Anna Isabel C. Sobrepeña

GRACE. In the Time of COVID-19

Tenacious • Multi-faceted • Enigmatic

The first published work of Anna Isabel C. Sobrepeña was an obituary. The award-winning writer and editor was a high school student who channeled the pain of loss into a unique tribute to a beloved grandparent. A magazine editor and family friend read the announcement and invited her to become a contributing writer in a nationally circulated Sunday journal. The satisfaction of creative writing took a backseat to the greater joys of marriage and motherhood.

Happenstance took the journey from contributing writer to the editor in chief (EIC) of the largest circulating glossy when most people were already considering retirement. Unperturbed at being dismissed as a housewife wannabe, she went on to win awards in her first year as EIC. She translated the magazine’s tagline of “living at its finest” to mean more than visible wealth, defining luxury as a generosity of spirit that separated the rich from the truly rich. Magazine content subscribed to highest order values with stories and features that provided a trajectory towards meaningful lives. She disengaged from the magazine after 11 years, capping that chapter with an award as Editor of the Year given by the Asia Leaders Award. She is currently doing consultancies, contributing to media platforms, working on commissioned book projects, and being involved in civic and social work.

Annabelle Manalo-Morgan, Ph.D.

Macario’s Oil

Courageous • Happy • Powerful

A native of Canada, Annabelle Manalo-Morgan, Ph.D. balances life as a scientist, educator, author, wife, and mother of five. Dr. Annabelle has completed an NIH clinical trial certification and began her graduate work at Georgetown University in Neuroscience. Dr. Annabelle has a doctorate in Cell and Development Biology from Vanderbilt University and focuses on genetic mutations that mimic the offset effects of chemotherapy on heart disease. She has presented and published on the resulting cardiotoxicity of these pathways and the developing cardiac mesothelium. In 2016, Dr.

Annabelle saved her son’s life using a cannabis formulation that she created and now pursues the possibility of implementing cannabis and/or plant compounds into modern medicine. She served as Tikun Olam USA’s Chief Scientific Officer and started her own company, Masaya Medical Inc., in 2019. She now serves as the Chief Scientific Officer of Nasdaq company Flora Growth Corporation which has recently acquired Masaya. With her new team, Dr. Annabelle consults on legislation and leads multiple clinical trials around the globe while advocating as an international speaker for medical cannabis backed by scientific rigor. This year, she will release her book Mighty Flower with ForbesBooks.

Cora Dela Cruz-Torres

Leading My Life

Confident • Compassionate • Committed

Cora has been President of Trade Alliances Canada Inc. since 2018. She has over 20 years of experience working with entrepreneurs, small and medium-sized companies, and government organizations and establishing connections between Canada and the Philippines. Until she retired from the Ontario provincial government in 2001, she held a wide range of executive positions in the Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations, Business Practices Division. Roles included those in the real estate sector, tourism and travel sector, bereavement sector, ICT sector, and legislation for business regulation and consumer protection. She then moved and lived in the Philippines from 2012 to 2018 to serve as National Executive Director for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

In Canada, Cora served as President of the National Alliance of Philippine Business Trade and Tourism from 2009 to 2012, President of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce from 2005 to 2007, President of the Canadian Association of Philippine Travel Agents from 2001 to 2005, and Regional Vice President of the National Council of Filipino-Canadians from 1992 to 1998. Her awards include One of the Most Outstanding Filipino-Canadians; One of the Most Outstanding President of Philippine Associations in Canada; 1999 Asian of the Year in Business and Public Service category; 2004 Entrepreneur of the Year at the International Women’s Day, and One of the Global FWN100.

Cora was born and raised in Tarlac City, Philippines. Cora and her husband have lived in Canada for over 50 years. They have six children and eight grandchildren who live in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

Isabelita “Lita” T. Manalastas-Watanabe

Just me, Lita’s Mom

Very Independent • Generous • Warrior

Isabelita “Lita” T. Manalastas-Watanabe was an economist, diplomat, and banker before she became a businesswoman. Her professional career outside the Philippines started when she became an Ambassador of Goodwill for Japan and the ASEAN Countries.

Lita graduated from the University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman with a B.S. degree in Business Economics, received her diploma in Japanese language from Osaka University of Foreign Studies and an M.A. in Economics from the University of Tsukuba, on full scholarship from the Japanese government. In addition, she completed an Executive Program for Leaders in Development at Harvard University’s Institute for International Development.

Having achieved financial comfort and success, Lita plans to devote more time to being a social entrepreneur launching in Sept. 2022 the Ecumenical and Innovative Women and Children Dialogue in Digital World. Lita has assisted overseas Filipino workers in Japan through her Dear Tita Lits advice column in Jeepney Press. Lita assisted Filipina caregivers and nurses in Japan, whose maximum tenure as trainees or professionals is almost up, to deploy to other countries and give them a chance at a better quality of life and career advancement. Lita set up an educational foundation to formalize her years of commitment to sending poor but deserving students to college. Lita plans to spend her retirement on a learning l farm that is also a place for a silent retreat. Lita has been chosen for UP’s Outstanding Alumni Award, 2022, by the UP Sigma Alpha Sorority.

Joanne De Guzman Rico

Gusto

Purpose • Grit • Resilience.

Joanne Rico is an empowered Filipina who has risen above adversity. From humble beginnings in Manila, she has gone a long way from her first job to now being a genuinely inspiring global woman. A consistent A-student, Joanne believes a solid academic foundation will serve as a springboard to success. Armed with resilience, grit, and ambition, she did not let poverty define her future, so she studied hard to earn scholarships. Joanne graduated Valedictorian in high school and Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts, Major in Philosophy at the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy at the University of the Philippines, Diliman.

Joanne has 17 solid years of work experience in Marketing and Brand Management. She has managed brands in local and international markets, including Qatar, UAE, Oman, and the Philippines. She is currently the Head of Marketing in a government healthcare facility in Abu Dhabi, the first Filipina to take a senior leadership role in the public sector in the UAE.

Joanne has received numerous recognitions for her accomplishments: Marketing and Advertising Professional of the Year by The Filipino Times in 2017; a nominee for Huwarang OFW by GMA 7’s 700 Club Asia in 2018; one of the Thought-Leaders in Illustrado’s 300 Most Influential Filipinos in the Gulf in 2020; and one of the Most Influential Filipina Women in the World by the Foundation for Filipina Women’s Network in 2021.

Joanne is a genuine advocate of paying it forward. She has been a sponsor of World Vision Philippines for over 15 years. She has been supporting needy children together with their families and their communities in depressed areas of the Philippines.

Laarni San Juan

The Beauty of Windows

Curious • Determined • Changemaker

Laarni San Juan is a nurse, bestselling author, community champion, and thought leader. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at San Francisco State University and a Masters in Public Health at UCLA. She openly shares the many awkward experiences in her childhood that have taught her the true value of resilience and the will to win. Laarni embraces the five pillars of family, education, community, career, and health that continuously guide her to revisit at each life milestone as a woman, wife, mother, daughter, and friend. With over 29 years of experience as a healthcare professional, Laarni deeply understands the unique journey that each human possesses and encourages all she meets to share their story. Her own journey filled with loss, grief, and disappointment has challenged her to rise and discover her true potential. She believes anything in life is possible with the right mindset, support system, and staying true to oneself.

Lucia “Lucy” Olalia Reyes

Living the American Dream at the Heart of the Canadian Prairies

Creative • Honest • Achiever

Lucy has contributed more than four decades of progressive and diverse experience in the care of people with complex medical needs, outpatient settings as a frontline clinical manager, health informatics specialist, and project management leader to several organizational initiatives such as the planning and implementation of the Electronic Health Record at four acute care hospitals in Calgary in 2006, the development and launching of the first Health Informatics credit course at the University of Calgary in anticipation of the Electronic Health Record readiness for frontline leaders within the Calgary area after Y2K, and the amalgamation and transformation of the four Hospital based Ethics Committee into one Regional Ethics team. In addition, extending her Ethics expertise, she was a volunteer instructor in her faith community focused on Ethics and Caring in Pastoral Care for four years.

More recently, she was instrumental as project Clinical Engagement lead and project manager in connecting patients living with Cardiac Electrical Implantable Devices (CIED) remotely from their homes to their clinics throughout Alberta. Thus reducing their travels to the clinics, especially during the winter, yet having the option of being assessed by their clinicians remotely and reducing emergency admissions. This project received the 2020 Health Quality Council of Alberta Patient Experience Award and the 2022 Canadian Council of Cardiovascular Nurses Health Promotion and Advocacy Award. In addition, Lucy was one of the 2021 Awardees for the Filipino Women’s Network Global Award in the Innovation and Thought Leader Category held in San Francisco.

Maria Santos-Greaves

Find Ability in Disability

Resilient • Strong-Willed • Visionary

Maria Santos-Greaves is a hearing health professional who has been in the industry for over 30 years. She began her career at the pioneer hearing clinic in the Philippines after graduating from Centro Escolar University. After that, she received additional education and training in Canada from reputable institutions such as the MacEwan University and the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Having hearing loss herself, she has made it her life’s work to help the hard-of- hearing, especially the elderly, in various communities. A firm believer in the importance of good hearing in relationships, her clinic, Surrey Hearing Care, Inc., provides affordable hearing services through its five locations in the Lower Mainland. Throughout her career, Maria has received various recognitions such as the Rotary Foundation Paul Harris Fellow, Top 25 Immigrants Across Canada, and recently, the Surrey Women in Business Awards—the first Filipina to earn the title.

Maria Zelda “Marizel” Magistrado Rojas

Predestined: #SerialOrganizer

Passionate • Infectious • Resilient

Currently working at the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) at the United Nations Headquarters in Vienna, Austria, since 1998. Marizel finds great fulfillment in working for an organization that bans nuclear explosions by everyone, everywhere: on the Earth’s surface, in the atmosphere, underwater and underground.

Marizel received a Bachelor of Science in Physics for Teachers (BSPT) degree from the Philippine Normal University – De la Salle University consortium through a National Science Development Board (NSDB)-National Science and Technology Authority (NSTA) scholarship. She taught at the Camarines Sur National School for four years. In 1991, she migrated to Austria.

Since 2012, Marizel has been actively involved as a leader of various organizations in Filipino and international communities. She received the 2019 Most Influential Filipina Women in the WorldTM (Global FWN100™) “Behind the Scenes” award. The values inculcated by her parents, coupled with the education she received from Colegio de Sta. Isabel, during her formative years in high school and elementary, as well as her experiences in the Filipino diaspora, laid the foundation for her being the kind of leader she chose to be.

Kahlil Gibran says: “You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”

Pamela Gotangco

Heart Full of Passion

Creative • Resilient • Kind

Pamela Gotangco is a visual artist, wearable art designer, and entrepreneur living in Switzerland. Recently she received the 2021 Pamana ng Pilipino Presidential award. This award is conferred on overseas Filipino individuals who have brought the country honor and recognition through excellence and distinction in the pursuit of their work or profession. Her art is heavily anchored in advocating for the empowerment of all women and girls, promoting the Filipino culture and artisans in the global arena, and uniting the Filipino migrants abroad by highlighting the beauty of our culture and heritage. On the same note, she aims to inspire and encourage Filipinos worldwide to showcase their talent and shine in the global arena.

In response to the pandemic, Pamela co-founded PamPinay clothing line. PamPinay is a fashion-forward brand born at the height of the global pandemic as a social project with a mission to provide income opportunities for women in the Philippines who were affected by the pandemic. In addition, PamPinay showcases one hundred percent Filipino-made crafts aimed to promote social entrepreneurship, sustainability, and responsible branding through the playful illustration of funny Filipino habits and traits.

Pamela received her Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Miriam College, Philippines.