Forties’ Story

Hi, I’m Forties! I love to share my story to almost everyone. But mind you, this isn’t a fairytale story. A lot of good and bad happened in my 40-something years in this earth. Ooh, the bad. It’s crazy when I think about it sometimes. But you know, the hiccups only made me the person I am today. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, eh?

With the years I have under my belt, another thing that I have come to love is traveling. In the spirit of traveling, let me take you on a “tour” of my life. Buckle your seatbelts, this is gonna be one hell of a ride!

20s

Let’s begin this excursion on my 20s. Why? Because life as we know it started to actually take shape at this stage of our life, right? It’s the period where we can finally take the reins and make decisions for ourselves. So, on my 20s…where to start? I have a bachelor’s degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management which made me want to start my career path in the hospitality industry – and so I did, for about 4 ½ years. I can say that those were one of the best days in my life. I really did reap the joy of my youth: drink all night, play billiards with my friends, and go to work with NO sleep while fighting a hangover. Those were THE days. Don’t get me wrong, I still did my job right. All my deliverables were met, if not exceeded.

My experience at the hospitality industry on the sales and marketing department honed my professional skills and greatly developed my personal confidence. I was exposed to different companies and different nationalities, to different levels of positions in various organizations. I was even given the chance to organize events! The hospitality industry is such a competitive environment, but it truly made me happy. At the end of the day, we all have one goal, and that is to meet our monthly sales target. When that is met, we’re showered with incentives. I especially looked forward to the travel incentives which started my love for travel.

After my stint at the hospitality industry, I joined the manufacturing industry. Though I left hospitality, one thing that stayed with me was our motto, “MAKE IT HAPPEN.” I lived by it then, and I still live by it up to now. Whatever my goals are professionally and personally, I see to it that I make it happen, that I do everything in my power to meet those goals.

So going back, manufacturing. I had a country-wide role with the company I was with, which required a lot of domestic and international travels because I had bosses around Asia-Pacific. Well, around this time, I met my then-boyfriend who is now my husband, who will affect major life decisions. The work with the manufacturing company was professionally fulfilling, but I didn’t realize that for two whole years, I will be working 24/7. NON-STOP. So eventually, I got tired.

Fortunately, a job opportunity at the US with a Persian company arrived. So, I went to the US and worked. You think it’s glamorous and fun, but it’s not. At least for me it wasn’t. I got used to a fast-paced work environment that required seemingly unsurmountable output. When I arrived at the US for my new job, I wasn’t satisfied professionally. Work was too damn easy. But I still did what I had to. My boss offered me a Green Card to stay at the job. Remember when I said that my then-boyfriend/now-husband will affect major life decisions? Here’s one. I declined the offer because he wasn’t able to secure a US visa that time. I knew that accepting the Green Card offer would mean a 5-year minimum of not seeing him. In the battle between love and career, I chose love because I knew then, after more than 10 ex-boyfriends I kid you not, that this man is the man that I’m gonna marry. They called me crazy to turn down such offer, but I know what I want. I went back home to the Philippines and that’s when I joined the beauty industry. Not long after, then-boyfriend/now-husband wanted to go to Dubai.

30s

You have got to be kidding me! I turned down a great offer for him, for us. I just arrived home and NOW he’s planning to go to Dubai? So I told him, I will only go to Dubai if there’s a work opportunity waiting there for me.

When I arrived home from America, I started a job at the beauty industry. After the Dubai bomb was dropped on me, I fervently prayed for His favor so I could follow then-boyfriend/now-husband. Lo and behold, three job opportunities opened for me. One in Bangkok, another at the US again, and…wow, one in Dubai! By His grace, I was able to go to Dubai a month after then-boyfriend/now-husband left. And that started my life as an expat for 10 years.

For seven years, I learned the ins and outs of the beauty industry as I distributed 15 beauty brands to hotel spas, salons, and aesthetic clinics, with a mix of alternative medicine (like therapeutic oils). The certifications I received from Florida, Vancouver, and Europe added to my expertise in the beauty industry.

After my stint at running a company at the beauty industry, I went back to manufacturing. Remember the manufacturing I worked for on my 20s prior to going to the US? Yep, that same company contacted me again for the same job, but to handle the entire Gulf Region.

As an expat in Dubai for ten years, my eyes were opened to a world of luxury. I feel blessed that everything was almost provided for me by the companies I worked for, I never did want for more. Our original plan to migrate to Canada thru Dubai was all but forgotten since we had so much fun living and working in Dubai. Eventually, all the work caught up to me.

All the stress of being a proud workaholic ended up in my having Graves’ Disease. It’s an autoimmune disorder that causes an overactive thyroid. Somewhere in between all the work and discovering that I have a health problem, I went home to the Philippines to get married with my husband. Our plans of expanding our family was put to halt because of my treatments. For three whole years, I had to find “my perfect dose” to be able to live a normal life post-Graves’ Disease. Though I had undergone radioactive iodine to treat my illness, we conceived our daughter just after one try! She’s actually a result of my love for traveling as well – my daughter is made in America.

At this point on my late 30s, I chose to prioritize my family. Everything does shift when you start to have a child. I was running out of options. I can’t keep taking care of my baby while trying to work. We never hired a nanny and just depended on flying some family members one a time to help us take care of our daughter. I just had enough.

40s

My husband and I talked about it. We saw the difference in values in kids who grow up in the Philippines versus overseas. I’m NOT saying that there’s something wrong! It’s just a personal preference of ours for our daughter to grow up in the same environment as ours, especially in the early stages of development. My husband and I decided: my daughter and I are going back to the Philippines.

Just before our daughter turned three, I’m back home. We first enrolled our daughter in preschool to see how well she will adapt in her new surroundings. Seeing as she’s enjoying her classes, my husband and I prepared all the necessary documents for the only school we considered enrolling our child – in the PAREF system – same as her dad. By His grace, she got in. I eventually moved to my current residence with Twenties.

Being back home in the Philippines trying to juggle “single parenthood” (since my husband is usually away for work) and my career. To all moms who were career women before motherhood, don’t apologize for wanting to go back to your work. Moms need their thing too, you know! Because of the help of Twenties, my one and only niece, I was able to go to work at the beauty industry.

So here we now at the end of our trip. If you picked up on a thing or two from my story, you now know that I love to keep myself busy, especially with work that is very fulfilling for me, both professionally and personally. After years of working for different brands and actually running someone else’s company, I asked myself, “why not start something that’s my own?” And so I did – we did. I wouldn’t have had the power to start this journey with HERstory S.V.R.TM without Twenties and Thirties.

If you reached the end of this tour, I hope you’ll stay along with me in the days to come. Thank you so much for reading!

Love,