Overseas Filipina women are encouraged to speak up, raise their hands more, and let their voices be heard as top Filipina executives reveal secrets to rise among ranks during the recently-held Philippine Property and Investment Exhibition in Dubai.
The panel, moderated by Dr. Karen Remo, CEO and Founder of New Perspective Media, spoke to four of the UAE’s most experienced Filipina leaders who over the years have found success in their respective line of work as follows:
Know your purpose. Filipino women must find their inner purpose which will motivate them in their line of work.
“You need to know why you’re doing this. It needs to be purposeful in order for you to get up in the morning and really energize and do what you want,” said Penn Policarpio, a Filipina veteran marketing expert during the panel titled: “SECRET TO THE TOP: Take-Aways from Fiipina Leaders’ Tales of Success in the UAE”
She also added that finding your support system and being optimistic will allow you to go a long way.
“The second one is really have your support system professionally or so professionally hire the best so that you can delegate and have some time for yourself and personally you need to have your support system at home. Optimism is also key – always have hope, always know that something is there out for you to strategize for and to move,” said Policarpio.
Take care of yourself. Cleo Eleazar, Public Relations & Events Manager at Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone, highlighted that women should take care of themselves first before prioritizing the needs of others – and they can do this by managing the 20 percent of life that they can control.
“Concentrate on the 20% which you can control. And then disregard the 80% that you don’t have any control of. Kasi pang gulu lang yun sa buhay natin. This way, you can take care of yourself.
She also added that another way to take care of yourself is by investing in your own capabilities.
“If you want to be successful then you have to be healthy and invest in yourself. Make sure you acquire new skills and invest in property because paguwi natin sa Pilipinas, we all need a home for ourselves. Kailangan natin ng property not only for ourselves sa pagtanda natin and also for our family na din,” said Eleazar.
Avoid ‘BCE’. Women should also stop the ‘BCE’s of life. Roxane Negrillo, Executive Business Director at phd media, quoting inspirational speaker Robin Sharma, said that women should stop blaming, complaining and making excuses. Instead – they should find out what they love to do in life since this will show in the output that they do at work.
“As Filipino women, importante sa atin na we take accountability for our actions and it will also help us become more responsible and more focused on our actions. Importante din sa atin na pursigido tayo kasi ine-enjoy natin ‘yong ating trabaho at siyempre kapag passionate tayo and we love what we do, yung output natin will be high quality,” said Negrillo.
She also added that Filipino women should love what they do and begin investing for their future today in both tangible and intangible matters.
“Also you should invest in yourself under two classifications: Tangible and intangible. Intangible is about upskilling, self-development, and learning new things. For tangible, it’s really important for us to start thinking of investment. Paano natin paghahandaan ang ating future? Hindi naman habang buhay tayo ay OFWs. So importante sa atin na we going to exhibitions like PPIE because it’s credible and alam nating yung hard-earned money natin, mailalaan sa mga trustworthy companies,” said Negrillo.
Be a role model. Dr. Mary Jane Alvero, CEO of Prime Group, stated that women should aspire to be the person they want to work with – to become a role model who will spread positive vibes to the work culture.
“Lagi kong sinisigurado na maging role model ako sa kanila. have done and kung ano pa ‘yong mga natutunan ko. I always see to it na she-share din sa kanila. So that they will learn from me as their leader,” said Dr. Alvero
She added that as a leader, your team will be your support group where you can entrust tasks allowing aspiring Filipino women leaders to grow further.
“I really consider yung team ko na very supportive sa akin. They love me so much and they were able to understand ‘yong lahat ng pinagdadaanan ko as a business leader. Dahil doon sa ganoong understanding and patience nila we were able to move forward and ‘yon ang nagbigay sa akin ng motivation to do more para pag ‘yong aming organization ay lalong lumaki,” said Dr. Alvero.
