has also achieved pin-up status in Singapore where MTV Asia is based. Adoring teenagers in the Lion City - much to the relief of their parents, who wholeheartedly approve, it would seem - consider Donita as a role model. In the comparatively short period of time she has been based there, Donita has been nominated one of the Lion City's most popular personalities. Furthermore, when TIME magazine was looking for someone to represent the new face of Swinging Singapore they chose the pretty Filipina.

With her appearance on the cover of TIME magazine, Donita became only the second person from the Philippines (after former President Cory Aquino) to do so. And, as the icing on the cake, her personal life is doing great, thank you very much. "Yes, I feel much more at peace with myself," is how Donita, now living in a lovely, minimalist condominium by Orchard Road in Singapore, puts it. Definitely, she is on a roll.

Donita's breaks seem even more incredible considering the pockets of turbulence she went through in her almost nine-year career in Philippine showbiz. Starting out as a teener in the variety show "That's Entertainment," she went on to star in movies and TV shows. But she is remembered as much for crying on national TV ("Lots of times!" she laughs), embroiled in controversies revolving around her relationship at that time with actor (and President Joseph Estrada's nephew) Gary Estrada. Donita recalls of those days, "I hated having to wake up in the morning and worrying if my face was going to be in the front page in some sort of intrigue." And while doing respectably well, her career seemed to have reached a plateau. But then came the call from MTV Asia.

Everything in Donita's background seems to have prepared her - "groomed" might well be the appropriate word - for her MTV job. Born in Utah to an American father, a civil engineer in the US Air Force and a Filipina mother who is a school teacher for the US government, Donita, during her growing up years in Angeles City (the family migrated to the Philippines when she was five and a half years old), would perform regularly in front of the family. She recalls that "My mother used to encourage us to perform. In my family there were four of us. And next door there were six children. We had two cousins who were raised practically like my brothers. So every week, my cousins would coordinate and they would say 'Okay, this week our theme is so and so.'

"Then every Sunday on United States on the Far East Network, I would watch a lot of music videos and get ideas for the dance that we'd do next week. Because I wanted to be cool, I'd always copy the way they talk, the way they would dress. That's where I developed a liking for MTV. When I entered the business, all the more I became so fascinated with MTV because performing in front of the camera, you always have to look your best and come up with the latest trends and stuff so that the people will look up to you as an example. So I would stay tuned to MTV all the time. I wouldn't change the channel. Even when I wasn't watching, I would just listen to the music.

So it was indeed fate that saw Donita strolling in the mall with her best friend when she saw a poster for an MTV VJ hunt. "We just looked at each other," she reminisces, "and I said, 'I have to try this, I have to audition, I'm gonna do whatever it takes'." She practically badgered her manager, Angeli Pangilinan-Valenciano, to let her try it out.

It took half a year from Donita's initial interview to a proper audition, and another three to four months before Donita was told she had made it to the finals of the MTV VJ hunt. But she wasn't able to attend anyway because she had committed to a telemovie, which would have begun on the day they were having the finals.

"So I didn't go to the VJ hunt and I thought it was over," she remembers. "Then a couple of months later they called me and asked me to be a guest VJ on MTV. I was like 'Ooohhh!' I almost fainted out of my chair! Then I came here and promised myself I'd do the best I could and sure enough, at the end of the week, they asked me if I could stay

" Besides her MTV job, the TIME cover is also an unforgettable experience. "That was a very spontaneous thing that happened," she narrates. "I received a call from a photographer friend of mine asking me on the same day itself I could show up for a shoot for TIME. And my first reaction to that was 'Huh, yeah right, let me check my schedule.' It didn't really sink in and he said 'I'll pick you up and in an hour we can do the shoot.' I don't think it was luck. I thank God really I don't believe it was coincidence that I just happened to be free on that day I did the shoot and the photographer said, 'Do not be impatient or disappointed if it doesn't come out in the next six months to a year. Because TIME always covers the biggest scoops, you know, and let's just pray that no disaster happens.

And sure enough, a week later, I was going to the MTV studio, and someone congratulated me and said, 'Hey! I like your cover! Congratulations, you're on the cover of TIME!' And I said, 'Oh, how did you know about it?' I was thinking maybe she heard or she saw the layout. She said, 'No, I saw it on a newsstand, you're blowing a bubble!' And I almost fainted right then and there! I went to the newsstand and I bought five copies.

" What makes her success even sweeter is that she has someone to share it with. "I had no intentions of dating anyone," Donita relates. "When I got here, I solely wanted to concentrate on work and on my spiritual life. Not that I'm not doing it now but it's just that I really wanted to totally concentrate on the two. I met somebody here who's Singaporean and we fell for each other. He's a really nice person. We started off as friends and now we are officially together. He's a 29-year-old businessman from Los Angeles who moved back to Singapore recently. Let's just say that I have yet to find out if he's the right person.

" Her success did not occur in a vacuum. "One of the things that has inspired me to keep going and do the best that I can is knowing that the Filipino people are watching me and I know they're very proud of me," she says.