Your Brand, Your Story

Alexis Mossige is a Filipina based in Stavanger, Norway.  Armed with her passion for cooking, plus her Kapampangan roots, she was able to build a name for herself, and today she is known as NordikPinay.  

As they say though, success is not an upward straight line. Her career as a chef did not take off immediately, as being a foreigner in another country, she had to learn the language.  

Now, with her undeniable grit in the kitchen coupled with her supportive husband who introduced her to the idea of bringing Filipino cuisine to Norway, her name became a brand.  

What originally was meant as a name for her food business eventually paved the way to build a community of Filipinas thriving in Norway.  

Alexis is also an events coordinator, traveler, and vlogger. Do check out her channel on youtube.

Aleah Marie Estanislao, an Entrepreneur Designer and a creative writer who seeks to inspire through her written poetry and prose and translates it into digital art and calligraphy. She is a full-time graphic designer who runs her own design business and helps small-medium enterprises through creative promotions. 

Alyanna Ferrer has amassed experience in the field of fashion. She is a fashion design graduate at De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde and had worked with different celebrity stylists and tv personalities.   As her eyes opened to the environmental issues associated with the fashion industry, Alyanna's design approach has shifted to fulfill a greater cause.   Just recently, she launched a sustainable fashion brand with its first collection, Reissue Volume 01.  She is a fashion designer who channels the power of her vision and action to break the fashion linear and to create thoughtfully for the people and the planet.  Today, she is the Head Designer and Creative Director of her own company, Alyanna Ferrer.

Kai is seasoned in the corporate world, with more than two decades worth of experience in multinational and local companies from different industries.   Among her educational pursuits, she is a communications graduate of the University of Asia and the Pacific, where she took classes at the University of Navarra in Spain. 

She took her Management Development Program in Tokyo and her certificate courses in Life Coaching and Art Therapy in Singapore. She was at her latest job for 21 years where she successfully rose through the ranks from entry-level Research Analyst to Regional Director responsible for the Asia-Pacific region. She was exposed to hiring, training, management of operations to working across cultures, networking, and everything in between. 

She was an OFW based in Singapore for 11 years before she came back to the Philippines to help coach employees on how to navigate their respective careers successfully.  She is now a freelance certified career coach who uses tools to immediately create an impact in the lives of her clients. To get in touch with her and know more about her.

Riza Mae Solis is a Marketing Director of FHMoms which was founded by Maria Korina Bertulfo.

She is an introvert who does client engagements and public speaking for a living. 

When not working, Riza just stays at home and reads books. Before the pandemic, she loves ultimate frisbee and engaging in hiking activities. She likes listening to podcasts and watching Netflix in her free time.

Riza wants to be known as somebody people can rely on. 

When asked about what it means to her to be human and authentic, “you just process it and not labeled by it”.

Let’s get to know more about her in this episode.

EJ Mangahas has held various leadership positions in the last 10 years in both in-market and regional capacities with different renowned agencies in the Philippines, Singapore and now, Vietnam.

Has also been featured in several publications, Adobo Magazine and Philippines Daily Inquirer to name a few

Someone with a strong background in digital strategy & account leadership for top global agencies working with the world's best brands.

Lastly, he considers himself a passionate builder of brands, businesses, teams and meaningful consumer experiences.

Let's all learn from the CEO of Hakuhodo Digital, Emmanuel James "EJ" Mangahas.

Michael Sta Maria is a Filipino a fashion designer, a nurse educator, an artist and a businessman.

He is one of the emerging fashion designers in the Philippines and is receiving international recognition, representing the Philippines at Los Angeles Fashion Week and Atlanta International Fashion Week, 2016. Also he showcased his couture works at The Mercedes-Benz Style Asia Fashion Week held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and a successful show in Scotland Fashion Showcase, United Kingdom; last 2015. He showcased his new collection with Panasonic Manila Fashion Festival held in Manila, Philippines this October 2018.

His works was recognized by international media platforms like the major WWD where his collection for his LA Fashion week was featured, he also landed into the cover of a New York Based Fashion Magazine “Hues”, was featured by Blush Magazine Vancouver and other US based magazine like Black Chalk Magazine, Reflekt Magazine, The Dapifer Magazine to name a few.

He was also named by a Dubai based Magazine “Illustrado” on their 12th year anniversary issue as part of the hottest and Top 100 fashion designers from around the globe under the couture category.

Locally, he has been featured in Philippine magazines like Preview, Mega Magazine and Metro Magazine, was even named by Metro Magazine as one of the 7 Filipino designers made a name in the international fashion scene.

What you'll hear about him in this episode though are not just about his accomplishments, the spotlight moments, but even the struggles that came with it.

As the say, success isn't a straight path.

Let's get up close and personal now with Michael Sta Maria here on Your Brand Your story, authentic conversations on humanness and authenticity.

Cindy Cortez Wong is a Filipina entrepreneur who is now based in Siberia. She is also a travel Specialist and a Writer who has written several books.

As she loves traveling and immersing herself in different cultures, Cindy has designed her businesses to suit her passion and lifestyle. 

Also, being a writer, it just makes sense that she also helps aspiring book authors in their self-publishing journey through her wandering bookstore, 8Letters. We'll know more about this in a bit.

She was also included in Marketing in Asia's Rising 70 Professionals that Filipino Should Follow on LinkedIn in 2020.

Learn more about Cindy as she shares how she started to write at a very young age, as well as how she ended up traveling in luxurious and enviable destinations, and eventually both in her businesses. 

In the competitive world of beauty and skin care, one may actually think twice before jumping into the bandwagon where the “no makeup look” is becoming a trend among women in the recent years. From facial skin care, to face slimming and contouring (without having to fake it with a mobile app), to eyelash perming, to eyebrow enhancing, to lip tinting, the list of services just goes on as more and more women want to spend less time on doing their routine makeup and just achieve a more natural look.

As an entrepreneur, whether you’re building a beauty name or skin care brand or a revolutionary piece of skin care or cosmetic technology, more often than not, the business model and the product (or service) always come first.

But getting those right is not easy.

And while we focus on these elements – regardless if we’re in the beauty industry or not – we have the tendency to forget on what really matters: the journey and pain points of our clients.

One particular lady CEO of a skin and beauty center in the northern part of the Philippines has proven that she has what it takes to exemplify that a thriving business CAN have a heart.

Listen to Jasmine "Mine" Punsalang Cabral, a beauty entrepreneur who started her beauty center at the age of 20 and is now celebrating 10 years in the business, with several franchisees believing in her brand and advocacy.

Indeed, the best lessons in life and in business and made up of just simple words. Listen to this episode.

Leilanie Gomez-Maranao  is the Managing Director and Founder of The Life Auditor, an organization that caters to Freelancers specifically in the area of Accounting, Graphic Designing, Social Media Management, English as second language teaching and Virtual Assistance. 

She is a Certified Public Accountant, Xero Advisor, Xero Payroll Certified, Quickbooks Proadvisor and a Certified Life Coach. Right now, she is also working as a Freelancer while managing The Life Auditor and taking care of her family. Her vision is to mentor Filipinos who want to start their freelancing journeys.

Find out more about her in this episode.

Cristina Nira Macaspac is what most people would call nowadays as a multi-potentialite.

She is a certified life coach, specifically a transformational coach for women. But on top of that, she is also the founding president of her own company, UProgressph, an NLP Practitioner, and a licensed professional teacher.

More importantly, she is the mother of  two adorable children.

Get to know more about her life, her work, as well as her insights on building and gaining confidence in this episode.

Kristine Loyola is a Radio Broadcaster, an experienced Communications Trainer, a motivational speaker and a professional event host. She is also one of the Training Consultants of John Roberts Power Manila and also owns Kristine Loyola Training & Consultancy.

Kristine has been conducting workshops and seminars on Communication, Self-Confidence Building, Personal Branding, Presentation Skills and Customer Service Training for 9 years now. 

She started training since she was in college which lead her to countless avenues in the field of training. Her clients include Mitsubishi Philippines, PCSO, TGTI, Jollibee Foods Corp., Mentor Group Philippines, Shell, SMART and Globe Telecommunications and other established companies.

Krstine also completed her Organization Development Certification at Ateneo de Manila University and she’s also a certified educator in teaching English as a Foreign Language.

Get to to know more about Miss Enerhiya of DWBL 1242 herself in this episode.

Atty. Alfe Ladao-Roder is a Filipina who was born in Davao City, Philippines.

She is currently the Director of Australian Migration Law and Visa Avenue Pty Ltd. and also a legal counsel at Augustine and Co Immigration Lawyers in Melbourne, Victoria. 

She was admitted to the legal profession as a Lawyer in the Supreme Court of Queensland in 2015 after completing her Australian law studies and Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice at Bond University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

She also took up Juris Doctor at Bond University and completed in 2013. 

Prior to migrating to Australia, she completed Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Science in Accountancy from the University of Mindanao in the Philippines, then in 2007, she pursued my career as a registered migration agent. 

Let's get to know more about this amazing Filipina immigration lawyer, why she does what she does and how she became the person she is today.

Claudine Valerie Vivar-Sycip is the owner of a well-known events company in the Philippines which has spanned for almost 2 decades.

She's also the Chief Events Curator of Do Me A Favor whose works have graced the pages of famous local print and online magazines and newspaper; whose designs ranged from the simplest yet very elegant themed parties to the most jaw-dropping, really-a-feast-for-the-senses party themes.

I personally reached out to her to be my guest on this episode, as her company is one of the few events companies I know who've lasted this almost 20 years.

Let's get to know more about Valerie - her work, her wisdom and insights as a creative and as an entrepreneur.

Rossana Llenado is known in the Philippines as one of the early adopters when it comes to incorporating technology in education, or what we now call as "edutech" or "edtech".

She founded her own company, then a tutorial and review center, in the late 90s when she was only 26.

As mentioned, she was one of the early adopters who discovered the benefits of technology in education when she submitted the first-ever computerized thesis in the Philippines.

It was during that time when she saw firsthand just how beneficial access to the latest technology can be when it comes to education. 

This epiphany led her to invest heavily in ensuring that her company stayed ahead in the EduTech game, whether in buying the latest hardware and software, or continuously upgrading her team’s skillset and knowledge.

To date, all of company’s services are now online, and this is not just limited to delivering education, but also in the company’s business processes.

In this episode though, Rosanna shares her wisdom and insights from her experiences in the education and edtech game.

Let's get to know more about Rossana Llenado, CEO and Founder of AHEAD Learning Systems

Jane Prior is originally from the UK, and founded a regional communications consulting firm called Priority Consultants.

She has a proven track record at driving corporate change, and specializes in Crisis Communications, Leadership Communications, Business Leadership, Enterprise Communications, Marketing, and Change Management.

Jane is a business enabler with a proven ability in crossing cultural and social divides to engage with key stakeholders at every level. 

She coaches senior leadership teams on how to communicate and cascade their corporate vision to deliver better results through increased stakeholder engagement. 

Also, Jane has the rare ability to handle business challenges from conceptualising solutions to successful execution.

Delivering on a personal commitment, she grew a small health-sector non-profit organisation into a major national brand with established partnerships across the education, government and enterprise sectors.

Let's get to know more about Jane today at Your Brand Your Story's Authentic Conversations with Jane Prior.

It's not everyday that we get to witness incredible inspiration.

In this episode, we've been fortunate enough to have invited an amazing human being who has become an inspiration to many Filipinos, particularly writers and freelancers in the Philippines.

She has worked as a trainer for the Department of Information and Communications technology, also for clients here and abroad doing content writing and social media management and has also author a book which was even published on Amazon.

All these achievements and providing for her own family at the same time despite having cerebral palsy.

Let us all be inspired by Racquel Sarah Castro.

Welcome to Season 3! We thank you all so much for the love and support you've been giving us for the past seasons. We will strive our best to make each episode more insightful and more meaningful and worth your time. I'm sharing this episode with you to introduce our 3rd season which is all about finding one's purpose. For this first episode, let's share with you how I was able to find mine. I've aptly called this episode, "Why Your Just Because Could Just Be Your Just Cause" because that's what exactly happened to me. 

As cliché as it may sound, but at this stage, the best analogy that I could give is our concept of love for another person.

We love a person just because. We do certain things JUST BECAUSE.

And while it's still good to do things for people JUST BECAUSE, it helps to inspire people by letting them know our JUST CAUSE.

At the end of the day, we want more people to support and rally for our cause, especially if it will help make the world a better place.

At this point, I'd like to borrow the words of Simon Sinek: "Our Just Cause is our WHY projected into the future. It describes a future state in which our WHY has been realized."

You see, the things that we do JUST BECAUSE could just be an answer for our JUST CAUSE.

Meet Ralph Leandro Ruiz. He is an architect who continues to spread his knowledge online despite today's global health crisis. Together with his wife, Elaine, they teach technical and soft skills through their online platform on Press Start Studio's Facebook page. As this pandemic has affected majority of the population, Ralph does his own little way of helping people in his community how to survive and thrive in the midst of this pandemic. Find out more about PressStart and what it stands for, as well as Architect Ralph's backstory.

Meet Carla Sapiandante. She became a part of our recently concluded 30-Day Coaching Program on Personal Branding Basics and Thought Leadership. She was one of those who seriously took action and created her own action plans in terms of building her own personal brand. While people's stories are based mostly on their profession and business, hers is more meaningful, as she is passionate in sharing her journey as a single parent to her only son, who is now 15 years old. Despite being a registered nurse and a licensed teacher at the same time, she take pride more in her achievement as a parent and as a provider. Learn more about Carla in this episode.

Jenica Montemayor is an events professional and an entrepreneur. She has her own events management team, who alongside her, is running her business which she aptly called Merry Moments. As in all startup journeys,  Jenica's wasn't any different. Get to know more about her struggles as owner of Merry Moments, a popular events company in Olongapo. Learn more about her as well not just as an entrepreneur, but also as a person.

Meet Charlene Lucas, a registered psychologist in the Philippines. It's not everyday that we come across amazing professionals in the person of a psychologist. Incidentally, Charlene has also been named as one of Marketing in Asia's Rising 70 Personalities in the on LinkedIn that Filipinos Should Follow in 2020. Get to know more about her insights on mental health, how it can be managed, and why we should seek help when needed.

Maryter Lequigan, or Mary, is a graduate of Mass Communications, who left the Zambales, Philippines to find opportunities in another country - in her case it was Japan, and she left to eventually provide a better life for her family. What was initially just a dream to earn and make a living to provide financially for the family has eventually paved the way to fulfill a bigger dream, a bigger purpose. Today, she is not only able to provide for her family, but has even established her own school teaching TESOL and IELTS. Listen as she shares her experience and wisdom on how she transitioned from being an OFW to a CEO of her own company.

YOU have a personal brand, and for people to resonate with you and remember you, you need to back it up with a story – YOUR STORY. Now, you may be asking, “How can I have a story when I’m all new to this CEO thing?” Trust me, we all have a story to tell. It’s all a matter of bringing it out for the world to know. Gone are the days when you have to be recognized as “The Best,” “The Most Accomplished” or “The Most Admired Company,” or anything in the context of superlatives. With information and answers immediately accessible in a single tap or click, people nowadays have tons of options, and it’s just a matter of choosing the one that they can trust. Find out more in this episode, as I share the more details as well about my upcoming book, "Craft Your Personal Brand Story," as well as my gift for you :)

Liberty Baldovino, a.k.a. "The Youthful Granny" is a content creator and strategist in the medical supplies industry and the community leader of an online group in the Philippines called "Freelancing for the Young Once."

Being an inspiration to those who thought who couldn't create a fulfilling life out of a freelance career starting age 46, Liberty has been one of the most interviewed freelancers in 2016.

Today, after working with clients since 2011, Liberty has now carved her niche and has recently released a course called the Ben Button in Content writing.

Find out more about her life before she became who she is today, her beginnings, her struggles and how she has reaped the rewards from her passion in writing as well as teaching other people how to effectively write. Learn as well about her advocacy behind leading a community of older freelancers like her.

I am personally an advocate of spreading financial literacy and wealth management especially in my country, so I am really excited to be interviewing Myra Concepcion in this episode, as she is a licensed financial advisor. Prior to joining the advocacy in spreading financial literacy among Filipinos, Myra was an HR Professional for 27 years. It was last year when she took the leap of faith and resigned from her corporate career to reinvent herself and spend more time with the people that matter to her the most. Listen, as we get to know more about her, her answers on why she took that leap of faith, her insights on wealth management, what she believes in, and what lens she's looking through in her life right now.

Arllyn Ponge is a mother of 2 and an entrepreneur. Not only has she engaged in businesses in food, health and wellness, she helps other entrepreneurs with their business ideas as well - which is no surprise because in her latest business venture with her family, was a product of her support to her daughter's business idea. Her daughter btw is only 11 years old! I will leave it up to her to share the rest of the story with you, as I ask her questions in this episode's authentic conversations.

Kartina Rosli is the founder and chief strategist of Tin Communications, a boutique public relations and digital marketing agency based in Singapore. She helps solopreneurs and small business owners to amplify their brand stories through strategic public relations and marketing strategies.

Kartina believes that everyone has a story to tell and is committed to raising her client’s profiles for career and business growth. Her professional career spanning over 24 years included stints in event production, editorial and corporate branding. In her last role as a media relations specialist with a  private education and management institute, her story pitches of graduates, student works, academia and think tanks have been published in traditional print, broadcast media and online platforms in Singapore and Malaysia. These successful stories have brought in millions of dollars in PR value for the organisation and raising its brand as an institution that breeds thought leadership and professionals with holistic characters.

A bilingual English and Malay writer, Kartina is a Partner/Editor for Op-Ed with Marketing in Asia and a contributor with Thrive Global and Medium.com. Tina believes in equipping our youth with the tools to help them become better PR and marketing professionals and leaders. In the past year, Tina has been invited to mentor business and marketing undergraduates from the National University of Singapore’s An Nisa Young Muslim Women’s Mentoring Community and the Singapore Management University’s-Mendaki Club Mentoring Programme.

Tina wants people to acknowledge that each of us have a personal brand. She would like to encourage each of them to take advantage of experts in the industry to help them raise their business and personal net worth or take up coaching and mentoring to help them grow.

Quoting Seth Godin, she believes that people do not buy products and services. They buy relations, stories and magic.

Maria Korina or MK Bertulfo, CEO of FHMoms,  is a finalist in the finest startup competition in the Philippines called The Final Pitch Season 4 and a part of a cohort of AIM and Facebook Accelerator Program. She's also a Business and Career Trainer, Speaker and Ambassadress of Onlinejobs.ph and Canva. As mentioned, she is the CEO & Founder of Filipina Homebased Moms, the first and biggest freelancing group for Pinay moms with 231,000 members nationwide.

MK is passionate about helping stay-at-home, corporate and overseas moms thrive in their chosen career either as an entrepreneur or freelancer so that they can earn enough without having to leave their family.

A woman with a strong advocacy, MK aims to change the world, one mom at a time. Find out more about how she started, what her struggles were, how she sees life, and what has made who she is today.

Audrey Pe put up her own company when she was just 15 years old. She developed a love for coding at a very young age, and eventually got inspired to pursue a career in tech, but because of the lack of female tech role models, she discovered the mission to empower other women to harness the power of technology and ultimately close the gender gap in the tech industry. So in 2016, Women in Technology or WiTech was born, a nonprofit organisation based in the Philippines that aims to educate, inspire, and empower youth to make a difference and break gender barriers using technology.

Awarded a Global Teen Leader in 2019, Audrey is also a public speaker and has graced the TEDx, ASEAN and UN stages. She was also one of Marketing in Asia's 70 Rising Personalities On LinkedIn In Philippines You Should Follow In 2020. 

Today, at 19, aside from being the founder and executive director of WiTech (@witechorg), Audrey is also is an incoming freshman at Stanford University. Find out more about her, as a founder, as a student, a youth leader, and a human being.

Roxanne Lineses is a Freelancing Coach and Excel Trainer and Dashboards Developer. She just loves working with data and has been doing so for over 13 years now. Today, she teaches individuals and companies transform data into more meaningful formats in the form of dashboards and scorecards. Today, let's learn more about her, and her insights about the balance of simplicity, functionality, and design of Reporting. So to freelancers and those who heavily work on Excel, this is for you.  Also let's get to know who she is, why she does what she does and how she views life in general. 

Rochefel Rivera started her humble beginnings as a Virtual Assistant back in 2013. Since then, as she eventually discovered her true passion, she was able to grow her influence by making a difference in people's lives and was able to forge her own path in the digital marketing and business development space through training and consultancy for small business owners. Today, she is now co-founder of a nationwide-based cooperative i the Philippines which aims to raise the bar of the Filipino Online Professionals industry, to help them attain sustainability and growth in the virtual workspace. Find out how she started, what she's passionate about, what makes her tick, and why she's doing the work that she does.

Boaz Moldez is not just your ordinary copywriter. He is a product launch formula copywriter and aspiring novelist and is working on his first novel. I had this privilege to hear him share his insights when it comes to PLF and email marketing. He is a part of the Social Media Academy, and was also recently recognized as one of Marketing in Asia's Rising 70 Filipinos on Linkedin for 2020. Really helpful guy who also goes beyond when it comes to helping people in his circle.  Get to know more about him and his work in this episode. 

Martine started her online presence as a lifestyle blogger, then a brand ambassador and a blog/brand coach. She was also a writer and a social media content producer. Today, she is a TRANSFORMATIONAL COACH, a CREATIVE CONSULTANT: specifically, a Performance Coach for women leaders, and a Mindset Mentor in the area of feminine embodiment.

She believes that making a life of fulfilling experiences and contributions — even from one’s failures and the school of hard knocks — is a gateway to limitless creativity and possibilities in today’s emerging workplace and entrepreneurial world.

In her words, she said, "My brand story has been riddled with both pain and pleasure, and yet I am truly grateful for each chapter I've lived. I hope that my brand story will help people to awaken to the idea that they are the Source and Cause of everything they wish to be and have. I'll focus on my "H.O.N.E" Approach to personal self-expansion, radical self-belongingness, and how these apply in life, relationships, and yes, at work."

Find out more about Martine, her life, her work, her thoughts on imposter syndrome, and who she is as a human being. 

Jomarc Baquiran is a mechanical design engineer, a technology evangelist, an Autodesk Expert Elite, Autodesk Certified Instructor, LinkedIn advocate, BIM advocate, Creativity advocate and an Adobe Education Trainer. He was also named one of Top 100 Filipino Professionals to Follow on LinkedIn in 2019 published by VB Consulting and Marketing in Asia. As he is a LinkedIn advocate, and is part of the LinkedIn community in the Philippines, with his access to LinkedIn Live has initiated to have Filipino LinkedIn Professionals share insights on different topics. Find out why he advocates education, his journey and struggles, and who he is as a person, as a human being.

Sheena Yap Chan is an author, a public speaker and a self-confidence consultant whose sole purpose and passion is to help women build their self-confidence from the ground up. She inspires women everyday through her podcast, “The Tao of Self-Confidence” where she interviews various Asian women around the globe on their inner journey towards self-confidence. In my interview with her on Marketing in Asia, I remember her mentioning that her mission is to help Asian women boost their confidence to live their authentic self and create a stronger representation for Asian women.  Find out more about her insights on self-confidence in this episode, as well as how important representation is, and find out as well how Sheena is as a person, as a human being.

Meet Nela Dunato. I first met her online because her book, "The Human Centered Brand," really resonated with me and helped me at a time when I truly needed it.

So a couple of years ago (actually, almost exactly 2 years ago from today which I just found out), I stumbled upon her book when it was being talked about by an online freelancing community on Facebook. I got curious as people were sharing their positive experiences, so I looked it up, eventually downloaded it and read it. I ended up reading the first chapter, really absorbing page after page after page, until about 2am, I decided to look her up on LinkedIn, connected with her and sent her the message to let her know how much her book resonated with me.

The rest was history. Her book, "The Human Centered Brand" is one of the reasons why I eventually had the courage to share more insights that are along the lines being empathetic, being human, being authentic, embracing one's weirdness and accepting one's uniqueness. 

Just so you know, aside from being an author of this amazing book, Nela is a brand identity designer, and is based in Croatia where she helps service based business owners and independent creatives grow & promote their business, and bring out their unique individuality into the spotlight.

Find out more about her book, her insights on branding and who Nela is as a person, as a human being.

Raymond Victorino is an HR Professional who is skilled in talent acquisition, performance management, employee and labor relations, and training and organizational development. He is also a writer, a speaker and a facilitator. He writes content on LinkedIn about his field of expertise as well as inspiring and motivational topics. You'll easily find his posts through the hashtag #loveleadlive. Most of all, he loves to share thoughts about his faith as a Christian. In this episode, Raymond shares not only about his personal and professional life, but also his insights about purpose, life and love, as well as how his faith has changed his life for the better.

While this may not be a big deal to many, it is quite a big deal for me. We've just got past our first month on July 22. That's 22 episodes in a month. It's amazing how much we can do, connections we can establish, stories we can share, conversations we can engage in, insights to learn in just a matter of 1 month. I am so thankful to Eunice Punzalan for agreeing to do this episode (hence, the takeover) even after her guesting on my show. Well, so much for that, enjoy this episode as Eunice takes over and asks me the questions this time. Enjoy!

Rey Baguio used to wear different corporate hats before he found his niche in the digital world. From being a Philosophy professor, to an HR practitioner, to a BPO employee - and this was all after he left the seminary,. When he decided to make the freelance switch in 2011, he never looked back. Today, he is a digital marketer and founder of Digital Marketing Circle PH, and is now helping small business owners make digital marketing work for their business. In this episode, Rey shares insights about marketing, the process he does with his clients. To make it more interesting, Rey also shares even his struggles, the times he was vulnerable, and the lenses he looks through now in life.

It's not everyday that you get to meet an accountant who is a creative professional at the same time. In this episode you'll get to know about KJ "Jai" Gonzales. When not doing financial statements, she brush calligraphy, water color painting, also story writing for game developers.

Get to know about her skills, her freelancing journey and also as a person.

Being the multi-awarded CEO of DMark Beauty and DermAsia Corp, Nikki Tang has established herself as a pioneer in the dermocosmetic and medical aesthetics industry in the Philippines for over two decades now, distributing globally renowned skincare brands and innovative medical devices.

In this episode, we will not only know more about Nikki's triumphs and successes but also her struggles; what she believes in, who she is when stripped off of her title as a CEO and who Nikki is to her family and loved ones.

Angelica Umali has been cultivating her own self-awareness, self-development, and self- mastery since 2007. She is a multi-cultural and global leader, with 18 years of experience with Nestle - that's in 4 countries in 3 continents (Philippines, Thailand, Switzerland, Middle East) and with responsibilities spanning to over 30 countries. She has shown success in a variety of situations: small businesses and created growth, declining and even dying businesses and put it back on track, and creating growth in a mature business. 

Today, Angelica is a Certified Life Coach at Wisdom Institute for Leadership and Global Advancement (WILGA), as well as an Independent Business Strategy Consultant. She believes that that enlightened leaders will pave the way for real transformation in the workplace by combining their solid business acumen with self-mastery practices.

Learn more not only about Angelica and about the work that she does, her past corporate life as a senior leader in branding and marketing, as well as that tipping point that led her to start a new chapter in her life to help leaders transform consciousness in business.

Rock Cleo, A Design Thinking Consultant and Founder of D. New Agency, shares his humble beginnings, his life as a creative director for a top retail company in the Philippines, his goals and struggles in life as a creative professional and as an entrepreneur, and how he has made God as "The Designer" of his life. 

Chris Acebu is a Master Life Coach, Business Strategist and the founder of Success Coaching Lab. He helps purpose-driven entrepreneurs get crystal clear on their goals and what they need to do to achieve them. When he's not writing or coaching, you’ll find him reading non-fiction books, play the piano, binge-watching with a bowl of salted popcorn, or running at the park blasting hip-hop on his headphones.

Find out more about Chris and his insights about purpose, intuition and love.

And yes, he also talked about AUTHENTICITY.

Chef Mark Bernardino is not just any chef, but a chef who at a young age has built his own school MDB Tech here up north in the commercial area of SBMA, Olongapo, Philippines. He has worked under the tutelage of renowned chefs in the  country during his formative years as a culinary professional, and has even appeared in quite a number of TV guestings on NET25, GMA7 to name a few. He's also the sought after culinary consultant SBMA, as he has helped a number of restaurants get their menus sorted out to cater to their target market. Chef Mark has been advocating to people to becoming "lifeproof" by building a career in the food industry. That I guess was realized when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world since the first quarter of 2020. I personally know him for being no-nonsense and creative.  Little did I know though about his more human side...until this conversation.

We’ve all been there. And while we’ve all heard the classic routine just-be-confident-you-can-do-it-plus-a-pat-on-the-back to help us pass that nerve-racking job interview, one thing still remains certain: Self-confidence cannot be built overnight. Let’s face it. A pat on the back boosts our morale, but it doesn’t necessarily give us the confidence that we need to survive that dreaded interview. So, what does? Listen to this episode to find out.

Eunice is currently the community manager of an online Facebook group called Filipino Freelancer with Australian clients. And because of the value of the content and strategy she regularly creates for the group,  she was able to grow the group organically to more than 20K members in less than 2 years. As she is a remote work advocate, Eunice was also one of the main organizers of the biggest Working Remote Conference in the Philippines which was held in 2019.

She has also been featured on Marketing in Asia because of her insights when it comes to community growth hacking. Eunice is into social media management and also has an amazing talent for video editing. A multipotentialite, I would say.  Find out more about all these as we exchange marketing insights in this conversation. 

Above all, there's more to this lovely curly girl Filipina who loves tea and working out. As a millennial, she shares the lens that she sees through life, how she lives it and how she also sees it through other people. An old soul, an amazing human being. Get to know more about Eunice through her stories growing up, and how she has been managing to live an amazing life every single day.

Louie John Banta is the CEO of Learning Just Made Better (LJMB) Consulting, which he established in 1996, registered the training outfit in 2005 as a sole proprietorship, then became a corporation in 2017. By 2018, LJMB was able to deliver 397 training days to 51 local and global clients - majority are leaders in their respective industries. During the lockdown brought about by COVID-19, LJMB delivered 100+ webinars reaching 10,000+ people from 100+ organizations in the last 10 weeks!

Louie was also nominated to be part of Marketing in Asia's Rising 70 to acknowledge upcoming amazing Filipino professionals who give value through their content on the LinkedIn platform.

Find out more about Louie not just as a founder but also as a person, a human being. 

Jennifer "Jen" Pacilan is the CEO of Virtual Help, a digital marketing agency based in the Philippines. She was also part of the  Top 100 Filipinos To Follow On LinkedIn For Learning And Inspiration 2019 as published by VB Consulting and Marketing in Asia. She's also currently the Cluster Head/Director at Filipino Online Professionals Service Cooperative. A digital marketer, a corporate trainer, a content writer, a travel consultant and a mother. Find out about her humble beginnings, how she struggled as a mom of 4 with an ambition to become a writer at the same time, and what she wants other women to know who has had scars in their lifetime.