by rossanahead | Jun 14, 2011 | career, children, family, Karen Galarpe, parenting, woman
By Karen Galarpe
About a year ago, I was trying to schedule a lunch date with two of my classmates back in high school. We were all working for the same company, and I figured we should have a mini-reunion right in our neck of the woods.
It should have been easy to set a date then, I thought, but it proved otherwise. MG had to pick up her daughter from a tutorial center and bring her home, right around her lunch break. MC had to make a run to her sons’ school to pick them up and bring them home, before returning to work. Every day.
Finally, we found a common free lunch hour (after weeks of scheduling). After talking about high school and work, we got to talk about our lives as career moms.
True, it may be difficult, but bringing our kids to and from school is a joy in itself, we agreed. The extra time to bond with our kids is priceless as we get to talk about the serious and not so serious stuff while on the road.
We hear it first from our kids what happened in school, what project they need to do, and what they did with their friends.
We learn more about their world at the exact time they feel like talking about their day. More often than not, they’re kinda tired by the time we get home from work that they’re not in the mood for much talk.
I know not many moms have the privilege of driving their kids to and from school every day, but should you have the chance, take it. Kids grow up fast; make time to be with them.
by rossanahead | Jun 11, 2011 | career, children, family, Mari-an Santos, woman
By Mari-An Santos
Whenever I go to Hong Kong, it feels so familiar. On the MRT and at the stores, I inevitably encounter a fellow Filipino. It could be the bakeshop attendant, the security guard, or the countless au pairs taking their wards home. A lot of them, recognizing a countryman, will ask, “When did you arrive?” It felt good to be acknowledged.
I am struck by how much my fellow countrymen have to sacrifice in order to provide for their families back home. On Sundays, they congregate at the Central District, where they lay out mats and have picnics with their friends. They spend the entire day catching up with each other’s lives as well as those of their loved ones back home.
One particular scene has stayed with me all these years. After Sunday Mass, a group of women huddled around one, who was distributing all sorts of goodies to her friends. I gathered that she had just arrived from the Philippines. One of her friends started looking at the pictures in a digital camera. She was showing her friends her children, exclaiming, “Oh, how he’s grown!” “Look at what she is wearing!” I was moved to tears. Here was a mother who was taking care of a child not her own while her children were growing up without her.
Walking through the groups, it was as if they were at Luneta Park on a Sunday. Some were getting a haircut, some pedicures, others were reading gossip magazines, others sharing recipes. Whether Ilocano, Tagalog, or Bisaya, their collective chatter made a cheerful sound.
We have given them the generous monicker “Bagong Bayani.” But I suspect that given a chance, they would rather be fathers and mothers to their own children, and husbands and wives to their spouses than rays of hope to an entire country from across the sea.
by rossanahead | May 31, 2011 | career, children, Education, Gina Abuyuan, woman
By Regina Abuyuan
Even as kids, she was clearly the artist among us, even as her sister was equally talented in music, even when I, too, wrote poems and stories and wasn’t so shabby with the paints and charcoals. She seemed to move in a world of her own, unaware of her own beauty and power. Weird? Of course she was weird. But she was also kind and sincere and naïve and all those other things that tend to get one into the saddest kinds of trouble.
I’m talking of my cousin, C, who now goes by another name; the name that now graces her album cover: Kulay by Tricia Garcia. She’s even got a spankin’ new music video of her first single, “Tabing Ilog.” Watch it here.
Tricia is almost my age—way past the prime of other musicians who get their big break while they’re in their 20s, or earlier. It’s not that she didn’t start early enough–for a time she was the lead vocalist of Pretty In Pink, that bubblegum pop group that came up with “Cool Ka Lang” in the early ‘90s. It was that she was held back.
Now, I’m going to stop right here lest I get anyone into trouble, but I will say that one of the most tragic things that can happen to an artist, or one full of God-given talents, is to be held back and suppressed. It doesn’t matter if the suppression was done “for your own good.” It’s like murder to deprive someone of their fullest potential—and to deprive others of experiencing that gift.
For several years, Tricia had to bury her love of song and art to please other people, to fit into their expectations of what she should be and how she should behave. She would have to hide her easels in the closet. She would have to hide who she was, period. It ate into her soul. Whenever we saw each other, I would see that the light had dimmed ever so imperceptibly in her eyes. She would try to justify it, saying it was for the better, but I—wild Water Rat that I am, who would rather die than be caged—would see she was only trying to convince herself.
And then, one day, the unthinkable happened. Tricia broke free.
She confessed to me her biggest fear two Christmases ago, that she might not be able to make it on her own, now that she was past youth, now that she had to start from scratch. What would people say? How would they react?
My reply (which is undoubtedly how the rest of the superwomen on this blog would reply, too): Don’t think of what other people will say. Just forge on. Do what you love. Do what you do best. Their words mean nothing. Your happiness means everything!
Something amazing happens when someone is set free and made to, finally, bask in his true purpose. It’s like the universe comes together, calls upon all its mighty gears and wheels, and everything locks into place. Mere months after Tricia let go, she inked a deal with MCA Universal. Less than a year later, she started recording her album. Around six weeks ago, her album was launched. Last week, this video was released.
When my daughter—or my sons, for that matter—get married, or have their first sweethearts, I’d like to direct them to this lesson learned from their Auntie Tricia: Stay true to yourself. Don’t let anyone tell you who or how you should be. Don’t allow your dreams to die. And if you’ve really got some gold inside you, it will shine, even if it’s been kept in darkness for years.
by rossanahead | May 24, 2011 | career, children, Education, Karen Galarpe, parenting
By Karen Galarpe
It never fails to amuse people when they hear my reply when they ask me what course I took in college. Sometimes I make them guess. At other times, I blurt the truth out to save time.
“Commerce. Accounting,” I would say. And always there would be a split second of shock, before I hear laughter.
“Then what are you doing in journalism?”
And so I would tell them how I really wanted to be a writer since grade school, nurtured the dream in high school and even joined the school paper, before ending up at the College of Commerce.
My dad wanted me to be a lawyer since he wanted to be one too. He wasn’t able to finish his law course though since he got married early and started a family. Since my three elder siblings didn’t fancy law, he put his hopes on me, the youngest, to fulfill his dream.
The accounting course was in preparation for a career as a CPA-lawyer. I did the whole course and even passed the board exam. After 2 years as an auditor, however, I felt I would grow old by 10 years in a year’s time. I would really rather write stories that could help other people than trace transactions and prepare financial statements.
I share this because in a few months, many senior high school students would be applying for college, and I am sure, a lot of them aren’t sure of what course they want to take.
Parents, I believe, should not relive their dreams through their kids. Instead they should help them find their passion and encourage them to go that way.
When one has passion in what he does, he’ll no doubt excel in his field and will have a zest for life every day. That’s in stark contrast to the man just trudging along, slaving away at a job he doesn’t like, waiting for the clock to signal the end of a working day.
Your child will show signs of his interests and passion which are gifts from God. Be keen in observing them. These may be different from your own gifts and passion, but that just goes to show you your child is his own person. Then be your child’s cheerleader and egg him on to enrol in a college course that could prepare him to pursue his dreams.
My dad couldn’t do anything when I told him I resigned from my auditor job many, many years ago and was enrolling in graduate school for a master’s degree in journalism. He realized this is my passion, and has given me the leeway to pursue my dreams.
And that’s why I’ve been writing and why you’re reading this.
by rossanahead | May 21, 2011 | career, Education, Rossana Llenado
By Rossana Llenado
I always get nervous when asked to speak in front of a group of people. I know that I’ve done it many times before but I still get nervous.
Last week, I met with a group of bloggers, and though I was initially scared, it took me no time to get comfortable. It helped that a lot of them were also parents. It also helped that I got to talk about something that I am so excited about right now, which is our attempt to break into the international market with Ahead Interactive.
Think you’re the only parent who has gone crazy helping his child with his homework? Well, you are not alone! Parents the world over have been confounded by math equations and past participles—and that is, after having worked at the office the whole day.
Through our smart and capable Filipino teachers, we’d like to be of service to tired, stressed-out parents. Through Ahead Interactive, we can provide real-time tutoring services to children across the globe. Mom and Dad can have some rest while their child finishes his homework. Afterwards, they can all spend some quality time together—maybe by taking a walk around the park or watching a movie. Initially, we’re looking at providing our services to families in California.
This is what makes my work very exciting. There’s always something new and fresh going on.
![Why I Work]()
by rossanahead | May 14, 2011 | career, children, Education, family, parenting, Rossana Llenado, woman
By Rossana Llenado
rossana llenado
Women work for all sorts of reasons. For some, it is to pursue a lifelong passion. For others, it is to have that sense of self-fulfillment inherent in a job well done.
One of the reasons that I started Ahead Tutorial and Review Center 16 years ago was because I wanted to be able to manage my own time. I was a mother of twins, and leaving them in the hands of strangers was not acceptable. Going into the tutorial business seemed like a very good idea. Not only could I pursue my passion for teaching and molding young minds, I also get to keep an eye on my children.
Today, I have four children of my own, but thousands more that I could very well call my own. Yes, one of the great joys of being in the business of education is that you get the chance to meet all these wonderful children and see them grow up into young adults with purpose. You could see it in their eyes—that burning desire to learn and improve.
Nothing gives me greater pleasure than seeing a student shine—and I’m fortunate enough to have witnessed this many times over. A child would come to us, defeated because of failing grades, and then several months later, he has grown confident in his skills—and has improved his grades immensely.
And so, whenever faced with the everyday problems of raising four children and managing a company, I just picture that child who could now walk with his head held high.
