This is the most fascinating online interview we had. Sorry Josiah Go (see first interivew in our HungryPeople Interview Series), but Chiqui's interview really fascinated us. History tells us that behind every great man is a woman – and behind Josiah Go is not just a woman but an amazing woman! Chiqui's answers are clear yet different, long yet disruptive. Better yet, they pierce YOUR heart! This is quite long but very interesting. We publish the interview in full below.
Are YOU hungry?
Let's eat...
1. What's YOUR job like?
I have the best job in the world – I manage and bang heads with the best minds in marketing and sales from whom I get the latest updates in our fields, I get to share knowledge with my seminar participants who have become my friends and I get to travel and go to the best business schools so I can benchmark our programs and methodologies.
2. How did Josiah Go market himself to YOU?
A brilliant product will shine in any marketplace. Ako yung brilliant kaya I definitely dazzled Josiah. 
Seriously, we were both student leaders in De La Salle University (DLSU) where we both saw each other’s strong characters – enough to create sparks, huge sparks. Back in college, he was already brilliant, confident, focused, determined – so rare among boys his age, and that was definitely attractive. (It also helped he was goodlooking.) As fate would have it, we were both in a leadership seminar in Baguio, I hit my head on a rock when I fell off a horse at Wright Park during a free day, he took care of me and the rest is history (25 years of marriage and counting).
3. Take us back to when YOU were starting the Young Market Masters Awards and the Market Masters Conference.
The Market Masters Conference was borne out of our desire to support our advocacies without having to beg for sponsorships and donations. We wanted something that would be win-win which is consistent with what we teach. Since our expertise is in marketing and sales training, we expanded our reach through conferences and forums and further differentiated ourselves by being advocacy-based – at least 30% of our annual profits go to various beneficiaries in education and youth empowerment. We wanted to give back to the marketing industry which has supported us all these years.
The Young Market Masters Awards was borne out of an insight I had through my close contact with our seminar participants and clients. They shared with us how attending Mansmith seminars helped them achieve their dreams, not just for the short-term gaining of knowledge to make their jobs easier but also for the long-term gaining of career goals because they did a good job. We have witnessed how many of them have risen from the ranks to now lead their marketing departments or even the entire company.
This insight led us to transform our promise from being a specialist in marketing and sales training to “helping your marketing and sales teams soar”!
4. Why is Life Good? (saw this on your Plurk account)
I am a forever optimist. I am definitely resilient. I always see my cup as overflowing that I must keep giving back.
My strong spiritual Paulinian upbringing has shaped me to see goodness in everything and everyone. One of my favorite principals in St. Paul Manila, Sr. Miriam Raymundo gave me one of the best lessons in life – a few years ago, I asked her why she looked so good at age 81 and she told me “If I looked old and mean, who would believe I have Jesus in my heart?” So there – the secret to eternal youth and happiness!
5. Who are YOUR personal heroes? Why?
Teachers. Especially good teachers. Especially public school teachers. They have the power to transform people and therefore our country. I hope they all know that.
6. What are YOU hungry for?
Seriously – happiness, world peace and true brotherhood among all men! Then there would be no suffering, no hunger, no war, no corruption. I do what I do in hope that even my smallest and humblest efforts can make a difference in even one person, who might pay it forward. Who knows, if all of us can do one simple act of kindness or goodness, the multiplying power of paying it forward can bring us to true peace and happiness. (I told you I am an optimist!)
7. If YOU were the Secrety of Tourism, how would YOU market our country (Philippines)? What would be the Top 3 Things YOU will be remembered for after your term?
Our world-class hospitality and world-class beaches (I love El Nido!).
Top 3 things I would like to be remembered for:
-
That I was able to make the Philippines a clean and green country.
-
That I was able to raise the dignity and pride of Filipino women involved in tourism through education.
-
That I was able to do no. 1 and 2 without corruption.
8. How do YOU think will social media change our lives? Our work?
Social media have already changed many lives. Worlds are smaller, many pieces of information are within easy reach, people are more in touch..
The challenge is to make these connections productive and purposeful.
9. What's the best thing about being a marketer?
The constant challenge of being ahead of the pack, of being able to effect change through interesting projects, the creativity that goes with insight and the close contact with people esp. the young ones who will be the future leaders of marketing.
10. Looking back at childhood, would they have said, "Chiqui, she's going to become an entrepreneur?"
No. I was a typical Filipino raised in a middle class family (7 kids) where my father worked in the government and my mother was a housewife. I was raised to study in a good school so I can get a good job in a top multinational corporation. Entrepreneurship was never in my frame of mind. As fate again intervened in our lives, Josiah and I got married right after college at a time when the Philippine economy was down because of the Ninoy Aquino assassination. There I was, a fresh graduate from DLSU, with a double degree in communication arts and marketing (accelerated program), a student leader and a dean’s lister unable to land a job because companies were not hiring.
Josiah was soon embarking on his own business as we were raising our kids and I saw the beauty (as well as the stress, but a kind of stress that brought out the best in people) of being an entrepreneur, where my employment was not dependent on the whims of the economy or politics but on myself. We earned in proportion to our efforts and we were both hardworking so it was so worth it. I learned the concept of frugality while starting up the business where we would buy second hand cars and lived in apartments so we could save up for the business, for our travels and finally for our dream house which we all enjoy because we’re debt free. We now can work hard and play hard. We are now reaping the rewards of our hard work and nothing beats the pleasure of being able to help others because we can; plus the peace of mind and the family harmony that go with it.
About me (Chiqui Escareal-Go)
I am the inspiration behind the genius of a man Josiah Go.
I am trying to finish my Masters in English and Literature Teaching from Ateneo so I can work on my personal advocacy of working with public school teachers. In the meantime, the many Mansmith seminars, conferences and advocacies are keeping my plate full.
No comments:
Post a Comment