2 day ago, I was given the privilege to attend the first ever BDJ Women's Summit that was held at SM Aura with the theme "Women Helping Women".
The registration started at 9 AM. Upon registration I was given a Plenary Pass, a Summer Kit with lots of freebies inside, bottled water and a free CBTL Cafe Latte (for being one of the first 100 to register).
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| Summer Kit, Pass, Water and Coffee :) |
BDJ (Mich) hosted a free raffle and some games while the participants were waiting for the main program.
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| raffle winners - Oh I want those Sharpie Kit ♥ |
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| the Program Flow |
One of the things I like about attending BDJ Events (I've attended most of their events last year) is that there's no "Filipino Time" practice ever. When they say, the program will start at 10, it will start at 10. :) And I appreciate them for that.
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| bakit ang gwapo mo? hehehehe |
The event was hosted by Mr. Atom Araullo.
Ms. Darlyn Ty, President and Managing Director of Viviamo! Inc., officially opened The Women's Summit by giving a short speech.
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| Ms. Amina Rasul-Bernardo (president, Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy - International Women's advocate |
Ms. Amina Rasul-Bernardo, the keynote speaker, talked about the importance of adult literacy in eradicating poverty and conflicts. She also talked about what marginalized women want - such as to be able to participate in decision making, be empowered and be functionally literate.
PLENARY 1: Boosting Curiosity and Intellectual Discourse
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| Ms. Ana Santos and Issa Baraquiel Hontiveros |
Ms. Ana Santos, an internationally-awarded Journalist talked about the importance of sexual choices in a woman's life. She also said that having a dream for yourself is the best form of contraception.
Ms. Issa Baraquiel-Hontiveros, the daughter of Ms. Risa Hontiveros mainly talked about the plan of her mother regarding healthcare system in the Philippines.
After the first plenary session, Mich had another raffle draw. 5 lucky ladies won a Lipault Bag each. I'm so inggit! hahaha. Then we had an hour lunch break. We were given 1 binalot sa dahon, a bottled water and mamon for lunch and merienda. :) After eating my lunch, I went around and visited some of the organization partners booth.
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| the Lipault Bag Winners!! Panalo talaga!! |
Wrote my pledge on the Pledge wall. I promised / pledge to be a better version of my current self. 
I also had my planner customized for free. Yay!
After our lunch and before the Plenary 2 started, a representative from World Vision took the stage to talk about their advocacy and how they give voice to the most vulnerable children and how they empower women through helping them. It was followed by a passionate and powerful performance by the UP Manila Indayog Dance Varsity.
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| Add caption |
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| UPM Indayog Dance Varsity |
PLENARY 2: Working Towards Financial Freedom
Ms. Myrna Padilla, the founder of Mynd Consulting - a business process outsourcing firm talked about her childhood, being poor and how after working for 20 years as an OFW, she was able to build her own business. She told us to follow our passion and that nothing is impossible when you believe in yourself.
Ms. Salve Duplito, an award-winning print and broadcast journalist, talked about that as a woman, we are all powerful and has superpower when it comes to handling our finances. In fact, according to her we are better than men when it comes to investing, because we are not afraid to ask and we won't stop until we get a good price.
PLENARY 3: Finding the Courage to Lead.
Ms. Susan Afan, Managing Director of ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation, Inc. She promotes advocacies for children (Bantay Bata), environment (Bantay Kalikasan) and communities (Sagip Kapamilya). She mentioned in her speech that "goodness is inherent to us" and we all can help by sharing our time, talent and treasure to these advocacies.
Ms. Jen Santos, General Manager of G-Stuff, supports the vision of conserving ou country's national resources as well as providing livelihood to local communities. She told us about Ugong Rocks (ste talked about this too during the BDJ Fair last year) and how they helped the communities to develop their environment to be a source of their livelihood without damaging or destroying it.
I really enjoyed listening to the stories of these powerful pinays. I learned a lot from their struggles, to achieving their own dreams and finding success. Aside from them, I learned a lot from my co-Bellas who imparted their knowledge, their struggles and success as a student, as a provider, as an employee.
Ms. Salve Duplito, an award-winning print and broadcast journalist, talked about that as a woman, we are all powerful and has superpower when it comes to handling our finances. In fact, according to her we are better than men when it comes to investing, because we are not afraid to ask and we won't stop until we get a good price.
PLENARY 3: Finding the Courage to Lead.
Ms. Myrza Sison, Editorial Director of Summit Media, talked about how she was able to manage being an Editor-in-chief of one of the largest selling magazine from being an international runway and print ad model. She told us that to be a able to leave a legacy you have to have courage. Courage to assess yourself, to recognize your problem and face your fear and to find solutions to stop the fear. She told us one important lesson and that is to "bank on - even milk your assets and downplay - even eradicate your liabilities".
PLENARY 4: Nurturing Passions to Inspire Good.
Ms. Susan Afan, Managing Director of ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation, Inc. She promotes advocacies for children (Bantay Bata), environment (Bantay Kalikasan) and communities (Sagip Kapamilya). She mentioned in her speech that "goodness is inherent to us" and we all can help by sharing our time, talent and treasure to these advocacies.
Ms. Jen Santos, General Manager of G-Stuff, supports the vision of conserving ou country's national resources as well as providing livelihood to local communities. She told us about Ugong Rocks (ste talked about this too during the BDJ Fair last year) and how they helped the communities to develop their environment to be a source of their livelihood without damaging or destroying it.
I really enjoyed listening to the stories of these powerful pinays. I learned a lot from their struggles, to achieving their own dreams and finding success. Aside from them, I learned a lot from my co-Bellas who imparted their knowledge, their struggles and success as a student, as a provider, as an employee.
Before leaving the venue, we were given our certificate of participation.
and look what's inside the summit kit that was given to us. Ang dami at ang ganda. :)
Until here.
See you soon folks!
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