Carla Guevara Laforteza, mother of Katseye’s Sophia, is more than a ‘nepo mom’
For Carla Guevara Laforteza, motherhood has always been defined by one principle: raise children who can stand on their own. Long before her daughter Sophia Laforteza stepped onto the global stage, Carla had already built a home grounded in independence and quiet support.
Even before she had her children, Carla knew in her heart what kind of mother she wanted to be: present, practical, and steady. It’s a choice shaped by a life spent in and around the arts.
Carla grew up watching ballets at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. At 16, she made the decision to join Repertory Philippines. From ensemble roles in children’s theater to major productions, her dedication eventually brought her to London, where she performed in “Miss Saigon,” first as a bar girl and then later as Kim and as Gigi.
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That same discipline and sense of purpose would later define how she raised her children: Bailey, 25, Sophia, 23, and Oreo, 15, whom she shares with her husband, chef Godfrey Laforteza.
Contrary to assumptions, Carla said her children were not raised under the intense public eye and that she was able to give them a normal childhood.
“Normal in our terms. I don’t think every household will have music all the time—Broadway music. I don’t think every household will have celebrities in their house all the time but that’s how it is for us,” she said in an exclusive interview with INQUIRER Entertainment.
“I wasn’t a super celebrity. I was just a working actor. So there weren’t really any struggles about having to raise them in the public eye.”
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Although Carla said that their family tried to live a life as normally as possible, they were still very mindful of how they interacted with the public.
“We have to be more careful with posting (on social media), we have to be more careful with how we behave in public,” she said. “Because everything we do, there are people who watch… They collect everything, they give meaning to everything—even if there’s no truth to it.”
Much of that normalcy came from a deliberate decision she made early on: to keep her children rooted in one home while her husband worked as a chef overseas.
“I had an agreement with my husband… We keep the children in one place,” she said. “Let’s keep them in Manila… So there’s still a structure.”
That meant raising her children mostly on her own—with the support of extended family—while maintaining a demanding career in theater.
Her youngest son, Oreo, quite literally grew up backstage. Carla recalled performing while pregnant with him during a run of “Sleeping Beauty.”
“Three weeks before I was going to give birth, I was still playing the queen,” she said. “Three weeks later, I was back on stage again.”
Despite the glamor of growing up in a somewhat privileged household, Carla stressed that she made sure her children were grounded by principles, so by the time Sophia entered the entertainment industry, she was already an adult — self-aware, as her mother describes.
@alacarlotta OMG Shaking aaaaaaassss 🥤👖 @KATSEYE @Gap @sophia laforteza @Godfrey #carlaguevaralaforteza ♬ original sound – Gap
Sophia mirroring Carla
To those who know them, Sophia is often described as a younger version of her mother—and Carla couldn’t agree more.
“She’s so real. She doesn’t have a filter. But that’s the good thing about her. She’s not two-faced. She’s really like me,” she said. “If she thinks what you’re doing is not right, she will tell you… not to insult you, but because she wants you to be better.”
Sophia’s big break came in 2023 when she auditioned for “The Debut: Dream Academy,” a global survival reality show launched by HYBE and Geffen Records. Out of 120,000 global applicants, she was one of 20 contestants chosen to compete. She eventually secured the first place in the survival show finale and became the leader of the global girl group Katseye the following year. c
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Global stardom
Despite her own background in the performing arts, Carla admitted she never expected Sophia to aim for global stardom.
“I didn’t know that she had that kind of dream to be that famous superstar,” expressed the celebrity mom. “I just knew that she was going to be successful in whatever she wanted to do because she’s an overachiever. We are the same. We try to do well in everything.”
What surprised Carla even more was how her daughter pursued that dream—quietly and independently.
“That’s what made me proud because she did that herself. She didn’t ask for permission. She didn’t tell us… She wanted to make sure that she secured what she was going to do before she showed it to you,” Carla said as she also recalled the time she did the same thing when she secured the role in “Miss Saigon” at 19 years old.
“I wanted to be independent, and she did exactly the same thing. She did everything on her own. We didn’t pay for her to train… She literally auditioned and got that,” Carla added. “That’s how good she was. That’s how hard she worked.”
‘Nepo mom’
For Carla, the pride lies not just in her daughter’s success, but in how she achieved it. Katseye may have just recently made their debut at Coachella, but the hard work started even before that. And behind the success of Sophia is her mom, whose own brilliance shines alongside hers.
Carla has a term for it: “nepo mom.”
@alacarlotta by popular demand… Here we go!!!🙈😅💃💃🕺🏻 @sophia laforteza @Godfrey @KATSEYE #touch #katseye #eyekons ♬ Touch – KATSEYE
The term takes its roots from the “nepo babies” of Hollywood, and became popular in the early 2000s to refer to offsprings of high-profile actors and other movers and shakers of tinseltown who are able to land projects in a related field because of their parents’ connections.
Carla, however, mused that the reverse worked for her, sort of. This humble quip is coming from someone who has made her name a byword in the theaters of London during her hey day — in itself a mean feat in her line of work. She is grounded enough to give credit to her daughter for her newfound success in her field, but really, she was already a source of national pride even before Sophia’s foray into Katseye stardom.
“I became a nepo mom because all of a sudden, my work increased because of her,” she said, even as she quickly dismissed claims of using industry connections for her gain and her daughter’s.
Raising independent children
While she is very proud of her children, Carla is clear about one thing: she is not a “spoonfeeding” type of mother.
“I teach them to be independent… You have hands, you have feet, you have a brain. I think you’re a smart person—you can do it yourself,” she said.
Rather than giving direct answers, she often responds to her children’s questions with questions of her own.
“I make them think,” Carla said. “I’m not the kind of parent who tells you what course to take or what career to choose. Pick something you actually want to do—what you’re passionate about. That’s the only way you’re going to be happy.”
A legacy of love
Some women say that their legacy is their children. When asked if she can say the same thing, Carla’s answer on how she wants to be remembered is a statement of its own.
“I want to be remembered as somebody who loved unconditionally, whether as a mother or a woman,” she said. “If you’re going to talk about a legacy… Carla Guevara Laforteza loved the people she loved unconditionally.”
It’s the same message she shares with other mothers—whether raising children in the spotlight or simply supporting big dreams.
“Support them and pray for them,” advised Carla. “Be their biggest cheerleader.”
For Carla, motherhood is not about shaping her children’s path—it’s about walking beside them as they find their own. And in Sophia’s case, that path just happens to lead to the global stage. /edv
