Women who Do More

MANILA, Philippines - The world does not run out of heroes. In our midst are individuals who take the initiative to go beyond the call of duty. They attend to the concerns of others knowing fully that their existence is not primarily centered on themselves.

In their honor, Rexona and Rappler created the Do More Awards. On top of this endeavor are two women whose ingenuity continues to redefine the world: Unilever’s Gina Lorenzana and Rappler’s Maria Ressa.

Gina Lorenzana: Stretching yourself

Time flies fast when you’re having fun as the adage goes, and normally this does not refer to work. But in Gina Lorenzana’s case, it very much does. She joined Unilever fresh out from college. Unilever was her first job, and it looks like it’s going to be her last. Quite ironically she states, “I thought that I would leave the corporate world after five years, but I think that it’s inspired me to do more every year that I’ve stayed. Every time I thought of doing something else, there would be a new challenge, a new opportunity.” These new challenges and opportunities have afforded her over two decades of working experience with Unilever where she now sits as its regional vice president.

This bubbly beauty reminisces about how she started, and most importantly spills her secrets on how she reached the top, without callous Machiavellian strategy. “I can remember myself (when I was) a young adult with everything dumped on me, I think that was one of the most exciting times in my life where I just jumped in and grabbed that opportunity. As a young trainee, I never said no to be involved in another project even if it did mean extra work, or say no to work with another set of people who I’ve never worked with before. I think that idea of stretching yourself is something that I’ve kept over the years, it just allowed me to expand my own horizon and get the capabilities of working with different nationalities. I worked all over the world in regional global jobs, or even local jobs. You can throw me anywhere, I’m very adaptable,” Gina says.

At any rate, Gina is pretty cool about doing a million things with a smile on her face. It’s just interesting to know how this youngest in a brood of five learned how to do it. “I remember my mom (back) when I was five years old. She literally lit up the house. She’d check up on our food, watch my sister’s basketball game, be out at civic work, run a drugstore, be with my siblings, teach them when there are exams, be with my dad every morning for church or with him when travelling and yet throw great parties, and also have matching shoes and bags! For me that was ‘Wow!’  It’s sad though because she passed away when I was six and I saw the gap when she passed away,” Gina says a matter-of-factly but with eyes glistening with longing.

When people ask her why she’s so busy all the time, she simply answers that she just has to keep up with what her mother used to be. “I may not have experienced a long time with her but that became the turning point of how I decided to live my life,” is the statement she gives and lives up to.

Gina is quick to admit that her work became a bit of an obsession and that she has already lessened her load. No more 14-hour work days, like before. She realizes that she wants to be more a part of her husband’s life, her daughter’s blossoming young adult life, and that of the rest of her family.

 â€œThat’s why this whole philosophy of stretching yourself is really something that resonates with me personally,” shares Gina. It is from this mutual thinking that the foundation of the Rexona Do More Awards was cemented. She elaborates with enthusiasm, “It’s a perfect partnership of like-minded organizations where we believe in the same values. We at Rexona believe that small actions can make a big difference. (It’s what) Maria (Ressa) espouses, that a ripple can become so much bigger. We want to empower people. You may be just one, but don’t (ever) feel like you can’t do anything. The power of one, now that we can get together with so many others (using) the power of technology, can create a much bigger impact in the world that we live in and especially, this time that we need so much of that positive energy to make a positive change in the Philippines.” 

At the recent awards night of The Do More Awards hosted by KC Montero and Apples Aberin, the announcement of winners was well anticipated. Short videos of the three finalists per category were shown, then the winner was called  and awarded on stage. The deserving winners were  Susan Ople, president of the Blas F. Ople Foundation (The Global Pinoy), Rolando Dela Cruz, president and CEO of the Darwin International School System in Bulacan (The Innovator), SEA Games medalist, triathlete and Frisbee player Mimi Lucas (The Challenger), mural artist AG Saño and advocate for marine conservation and peace in Mindanao (The Artist), Daniel Razon, CEO of UNTV (The Luminary), co-founder and president of Hapinoy Mark Ruiz (The Social Entrepreneur), executive director of Gawad Kalinga Luis Oquiñena (The Civic Hero) and Red Tani, founder of Filipino Freethinkers (The Digital Trailbalzer).

The winners were determined by the final tally — 60 percent coming from the panelist of eight judges while 40 percent came from online polls. The winners get P50,000 each and a spot on Rexona’s roster of Ultimate Doers.

Gina’s sentiments on doing more are derived from a happiness and fulfillment not dependent on lofty goals or from other people. “Doing more is about doing more about things you are passionate about. It is really in following your passions you feed your soul. Allow the things you do in life to be something that inspires you that then feeds and creates more positive energy. A lot of people that we see who are doing more (follow) a cycle wherein they feed from their own (positive) energy and transpose that positive energy to other people.”

It is vital that you harness that positive energy from the depths of your soul. There’s a terrible misconception that you are selfish if you chase your dreams first. That’s a poisonous way of thinking. History traces the patterns of inspirational change from the late Nelson Mandela to the late Cory Aquino to Nick Vujicic, these doers chased their dreams first in order to help others chase their dreams, too.

Maria Ressa: Power in each word

There are two types of people in this world — those who don’t do anything and those who do something. In this respect, many of those who fall under the latter look up to Rappler president and CEO Maria Ressa.

For such a highly recognized iconoclast, Maria’s warm aura coupled with her genuine smiles, sweet petite features and softspoken voice disguise the virago that she is. One would have to be just that in order to have won The National Headliner Award for Investigative Journalism, the SAIS-Novartis International Journalism Award (for her work in East Timor) and the Overseas Press Club Award for Best Documentary. It was after finishing Molecular Biology and Theater from Princeton University that she knew there was something else of weightier gravity she would pursue. With a Fulbright Scholarship, she graduated with master’s in Journalism from the University of the Philippines, Diliman. 

She recalls, “When I was starting out in journalism, it was just about telling stories. And the great thing now is that we actually do a lot more with technology. How can less than a hundred people do the news in a way that can grow as fast as the way that we grow?” Maria questions and points to the answer toward the dawn of online media.

This former CNN journalist was Manila Bureau chief from 1988 to 1995 and Jakarta Bureau chief from 1995 to 2005. Eventually, Maria boldly stepped at the frontline becoming CNN’s lead investigative reporter in Asia and specialized in investigating terrorist networks. After nearly two decades with CNN and after publishing Seeds of Terror, a book about the inner workings of the Al-Qaeda in Asia, she remains indefatigable and unfazed.

After six years of being head of ABS-CBN’s News and Current Affairs department from 2004 to 2010, this TOWNS awardee further continued the fight for truth through her reports and the fight for change inspired by her words.

Words have a duality. Words are weapons when used wisely, but words, too, can wield change. It was due to this revolutionary dawn of new online media and the rising interaction of words, thought and action that the Rexona Do More Awards was born. Rexona organized the much-buzzed Do More Awards with the help of a panel of eight judges (Apples Aberin, PR head for Unilever Philippines personal care group; Sen. Bam Aquino; social entrepreneur Jim Ayala; Carlos Celdran, celebrity tour guide and tourism consultant for Manila; sustainability advocate Illac Diaz; TV host and youth leader Bianca Gonzalez; editor and investigative journalist Marites Vitug) and of course, the online voting public. 

In less than a year of brainstorming, the first of what is slated to be an annual awards was birthed with barely any difficulty. 

Maria can’t hide her excitement, but she urges us to be wary of the way we use words and expounds on it in her introductory speech during the awards night. She talks about a significant concept elucidated by two Harvard professors who authored a book entitled Connected. “There are three degrees of influence of how ideas and emotions spread. First is from your friend, then from your friend’s friend and finally from your friend’s friend’s friend.” In a nutshell, Maria candidly says in her own way that whatever you share with your friends (be it on social media or face-to-face) whether good or bad is energy sent out to the world. The Do More Awards was organized to recognize “doers” of good from eight various fields — The Challenger, The Artist, The Innovator, The Luminary, The Social Entrepreneur, The Civic Hero, The Digital Trailblazer and The Global Pinoy. Having had conversations with numerous international leaders of influence, Maria indulges her thoughts on them. 

“I’ve always wanted to figure out how nations are affected by the people who lead them, and it is always the initiatives of the leader that shapes it. (For example,) when Lee Kuan Yew became President, he had a vision. The first people who he jailed for corruption were his friends. Singapore is now a First World country (whereas) Indonesia had four presidents in one year. If you’re a reporter, you see the heroes, you see the villains. We tend to focus on the heroes and we tend to focus on the villains. But in the end, the stories that stay with you are the people... this one guy in a team (when I was in Tacloban) basically sacrificed his life to save a group of people. Again, it sounds very trite, but it’s people who do things in the moment. The moment requires courage, and they don’t think about themselves. They think about the greater good, that’s the ideal. Can we live it? We try,”  Maria says.

From one writer to another, Maria looks into my eyes sharply and probes into the color of my soul. “When you write about a story on the administration, positive or negative, it always has ripples. Do you have the courage to stand up for it? Do you have the courage to challenge the power?” she says.

“There are a lot of things you can complain about and there are a lot of things that can depress you, but if you do that you actually let it defeat you. But if you start to move, if you use what’s available, what’s in front of you, you’ll wind up getting further,” Maria concludes.