When I got the invite for this awesome event, I immediately confirmed. The summit embodies everything that I believed in -- the beauty of social entrepreneurship, the importance of businesses giving back to communities, and being an empowered and fearless Pinay! On top of that.... my favorite teacher in the world, Teacher Ani Almario is an awardee. Yey! Would be forever grateful to her and the Raya School for instilling national pride and love for learning in my children :)
Human Nature teamed up with De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde to inspire young people to serve the least, the last, and the lost while pursuing excellence with the mounting of the 1st Pinay & Proud Summit.
Human Nature teamed up with De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde to inspire young people to serve the least, the last, and the lost while pursuing excellence with the mounting of the 1st Pinay & Proud Summit.
Themed “Your Goodness Shines”, the summit was held at
Benilde’s School of Design and Arts
Theatre last October 19. Part
of Human Nature’s longstanding campaign to highlight the lifework of Filipino
women from all walks of life, Pinay & Proud honors the unique and
exceptional values of the Filipina: nurturing, courageous, kind, and beautiful.
The campaign’s youth focus comes at opportune time. In a report published by the National Youth Commission
in 2015, half of our country’s population will be under 25 years old. The
report adds that “passion, experience,
adventure and meaning are just some words that define today’s millennial.”
“We
brought back Pinay & Proud because we felt that many of our youth are
looking for role models. Our honorees are not just an inspiration because of
their personal achievements in life, but because of their commitment to serve
others,” explained Human Nature Co-Founder and
President Anna Meloto-Wilk.
Ten women who have made significant contributions in
the fields of environmental protection, poverty alleviation and education were honored at the summit.
Pinay & Proud honorees for 2016 included outstanding public school teacher Sabrina Ongkiko, Hindy Weber and Melanie
Teng-Go of Holy Carabao Holistic Farms, Ani Rosa Almario, Vice President of
Adarna House and Co-founder of Raya School; Anya Lim, Co-Founder of Anthill
Fabric Gallery; WWF-Philippines’ Earth Hour
Steward and member of the International Olympic Committee Mikee
Cojuangco-Jaworski; Reese Fernandez-Ruiz, Co-Founder of Rags2Riches and
award-winning journalist Kara David of GMA Network.
Two students from the School for Experiential and
Entrepreneurial Development (SEED), Gabrielle Rabino & Rinalyn Pagao were also honored at the event. The two will be
the first public school students in Bulacan to earn a scholarship at the
prestigious ESSEC Business School in Singapore and France.
Teacher Ani wasn't there to accept her award -- but watching this video, made me quite emotional...
Teacher Ani wasn't there to accept her award -- but watching this video, made me quite emotional...
The summit’s 3 sessions are reflective of the weighty
issue young millennials face.
The first session, “Path Seeking to Life
Giving ,” presented by Sabrina Ongkiko, delved into the long term benefits of
short term sacrifices.
Ongkiko’s talk was followed by a
provocative presentation on creating out of the box solutions for age-old
problems. It will be presented by Anthill Fabric Gallery’s Anya Lim dubbed “Humble
Fabrics to Heart-woven Legacy”.
Kara David of GMA Network shared her
experiences on bringing Filipino excellence to the global stage and how she
wove compassion into each story she did in “Stories of Hardship to Communities
of Hope”.
REFLECTION:
For the women panelists, who were also mothers, they were asked this question "when you've given it all, how do you keep from running dry?
Akiko Thompson-Guevarra answered, "You know your own limits. Even God rested on the seventh day." Lisa Macuja-Elizalde agreed, "You need to accept that you're not superwoman, that there are only 24 hours in a day."
Looking back, I have had a successful career as a TV writer. Almost 23 years. I am a mother, wife, daughter.... and juggling all these responsibilities is not easy. I must not forget to rest and reflect. I would like to believe that I did the right decision -- of prioritizing family over work, in the last 2 years. Life has never been this good. Not financially -- but there are more things to life than money :)
The Pinay & Proud Summit is supported by the
Philippine Commission on Women. The Pinay & Proud Summit is proudly
presented by MyPhone, the first and leading Filipino mobile brand; with media
partners Chalk Magazine, Village Pipol, DWDD 1134 Khz Katropa Radio and The
Manila Times.
More info about the campaign can be found here: www.pinayandproud.com.
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