Vanessa's Mercato

Children are a reflection of the way their parents live. Vanessa Pastor-Ledesma is living proof of this. From her mom, Remedios Pastor, she inherited a healthy lifestyle and the value of hard work at an early age. From her dad, Tomas Pastor, she learned to have an entrepreneurial and God-fearing spirit.

Vanessa found an ideal husband in RJ Ledesma who shares the same set of values. They met in their church group in the San Antonio parish called Single Young Adults. RJ would always ask her out to dinner but she only joined him when she saw him serve in Mass as a commentator and found out he was a good servant of Christ. “It was the SYA trip to Singapore where I recall first falling in love with RJ. He is smart, sincere, hardworking and God-fearing,” Vanessa says. Theirs is a match made in heaven. And their union is the fulfilment of her dreams.

Vanessa says she had a very happy childhood. When she was six, her family migrated to the States. She came back to Manila right after her 16th birthday. “My parents put up their own interior design company in the US. I worked and trained as my mom’s secretary at age 10. So I learned the value of work at a young age,” she recalls.

Beauty and brains with a grateful heart  that’s Vanessa, currently a law associate at the Ponce Enrile Reyes Manalastas Law Offices. She graduated from the Ateneo law school. She is also the founder of One Stop Philippines, Inc., a consultancy company that engages in the service of providing assistance to foreign corporations and individuals in establishing their companies and presence in the Philippines. She is a licensed real estate broker and a beauty contributor for Mega magazine.

Vanessa’s latest business endeavor is the Mercato Centrale at Bonifacio Global City. She reveals the inspiration to put up this business germinated when she and RJ went to nine cities in Europe for their honeymoon.

“One of the cities where Mercato first got its inspiration was in Florence, Italy where the original Mercato Centrale is located. Another was the Boroughs Market in London,” Vanessa informs.

It was her dream to put up her very own organic and natural market inside a nicely built air-conditioned tents located in a progressive city. Hence, the birth of Mercato Centrale at Bonifacio Global City in November 2010.

“I also wanted to emulate the laidback atmosphere that the US weekend markets presented due to the live musicians they would provide. Hence, almost every market day, we have different acoustic musical performances brought in by our partners RockEd. RockEd helps us bring in performers in exchange for book pledge donations for public schools,” she adds.

Vanessa Pastor-Ledesma in Florence, Italy.

Since most of the vendors at Mercato Centrale are home-based businesses, “we have partnered up with Go Negosyo to give ‘entrepreneurship skills’ training to our food stall owners to help them better manage their businesses.”

Vanessa says: “I am grateful for the Mercato family, the new community that we built, its 170+ vendors, all the great people behind it, from the wonderful bosses of BGC, to the Ayala managers, to Pinoy Organics, our logistics team, electricians, security guards and handymen. I am very grateful that God gave us awesome partners Anton and Rache Diaz, Janice and Gary Villanueva to work with.”

RJ’s mom, Fortune Ledesma, Consul General of Monaco, sits in the board of Mercato Centrale Philippines, Inc. Both sets of parents (Ledesmas and Pastors) are the greatest advisers of the market and have contributed to Mercato’s introduction success.

Vanessa’s parents, who own Plan ‘B’ Interior and Architectural Design, were instrumental in the building and finishing of the tents built by 3 Greenstrat Inc. architects. The tent was actually constructed inside the factory of Italit Pipe & Manufacturing Plant of Vanessa’s grandmother, Clara Reyes Pastor. 

“We will soon be launching in the same location on Feb. 11 a night market to be called ‘Midnight Mercato.’ This is another inspiration brought about by the Hawkers market in Singapore where I first fell in love with RJ,” Vanessa says.

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Success is achieved by those who have a grateful heart. Vanessa, above all, credits God for the blessings she receives every day. And she thanks Him for giving her all the beautiful people in her life  her family.

“I am grateful for RJ – I may have thought of Mercato, and it may be a great idea, but it was really RJ who made it into a reality. It is my favorite saying that ‘RJ makes all my dreams come true.’ I’m also grateful for the fact that he is a vegetarian. Hence, we live a very healthy lifestyle filled with exercise, yoga and healthy food,” she says.

“I am grateful for my mom  who for me is the epitome of healthy living.” For as long as Vanessa can remember, her mom made sure that the food they ate while she and her five siblings were growing up were as natural as possible. Instead of introducing Vanessa to softdrinks, her mom introduced her to juicing fruits and vegetables.

Vanessa says how thankful she is for her dad who molded her and her siblings to have the mind of an entrepreneur. “Growing up in the US, my dad would play a game with all of us entitled, ‘Who can think of the best business for a given situation.’ It could be any situation, like lack of seats in a restaurant, traffic accidents, dirty floors, rainy weather, etc. All six of us would think of a way to address the situation by inventing a new business. It was great. Perhaps my father brought us up this way because it was the way my lola raised him as well. She single-handedly put up her own pipe-manufacturing company during the early ‘70s, which to this day still remains to be successful.”

Vanessa says both her parents also valued travelling as a family activity. Her many travels with them have inspired her to build new ideas, have a broader mind and see the whole world in a different light. Perhaps, she notes, it was due to this way of thinking that gave her the idea of putting up a weekend lifestyle market.

She is also grateful to her three brothers Carlo, Enzo and Don and two sisters Samantha and Bonita “for making me feel like I am part of a really great team.” Vanessa says they all support one another’s ventures, ideas and dreams. “Although half of us are worlds apart, we are all there for each other. We may not see each other every day, but when we talk, it is as though we are just next door. This is the value that my parents imparted upon all of us… to really be there for one another.”

She adds: “I am grateful for loving in-laws, dad Rene, mom Fortune, Rina, Simon, Rico and Shiela (Ledesma)  for making me feel like I am part of a truly great family.”

In conclusion, she says, “I am grateful that God gave me the opportunity to work, and the opportunity to work well. I am grateful that God gave me work that I truly love.”

(For inquiries, please e-mail rache@diaz.ph or call 0917-5318949.)

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