My Story
My Knack for Entrepreneurship in My Early Years
I grew up in the suburbs of Cainta, Rizal - a municipality beside Metro Manila. Born to teenage parents who were sampaguita vendors, my childhood was filled with equally colorful and challenging times. While I could not recall any moment in time when I got hungry as a child, money was always tight in our household. Money was something my young and inexperienced parents would always fight about. To help augment my dad’s meager income, my mom would occasionally sell food on the streets and bring me with her. Learning from my mom, growing up, whenever I wanted something that my parents could not provide - may it be candy or a new toy - I’d think of ways to make money such as setting up a mini shop in front of our house selling ice pops or my old toys. This is how I first learned about entrepreneurship.
I’ve always been an achiever at school. Despite my intelligence, I would always get bullied at school, primarily because I was overweight and struggled with acne-prone skin. This affected my mental health and confidence a lot. Not to mention the ever-increasing tension in our household because of my parent’s constant fights over money. I can’t count how many times I’ve wanted to disappear or end my own life before. But despite having a very difficult childhood, my early years laid the foundation for my resilience and determination. It was also in my early years that I discovered the power of our minds to manifest thoughts and visions into reality through a book my mom had called The Secret.
I Prototyped Different Lives
I earned a degree in Development Communications from the University of the Philippines Los Baños, one of the most prestigious universities in my country, in 2014. It was probably the most important and life-changing decision of my young adult life. Through my college undergrad, I learned how to use communication for social change. I developed a deep passion for empathizing with grassroots communities and for sustainable development. I also gained skills in writing, storytelling, and visual design. Most importantly, I learned how to ask the right questions - a very valuable skill I learned as a journalism major.
For a time, I thought I was going to be a journalist. As cliche as it can be, my grandmother would often tell me when I was a child that I should be a news reporter because I just had way too many questions.
I did not become a journalist. I mean, I tried. But for some interesting twists and turns of the universe, I found myself working for a public sector organization fresh out of college. As a wide-eyed millennial in government, I had high hopes and aspirations. I maximized the opportunity to learn more about my country through our travels to the countryside. I also learned more about technology and startups and how they can be used to promote development. Despite all the great things I learned at my first job, I was disillusioned as well as by all the red tape and bureaucracy I witnessed in the public sector. For one, as a junior staff with a very modest salary, one of our biggest challenges was not receiving our paycheck on time. At one point, I remember that I would not receive our salary for 3 months - all because our papers still needed to be signed by someone up in the bureaucracy.
After leaving my government job, I went on to serve as an executive of a business association at the age 23. I introduced new initiatives and even led an international industry delegation to Cannes, Frances. However, my new ideas were not welcomed by everyone in the association. I was 23, after all, and I already outranked more senior staff who’ve been with the company for half a decade.
I eventually left; determined to start my own organization – somewhere I will have the freedom to design and implement my own social impact initiatives. I founded my first venture called Taktika Multimedia, a communications and PR agency for development sector organizations.
Long story short, Taktika Multimedia failed. I was young and broke. My government and NGO clients were taking a lot of time to pay me.
To survive during these challenging times when I was 24, I took a part-time teaching job. I loved teaching, except that my salary was barely enough to cover my rent. I also tried going back to journalism, working for a few for one of our most prestigious newsrooms in the Philippines.
It was a period of transition, or better yet, one of the most important prototyping and testing stages of my young adult life.
After trying out different career paths, I eventually decided that my mission is to become a social impact entrepreneur.
On September 2017, Limitless Lab was born.
Designing Possibilities with Limitless Lab
With only PHP 20,000 or roughly $400 capital, I founded Limitless Lab - a social impact consulting company specializing in promoting design thinking education and co-designing of social innovations such as toolkits, digital tools, and campaigns with development sector organizations.
Today, Limitless Lab is a multi-million company that has worked with both local and international governments and companies such as the United Nations, ADB, ASEAN Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and many more.
Limitless Lab has touched thousands of lives through our design thinking training programs and initiatives - from students, corporate innovators, government innovators, and even startups. We also pioneered projects for public sector innovation in the Philippines.
Going Through Life Disruptions and Transformations
In the middle of my early entrepreneurial journey in 2020, the pandemic hit. Limitless Lab co-designed and led various initiatives in the onset of the crisis. We helped launch fundraising campaigns for frontliners. We launched online platforms for innovative government projects for fighting COVID-19. We even pioneered a behavioral design campaign for nudging Filipinos to comply with COVID-19 protocols.
As I was busy doing as much as we could at Limitless Lab to help fight COVID, I was blindsided. My mother, a frontliner herself, contracted COVID-19.
In July 2020, she succumbed to the virus. I was beside her when she died.
It was the most painful moment of my life. As the eldest in our family, I had to step up and take charge of things – that included assuming the responsibility of taking care of my then 7-year-old sister.
A few weeks after my mom passed, we discovered the grave working conditions in the local public hospital she was working in. It also took months and her untimely death for her to finally receive her hazard – a mere PHP 7,000 pesos or $125 for months of working on the frontlines of the battlefield against an invisible enemy.
Her story brought national attention to the struggles of our frontliners, even before the pandemic. My mother’s experience became one of the primary bases for amending our national policy during COVID-19, which led to an increase in the hazard pay for medical frontliners.
The "Limitless" Within
Despite the pain and challenges I encountered throughout my jouney, I remained resilient and channeled my energy toward reframing crises and challenges into opportunities for impact and contribution.
For me, this is what it means to “limitless”.
Being “limitless” is about becoming a force of good in this world, and having the capability to spot challenges and transform them into opportunities.
Entrepreneurship is not just about making money. It’s about creating value and positive change in society. It’s about innovating solutions for pressing problems and empowering communities to rise above their circumstances. Entrepreneurship is about seeing beyond the status quo, daring to think differently, and having the courage to act on those ideas.
In my journey, being 'limitless' has meant embracing a mindset of continuous learning and adaptation. It’s about being agile, responsive to changing needs, and always being ready to pivot strategies for greater impact. It’s about leadership that inspires, motivates, and rallies people together toward a common goal.
To me, being an entrepreneur is synonymous with being a catalyst for change.
My mission of using entrepreneurship, technology, and innovation to create limitless possibilities continues.
Book me to speak
Every year, I get invited to speak to hundreds of events globally to speak on various topics such us social innovation, design thinking, tech for social good, women entrepreneurship, and my personal growth journey.
I am passionate about sharing my energy, experiences, and insights to inspire change and drive progress. I bring not only stories but also practical strategies that audiences can apply in their own pursuits. My goal as a speaker is to ignite a spark of possibility in every individual, encouraging them to embrace their potential and make a meaningful difference in the world.
