Archie G. Carrasco believes in building at home, backing Filipino talent before international recognition follows, and giving local creativity the infrastructure to grow. As chairman and CEO of AGC Power Holdings Corp., he has made that conviction central to his work, from taking ownership of MEGA, a 34-year old homegrown fashion and lifestyle institution and the Philippines’ first glossy magazine, to expanding the company’s portfolio of Filipino and international media brands. His inclusion in the BoF 500, The Business of Fashion’s annual index of influential figures shaping the global fashion industry, brings international attention to a career shaped by the belief that Philippine media can help define the global conversation on fashion and creativity.
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Carrasco has always been more comfortable building the platform than occupying it. He says, “Perhaps because I never set out to be the story. I was always more interested in building the platform on which other people’s stories could be told.”
A MEGA Man Committed
MEGA embodies Carrasco’s commitment to homegrown media. After taking over the company from its founder, Sari V. Yap, he assumed responsibility for preserving the institution she built while reprogramming the business for a new generation of readers and a rapidly changing industry. Under his leadership, the company has grown beyond its publishing roots, expanding its portfolio and extending its reach through international media partnerships. Championing a Filipino publication, for Carrasco, means recognizing the value of what has already been built while having the vision to shape what comes next.
“Taking ownership of MEGA was one of them because it made me responsible for protecting an institution while reinventing it for the future,” he says, reflecting on the defining moments of his career.
In an industry where international prestige can easily become the measure of success, Carrasco has pursued a model that gives local and global platforms room to strengthen one another. His most consequential contribution, he believes, has been “building an ecosystem that allows Filipino creativity to exist across homegrown and global platforms.” He adds, “Rather than choosing between local and international, we have shown that the two can strengthen one another.”
It is a principle that places homegrown media at the heart of the conversation. A Filipino publication can possess its own identity and cultural authority while participating in a larger international exchange. An international title can bring new audiences and connections into the country while opening doors for Filipino talent to travel in the opposite direction. Neither proposition requires the other to diminish.
Carrasco’s decision to bring international publishing brands into the Philippines tested that belief. “Bringing international brands into the Philippines was another because it tested whether a Filipino media company could earn the confidence of some of the world’s most respected publishing institutions,” he says. The result, as he sees it, is an ecosystem in which Philippine creativity has opportunities to develop, find audiences, and build connections across borders.
Making Room for Filipino Talent
Through his work in media, Carrasco encountered the writers, designers, photographers, stylists, artists, and entrepreneurs whose contributions would inform his understanding of the country’s creative potential. What began as professional exposure became a conviction about the industry’s central challenge. “The more people I met, the more convinced I became that the problem was never a shortage of talent—it was a shortage of platforms and opportunities.”
It is a distinction that cuts to the heart of his leadership. Filipino creatives have long developed ideas and practices worthy of international attention. Getting those ideas in front of the right people, however, requires access, sustained investment, and the infrastructure to connect talent with opportunity. Carrasco’s approach has been to build the means through which that exchange can happen.
“Because I saw the quality of the work long before the world consistently recognized it,” he says when asked why he believed Filipino talent belonged on the global stage. “The question was never whether Filipino talent was good enough. The question was whether we had built enough platforms, connections and opportunities for the world to see it.”
That outlook gives his BoF 500 recognition a broader significance. For Carrasco, it is “deeply humbling” on a personal level and “another indication that Philippine media and creativity can command attention internationally” on a professional one. He hopes the moment becomes “less about one person’s recognition and more about what it says is possible for our industry.”
The sentiment also explains why his idea of supporting Filipino creativity extends beyond providing exposure. When asked what he looks for in emerging talent, he names four qualities: “Originality, discipline, curiosity and a strong sense of identity.” Talent may open a door, but sustained work determines what happens after it. In an environment where references and resources are increasingly accessible to everyone, an unmistakable point of view remains essential.
His own vision has been shaped by the people around him: editors, creatives, entrepreneurs, and teams whose perspectives have challenged and expanded his own. He has also held onto a conviction about the capacity of Filipino enterprise. “I have also been shaped by the belief that Filipino companies do not have to think small simply because we come from a smaller market.”
Purpose Has Its Price
Under Carrasco’s leadership, AGC Power Holdings has developed into a broader media ecosystem, bringing together homegrown brands, international publishing titles, and regional platforms. Each expansion represents another opportunity to connect audiences and creative communities, while testing how a Philippine-based company can operate within an increasingly interconnected industry.
The pace of fashion media has changed dramatically since his first encounters with the industry. Print now shares its audience with social platforms, video, commerce, and physical experiences, each demanding a different approach to reaching people. But, Carrasco remains clear about what must endure. “Technology can change how a story reaches people, but it cannot replace originality.”
AGC Power Holdings’ guiding principle, ‘Purpose over Profit’, is not a rejection of commercial discipline, as Carrasco understands that a company’s mission depends on its ability to remain financially sound. The principle instead asks what a business is meant to accomplish, particularly when the immediate financial calculation points in another direction.
“It means that when difficult choices arise, we remember why the business exists and consider the long-term value we are creating for our people, audiences and industry—not simply the fastest financial return,” he explains.
He acknowledges that some of the company’s ambitions would have been easier to dismiss on short-term economic grounds. Investing in talent, launching platforms, and pursuing projects with uncertain immediate returns all carry risks. But choosing the safest financial option every time, he argues, would have left much of what exists today unbuilt.
The World Is the Audience
Growth is measured in milestones, but Carrasco is careful not to confuse them with destinations. Taking responsibility for MEGA established a foundation, but AGC Power Holdings into a broader media ecosystem, launching and growing international titles, expanding into regional platforms, and receiving global recognition have each marked a different stage.
Recognition may place him in the frame, but his attention remains fixed on what can be built next—and on the people who might benefit from it. His role, he acknowledges, sometimes requires visibility, not for its own sake, but because representing the organization and its purpose is part of the responsibility.
The BoF 500 provides an international marker for a career spent expanding the possibilities of Philippine media. Yet its most lasting value may lie in what the recognition makes easier to imagine: a homegrown brand with the confidence to evolve, a Filipino company with the ambition to earn the trust of international institutions, and a creative industry with the platforms to bring its talent to audiences around the world.
The original MEGA Man, in that sense, is defined by the belief that Filipino creativity deserves the infrastructure to thrive, that local institutions can hold their own in an international market, and that building opportunities for others is a meaningful measure of leadership. Archie G. Carrasco has spent his career working to make those possibilities tangible. The recognition in Paris is another milestone. The work that gives it meaning continues at home, to the world.
Photographed by KIERAN PUNAY of KLIQ, INC.
