Landed in newspapers at the close of International Women's Day

-
April 4–10, 2025 edition of the Asian Journal News

I participated as a speaker during the 2013 International Women's Day (IWD) event at IRRI. I was invited as a panel member at another IWD event. Then, there's the IWD video that the Grain Quality and Nutrition Centre's staff produced in 2010.

Many years (and a pandemic) passed before I got involved in IWD celebrations. This year, however, instead of being in front of a live audience, I was featured in two articles by Rogelio Constantino Medina!

Asian Journal News

I was featured alongside numerous women who made a mark in society for this article. Sr Mary John Mananzan is the Superior and Director of St. Scholastica's Academy. She has received many awards for her activism and feminism. Margie Penson Juico served under both Presidents Aquino (appointments secretary for Cory and chairperson of PCSO for Noynoy). Salvie Collado Paparon is the CEO of Sheanne Roll Up Door Construction Services. Crispina Martinez-Belen used to be the entertainment editor of the Manila Bulletin. Angela Valdez is a business owner. The author asked all of us what the significant role of women is in our society. Though each had a unique perspective and answered the question based on her experiences, one thing was common (and Sr Mananzan said it best): women are agents of change. 

Women's roles go beyond the home. Women are captains of industry, changemakers in society and politics, mentors in schools, and transformers of technology.

Police Files Tonite

In the early 2000s, I co-hosted the Rotary Club of West Bay's weekly talk show, Rotary at Your Service, in dzLB with Tito Johnny Goloyugo. It was a fun assignment because I learned to speak in public without being in front of an audience. I also figured out how to play music using complex gadgets in a radio booth, interact with live broadcasters during a university event, and chat with scientists with whom I wouldn't have had a chance to interact if not for the show. Though a significant growth opportunity for me, this radio hosting gig wasn't as well-known as my scientific pursuits in starch chemistry and food sensory profiling. 

Until Rogelio went through my LinkedIn profile and found my hosting stint! He wrote this feature article from a showbiz angle, landing me in the entertainment section of a newspaper for the first time! I have been featured in glossy magazines before (Sense and Style, 2008, and Chalk, 2010), but I can't remember ever seeing an article about me on the same page as movie stars.

Thank you, Rogelio, for featuring me in two articles you have written in March. They are fantastic!

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for dropping by!

Before moving on, please share your thoughts or comments about the post. :)

Thanks again!

Popular posts from this blog

Skyflakes

-
One of the more famous Philippine exports is Skyflakes , a wheat-based, salty cracker. It is one of my emergency food items: I typically have some stocked at home and in my handbag in case I become hungry (like in traffic jams). When there's no electricity and it's impractical to cook rice (because the leftover would spoil), I'd open a pack of Skyflakes and generously coat each cracker with Cheez Whiz... if I had a bottle of it within reach. Anyway, each time I spent more than two weeks outside the Philippines, I'd be elated to see boxes of Skyflakes inside Asian stores (particularly when in I was Australia and in the USA). Back then, I took it as a sign of homesickness. When I moved to California, I didn't miss Skyflakes because Mommy made sure that there's a steady supply in the house. Skyflakes is embedded in Filipino gastronomy as a snack, a panawid-gutom , that anyone who reacts positively upon seeing Skyflakes outside the Philippines must have spe...
Read more

10 things I learned while driving on Marcos Highway to Baguio City

-
I went on a day trip to the City of Pines, which was around a 700-km drive from my house. I drove  going up there and then from the city to Victoria, Tarlac. After that, my dad took over the driving duties. It was day trip with Tita Ising and Tito Sibing with us. Anyway, this trip was my first time to go to Baguio City with me behind the wheel. As everyone who drives up knows, there are three main routes to Baguio from the lowlands: Kennon Road, which ascends from Rosario, La Union. It was out of my options because it's too dangerous to use that road in the rainy season. The second route is via Naguilian Road, which makes my trip a lot longer because the beginning of the ascent is in Bauang, La Union (further north). The last route, and the one I took, was the Marcos Highway, now known as the Aspiras-Palispis Highway. This 47-km road starts from Agoo, La Union and is touted as the safest route among the three.  As I drove up and then down (on the same day; we were in...
Read more

Surat Mangyan

-
Image
In high school, part of the Filipino curriculum was learning about one of the country's ancient native scripts called Baybayin . I learned back then that this script was eventually abandoned because the Spanish, and eventually the Americans, encouraged the use of the Latin script for written communications. But that's in the lowlands; the rules were different up in the mountains. In the lush mountains of Mindoro, groups of indigenous people called Mangyans  live largely in isolation away from the Christianised Filipinos. This isolation has led to the continuous development of the Mangyans' old script, Surat Mangyan . As I walked inside the Ayala Museum , I saw this bamboo tube (I'm not sure if it's an instrument) with Mangyan script written all over it. I suppose that this was equivalent to a book or a song. But I haven't figured out what's written yet, despite the translation guide provided. What I can do, however, is write my name in Ma...
Read more