For most of her childhood, Ritzel Xandria “RX” Carzo’s father existed somewhere between airmail envelopes and scratchy long-distance phone lines.

Her dad, Alexander or Alex now 61, has worked in Qatar for nearly four decades in the Middle East, including his present post as a plant superintendent for Dolphin Energy. He left before Ritzel, now 32, was even born, missing all three of his wife’s pregnancies, countless birthdays and more than a few graduations. He would return for months at a time, then vanish again into the desert heat of the Middle East.

Still, the Carzo children —Janroz, now 34, Jillian, 29, and RX, 32, — never grew up resenting the absence. Their mother, Joy, became a full-time parent after giving up her accounting job when the children were in grade school. She made sure the gaps were filled with routine, discipline and care.

Joy also stocked the house with stationery. Letters, complete with illustrations of school activities, were the family’s lifeline to Alex. “The snail mail would take two months to reach him,” Ritzel said. Later, there was Yahoo Messenger and Skype, and eventually every app that made their father just a screen away. “We wanted to be alert and available for him,” she added.

Joy, now 65, has since suffered two strokes. She is cared for at home, her children and husband shuttling in and out as life allows. Alex may be of retiring age, but he isn’t one to settle down just yet. The farmland in General Santos, where the family has roots, will have to wait. “My dad is too restless,” RX said with a laugh.

If Alex was the provider, Joy was the anchor. Together, the balance worked. “We weren’t a picture-perfect family. We were noisy, messy, sometimes hardheaded. But as we grew up, we learned discipline and we were able to really find our core values and beliefs. Those became the pillars that guide us now as we face our own individual lives,” says RX. 

For her, achievement became her way of reaching her father across the distance. A self-described “’90s kid,” she entered dance contests, singing competitions, declamation tournaments—anything that would end with a medal or certificate. “It was proof,” she said, “that even if Dad wasn’t there, I was doing something worth noticing.”

She dreamed he would one day walk onstage to see her recognized. At the College of Saint Benilde, where she studied digital filmmaking, that dream came true: her father flew home just in time to see her receive an acting award for a student film.

Those early performances evolved into something else. Today, RX is a digital content creator best known on TikTok as @doseofrx, where she documents lifestyle glow-ups in one’s 30s and the realities of managing PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) and weight loss. “It’s been a struggle,” she admitted. “But I wanted to show that getting back to your best self in your 30s is possible, even if it’s difficult.”

Her content often veers into the personal, including adventures with family. One recurring theme: airport farewells. Ritzel usually escorted her father on his departures, a ritual that turned into a TikTok series she called “OFW Dadcore.” The clips resonated widely, garnering more than 500,000 views.

Then came the surprise. A newspaper editor came across the videos and featured her story. That separate video drew another 700,000 views in 48 hours. Between the TikTok and the news feature, nearly a million people had glimpsed what millions of Filipinos already know: the quiet ache and resilience of OFW families.

“I think a lot of people related to it,” RX said. “It’s hard to keep the family intact when your dad is away. But at the same time, we wouldn’t have this kind of life, or the opportunities we’ve had, without his sacrifice — and my mom’s sacrifice, too.”

Ritzel’s career now blends personal storytelling with professional freelance work. She has served as a video production coordinator for a US-based company, but more recently has gone full-time freelance—creating user-generated content (UGC), live streaming for beauty and wellness brands, and hosting trivia nights, book launches and creator gatherings.

With her partner, Lui Baarde, she co-founded the Passionate Creators Community, a network of more than 2,000 Filipino content makers who support one another across multiple interests. They meet every other month, highlighting different creators and swapping lessons about a fast-changing industry.

TikTok remains her strongest platform, though she also maintains accounts on Instagram, Threads, X and YouTube. A setback last year—her Instagram account was suspended—forced her to rebuild from scratch, a challenge she now treats as part of a creator’s life.

Through it all, family remains her compass. Her brother Janroz works with GCash, while her sister Jillian is at the front desk of a luxury camping hotel in Arizona. Their mother is slowly recovering, with Alex balancing caregiving on his trips home. And RX is determined to show them that their sacrifices bore fruit.

“My parents never pressured me,” she said. “But personally, I want to be able to make them proud, to show them they don’t have to worry about me. That the life they gave us—it turned out okay.”

She paused, then added: “I want to make them proud and let them see that they did a really good job as parents.”