her name is mercedes corrales. her story isn't well known in the country simply because she wants to keep it that way. but i daresay that it's something that people here should know about.
in an attempt to cut what could be a long story short, she joined levi strauss philippines (as in levi's the jeans maker ha, in case may mga sabog) way back in 1974 as an hr assistant after graduating from mapua with a degree in business management. she worked her way up the ranks and eventually became general manager of levi's malaysia/singapore/thailand/indonesia in 1991, general manager of levi's philippines in 1993, general manager of levi's south america (that's an entire friggin' continent!) in 1997, president of levi's japan (yes, japan. as in the second largest economy in the world and the country with the most competitive retail industry) in 2001, and until her last job post as vice-president and regional general manager of levi's north asia (japan, china, south korea, taiwan, and hong kong -- ang poor ng countries noh? *sarcastic*). she kept on transferring because she always made levi's business in those areas profitable and marketing the brand better than ever in those countries.
her professional achievements alone is amazing then you add the fact that she has an executive mba from duke university and that she's a multi-millionaire (in dollar terms).
but the reason why i look up to her is because she used to be exactly like one of those typical twenty-something, recent grad, feeling-yuppie-while-walking-along-ayala-avenue-pero-hindi-naman-talaga people with nothing but the words "career", "profession", or "future" floating around their heads all the time! and of course, that she's a filipina, which already should be a reason for being inspired.
she used to be like me and all of my friends now who are starting a career and dreaming big.
she was a student leader, being the editor-in-chief of their college paper... and take note, during martial law. her husband now used to be mapua's student council president during the time when they were still studying. call it leftist loving. she started her career as an hr assistant! hay. i can so relate.
to humanize her a bit, we call her tita mercy. her husband and my dad have been very good friends since college and they've all known each other ever since then. she has a nice little home in alabang hills and cooks pretty well. she basically affected my career path when i was able to speak with her personally at one of her house parties a few years ago. that long conversation probably changed everything because ever since then, my personal standards went up a lot of notches and i dreamed bigger. that'll be too long a story to write here but that was the moment i decided to take my future more seriously.
she resigned from levi's in 2005 and has been spending her days in retirement. however, a few weeks ago, she informed us that she just accepted a new job offer -- bigger and better than before:
she is now the chief executive officer (ceo) and chief operating officer (coo) of starbucks japan.
anak ng... ibang level ampucha!
mabuhay ka! idol na talaga kita!
read more about her here: http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/mba/executive/features/profiles/corrales.html
* * * * * * * *
meet aurora diaz wilson:
sister of gloria diaz and mother of georgina wilson... and... fellow spanish agent in the call center i work in. she is probably one of the coolest people i know above the age of 50. she brings a sleeping bag, eye covers, and a blanket to work... and uses it! she's weird in the coolest kind of way from her walk to her talk and everything else about her. she sometimes wears all pink (from spags to leggings to sneakers). and as seen in this picture, she drives a pick-up truck while grooving and singing to rnb music even i am not familiar with.
* * * * * * * *
in other news...
1.) i've finally finished reading the entire harry potter series! woohoo! and i must say... i want to be harry potter! epekto 'ata 'to of reading the series ng tuloy-tuloy. for some reason, i could relate to him so much especially when he goes against the kupal and unfair profs and admin at hogwart's such as snape and umbridge! argh. and how he always had enemies from a rival house (reminds me of college too much)... and how he's so immature but... not. gets? ay ewan... basta, i'm dropping my dreams of becoming an elf a la lord of the rings or mutant a la magneto and will now dream of having a wand and conjuring up a mean patronus. haha! obssessed!
2.) i think i just met the person who i will never, and i mean, NEVER want to become like in the future. the bad thing is, i work with this person. hay.
3.) a few days ago at work, some guys were huddled up in a debate about the political crisis. i excluded myself from the debate because i was reading book 6 of harry potter and dumbledore just died so malamang i just wanted to read but was listening pa rin. i stopped reading for a few minutes and let my blood boil when i suddently heard the arguments: "everybody cheats!" and the ultimate "our country needs a dictator!". wtf??!!? i wanted to stuff my computer in the guy's mouth, slap him with my heavy harry potter book, get my wand, point it at him, and shout "avada kedavra!". ok, obviously impossible yung last part. hehe. unfortunately, understanding that me butting in would get the discussion nowhere and since i felt that reading about snape being the half-blood prince appealed to me more at that time, i decided to continue reading. hehe. however, i will await until the topic comes up again and will debate as if kalaban na ni harry si voldemort. adik na ba ako kay harry?
4.) i just took my boxing training to the next level when my trainer decided that i go sparring. let's just say i was happy i finished the fourth round and see that my arms were still attached to my shoulders.
No comments:
Post a Comment