The multi-awarded professional may have reached the pinnacle of her career, but she isn’t resting on her laurels, as she aims to help more Filipino women reach their true potential.
This is an excerpt from Lifestyle Asia’s March 2023 Issue.
Monica Maralit is not just senior vice president for Program Management at PSG Global Solutions, a firm that specializes in providing recruiting services to companies across the globe. She is also a multi-awarded professional and a sought-out speaker at conferences on Human Resources, Recruiting, and Women Leaders. Working side by side with an international management team, and with such an esteemed designation, might be enough for most women, but not quite for Maralit. She is far from having done all that she has set out to do.
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“There is always more that I want to do in my career. I love contributing to a growing company because every year there are new challenges and goals and new ways to solve and develop solutions. I’ve had the privilege of having great bosses and mentors who have given me the autonomy to build a culture focused on improving lives be it for our employees, our clients, or our community. In my role, as well, I have the advantage of overseeing almost all aspects of the company and participating in everything from sales and marketing to operations to finance to shared services to employee development. The most fun is developing new services and processes and seeing these succeed and grow. The most fulfilling is developing future leaders who will continue to serve their teams and develop others not only professionally, but also personally. Developing others and continuous improvement never ends. There is always more we can do. I feel that I will always in one way or another, be in the service of developing and improving others’ lives.”
When plans for this year, which has really only just begun, come up, Maralit waxes enthusiastic on her plans to write a book and set up a foundation. “Last year, I went to an industry conference in the US and was inspired by a group of women who took the challenges of the pandemic and their own career journey and wrote a book called Together We Rise (Published by Performance Publishing Group, by The Lady Leaders Book Club (Author), Lauren B. Jones (Foreword), Leslie M. Vickrey (Foreword)) to help support and inspire other women. As I heard and read their stories, I thought, we could do the same thing in the Philippines! There are so many strong and inspiring Filipinas who have amazing stories to share! So, I reached out to one of the authors, Leslie Vickery, about the process and she connected me to their publisher. Leslie continued to encourage me and when I came back to Manila, I decided to move forward. I reached out to my network, researched inspiring women, asked for referrals and connections, and just emailed them all! Fortunately, enough women enthusiastically said yes! We are poised to have our 1st kick off call with our publisher next month with the goal of publishing our book later this year. All of these women have such inspiring stories and I’m so excited to have them share this with the rest of the world,” Maralit recounts.
On the other hand, her foundation is one she hopes will help provide educational opportunities to underprivileged women. “I’ve always wanted to start a foundation focused on helping young underprivileged girls and women with their education. I was inspired by my grandmother who herself did not even finish 5th grade, but worked hard and earned enough to send all of her children, including my mother, to college. My mother had always emphasized education throughout our childhood whether it was making sure we went to great schools, taking us to the library during summer breaks when we were living in Florida, to making us choose between taking summer school classes in high school or working as interns when we were living in Bangkok. Because of my grandmother and mother, I will
be starting the Victoria Heartstrong Foundation this year. I already have a tie-up to financially support high school and college-aged girls of the United Methodist Church of Valenzuela. Incidentally, my grandparents founded the church. It all comes full circle! The proceeds of the sale of the book will go to funding the initiatives of the Victoria Heartstrong Foundation. My goal with the foundation is that it will expand to not just financial support, but also provide programs to further educate girls and provide mentors for at-risk girls.
I believe that educating young women will allow them to grow up with more choices. The more we educate women, the more choices they will have, the more independent they will become, and the more they will help build our nation,” she states.
Read more by purchasing a copy of the Lifestyle Asia March 2023 magazine via SariSari.shopping or select newsstands in National Bookstore and Fully Booked. Subscribe to the E-Magazine via Readly, Magzter, and Press Reader.
Photos by Excel Panlaque of Kliq, Inc.
