10 years apart: My 2 seasons as KaTribu

In 2008, I was the content manager of an international data company — high-paying, I became friends with the CEO, amazing team. The problem: I was stuck at the office and bored to death!

So when my friend Roel, who I had been to junkets with when I was a reporter at Manila Standard Today, texted me that our friend Steph had resigned as lifestyle writer at then Daily Tribune and they were looking for a replacement, I jumped at the chance without a second thought -- even if the position was a demotion, the salary was a third of what I was getting, and I was to switch offices from posh Makati to old Manila.

It turned out to be among the best decisions I’ve ever made. First, it’s where I met my mentors Ma’am Ninez, Ms. Dinah and Ate Avic, who have also become my lifelong friends alongside other colleagues such as James, Ate Lor, Milo, my classmate from college Julius, and God bless their souls, Ate Au and Rocky.

Time flew by fast in my first season with the DAILY TRIBUNE because our work felt more like play. Our pockets might have been empty, but our hearts were full — with friendship, respect and trust. We had editorial freedom to pursue our passions and to grow intellectually and professionally. We were able to create stories that had impact — with long threads of discussions from commenters long before “viral” came along. Some of our works even influenced the creation of or modification of several laws and helped shaped people, cultures, organizations and society.

It didn’t matter to me if only one person read any of my stories, because that one reader’s testimony that my article changed his life was enough — and feedback like that was my motivation and fuel to last at DAILY TRIBUNE for almost eight years, through which I also marked some of the highest points of my personal life —my wedding, graduation from fashion school and welcoming my first child, where my DT friends were, of course, ever present. My firstborn even spent time in the first years of her life at our Kalaw office.

It was my longest employment, until I was “pirated” by Philstar.com in 2016. I spent 9.5 years as lifestyle and entertainment editor at the online media company, but through those years, I never lost touch with DAILY TRIBUNE even when they revamped under new owners and management. Ate Avic still laid out my books. I would sometimes visit the new Makati office.

When I told Ms. Dinah that I had resigned from Philstar, but still exploring a non-full-time venture with them, as, I was also still in touch with my friends there, she invited me back at DAILY TRIBUNE.

But the company now is no longer the same. It is now an omni-channel and true to its anniversary theme this year, full of “grit and growth.” The owners are new. Most of the staff are new. It wasn’t an easy adjustment for me. Some things remain the same — it still values credible journalism. It still enables us to grow in depth and character. Integrity still weighs more than money. Some of my old friends and colleagues from the paper are gone, but I’m happy to have found new friends and teammates in my Tribune 2.0.

I honestly didn’t expect to return because I was already trying to pivot to my other passion, fashion design, which I have shelved for years due to my media career. So now, I’ve become ever so schizophrenic, splitting my time, energy, money and neurons between family, career, MBA studies at University of London, putting up my fashion business, my third book. And there are other upcoming ones in a few months: I’ll be back to martial arts, been actively scouting for a football club, writing more books and rewriting some movie scripts, among many other things.

Some have asked me how I’m able to manage my time and do all these. Yes, I might seem to be “living the life,” traveling often and going on adventures. But like everyone else, there’s so much happening that I can’t and don’t post on social media. I have too much on my plate and sometimes I’m complaining about it, and even suffering, bleeding, burning out. I’m caught in the web of an endless pursuit for achievement that fortunately or unfortunately has become part of my DNA.

But then I remind myself of 2 Corinthians 12:10 where St. Paul says: “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” This means that even in my weakness, it is God that fills me with strength. Thus, as St. Paul wrote in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”