By: Shawn Mars
From Tondo to Tokyo
Shima Shyna Decolin is a Filipino entrepreneur based in Japan who works as an international fashion and pageant producer, performer, and advocate. She serves as Chief Executive Officer of My Runway Project Co., Ltd., a production company that connects designers, models, beauty queens, artists, and emerging talents across several countries.
Decolin grew up in Tondo, Manila, and moved to Japan at the age of 17. She describes facing language barriers, homesickness, cultural differences, and rejection during those early years. Those experiences shaped how she approaches her work today.
She credits her mentor, Noriko, with a lesson she still repeats. “Dark is dark so the star has a place to shine,” Decolin says that line changed how she understood hardship. Darkness did not mean her story was ending. It was the background against which she found her own light.
From 2006 to 2024, she worked as a main performer at Roppongi Kingyo in Tokyo. She calls the stage her school. It taught her discipline, timing, presentation, and the value of being truly seen by an audience.
The Shift From Performer to Producer
After nearly two decades of performing, Decolin decided she wanted to build a stage instead of only standing on one. That decision became My Runway Project.
Tokyo gave her a useful base. The city runs its own fashion week and draws designers, stylists, and production crews from across Asia, which made it a practical place to build a company with international reach.
What My Runway Project Stands For
The mission Decolin describes is simple. She wants to create platforms where people can be seen, accepted, and celebrated for who they are. Fashion and pageantry, in her view, should do more than produce photographs and applause. They should open doors.
Her philosophy for My Runway Project fits in three lines. Come as you are. Walk your story. Own your runway.
She wants audiences to associate the company with acceptance, alliance, ambition, diversity, kindness, professionalism, opportunity, creativity, and empowerment. She measures growth by the number of lives moved forward rather than the number of countries reached.
One milestone stands out in her career. She represented the Philippines at Mrs Celebrity International 2023 in Kuala Lumpur and finished as second runner-up in the Mrs Classic category. As a transgender woman competing on an international women’s pageant stage, she describes that moment as one of visibility and possibility. Her greater pride, she says, comes from what followed. A crown recognizes one person for one moment. A platform can create opportunities for many people over many years.
Projects Connecting Japan and the World
My Runway Project currently develops and produces fashion, pageant, and entertainment projects that link Japan with creative communities abroad. Its platforms include International Fashion Runway Japan, Omotesando International Collection, Crown Runway, CAIRA Couture, World Woman Nation Japan, Junior Celebrity World, and Mr. and Miss Celebrity International Japan.
An upcoming production is International Fashion Runway Japan Season 2, scheduled for December 20, 2026, in Tokyo. The event continues the company’s practice of bringing Japanese and international talent onto the same stage.
My Runway Project continues to work with designers, models, makeup artists, pageant personalities, performers, and creative professionals from different countries. Looking toward 2027, Decolin and her team are developing new concepts and competitions for different age groups, from children and teenagers to Miss, Mr., and Mrs. categories.
Her work also reaches outside fashion. Decolin founded HOPE in Tondo, Manila, an initiative that provides food and basic educational support to people in need.
A Partnership With Alegre De Pilipinas International
Decolin now works with Alegre De Pilipinas International as her International PR Director. She describes the collaboration as another chapter in her journey and credits the team with understanding her story and the purpose behind My Runway Project.
She views the partnership as a way to reach a wider international audience. The right collaboration, in her experience, brings together different strengths, ideas, and experiences, then turns them into something larger than any single effort. She calls it a partnership built on shared vision, trust, and the courage to dream bigger.
“When we collaborate, we don’t compete for the same light,” she says. “We create a bigger stage where everyone has the opportunity to shine.”
Lessons From a Long Journey
Decolin sums up her approach in three words. Success is a trinity of alliance, acceptance, and ambition. Alliance means recognizing that meaningful work is rarely done alone. Acceptance means respecting yourself and the differences in others. Ambition means continuing to move forward regardless of where you started.
She offers a second line that guides her daily. Life is a runway, and each person designs their own future. Yesterday cannot be redesigned. Tomorrow can.
Her advice to people chasing their own goals is direct. Do not wait for everyone to believe in you before you believe in yourself. Make mistakes and learn from them. Listen to advice, but do not let another person’s limits define your future.
She adds one more instruction. When you succeed, turn around and extend your hand to the people still waiting for their opportunity.
Decolin does not want her legacy to be a story about personal success. She wants it to be a record of the space she created for others. That idea continues to guide My Runway Project as the company grows, and it explains why she still describes herself as someone who is only beginning.
