Heeding the call of Harvard
A goal is a dream with a deadline, advised my amiable Harvard Business School Prof. Laurie Matthews. A detailed action plan, with a commitment to timing, is therefore necessary as we embark on our new path in our forever youthful and exciting lives.
A very recent revisit to Boston, America’s Favorite City, revived wonderful memories. Two decades ago, I was a film student at Boston University. Today, I embark on an executive management education course for our 45-year-old family-owned company, Miladay Jewels. Back in 1991, Harvard didn’t have the film course necessary for my career path but that didn’t deter me from aspiring to be among the Ivy League achievers in the future.
Deep in my heart, there was a longing to one day be a student in Harvard. I acquired a penchant for watching movies filmed in the Harvard campus like the much-loved and much-ridiculed Love Story starring Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw. I also watched Legally Blonde because many of the scenes were shot at Harvard’s Widener Library. Many times, I watched the movie Soul Man where the protagonist confidently struts down the campus saying, “This is Harvard, we don’t eat, we don’t sleep, we just study.”
In retrospect, my late father Ting Dayrit advised me as I was about to study in Boston, acclaimed as the Athens of America, two decades ago, “When you go to Harvard Square, observe the people from all walks of life. Sometimes, you may not be able to differentiate the nerds from the punks.” In this triangular area in the center of Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street, and John F. Kennedy Street, people-watching is a serious preoccupation.
I remember Dad as the variety of characters amused me and I chuckled beneath my breath. From conservative business people to tweedy professor’s high-school aged people associated with countercultural movements and subcultures. Everybody in this Square belongs to a grand tapestry of diversity that I truly embrace. It then dawned on me that perhaps my most significant lessons in not judging individuals by their outward appearance came from Dad’s wisdom.
I strolled down memory lane as I visited Faneuil Hall (pronounced either “Fan-yule” or “Fannel”), one of the stops on the Freedom Trail. Today, it is better known as a large festival market. The squarish building has become more identifiable with the grasshopper weathervane on top. Faneuil Hall is indeed a fun place, what with street comedians and musicians, a myriad of food to try and take home. At night, it becomes one of Boston’s hubs for merriment and celebration.
Less than a block away is the Quincy Market. Open 24/7, this unique outdoor food market is as much street theater as a place to get fresh farm produce. My only brother Mark was my very first actor in my student project filmed here. My dear friend Reesa Guerrero, who drove from nearby Dartmouth, where she studies, and I had a lovely lunch in Stephanies, on the classy Newbury Street right before registration in Harvard Business School. Newbury is Boston’s chic, tree-lined shopping street dotted with expensive boutiques and galleries like Paris and New York. It is a community that encompasses fashion, museum-quality art, specialty boutiques, business services, fine dining, and so much more. All these are set in a historical district with an electrifying atmosphere. One can just sit in any of the cafes that line the street and simply watch the world go by.
Boston Public Garden, located along Charles Street adjacent to Boston Common, is the nation’s oldest botanical garden. The famous Swan Boats have returned to Boston Public Garden each spring since they were first invented in 1877 by Robert Paget. The business, which operates from mid-April through mid-September, is still operated by descendants of the boats’ inventor. When winter arrives, the pond is open to ice skaters.
I took a nostalgic stroll down the historic Boston Common and perched myself on a familiar bench. It is exhilarating to return to a place where we once created many beautiful memories. As we savor the past experiences, we ask ourselves how have we been since we left here and where we are headed. Paul Gaugin once said, “Close your eyes that you may see.”
Boston may mean a lot of things to many. For the family of presidentiable Noynoy Aquino, this was their home away from home during times that fortified their bond as a family. For me, it was where I learned to heed the call of independence. It is here that I realized the value of embracing our passion for this will lead us towards our desired path of authentic happiness and self-fulfillment. 
Indeed, it was happiness and fulfillment that I found when I took my course at Harvard Business School called “New Path: Setting New Professional Directions.” I thank the good Lord for this blessing to have met 39 other women professionals from all over the world, each with their beautiful stories to share. This intensive executive management and development program included interactive cases in accounting, finance, strategy, leadership, and marketing, as well as exercises and workshops that focus on entrepreneurship, negotiations, and career development.
The heart of the program for most of us were the life-coaching sessions where we would visualize where we wanted to be in our professional and personal paths in the future. Most important, we would return to our organizations with fresh ideas, new business skills, and a greater capacity for addressing the challenges our companies will face plus a new impeccable global networking resource. It was awesome to meet wonderful new friends like Marie Ah-You from Mauritius who is VP of One & Only Resorts, one of my fave hotel chains. In fact, I already made my booking for my journey to One & Only Resort in South Africa in July. From Christalle Raffy, who is at the helm of Cartier Retail and Regina Rodriguez from Gucci Spain, I was inspired by the creative prowess of running global retail businesses. We learned from each other and about each other. My dear seatmate from Nigeria, SK Dele-Ojomo, said, “I feel like I’m in an Olympic race but I’m not competing with anyone but myself.” The bond of friendship created is priceless and we all vowed to remain connected. I already made arrangements to visit Valerie Missoni in Tokyo, Cris Oliver in Brazil and SK and Chidi Chidoka in Nigeria to showcase my jewel travel collections as well.
On campus, we all stayed in the beautiful McArthur Hall that resembled a small luxury hotel. It can house 170 executives in well appointed single-occupancy bedrooms designed to support the school’s commitment to team learning.
As I walked the campus to join the farewell dinner at Kresge Hall, my heart smiled. The beautiful dining hall where we had our epicurean meals was at Kresge Hall, built in 1953 and named after the late Sebastian S. Kresge, the variety store merchant. Like a luxury liner where 30 executive chefs and sous chefs and their well-trained staff of 60 lovingly serve, we had the most delightful meals as though in a Michelin-starred restaurant. For our graduation dinner, vintage wines poured as savory entrees were laid on the table including a salad array of roasted tri-color beets, Boston lettuce, radicchio confetti, puff pastry complemented by port wine vinaigrette, broiled stripe bass and a refreshing Pear Williams Charlotte with Valrhona Chocolate Sauce.
The morning we left HBS was gloriously sunny, an indication that the best was yet to come for all of us. We visited the chapel, grateful for such blessed opportunities. Most of us had the time to rediscover the charming city of Boston.
As a farewell activity, our close-knit sisterhood group drove by Boylston St., the cobble-stoned alleys, the Boston Common Park at the city center, Faneuil Hall, the city street lights that emanate of old-world charm, Fenway Park where the famed Red Sox games are played. It was a wonderful feeling to be back on familiar ground, this time with newfound friends whose loving kindness, generosity and sincerity made this experience so delightful.
We reminded each other to follow our passion as we re-conquered the world. No one can move forward without looking back to the beautiful past that shaped us to be who we are today.
Harvard has done this and will continue to beckon as long as we live.
* * *
E-mail the author at miladay.star@gmail.com.
