Danica learns to take care of business

MANILA, Philippines - Marriage and motherhood is opening big doors for Danica Sotto-Pingris.

Now that she’s not into teleseryes, Dina Bonnevie’s eldest child is learning a brand-new set of skills she never imagined she’d have. One of them is marketing glass products. As part-owner of Technoglass (with cager-husband Marc Pingris and their non-showbiz partners), the host of Colour Channel’s Mombiz (with real-life friend LJ Moreno-Alapag) is learning technical terms that used to be Greek to her.

“I have ‘nosebleed’ when it comes to technical terms. This isn’t my forte,” she admits.

But Danica carries on. She knows that learning those terms is a must if the business is to flourish. Danica must, for instance, know the basics of installing a glass and aluminum door to market the product well.

Marketing something men are expected to be more adept at challenges and excites Danica. She sets appointments with clients and attends bidding sessions with big corporations.

Danica’s hosting background gives her confidence to face CEOs and corporate top guns. But she admits it doesn’t guarantee victory in the bidding war for her two-year-old company.

“I know how it is to lose a project because prospective clients feel our product is too expensive,” says Danica. But she also felt the joy of winning the bidding and getting the fat account brings.

“It’s part of my journey as a businesswoman,” she smiles.

Her months-old YouTube channel, KusiNica PH, on the other hand, is part of Danica’s journey as a wife and mother of Jean Michael and Anielle Michaela, aged eight and five.

It’s Danica’s passion project, an extension of her love for cooking and sharing recipes with friends. She’s proud of her featured recipes, which include Tinapa Salted Egg Pasta, Mango Panna Cotta and Dina’s ‘No-Tipid’ Kare-Kare.

Danica is testing the waters for now, and seeing where things will go from there.

Much as she longs to expand the channel and go abroad to explore other topics and shoot more videos, this hands-on mom would rather stay put in the country and see her young ones grow up.

“They’re my priority. As much as I want to accept more work and do other stuff like traveling for the vlog, I can’t. I don’t want to leave my children for a long time.”

Home schooling and taking the children while she travels is an option, but Danica would like her little ones to enjoy the competitive atmosphere a regular school brings.

Handling two frisky children can be tough, but Danica doesn’t mind. She knows they’ll grow up into teenagers who will have their own separate worlds, so she’s enjoying their company while she still can.

Danica loves motherhood so much, she’s praying for a third child, “in God’s time.”

Until that time comes, Danica is bent on taking care of business while Marc makes the most of his career in the hardcourt.

“I’m the one who has more time. Marc is in his prime (as a basketball player), and I don’t want to get in the way,” explains Danica.

But she knows her 35-year-old husband will retire years from now (athletes usually quit playing in their late 30s or early 40s). So her doors remain open for showbiz.

The tables will be turned once Marc retires. He’ll focus on the business, and Danica can act before the cameras again. By then, the children will be older and can understand how much their mom loves the business her parents have become so much a part of.

Meantime, Danica is happy making the most of her life. She’s a mompreneur, a wife and host of a show for fellow moms.

She knows change is a fact of life.  So she’s preparing for that day when she and Marc need something more stable than his basketball career and her showbiz work.

“Basketball and showbiz can’t sustain us forever. So as early as now, Marc and I are diversifying our investments,” says Danica.

Her family is in good hands.