Brave, Bold, A Woman

“Do not go by my humble beginnings. Be wary of my enormous vision”

DManoj Arora, Dream On

Cham Rio Flandez-Rosales came from very humble beginnings. An environ that demanded her to strive twice as hard to get half as much as what others have. The challenges dared her to dream, endure the path of her aspirations and made her hope to motivate others who similarly aspire.

She was a petite public high school teacher at the age of twenty-two. This job posting taught her how to manage large classes, motivate and reign-in rowdy adolescents, and impose authority on students not far from her own age. It was fun and a good learning occasion albeit it was not financially responsive for her needs.

She dabbled into interior designing and had opportunities to cater to a few known personalities. However, her age and being a start-up challenged her credentials. She had her first knocked down when her contact person ran away with the payments for construction materials and her services. She decided to work as a travel guide for an upscale travel and tours company capitalizing on her language facility. She is an English major in her baccalaureate degree. The pay was good, learnings were free, and it afforded her exposures to divergent business perspectives. She realized that funds and business network are vital factors in any business enterprise. She learned that a business network is a ready possibility for fund acquisition while fund is a basic tool for the creation of a business network.

Cham Rio had her informal mentorship from one of her foreign clients. This client wanted to observe a certain type of crab in the wild. Fortunately, she comes from a coastal town and she volunteered the places that she knew had crabbing industry. The client was impressed and shortened his visit because of the facilitations that she made. From then on, this client advices her in advance of the materials that he needs to buy, the places he needs to see, or the people that he wants to meet. The interactions steered her to business concepts, opportunities, and the motivation to create her own. This client adviced her to dream big. He told her not to dream of having a shop in a mall. She must aim to either be the supplier of all the shops in the mall or be the mall owner herself. These advices greatly influenced her business perspective. She sees and seizes the opportunities.

Her full story is in the recent issue of The Corporate Magazine.