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When people ask me how the Sociology-Economics mix actually translates to real-life relevance and livelihood, I always say, "Sociology is about how people act in groups, while Economics is about managing & developing resources such as time & income. Thus, it was no surprise that my adult life has always been in Marketing and Marketing Research - How to Best Analyze the Motivations & Actions of People & Their Money/Votes/Choices - basically all that could either make or break Businesses, Elections, TV/Film Media, anywhere! etc. ;-)" So with my life always striving to be that delicate balance between the Quantitative and Qualitative, as part of my college studies, I served in 1998 as an Intern Technical Assistant with the Small Islands and Marine Ecology program of the World Wide Fund for Nature-Philippines (WWF, the group w/ the panda logo!), helping out in their Whale Shark and Dugong Eco-Tourism Conservation Programs. Later that same year, I also got to be immersed in the life of the indigenous Aetas displaced by the Mt. Pinatubo volcanic eruption, seeing how they still adapted to change through Sustainable Agriculture, Fair Trade, Eco-Tourism, and Self-Governance, all honoring what the Philippines was before foreign trade & colonization stepped in. During my college years I had also trained directly in Art Appreciation under of one Asia's most noted art historians, Professor Emmanuel "Eric" Torres of the Ateneo Arts Club - being immersed in the world of Contemporary Art, Impressionism, Independent Cinema, and more ;) I was into this actually ever since I was a child learning to play classical piano under the late legendary Russian-Dutch piano teacher Olga DeWitt - it was in her home first where she proudly showed me her own limited edition Salvador Dali (a gift from her late husband, an international businessman). Dali being so surreal of course had images that totally flew over my 8 year-old head at the time, but this intrigued me enough to learn more about interpreting and appreciating art, as well as valuing the hard work & contributions of living and past artists to what could have otherwise been a soul-less world . . . Not wanting to be completely just surreal or plain broke, though, my college years also saw me grow as an Entrepreneur first in managing the marketing of a young ladies' clothing line, Tribeca, as well as handling Sponsorships largely through my role as the founding Vice-President for Corporate Relations of my alma mater's Junior Marketing Association, for major campus special events from corporations like Levi's, Pepsi, MTV Asia, LG Electronics, and more :) In a way this Businesswoman streak also started early enough in my life too first through my own little plastic-wrapped ice-making business (supplying thirsty construction workers near my home), the customized potpourri basket-making business in high school, etc. I always told myself that whatever happens in my life, I should always have a balance between the Material and the Spiritual sides. My otherwise active Architect-father has been wheelchair-bound by a massive stroke since I was 6, and from that very early experience I saw for myself that money in itself cannot buy solutions to everything (i.e. not all the best doctors or faith healers in the world can make my Dad walk again, but at least he's still around anyway!), but it can at least help where it can (this I saw in particular through my Certified Public Accountant-mother, who to this day is the Chief Financial Officer for corporations that employ as much as 5,000 people and have provided Affordable Housing, Manufactured Goods, and more to the growing Philippine market). All that in mind, after my 1999 college graduation, I went with Experiment in International Living (http://tigurl.org/20z7yb) to the Republic of Ireland for a cultural exchange program, teaching Irish high school students in Cork and Dublin on Asian culture while also being immersed in the Irish way of life in the midst of the European Union Parliamentary Elections for that year. Not bad for a post-college adventure! :-) The first years of my working life were spent in different aspects of marketing (i.e. Market Research & Public Opinion Polling w/ HB&A Research International, a spin-off the US' own Harris Polls, serving everyone from Political Parties to Cosmetics Firms to Shopping Malls, etc.; Special Events Management w/ Livewire Productions) as well as with non-profit commitments (i.e. resource development w/ the Philippine Network Foundation, a.k.a. PHNET - an ISP/Internet Service Provider for Philippine schools - and being a Founding Trustee for the Pandacan Center for the Development of Street Children). In 2000, on the invitation of Terri Willard (of the Canada-based International Institute of Sustainable Development/IISD I believe - we met through the Sustainable Development forum of the old Sixdegrees website), I got to join in the 1st Global Youth Action Network E-Conference. GYAN was a wonderful experience wherein I got to meet both online and in the flesh many other young & dedicated non-profit professionals throughout the world. I understand that a significant portion of the membership & activity of this site itself (www.takingITglobal.org) was a result of this e-conference's suggestions, so I am very pleased to be part of this continuing effort & dialogue :) I came to the US in 2001 not only to take a much-needed break and updated medical treatment from non-stop work, but more importantly to attend to my ailing grandmother, who in turn encouraged me to at least explore for future reference possible graduate study and work options, as well as to be closer to my extended family. I sat in classes on Asian American Studies and Mental Health Care Advocacy at UCLA/University of California in Los Angeles and Pasadena City College/PCC respectively. I also did trained volunteer internship work for Pacific Clinics (a behavioral health non-profit - http://tigurl.org/53gs3y), while also joining in the Pasadena Public Library's programs in Adult Literacy Tutoring (from w/c I also aided some students in founding another non-profit of their own - the Heavenly Helpers Helping Hand Outreach Ministry - for programs in substance abuse treatment and faith-driven rehabilitation) and its "One City, One Story" program featuring the Pulitzer Prize-nominated bestseller by Mark Salzman "The Soloist". As a Filipino, I also continue to help my own community and country through opportunities like those in the Philippine Arts Council of the Pacific Asia Museum (http://tigurl.org/2rhqjy) - where I have been currently serving as its Philippine Arts Council President (making me at 28 the youngest ever Arts Council president the Museum has ever had at the time). Through being an Arts Council President, I also get to work directly with other great community organizations specializing in cross-cultural understanding and preserving the best of unique ethnic heritage in the diverse Southern California community, such as the Pasadena's Latino Heritage Association (http://tigurl.org/i0pys6 - we Filipinos are Latin too thanks to 400 Years of Spanish Colonial Rule!), the Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (http://tigurl.org/uu4ppt), and the like. I got married in March 30, 2002 to a part-British/part-Indian IT veteran named Vijay Badri Nath, so from then on I had made Southern California my home, earnestly working towards a fulfilling career path in social action and innovative marketing. From September 2002 to March 2003, I had worked in two very stimulating education-oriented positions, one as a K-12 Tutor at Pacific Coast Learning Center in Covina, CA, catering mostly to deserving Latino families. This was an awesome opportunity to see things through the fresh eyes of US-based children and youth, while also helping them gain more confidence and skills in their schoolwork. In line with this job, I earned some much-needed certifications, such as the American Red Cross certification for First Aid and Infant/Child/Adult CPR, as well as my CBEST (i.e. California Basic Educational Skills Test) Certification as a qualified lifetime Substitute Teacher :) My other position lasting from September 2002 to November 2003 is as a Recruitment Officer and eventual Church Contact Coordinator with an Arcadia, CA-based Christian non-profit that sends a wide array of North America-based college students and professionals as teachers throughout mostly post-Communist/Communist/Muslim countries getting used to the global market economy, the freedom of speech and that of religion also. The name of this now 22 year-old group is Educational Services International/ESI (also known in China as Educational Services Exchange with China/ESEC). Check out this group's website (http://tigurl.org/v7n7s2) to see if this might be for you ;) When my then-spouse Vijay and I moved 60 miles away from ESI's Arcadia office for him to be nearer to his new CTO job at E-Babylon, though, I worked for a while with a reputable and dynamic direct corporate marketing and market research firm, ExexDirect (http://tigurl.org/x5kefy), where I primarily did projects for the global telecommunications giant Nortel Networks. Summer 2004 though found me taking on the position of Business Development Manager (developing relationships with the Government/Academe/Corporate Procurement Channels) for an exciting new small business specializing in office supplies and recyclable printer cartridges, Office Xpress Inc. (http://tigurl.org/2bvqfb) of Canoga Park, California. During select afternoons and evenings throughout this period, I also still applied my Marketing skills on other diverse contract jobs such as with Platinum Capital Financial (an A Paper Residential Mortgage Brokerage firm), and John Robert Powers Entertainment (a K-12 children & youth talent modeling/acting academy). However, given certain radical personal & professional transitions that were occurring at that period of my life (namely the end of my marriage to Vijay Badri Nath over irreconcilable differences), I started work in Santa Monica and live on my own as a full-time Office Manager and Marketing Associate for Intelligent Vending LLC dba 24Seven (http://tigurl.org/bbdk5u), a revolutionary convenience retail firm headquartered in New Zealand that among other things provides vending machines that make their own service calls and engages in uniquely responsive market research, what with every vending machine of theirs having their own internal wireless modems. Spring 2005 however saw gas prices not getting any lower, and since I have been looking to work closer to my then North Hollywood home for a change anyway, I worked during the day as a Marketing Associate for an E-Business Systems Integrator multinational firm, Ampersand Corporation (http://tigurl.org/c5e4br, their clients include Black & Decker), while from afternoons to evenings I have resumed work as a K-12 tutor for the after-school program of a local non-profit, the Dishu Academy under the North Hollywood Neighborhood Community Forum. June 2005 saw me in a full-time position again, being on contract as an Operations Manager in the fine art field primarily in a San Fernando Valley-based fine art digital print-making and publishing firm for a wide range of artists and photographers. During this period I also got into live TV show (on DirecTV, Dish, and select local/regional cable channels throughout the USA) & even live worldwide Webcast production through the Fine Art Network to serve the US and Global markets primarily to support my client artists' (many of whom are immigrants like myself ;) as well as jewelry & collectibles' suppliers' drive to be better marketed to the Fine Art-hungry general public :) With the US economy still being skittish through late 2006, I have also branched out into applying my Operations Management, Marketing, & Economics background for other small- to medium-sized business such as: *Car Guys Network - a diverse team of auto sales & financing veterans from various Southern California dealerships seeking to help clients w/ credit issues *JBI Localization Services - the translation service through which I have worked both as a Voiceover Talent and Voiceover Project Director for mostly multinational clients seeking to reach out to the Tagalog-speaking, i.e. growing Filipino market worldwide *Mail Mann Inc/CelebrityMerch.Com - a confidential fan mail processing service & fulfillment center for major international actors/actresses to best maintain & develop fan loyalty worldwide *Cornerstone America - a decades-old, publicly-traded health insurance & savings/benefits plan conglomerate *ERA Winners Group/Pacific Integrated Capital - a residential mortgage brokerage franchise serving the diverse California market. February 2007 found me in another full-time post becoming as the Vice-President for Operations for a California Residential & Commercial Real Estate & Mortgage Brokerage Firm, Universal Management Inc. dba Premier Wholesale Loans (http://tigurl.org/fjbi33) dba Homes & Loans Realty. I got involved just around the time when the challenging US Real Estate Lending and Corporate Credit Crunch began, so a great portion of my job at UMI/PWL/HNL Realty involved streamlining & re-tooling its Operations to not only aid SubPrime Residential Clients, but also take on timely A Paper Residential and Commercial Real Estate Financing, and asserting Quality Control in this multi-branch & multi-cultural group's staffing of experienced, ethical, & adaptive Loan Officers, Processors, partner Brokers, Appraisers, etc. With UMI having actually started as a Information Technology consultancy firm in 1992, I also took care of IT consultancy projects outside of real estate on its behalf first in California and starting in Summer 2007 in Nevada (there is more now to Las Vegas than just being a gaming playground, after all!) . . . By Summer 2007 I also resumed my TV Production vocation through the Las Vegas-based sustainable living-themed weekday lifestyle television series Living Additions seen nationwide on Ion Media Networks (formerly PaxTV) and owned by the Telly, Clio, and Addy-award winning media production team of Media Underground, serving as Living Additions' Executive Producer for Brand Development. With the formation of the multi-disciplinary & multi-cultural management consultancy services organization Universal Connections Inc. in the international business-friendly city of Las Vegas, Nevada, starting this March 2008, I now also flexibly provide Marketing and Media Management/Development services as Vice-President for Marketing & Media, for client groups that either want to go Local-To-Global (ex. established & emerging client local/regional TV series growing into long-term national/global TV/Web/Mobile programming) or Global-To-Local (ex. innovative overseas- and/or- nationally developed products & services in finance, telecommunications, consumer goods, etc. seeking customized multi-lingual local/regional Marketing programs towards Sustainable Business and Community Development growth). As an example, check out one of my client businesses, a bilingual Nevada-based network of ACN Video Phones (http://tigurl.org/em0tuw), to have an idea of the kind of out-of-the-box prosumer-centric economies of scale I always seek to nurture :) Truly, life has been a wild ride for me that promises only to get more interesting (hopefully in a good way). It's like what one of my college best friends Francesca Francia had told me about being in one's 30s: "We're young enough to still have ideals & goals, yet we're old enough to not do anything insanely stupid (or at least we hope, hehehe!!!), and in our 30s we are also old enough to not really just be extensions or reflections of others, we are our own persons, we are what we choose and we choose who we are, and we don't really have to care about what others think anymore as long as we are comfortable & responsible with who we are and what we are becoming, there's not substitute for a truly conscious life that way! :-)!" All that being said, I suppose given that I literally grew up in a real estate, communications, & fine art-collecting family, some would say that my versatile ability to make time for money-making, social development volunteerism, media management & development, and art appreciation really comes naturally to me . . . . Most people need to understand though that, in my balancing the Quantitative and Qualitative even in jarring life changes (such as living in another country, moving on from an ended marriage into a much healthier relationship, etc.), I have learned and continue to cherish a few things that others might want to look into also: 1) Don't just strive to be educated for the sake of merely getting some status label, or thinking that one can only get by or grow on social connections alone, or surviving/making money/just fitting into whatever corporate system there is out there . . . . Be a life-long Learner & Innovator who humbly thrives as an entire Person, who really contributes to others while respecting and enhancing oneself. 2) Who says you can only be one or the other when anyone can multi-task & even strategically delegate, to really learn more/know more diverse people to grow from and to be authentically more unique & resilient! Every new job or course of study or relationship and more can be a step towards more growth & strength, don't think of departures or burning bridges, think always of expanding horizons & networks, for when opportunities for genuine independent success & fulfillment arise, your past & present actions may be able to help make or break you . . . 3) There are Three/3 things that even in all my flawfulness I would still strive to be known for in my life: Hard Work, Philanthropy, and a Low Profile . . . . Well, ok, having always been a Marketing, Media, & Operations Management person where being seen and known (i.e. taking the occasional High Profile to get things done) at times becomes a necessity every now and then, I guess 2 out of 3 isn't so bad :-) Some might wonder if I have spread myself too thinly - to me, every relationship and experience has largely been a mutually beneficial one, and quite honestly if I were a very In-The-Box person who only did what I was told or was expected of me, the type who would stay too long even in abusive or stagnant situations just because it feels "safe" and "accepted", then honestly l would never have grown strong & versatile enough to have had a so far very interesting & productive life in 3 continents . . . . and frankly speaking, the fun is just starting ;) Now as I enter my 32nd year, after a lot of prayer, introspection, dialogue with others I trust & respect, etc., I am taking the leap from largely just being a salaried & employed manager/talent for hire into being a full-time self-employed entrepreneur of my own in partnership w/ others at Universal Connections Inc. - serving a wide range of clients & partners I have successfully helped over the years even in other positions & countries, and who now need me to flexibly help them further develop their real & intellectual property. Living and working in so many places for so many different organizations & personalities over the years has taught me that one can realistically only expect so much from employers alone (may they be small- to medium-sized places or even Fortune 500 firms) in terms of one's continuing sustenance & fulfillment, especially in our rapidly changing global economy & community. We are all only human enough to have only enough energy & time to spare throughout one's lifetime . . . Why lose oneself solely in working only for others all the time, when there may be opportunities & circumstances that arise for a person & professional to be more directly & creatively in charge of one's destiny? . . . I am sincerely grateful for every job & employer I have ever had thus far because everything has been a solid step towards growth. Now it's time for me to not just have a job, but truly have a vocation & enterprise of my own through Universal Connections Inc. that hopefully contributes even more to the world while keeping me happy :) Let's all keep in touch, I continue to pray for the success of TakingITglobal.org, and kindly do keep me in your prayers too as I now am technically not a youth anymore (i.e. I'm going to be 32 years old soon, hahahaha!!!!). Still, I'll always be young at heart to balance ideals and practicality for substantial socioeconomic change everywhere . . . C ya!:-)
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