Background. I am a pure bred Filipino born in Manila in 1964. Though I was raised in a very Catholic family and schools, I consider myself a free spirited person. It’s always been my dream to have the courage to explore and try things. I may not have been the brightest child in my family but I would consider myself a self-made achiever.
I’ve always had a love for numbers and mathematics is my all-time favourite subject. I was my Papa’s girl and was mistaken for a tomboy when I was young because I refused to wear a Sunday dress at Church. I consider myself different from my siblings and I’ve been a bit quirky since I was a kid. My parents were always supportive and accepting of who I am.
When I arrived in NZ in March 1996, I considered the experience a great adventure and it still is. I married a wonderful man John in 2002. The rest of my family is our two lovely dogs Chopper and Celeste who we love spending time with. I created a lovely new home for myself and found many fantastic, loyal friends in my first nine years in NZ. Then my siblings and their families followed in 2005 and are now enjoying life in NZ as well.
Career. I completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Electronics & Communication Engineering at the University of Santo Tomas in 1987. I practiced my profession for eight years and was lucky to work with some really good companies back in the Philippines & Singapore. My line of work was not so easy to find in New Zealand so I decided to keep an open mind to opportunities and see what cropped up.
Since I’ve been here I’ve had a wide variety of jobs including croupier at the Casino, administrator, factory worker, forecourt attendant, cashier, café barista, accounts person, road safety leader, cleaner, receptionist and more. You name it, I did it! During this time my husband and I also got involved in a couple of network marketing companies specialising in health and nutrition.
Then I became an entrepreneur. I built up our property investments and set-up our first ever family business in the fitness industry. Unfortunately, the timing was not ideal and our business was hit when the NZ economy slowed during the global economic downturn.
Found New Passion. In 2009, we closed our business and lost our investment properties so I decided to go on sabbatical for 15 months – and spent my time volunteering in Hospice shops and looking after homestay/foreign students at home. During this time I found my new passion for helping or mentoring other businesses. I went back to the work force and restarted my career in office administration in 2010 so that I could be in touch with small businesses. Then in August 2014, I started my mentoring business called Business Nannyâ.
I hope you’ll enjoy my blogs and I encourage everyone to send comments/questions.
