[Applause]
hello good afternoon everyone to be
honest when they asked me to come and
speak today there was a lot of
hesitation in my end why because I don’t
exactly know or I don’t exactly feel I’m
worthy enough to be here it’s a TED talk
after all I mean what’s so interesting
about my story I thought about it and
honestly everyone in this room is
capable of doing what I’m doing so
what’s what’s there special to do and
then they told me the theme was breaking
boundaries and then I thought about it
some more and that’s when I realized you
know my whole life has been about
breaking boundaries and maybe I will
have something to share after all so
what exactly do I mean by my whole life
was about breaking boundaries I know
what you’re thinking the quintessential
rebel child who one day got into a
near-death accident and Eureka voila hey
I’m gonna help save the world no I’m
sorry to break it to all of you guys
mine was pretty boring I who asked the
nerdy child who grew up and it was very
comfortable with a small group of
friends and I think that still me today
except that I always say I’m the
introverted extroverted who has to get
out there and meet people in order to
perpetuate my causes but what I was
certain off even as that small nerdy
child was that I always found happiness
in the joy that I brought others and
that to me has always been my happiness
quotient as far back as I can remember I
played my favorite playmates where the
children of our household helped and I
would remember always looking forward to
the weekends because that meant they
would come over to our house and I got
to share another part of my world to
them I remember saving up my allowance
all the time and on Fridays I would head
straight to the grocery store buy
bazooka and fruit Ella so I could give
them to my friends I celebrated my
seventh birthday in white cross an
orphanage in Quezon City because that’s
the impact the movie on Little Orphan
Annie had on me um all kidding aside
I’ve always known that seeing a smile on
people’s faces is what gave me that
ultimate high and it was just about
really fine
the sustainability and being able to
constantly find that happiness that I
needed to figure out and so I would say
that I found and I broke through my
first barrier at 15 I was a freshman in
is em across the street and we have
service-learning week
I remember being extremely excited about
service-learning week I’m not really
thinking about what I could do for the
community but at the time more because
oh my gosh I get to get out of my house
for a week I get to go out of town be
with my best friend
I grew up in a very strict household and
you know I can do what I want to do and
so at the time I was assigned to a
Habitat for Humanity site in amedeo
Kavitha and little did I know my destiny
was sealed and my faith had been called
and that one week to call it a
life-changing week would be the biggest
understatement because it was grueling
it was physically taxing it was about
making bricks laying bricks I had to
translate for all my classmates in order
for them to be able to interact with
other members of the community but at
the same time I remember going to bed
every night extremely tired but with a
heart so full and it was a feeling I
knew that I wanted to sustain for as
long as possible and so I tell you the
nerdy child in me went home and was like
mom I think I found what I wanted what I
want to do this summer and she was like
yeah yeah what and it was I want to do
Habitat every day she looked at me and
she was like every day I’m like yeah for
two months here’s the number I’m below
18 please call their office and let them
know that you’re giving me permission to
be able to help out and so one phone
call led to the next and I remember
they’re a staff member that oriented me
was dubious she’s like are you sure
you’re committing to months every day
June and July of your summer to come and
help out I was like yes I really want to
do it and at the time I was assigned to
a site in pondo in the port area in
bussaco that had just burned down so
that was two months of literally
rebuilding lives and houses from the
ashes the best part of every day I
remember was really talking
the people they’re learning about their
lives learning about their experiences
and still seeing this spark of hope in
their eyes despite you know the bleak
environment they were in besides the
fact that their houses had just burned
down to me I felt like I learned so much
more from them than I could have ever
given them and the stench smell of
garbage
the violent environment you know I
actually found peace in it eventually
and that’s when I realized that peace is
a state of mind it’s a state of content
and it’s a state of being and so I just
wanted to continue and continue and
continue when I turned 18 I wanted to
raise funds for my birthday I wanted to
be able to build 18 houses on my 18th
birthday it wasn’t an easy journey given
that I was bodied a lot in high school
because people thought that I was only
doing this to put it in my college
transcript 11 years later I’m still here
so I guess you know I proved some
naysayers wrong and I realized along the
way that you cannot shape people’s
opinions they’re gonna say what they
want to say they’re gonna think what
they want to thank anyway I raised the
funds for the 18 houses successfully and
that’s when it dawned on me that hey
there are some people out there who
really want to help you out there are
peers my age who want to help out as
well but what kept them from doing so is
them thinking that the help that they’re
able to give is not significant enough
and that’s when I realized that I didn’t
want to put all that I have done to
waste when I left for college abroad and
that I wanted to continue with and so I
set up the habitat Youth Council and the
main aim of the habitat Youth Council
was to give others my peers this worthy
platform of helping out where they
wouldn’t feel their help was
insignificant what does that mean to
build a house with habitat is 150
thousand pesos per unit I think that’s a
hefty sum for a lot of us as a student
it’s impossible that would be years of
pooling your allowance together but
through habitat use Council and with
concerted effort and putting together
events that will allow them to bring
this help all together you’re able to
make a bigger change and so that was
successful and that’s when I told myself
you know being a do-gooder and being
able to help out wasn’t as lonely as I
had expected it to be two years later
I was a junior in college I was an urban
studies and political science major that
was a time where we got to investigate
what was going on around the world of
course come seize the season if I had I
remember thinking to myself if I had to
spend two years of my life and 250 pages
it better have a greater impact in the
community than going to my bookshelf
when I get back home and that’s what I
realized I wanted to be able to start
something on my own I wanted to be able
to address a gap in the Phillipines that
could potentially help others you see
giving people a house breaks the poverty
cycle you’re giving them that notion of
hope but it needs to be a multi-faceted
approach in order for progress to be
holistic and so at the time the K to 12
act was just passed in the Philippines
and so I wanted to address a gap of
early childhood education and that’s how
move ed was born move that is an
advocacy that I started and I found it
yes sometimes I don’t know what I’m
thinking either but I brought this NGO
and it’s advocacy is to bring early
childhood education to underserved
communities I had this vision of
transforming the ordinary daycare into a
quality preschool to give to give hope
to the children in the community so
seeing children I was working with and
it was also through moo-ved that I
realized there’s a lot of convincing
that needs to be done in order to
convince parents of these children in
the communities that it’s important for
kids at that age where their cognition
is most rapid where their mind is most
malleable not to be out doing livelihood
rather to to be in a program that can
bring out the best in them and I feel
that through move edie I did not only
break a barrier I shattered a glass
ceiling because that’s when I felt my
life evolved from being a volunteer for
a cause to a leader of a cause and not
only a leader in the managerial sense
but a leader in the sense that I was
able to turn a vision into a reality and
it’s a constant reality every day and
truth of the matter is were always
conditioned to work towards an upward
trajectory we’re always
addition to keep climbing that ladder to
be attained success and if there’s
anything I’ve realized it’s that the
higher you get on that ladder the more
demands there are of you it’s actually
harder with privilege comes
responsibility
with everything you put yourself out
there to do much more as expected back
of you and every day is a work in
progress every day I’m working towards
becoming that leader that I want to be
and if there’s one trait of a leader
that I wish to attain one day it’s that
trait of being able to relate to
everyone I always feel that a successful
leader is someone who is not only
attainable but someone who can relate to
every person in every walk of life which
is why it’s very important to always
start at the bottom of the ladder climb
that up with no shortcuts and the truth
of the matter is hey what’s this
beautiful slide with colorful things
sometimes being in the nonprofit world
is a thankless job why
number one you deal with politics and
bureaucracy all the time you deal with
situations and issues that you wish
didn’t exist but it acted which actually
exists you deal with reality and also
you’re not compensated monetarily at all
hence the nature of a non-profit job so
you find other means to be able to
sustain your life as well but by still
giving hours like the majority of your
hours to your advocacy which is why I
always say I don’t call this a job to
call it a job would be unfair because a
job to me will give you compensation a
job to me will be fulfilling this is
more than fulfilling it’s not even a
lifestyle it’s become more than that
this has been my life project it’s gonna
be my passion project this is the
greatest privilege that I’ve had um and
that I continue to have and I always
tell people that by no means should you
feel entitled by no means should you
feel like you’re entitled because you
are the ones helping others out no you
get more from them than you can ever
give them it’s a privilege to be part of
their lives and that’s something that no
amount of money can buy and that nothing
can ever take away from you and that’s
also when I really go back to my
earliest years and I realize
my happiness quotient is and has always
been that to give joy to others and that
fulfillment manifests in the happiness
that you give and the lives that you
change because no matter what you’re
part of their lives forever through what
it is that you’re doing and so I always
say that beyond housing beyond early
childhood education
my greatest advocacy is really to give
others a worthy platform to help out to
make them feel that every bit of help
they’re able to give whether that’s
through time through talent through
service is worthy it’s able to make a
difference and in that you’re also able
to break the barrier because you’re able
to break the barrier between what was
once just a dream into the dream being
realized into what could not be done and
what can be attainable and helping and
breaking barriers is also that two-way
street because again you actually gain
more from what you’re doing then what
you’re able to give but at the same time
without those people permitting you to
be part of their lives you would have no
community to serve and you would have
nothing to gain and with that I think
the greatest lesson of all is I’ve
learned to do everything with love and I
feel like compassion is key everything
is worthless if you’re doing it for
ulterior motives I always say you go
into something because you love it you
don’t go into something because you’re
looking for recognition you don’t ever
go into something because it’s a
stepping stone towards a greater picture
you go into something because you know
in your heart and you believe that it’s
the greatest thing that you can ever put
yourself and your life into and I always
thought people always aim to break
barriers every day never stop following
your heart never stop learning always
keep an open mindset there is always
something to be learned no matter where
you go and everyday there will always be
the doubters there will always be the
haters but they’re always going to be
the cheerleaders and there’s always
going to be the lovers you have to place
yourself right in the middle do not
always go in the good and do not always
go where there are cheerleaders because
you don’t stay grounded you also have to
get criticism don’t take everything to
heart there are some people out there
who will just let jealousy drive them
and it’s just mean you have to strike
that balance you have to find you have
to be
open to learning but at the same time
you also have to have that enough sense
of security and self-worth to know hey
you know what at the end of the day I’m
doing what I’m set out to do and you
either join me in my mission or you can
go find your own and last but not the
least I always say that life is always
about finding purpose and meaning and
with every barrier that I’ve broken
along the way I’ve found purpose and
meaning to always think back at me
purpose and meaning are such simple
words yet it’s loaded it’s loaded with
so much more you have a purpose but then
you have to find the meaning and I feel
that every day is a constant work in
progress every day is a transformational
approach every day I want to find my
help I’m able to give others evolve I
want it to be holistic help so that the
people who are the recipients and the
beneficiaries are also stakeholders of
their lives eventually and I’d like to
end this talk by saying that for than
the number of houses that I’ve built
more than the millions of pesos and
dollars I’ve raised or the number of
children who will graduate from move ed
what’s more important and what keeps me
going are the numbers that are still
left to be done the number of houses
left to be built the number of children
who are still dependent on you and most
importantly the number of like-minded
individuals and volunteers who are
willing to go on that same journey and
who are willing to make a difference and
take a stake in the country and the
nation’s progress
thank you
[Applause]
hello good afternoon everyone to be
honest when they asked me to come and
speak today there was a lot of
hesitation in my end why because I don’t
exactly know or I don’t exactly feel I’m
worthy enough to be here it’s a TED talk
after all I mean what’s so interesting
about my story I thought about it and
honestly everyone in this room is
capable of doing what I’m doing so
what’s what’s there special to do and
then they told me the theme was breaking
boundaries and then I thought about it
some more and that’s when I realized you
know my whole life has been about
breaking boundaries and maybe I will
have something to share after all so
what exactly do I mean by my whole life
was about breaking boundaries I know
what you’re thinking the quintessential
rebel child who one day got into a
near-death accident and Eureka voila hey
I’m gonna help save the world no I’m
sorry to break it to all of you guys
mine was pretty boring I who asked the
nerdy child who grew up and it was very
comfortable with a small group of
friends and I think that still me today
except that I always say I’m the
introverted extroverted who has to get
out there and meet people in order to
perpetuate my causes but what I was
certain off even as that small nerdy
child was that I always found happiness
in the joy that I brought others and
that to me has always been my happiness
quotient as far back as I can remember I
played my favorite playmates where the
children of our household helped and I
would remember always looking forward to
the weekends because that meant they
would come over to our house and I got
to share another part of my world to
them I remember saving up my allowance
all the time and on Fridays I would head
straight to the grocery store buy
bazooka and fruit Ella so I could give
them to my friends I celebrated my
seventh birthday in white cross an
orphanage in Quezon City because that’s
the impact the movie on Little Orphan
Annie had on me um all kidding aside
I’ve always known that seeing a smile on
people’s faces is what gave me that
ultimate high and it was just about
really fine
the sustainability and being able to
constantly find that happiness that I
needed to figure out and so I would say
that I found and I broke through my
first barrier at 15 I was a freshman in
is em across the street and we have
service-learning week
I remember being extremely excited about
service-learning week I’m not really
thinking about what I could do for the
community but at the time more because
oh my gosh I get to get out of my house
for a week I get to go out of town be
with my best friend
I grew up in a very strict household and
you know I can do what I want to do and
so at the time I was assigned to a
Habitat for Humanity site in amedeo
Kavitha and little did I know my destiny
was sealed and my faith had been called
and that one week to call it a
life-changing week would be the biggest
understatement because it was grueling
it was physically taxing it was about
making bricks laying bricks I had to
translate for all my classmates in order
for them to be able to interact with
other members of the community but at
the same time I remember going to bed
every night extremely tired but with a
heart so full and it was a feeling I
knew that I wanted to sustain for as
long as possible and so I tell you the
nerdy child in me went home and was like
mom I think I found what I wanted what I
want to do this summer and she was like
yeah yeah what and it was I want to do
Habitat every day she looked at me and
she was like every day I’m like yeah for
two months here’s the number I’m below
18 please call their office and let them
know that you’re giving me permission to
be able to help out and so one phone
call led to the next and I remember
they’re a staff member that oriented me
was dubious she’s like are you sure
you’re committing to months every day
June and July of your summer to come and
help out I was like yes I really want to
do it and at the time I was assigned to
a site in pondo in the port area in
bussaco that had just burned down so
that was two months of literally
rebuilding lives and houses from the
ashes the best part of every day I
remember was really talking
the people they’re learning about their
lives learning about their experiences
and still seeing this spark of hope in
their eyes despite you know the bleak
environment they were in besides the
fact that their houses had just burned
down to me I felt like I learned so much
more from them than I could have ever
given them and the stench smell of
garbage
the violent environment you know I
actually found peace in it eventually
and that’s when I realized that peace is
a state of mind it’s a state of content
and it’s a state of being and so I just
wanted to continue and continue and
continue when I turned 18 I wanted to
raise funds for my birthday I wanted to
be able to build 18 houses on my 18th
birthday it wasn’t an easy journey given
that I was bodied a lot in high school
because people thought that I was only
doing this to put it in my college
transcript 11 years later I’m still here
so I guess you know I proved some
naysayers wrong and I realized along the
way that you cannot shape people’s
opinions they’re gonna say what they
want to say they’re gonna think what
they want to thank anyway I raised the
funds for the 18 houses successfully and
that’s when it dawned on me that hey
there are some people out there who
really want to help you out there are
peers my age who want to help out as
well but what kept them from doing so is
them thinking that the help that they’re
able to give is not significant enough
and that’s when I realized that I didn’t
want to put all that I have done to
waste when I left for college abroad and
that I wanted to continue with and so I
set up the habitat Youth Council and the
main aim of the habitat Youth Council
was to give others my peers this worthy
platform of helping out where they
wouldn’t feel their help was
insignificant what does that mean to
build a house with habitat is 150
thousand pesos per unit I think that’s a
hefty sum for a lot of us as a student
it’s impossible that would be years of
pooling your allowance together but
through habitat use Council and with
concerted effort and putting together
events that will allow them to bring
this help all together you’re able to
make a bigger change and so that was
successful and that’s when I told myself
you know being a do-gooder and being
able to help out wasn’t as lonely as I
had expected it to be two years later
I was a junior in college I was an urban
studies and political science major that
was a time where we got to investigate
what was going on around the world of
course come seize the season if I had I
remember thinking to myself if I had to
spend two years of my life and 250 pages
it better have a greater impact in the
community than going to my bookshelf
when I get back home and that’s what I
realized I wanted to be able to start
something on my own I wanted to be able
to address a gap in the Phillipines that
could potentially help others you see
giving people a house breaks the poverty
cycle you’re giving them that notion of
hope but it needs to be a multi-faceted
approach in order for progress to be
holistic and so at the time the K to 12
act was just passed in the Philippines
and so I wanted to address a gap of
early childhood education and that’s how
move ed was born move that is an
advocacy that I started and I found it
yes sometimes I don’t know what I’m
thinking either but I brought this NGO
and it’s advocacy is to bring early
childhood education to underserved
communities I had this vision of
transforming the ordinary daycare into a
quality preschool to give to give hope
to the children in the community so
seeing children I was working with and
it was also through moo-ved that I
realized there’s a lot of convincing
that needs to be done in order to
convince parents of these children in
the communities that it’s important for
kids at that age where their cognition
is most rapid where their mind is most
malleable not to be out doing livelihood
rather to to be in a program that can
bring out the best in them and I feel
that through move edie I did not only
break a barrier I shattered a glass
ceiling because that’s when I felt my
life evolved from being a volunteer for
a cause to a leader of a cause and not
only a leader in the managerial sense
but a leader in the sense that I was
able to turn a vision into a reality and
it’s a constant reality every day and
truth of the matter is were always
conditioned to work towards an upward
trajectory we’re always
addition to keep climbing that ladder to
be attained success and if there’s
anything I’ve realized it’s that the
higher you get on that ladder the more
demands there are of you it’s actually
harder with privilege comes
responsibility
with everything you put yourself out
there to do much more as expected back
of you and every day is a work in
progress every day I’m working towards
becoming that leader that I want to be
and if there’s one trait of a leader
that I wish to attain one day it’s that
trait of being able to relate to
everyone I always feel that a successful
leader is someone who is not only
attainable but someone who can relate to
every person in every walk of life which
is why it’s very important to always
start at the bottom of the ladder climb
that up with no shortcuts and the truth
of the matter is hey what’s this
beautiful slide with colorful things
sometimes being in the nonprofit world
is a thankless job why
number one you deal with politics and
bureaucracy all the time you deal with
situations and issues that you wish
didn’t exist but it acted which actually
exists you deal with reality and also
you’re not compensated monetarily at all
hence the nature of a non-profit job so
you find other means to be able to
sustain your life as well but by still
giving hours like the majority of your
hours to your advocacy which is why I
always say I don’t call this a job to
call it a job would be unfair because a
job to me will give you compensation a
job to me will be fulfilling this is
more than fulfilling it’s not even a
lifestyle it’s become more than that
this has been my life project it’s gonna
be my passion project this is the
greatest privilege that I’ve had um and
that I continue to have and I always
tell people that by no means should you
feel entitled by no means should you
feel like you’re entitled because you
are the ones helping others out no you
get more from them than you can ever
give them it’s a privilege to be part of
their lives and that’s something that no
amount of money can buy and that nothing
can ever take away from you and that’s
also when I really go back to my
earliest years and I realize
my happiness quotient is and has always
been that to give joy to others and that
fulfillment manifests in the happiness
that you give and the lives that you
change because no matter what you’re
part of their lives forever through what
it is that you’re doing and so I always
say that beyond housing beyond early
childhood education
my greatest advocacy is really to give
others a worthy platform to help out to
make them feel that every bit of help
they’re able to give whether that’s
through time through talent through
service is worthy it’s able to make a
difference and in that you’re also able
to break the barrier because you’re able
to break the barrier between what was
once just a dream into the dream being
realized into what could not be done and
what can be attainable and helping and
breaking barriers is also that two-way
street because again you actually gain
more from what you’re doing then what
you’re able to give but at the same time
without those people permitting you to
be part of their lives you would have no
community to serve and you would have
nothing to gain and with that I think
the greatest lesson of all is I’ve
learned to do everything with love and I
feel like compassion is key everything
is worthless if you’re doing it for
ulterior motives I always say you go
into something because you love it you
don’t go into something because you’re
looking for recognition you don’t ever
go into something because it’s a
stepping stone towards a greater picture
you go into something because you know
in your heart and you believe that it’s
the greatest thing that you can ever put
yourself and your life into and I always
thought people always aim to break
barriers every day never stop following
your heart never stop learning always
keep an open mindset there is always
something to be learned no matter where
you go and everyday there will always be
the doubters there will always be the
haters but they’re always going to be
the cheerleaders and there’s always
going to be the lovers you have to place
yourself right in the middle do not
always go in the good and do not always
go where there are cheerleaders because
you don’t stay grounded you also have to
get criticism don’t take everything to
heart there are some people out there
who will just let jealousy drive them
and it’s just mean you have to strike
that balance you have to find you have
to be
open to learning but at the same time
you also have to have that enough sense
of security and self-worth to know hey
you know what at the end of the day I’m
doing what I’m set out to do and you
either join me in my mission or you can
go find your own and last but not the
least I always say that life is always
about finding purpose and meaning and
with every barrier that I’ve broken
along the way I’ve found purpose and
meaning to always think back at me
purpose and meaning are such simple
words yet it’s loaded it’s loaded with
so much more you have a purpose but then
you have to find the meaning and I feel
that every day is a constant work in
progress every day is a transformational
approach every day I want to find my
help I’m able to give others evolve I
want it to be holistic help so that the
people who are the recipients and the
beneficiaries are also stakeholders of
their lives eventually and I’d like to
end this talk by saying that for than
the number of houses that I’ve built
more than the millions of pesos and
dollars I’ve raised or the number of
children who will graduate from move ed
what’s more important and what keeps me
going are the numbers that are still
left to be done the number of houses
left to be built the number of children
who are still dependent on you and most
importantly the number of like-minded
individuals and volunteers who are
willing to go on that same journey and
who are willing to make a difference and
take a stake in the country and the
nation’s progress
thank you
[Applause]
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