Receiving The Outstanding Women in Nation’s Service Award

Last October 29, I received The Outstanding Women in Nation’s Service Award for 10 years of nation building work, including InvestEd. 

I never thought I would be qualified. My nominator, previous UP professor and also a TOWNS awardee, Dr. Aura Matias, kindly told me that the work I’ve done in the past years was deserving of recognition and to submit an application. 

I did so without expectations. Surprisingly qualified for the final interview panel, where I was told I only had 12 minutes to prove myself to a panel comprised of previous Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, Former Secretary of National Defense Gibo Teodoro, Ramon Magsaysay Awardee Lilia De Lima, Sun Life Chair Riza Mantaring, PNB Chairman Flor Tarriela, and TOWNS Foundation president Olivia Ferry. 

I was not even dressed formally and showed up with a backpack, which added to my panic! Luckily the 12 minutes passed quickly and the panelists were so kind. I had thought of an intensive 12 minute debate about why student loans were important; asset liability mismatches and statistics of credit scoring but to my astonishment the judges all felt it was high time for Philippines to have an InvestEd. 

In my acceptance speech, I began by sharing a statistic: 2 out of 3 women CEOs said they didn’t realize they could be CEO until someone else told them. I experienced the truthfulness of that statistic in my 10 years of nation building. I had always approached my work feeling small but working as hard as I could to create change. I felt that I should always just stay behind the scenes and do the work quietly. 

2019 was a year of recognition for us at InvestEd and it is platforms like the TOWNS Award that help remind me I have a voice. And it is TOWNS awardees like Dr. Matias who remind me my voice should be heard. But to be quite honest, most of the time, even in awarding ceremonies like this, it still feels like Day 1- when the imposter syndrome is strong. Feeling like you don’t belong or deserve to be in that room. 

I think it’s because I know these recognitions were given to me but I had never done it alone. I thanked my family for my upbringing, our hardworking team at InvestEd, my most treasured advisors throughout my life, our students at InvestEd who are paying it forward and everyone else who has helped bring us to where we are. In moments like this, it is almost never the good things that I remember but always the terrible lows and the people who stood by us in those times. 

I’m lucky to be part of the TOWNS Sisterhood now and kudos to my co-awardees this 2019. Women I have only admired from afar and never imagined I’d meet in person! 

Thank you TOWNS Foundation for recognizing our vision of a world where every young person has the opportunity to fulfill their dreams!

P.S. Congratulations to my rockstar co-awardees!

1. Ma. Regina Estuar for Science and Technology 
2. Stephanie Sy for Technology Entrepreneurship
3. Gay Jane Perez for Science and Technology
4. Rohaniza Usman for Education
5. Samira Gutoc for Peace Advocacy 
6. Karla Gutierrez for Arts 
7. Clarissa Delgado for Education
8. Dr. Geraldine Zamora for Health and Medicine
9. Atty. Patricia Prodigalidad for Law
10. Chiara Zambrano for Journalism 
11. Xyza Bacani for Humanities