Daphne Oseña-Paez

Daphne Oseña-Paez is a Filipina-Canadian TV host, producer, and businesswoman. She is known for her production and hosting of television programs Urban Zone, Proudly Filipina, and F. She is a Special Advocate for Children for UNICEF. She also has her own line of jewelry and home furnishings.

Oseña-Paez was born in Metro Manila and moved to Canada in 1983.

She was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority at the University of Toronto and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Urban Studies with a specialization in Fine Arts History. She began work in Toronto as a project officerwith the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) in their international programs office. She has managed programs in Aguascalientes, Mexico, as well as projects in Cuba, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Her last assignment was in Guimaras, Philippines where she lived onsite for about 13 months.

Oseña-Paez's broadcasting career in ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs began in 1996 as a news reporter covering the presidential beat. She became a segment anchor and segment producer in Studio 23’s Newscentral and weather anchor in ABS-CBN's newscast, The World Tonight.

While at ABS-CBN, an opportunity to produce a lifestyle show within the news and current affairs division of ABS-CBN arose, and Oseña-Paez pitched the idea for F!, a show about fashion, food, travel and lifestyle, for a female audience. She hosted alongside Angel Aquino and Cher Calvin. F! became the longest running and most-awarded lifestyle magazine program on Philippine TV. It was produced by ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs and aired on Studio 23. In 2000, while working at F!, Oseña-Paez also accepted an offer to host Guide to Urban Living, an info-tainment program focusing on stylish city living for the young. The show ran until 2002.

Oseña-Paez was the anchor of ANC Life from 2005 to 2006, a one-hour weekly newscast/talk show revolving on local and international lifestyle and entertainment stories.

Urban Zone.

When F! was canceled in 2006, Oseña-Paez accepted Proudly Filipina, a magazine show on QTV-11 focused on women achievers. However, having recently started Urban Zone on ABS-CBN and still breastfeeding her second daughter Lily, she found that her "heart was not really in it" and she left the show. Though only with the show seven months (June 2007 to February 2008), her hosting of Proudly Filipina was a commercial and critical success, even garnering an international award (see below).

Oseña-Paez is currently the host and supervising producer of Bayan Productions’ Urban Zone, a 30-minute weekly magazine program that airs on ABS-CBN and internationally on The Filipino Channel. Urban Zone enjoys a loyal following with design conscious urbanites looking for tips on home, architectural design and stylish living. It began airing in 2006.

Oseña-Paez has won a number of awards over her career. In 2009 she was the recipient of the Carolyn Helman Lichtenberg Award, awarded by her sorority Pi Beta Phi. The award is given to distinguished Pi Phi alumnae for their personal or community achievements. Her interview with the first Filipina to climb Mount Everest on Proudly Filipina won the 2008 Golden Camera Award at the US International Film and TV Awards in Los Angeles, California. She was awarded Best TV Host for a Lifestyle Program at the 2002, 2003 and 2004 Star Awards (the Philippines’ version of the Emmy Awards). F has been awarded Best Lifestyle Program at the 2003 and 2002 Star Awards. F won Students’ Choice Awards at the USTV Awards for three consecutive years. While she was hosting, Guide to Urban Living won Best in Infotainment in 2000 and 2001 at the Asian TV Awards in Singapore.

Oseña-Paez has a self-named line of jewelry, linens, and furniture and is a brand ambassador and highly sought after product endorser for several global brands

Oseña-Paez is the first Filipina ever appointed Special Advocate for Children by UNICEF Philippines. She promotes the practice of exclusive breastfeeding among Filipino mothers.

In May 2011 Oseña-Paez founded Auction for Action: A UNICEF Fundraising Online Auction to benefit children's programs in the Philippines and worldwide. It was the first online auction for UNICEF Philippines. It features work from noted local artists and designers in the hope of raising money that would benefit programs on maternal health and education in the Philippines' poorer areas.