Your Brand, Your Story

Alexis Mossige is a Filipina based in Stavanger, Norway.  Armed with her passion for cooking, plus her Kapampangan roots, she was able to build a name for herself, and today she is known as NordikPinay.  

As they say though, success is not an upward straight line. Her career as a chef did not take off immediately, as being a foreigner in another country, she had to learn the language.  

Now, with her undeniable grit in the kitchen coupled with her supportive husband who introduced her to the idea of bringing Filipino cuisine to Norway, her name became a brand.  

What originally was meant as a name for her food business eventually paved the way to build a community of Filipinas thriving in Norway.  

Alexis is also an events coordinator, traveler, and vlogger. Do check out her channel on youtube.

Aleah Marie Estanislao, an Entrepreneur Designer and a creative writer who seeks to inspire through her written poetry and prose and translates it into digital art and calligraphy. She is a full-time graphic designer who runs her own design business and helps small-medium enterprises through creative promotions. 

Alyanna Ferrer has amassed experience in the field of fashion. She is a fashion design graduate at De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde and had worked with different celebrity stylists and tv personalities.   As her eyes opened to the environmental issues associated with the fashion industry, Alyanna's design approach has shifted to fulfill a greater cause.   Just recently, she launched a sustainable fashion brand with its first collection, Reissue Volume 01.  She is a fashion designer who channels the power of her vision and action to break the fashion linear and to create thoughtfully for the people and the planet.  Today, she is the Head Designer and Creative Director of her own company, Alyanna Ferrer.

Kai is seasoned in the corporate world, with more than two decades worth of experience in multinational and local companies from different industries.   Among her educational pursuits, she is a communications graduate of the University of Asia and the Pacific, where she took classes at the University of Navarra in Spain. 

She took her Management Development Program in Tokyo and her certificate courses in Life Coaching and Art Therapy in Singapore. She was at her latest job for 21 years where she successfully rose through the ranks from entry-level Research Analyst to Regional Director responsible for the Asia-Pacific region. She was exposed to hiring, training, management of operations to working across cultures, networking, and everything in between. 

She was an OFW based in Singapore for 11 years before she came back to the Philippines to help coach employees on how to navigate their respective careers successfully.  She is now a freelance certified career coach who uses tools to immediately create an impact in the lives of her clients. To get in touch with her and know more about her.

Riza Mae Solis is a Marketing Director of FHMoms which was founded by Maria Korina Bertulfo.

She is an introvert who does client engagements and public speaking for a living. 

When not working, Riza just stays at home and reads books. Before the pandemic, she loves ultimate frisbee and engaging in hiking activities. She likes listening to podcasts and watching Netflix in her free time.

Riza wants to be known as somebody people can rely on. 

When asked about what it means to her to be human and authentic, “you just process it and not labeled by it”.

Let’s get to know more about her in this episode.

EJ Mangahas has held various leadership positions in the last 10 years in both in-market and regional capacities with different renowned agencies in the Philippines, Singapore and now, Vietnam.

Has also been featured in several publications, Adobo Magazine and Philippines Daily Inquirer to name a few

Someone with a strong background in digital strategy & account leadership for top global agencies working with the world's best brands.

Lastly, he considers himself a passionate builder of brands, businesses, teams and meaningful consumer experiences.

Let's all learn from the CEO of Hakuhodo Digital, Emmanuel James "EJ" Mangahas.

Michael Sta Maria is a Filipino a fashion designer, a nurse educator, an artist and a businessman.

He is one of the emerging fashion designers in the Philippines and is receiving international recognition, representing the Philippines at Los Angeles Fashion Week and Atlanta International Fashion Week, 2016. Also he showcased his couture works at The Mercedes-Benz Style Asia Fashion Week held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and a successful show in Scotland Fashion Showcase, United Kingdom; last 2015. He showcased his new collection with Panasonic Manila Fashion Festival held in Manila, Philippines this October 2018.

His works was recognized by international media platforms like the major WWD where his collection for his LA Fashion week was featured, he also landed into the cover of a New York Based Fashion Magazine “Hues”, was featured by Blush Magazine Vancouver and other US based magazine like Black Chalk Magazine, Reflekt Magazine, The Dapifer Magazine to name a few.

He was also named by a Dubai based Magazine “Illustrado” on their 12th year anniversary issue as part of the hottest and Top 100 fashion designers from around the globe under the couture category.

Locally, he has been featured in Philippine magazines like Preview, Mega Magazine and Metro Magazine, was even named by Metro Magazine as one of the 7 Filipino designers made a name in the international fashion scene.

What you'll hear about him in this episode though are not just about his accomplishments, the spotlight moments, but even the struggles that came with it.

As the say, success isn't a straight path.

Let's get up close and personal now with Michael Sta Maria here on Your Brand Your story, authentic conversations on humanness and authenticity.

Cindy Cortez Wong is a Filipina entrepreneur who is now based in Siberia. She is also a travel Specialist and a Writer who has written several books.

As she loves traveling and immersing herself in different cultures, Cindy has designed her businesses to suit her passion and lifestyle. 

Also, being a writer, it just makes sense that she also helps aspiring book authors in their self-publishing journey through her wandering bookstore, 8Letters. We'll know more about this in a bit.

She was also included in Marketing in Asia's Rising 70 Professionals that Filipino Should Follow on LinkedIn in 2020.

Learn more about Cindy as she shares how she started to write at a very young age, as well as how she ended up traveling in luxurious and enviable destinations, and eventually both in her businesses. 

In the competitive world of beauty and skin care, one may actually think twice before jumping into the bandwagon where the “no makeup look” is becoming a trend among women in the recent years. From facial skin care, to face slimming and contouring (without having to fake it with a mobile app), to eyelash perming, to eyebrow enhancing, to lip tinting, the list of services just goes on as more and more women want to spend less time on doing their routine makeup and just achieve a more natural look.

As an entrepreneur, whether you’re building a beauty name or skin care brand or a revolutionary piece of skin care or cosmetic technology, more often than not, the business model and the product (or service) always come first.

But getting those right is not easy.

And while we focus on these elements – regardless if we’re in the beauty industry or not – we have the tendency to forget on what really matters: the journey and pain points of our clients.

One particular lady CEO of a skin and beauty center in the northern part of the Philippines has proven that she has what it takes to exemplify that a thriving business CAN have a heart.

Listen to Jasmine "Mine" Punsalang Cabral, a beauty entrepreneur who started her beauty center at the age of 20 and is now celebrating 10 years in the business, with several franchisees believing in her brand and advocacy.

Indeed, the best lessons in life and in business and made up of just simple words. Listen to this episode.

Leilanie Gomez-Maranao  is the Managing Director and Founder of The Life Auditor, an organization that caters to Freelancers specifically in the area of Accounting, Graphic Designing, Social Media Management, English as second language teaching and Virtual Assistance. 

She is a Certified Public Accountant, Xero Advisor, Xero Payroll Certified, Quickbooks Proadvisor and a Certified Life Coach. Right now, she is also working as a Freelancer while managing The Life Auditor and taking care of her family. Her vision is to mentor Filipinos who want to start their freelancing journeys.

Find out more about her in this episode.