By Jing Lejano

When Jose Rizal was but a young boy of three, it is said that he learned the alphabet while sitting on the lap of his mother, Teodora Alonso. Teodora was a magnificent tutor, reading to him many delightful stories and encouraging him to write poetry, of which she discovered the young Rizal had a flair for.

In the best of worlds, all mothers would be like Teodora when it came to teaching their children: patient, persistent, and perceptive.

In reality, not all mothers are like Teodora. Indeed, I am nothing like Teodora. This I found out when my little babes started going to big school. Oh, I taught them their ABCs and 123s. I taught them how to say a little prayer and not to be afraid to color their trees purple. Yes, I was able to do all that. But when it came time to teach them how to solve Math problems or review them in Social Studies, I failed quite miserably.

I wasn’t patient. When it comes to teaching, patience is a virtue that one must definitely have. While I am patient with most other things, I just wasn’t amiable enough of character when it came to pointing out, for example, the many steps that one had to take in order to perform an operation in division. I lacked the fortitude to explain the nuisances of phonics or the many twists and turns of the Philippine revolution.

I wasn’t perceptive. I would oftentimes forget that my kids didn’t have the stock knowledge that I had, acquired from years and years of reading and schooling. It would be hilarious if it weren’t so heartbreaking—I’d get so frustrated that they weren’t able to grasp what I was “teaching” them, and they’d feel a bit stupid for not knowing what it is that their mom thinks they should already know. It was a bad situation all around.

I wasn’t persistent. I wasn’t good at following up. I didn’t pester them into reviewing. I know that my being a working mom shouldn’t be an excuse, but I just wasn’t supermom. I looked at teaching as a chore because I’d rather be playing with my kids, or watching cartoons with them, or just hanging out with them.

This went on for quite some time with me feeling all guilty for being such a bad mother that I couldn’t even teach my kids the basics, and with my kids feeling all conflicted on how they should feel about their loving mother who was obviously not a good teacher. Fortunately, we were saved from falling and failing by a teacher.

Noticing my sons’ difficulties in a couple of subjects, one of their school advisers, during a parent-teacher conference, suggested that I get a tutor for my children. To be honest, it wasn’t something that occurred to me right away. I got good grades in school, so I should be able to help my kids do the same, right? Well, not really! As I found out myself, a mother just cannot be everything. Sometimes she needs to accept her shortcomings and get some help to become an even better mom!

And so, I signed up my kids for tutoring sessions. They learned their lessons, got better grades, and eventually forgave their mom for her foolish attempt at playing professor!

By Tessa Mangahas

Coming from a country that practically breathes politics, I am refreshed by the image of Michelle Obama, the First Lady of the United States. Born Michelle LaVaughn Robinson on January 14, 1964 in Chicago, Michelle shows how to be a modern wife and mom with style and grace in a manner that is impactful as much as it is unobtrusive.

No one can question that she is a woman of substance and high intelligence. She went to her city’s first high school for gifted children. She was always among the smart kids, driven by a passion for education and excellence. In interviews, she revealed that she and her brother Craig “were always encouraged to do the best you can do, not just what’s necessary.” Clearly, going the extra mile for a noble purpose was something that was akin to her nature.

Michelle is also a person that strives to be a good mother despite the pressures from other social functions as First Lady. I particularly liked her campaign for planting veggies in her backyard. Even if she could have the best food or produce at the wave of her hand to the White House chef, she instead worked with fifth graders from a local school in Washington D.C. to plant a 1,100 square foot vegetable garden and installed beehives on the South Lawn of the White House. The kids harvested the produce and learned to cook fresh-grown organic veggies. She has also campaigned to fight childhood obesity. Even as a hostess, she imparted this health-consciousness and support for the organic food movement by making sure that White House kitchens prepare organic food for guests and family. It is a picture of walking the talk. No high-fallutin’ environmental talk, just simply living out what you preach.

Michelle also knows who she is, her top priorities, and where she should be. She toned down on her own professional career to juggle family and campaign obligations. It must have been a big sacrifice considering how much she loved her work. During the campaign, she was still a hands-on mom to Malia and Sasha making sure they lived a life as normal as possible. She had no nanny for the kids and appears at campaign sorties only when necessary. She helped Malia and Sasha adjust to a life in the White House, surrounded by Secret Service and in the public eye. But Michelle lay down the rules to make the girls healthy and grounded. She believed that every family, hers with its extraordinary circumstances included, should not merely “survive but thrive.”

Her presence was felt even if she never stole the thunder from Barack. Her campaign style was both resolute and no-nonsense. She is always a step behind the programs of the 44th President of the United States but in a manner that inspires and does not overwhelm. She has been a solid supporter of military families and national service. Being a volunteer herself, she stressed the importance of stepping up to the plate and helping women balance career and family. She is a fixture at public schools, homeless shelters, and soup kitchens.

Michelle Obama is also a woman of style. She inspires not only through her causes but also through her sense of fashion. Her family’s fashion always hogs a lot of attention but they continue to be unaffected by it.

Beyond all these, Michelle Obama is also a woman in love. Her husband’s tweet of “FOUR MORE YEARS” accompanied by a photo of them kissing has become one of the most shared photographs of all time. The love they share sparkles in their eyes when they dance or even at the campaign trail.

Perhaps this is why I admire Michelle. Few women in her position can stay so grounded and focused on what is important. She is her own woman as much as she is wife, mother, friend, advocate, and First Lady.

By Katrina Villareal

Oprah Winfrey has touched the lives of millions of people, not only in the U.S., not only in South Africa, but all over the world. The Queen of Talk Shows, as she is fondly called, was the highest-rated daytime talk show host; a show that ran for 25 years, until she bowed down… and started her own network.

I have to give it to Oprah. To any normal human being, she is larger than life. She has been part of Forbes magazine’s list of the richest and most powerful women, and with reason. The Oprah Winfrey Show was a 25-year success. She currently has Oprah Radio, O Magazine, and the Oprah Winfrey Network. Her philanthropic efforts include the now defunct Oprah’s Angel Network and the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. She brought to the forefront experts in different fields like Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, Suze Orman, and Nate Berkus.

Billion-dollar status aside, she inspires me because everything that she does seems to be focused towards one goal: to make life better.

Her health features with cardiologist Dr. Oz made me think about what I was doing to my body. Garbage in, garbage out, right? I don’t want to reach the point where I’m feeling all these aches and pains because my body is starting to give up on me.

Her financial features with Suze Orman made me think about how I manage my personal finances. Though some tips are only applicable to the U.S., her financial advice still made sense, regardless of where you live and where you are on the social scale.

Her relationship features with Dr. Phil made me think about my relationships—with myself, my family, and other people around me.

Even her home features with Nate Berkus inspired me to think about how there can be beauty in your home, regardless of your budget and space constraints. (Although, this doesn’t mean that my home nor my room is anywhere near magazine-worthy.)

Oprah’s Book Club inspired me to take up reading more regularly again and to explore other genres.

Her work with the victims of Hurricane Katrina, Superstorm Sandy, and her girls in South Africa inspired me to reach out and help how I can.

Yes, Oprah is a superwoman. She can make things happen seemingly at the snap of her fingers. But she is also human, like me and you. What’s inspiring is that she chose to positively use her influence, her network, her resources, and her wealth. She reaches millions of people through tri-media, inspiring them to get up and get started with a better life. She reaches out further to people who are in need. She doesn’t forget where she came from, so she understands what it’s like for someone who can’t even take care of the basic human needs. So as one who doesn’t even have 1 percent of what she has, I know that if I also make good use of my influence, my network, and my resources, I can still touch people’s lives. A drop in the bucket of good for humanity is better than none.

By Carmie Dulguime

“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.” – Dr. Maya Angelou

I used to get easily annoyed when I can’t get people to at least understand my point. I get frustrated and feel defeated after every argument, and it was never a good feeling. Now, I no longer sweat over the things I cannot change. In fact, I now find it much easier to adjust to situations. I don’t let inanities dampen my disposition. That’s the “Maya” in me.

I never knew Dr. Maya Angelou (born Marguerite Ann Johnson) until I chanced upon a quote from her posted by a friend on Facebook. What she said about change and attitude struck a nerve. At that time, I was struggling with my career as a writer.

I was looking for some changes that just wouldn’t come around. I thought I gave up when I stopped trying to initiate the changes I wanted, and decided to work with the system instead. I began to feel depressed and all the confidence I had left abandoned me. I felt like a robot working on auto mode. Uninspired, but working nonetheless. Then that Facebook post jumped out of my monitor one lazy afternoon to make me realize that I didn’t actually quit – I merely adjusted my attitude.

“Attitude tuning,” as I now refer to it, is something that Dr. Angelou taught me as I read more about her life’s struggles and triumphs. An African-American, Dr. Angelou never let her ruthless experience with racism shatter her spirit. She was able to change the things she thought should be changed around her. One of the most important changes she helped initiate is freedom from oppression when she actively worked with civil rights champions Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. Angelou’s words, spoken as a lecturer or read as an author or poet, can truly hit home. Her inspiring messages withstand time and apply across all ages and races. Those who have not read her autobiographies wouldn’t think she was a rape victim at eight, a recluse for five years, a pimp, and a prostitute before she became who she is today: a multi-awarded author; an esteemed educator; an acclaimed producer, actress, singer, dancer, and filmmaker; an astute historian; and a staunch civil rights activist.

Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t have similar issues Dr. Angelou had—not even close. What I did have were inner struggles that left me questioning my principles in relation to my work. Once in a while, I would stop and berate myself for justifying what I do that run contrary to what I believe. I would question myself for defending those who others perceive as reprobates. Pit against the superpower of social media, what can a purist writer like me do to convince others that I have stories that refute theirs? I’m open to the fact that there is beauty in agreeing to disagree with others. In my years of experience conversing with various people from across generations and through different media, I realize the importance of being like Maya: to see the rewards in causing things to change, lessons in those that can’t be changed, and value in tuning the attitude instead of complaining.

By Mari-An C. Santos

Lea Salonga has been my idol for quite some time now. No, I don’t mean after she pioneered the role of Kim on Miss Saigon and shot to international stardom. I mean ever since she was a young star co-hosting Uncle Bob’s Lucky 7 Club. I think I still have that cassette tape of her Small Voice album somewhere—and it’s a wonder that I didn’t damage it from playing the carrier single over and over again, singing along to the words…

I am but a small voice 

I am but a small dream 

To smile upon the sun 

Be free to dance and sing 

Be free to sing my song to everyone

My parents fondly recall how I would sing it anywhere and everywhere, and how I would never tire of listening to Lea singing. It became a mantra for this little girl. I also remember watching Lea as Annie. My childhood friend Sunshine and I would watch the movie version every weekend, followed by The Sound of Music. We never grew tired of seeing the same scenes, repeating the same lines.

Now, I’m by no means an exceptional singer though I can carry a tune. But my admiration for Lea was not limited to her talent. She was an exceptional student and brought integrity to her profession. More bluntly, she was never involved in any scandal that seemed to be the norm in local show business. After she auditioned and won the role of Kim, I was even more enamored at how this child-woman led the pack of talented Filipinos to break through the international stage. Oh, I lost track of how many times I watched the footage of her, fresh-faced and innocent, singing as Claude Michel Schonberg caressed the piano keys. And yes, I mimicked the way she sang, from cadence to gestures.

She won acclaim for Filipino talent, not only at West End but also in Broadway—and I rejoiced with every new accolade. I longed to watch her perform. But at the time, we had no means to watch a musical of such magnitude. Although I had a passport, it remained unstamped, clean. I haven’t been outside of the country at all. I satisfied myself with listening to the official cast recordings of the musical, singing along until I knew every word…

You are sunlight and I moon

Joined by the gods of fortune

Midnight and high noon

Sharing the sky

We have been blessed

You and I

Then, news spread like wildfire that finally, in the new millennium, Miss Saigon would come to our shores, to the homeland of most of its cast. What do you think I did? Get in line for auditions? Not quite. I was not so deluded as to think that I, who had little experience in theater performance, could become a part of the cast. However, I had just graduated from the College of Mass Communication then. I did the best with what I had: I applied to be part of the production staff.

When I met Lea for the first time as a production assistant of the first Manila staging of Miss Saigon, it was not as nerve-racking as I thought it would be. I approached her, introduced myself, and, I think, told her about the schedule for the night. She was gracious and polite—no superstar aura at all. As for me, I did not gush or faint or fall at her feet. I guess her class act was infectious. But when I finally saw the dress rehearsal, I swooned. I was finally realizing a dream: to watch my idol in the musical that catapulted her to worldwide fame.

Lea went on to build a family life that was distant enough from the public eye. She continues to perform internationally but lives in the country of her birth. Her life is a living testament that you can balance work and family. And she never ever lets anyone forget that she is Filipino. So for more than just her talent, I admire Lea, because she is an example of a good artist and a good Filipino.

By Maridol Ranoa-Bismark

As the daughter of the late President of the United States John F. Kennedy and fashion icon Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, Caroline was to wealth and privilege born.

As a little girl growing up in the White House, she had a pony and other pets as well as a nanny at her beck and call. But Caroline never grew up to be a spoiled brat. She was a diligent student, always striving to make her illustrious family proud.

Caroline received her Bachelor of Arts degree at Harvard University and graduated at the top ten percent of her class at Columbia Law School. As a summer intern at the New York Daily News, the Kennedy heiress was not above fetching coffee, changing typewriter ribbons, and taking messages for editors and reporters.

Public service was a natural path for her to take. As a lawyer, writer, and editor, Caroline worked for various non-profit organizations. For two years, she was chief executive of the Office of Strategic Partnerships for New York City’s Department of Education. The thrice-a-week job paid her an annual salary of $1 from 2002 to 2004. Nonetheless, she managed to raise more than $65-M for the city’s public schools. She also helped establish an academy to train reform-minded principals. Nearly 200 city school principals, most of them in high-poverty schools, have graduated from this academy. Caroline is also active in the American Ballet Theater, Commission on Presidential Debates, and John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

In 1989, Caroline and other members of the Kennedy family came up with the Profile in Courage Award. It has become one of the most prestigious awards for public servants, inspired by John F. Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “Profiles in Courage.” The book featured short biographies of eight United States Senators who showed remarkable bravery and integrity during their lifetimes.

Like her mother, Caroline has also made a mark in the publishing world. Together with Ellen Alderman, she wrote books on civil liberties: In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights in Action (1991) and The Right to Privacy (1995). She also authored A Family Christmas—a collection of poems, prose, and personal notes from her family history. Some of the best-selling volumes that Caroline has edited are The Best-Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Profiles in Courage for Our Time, A Patriot’s Handbook, Family of Poems: My Favorite Poetry for Children, and She Walks In Beauty: A Woman’s Journey Through Poems.

When she’s not busy with charity work, Caroline spends time with her husband, exhibit designer Edwin A. Schlossberg and their three children.

By Maridol R. Bismark

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg says that Harvard colleague Sheryl Sandberg has always been a dedicated partner in running the world’s most popular social media network. When he named her Chief Operating Officer (COO) in 2008, many agreed that he picked the best person for the job.

“Sheryl has been central to our growth and success over the years,” Zuckerberg said. “Her understanding of our mission and long-term opportunity, and her experience both at Facebook and on public company boards makes her a natural fit for our board.”

But Sandberg was named the eighth member of the board only months after investors and women’s advocacy groups hit Facebook for not having a woman in its lineup of directors. Pressure came from the more than 53,000 who went online as well as from the countless people who marched to the company’s New York headquarters to lambast the absence of a woman on its board.

Sandberg’s appointment proved very timely indeed. Apart from helping increase Facebook’s profits, her presence has done wonders in curbing sexist attitudes in the otherwise macho workplace. But this doesn’t mean she doesn’t recognize the power of men. She believes in men sharing responsibilities at home and in making them women’s partners in the real sense of the word.

Sandberg encourages women to feel they can succeed because they are awesome, and not because someone helped them reach their goals. “Women must learn to believe in themselves, to stay and put their foot on the gas pedal,” she said.

A woman’s tendency to underestimate herself, she adds, is one of the reasons why there are still few women leaders these days. And this she wants to change.

Sandberg never had that problem. She always expected more from herself. She was consistently on top of her class in the public schools that she went to. At Harvard, she took home the John H. Williams Prize in 1991; this is given to the top graduating student in economics. Four years later, she led her graduating class at Harvard Business School, where she got her MBA degree.

Next year, Fortune Magazine’s Eighth Most Powerful Woman in Business will be coming out with a career advice book entitled, Lean In. A lot of women are anticipating its release, hoping to get a glimpse of this phenomenal woman’s meteoric rise in the corporate world.

By Maridol R. Bismark

A lethal combination of competence and charisma is how most people describe Ginni Rometty, chairman and chief executive officer of International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).

The 54-year-old Rometty, the century-old company’s first woman CEO knows how to take calculated risks in order to succeed. In 2002, she defied detractors and led the purchase of Pricewaterhouse Coopers Consulting for $3.5 billion. Others feared that PricewaterhouseCoopers’ culture of working independently, and IBM’s structured style would backfire. Analysts warned of a mass exodus of consultants.

But Rometty did not flinch.  She worked hard and turned on the charm to win consultants over. Needless to say, she passed her baptism of fire with flying colors.

As IBM senior vice president and group executive for sales, marketing, and strategy, Rometty led the drive to increase IBM’s presence in overseas growth markets like China, India, Brazil, and Africa. Today, these markets make up 23 percent of IBM’s revenue.

Rometty is not only an expert in expanding markets, she also has a sharp eye for pushing products and services. She expanded IBM’s analytics unit, which blends data-mining software with services expertise.

“It’s not about capturing markets. It’s about making new markets,” Rometty says.

As a result, Rometty shot to number 15 on Forbes Magazine’s World’s 100 Most Powerful Women 2012. She also made it to Time 100 in 2012.

Performance and charm are not Rometty’s only leadership qualities. She also speaks well. This talent for oratory, wrote BusinessWeek, easily landed her a slot on its list of 25 CEOs of Tomorrow.

On her first week as big boss, Rometty reached out to IBM employees, not through an email blast, but by doing something less distant. She gave a casual talk on video about her 2012 priorities and posted it on the company’s internal social network. Rometty’s knack for public speaking hit the nail on the head. The video went viral in no time.

Even in college, Rometty already knew how to create a strong impact. She got her bachelor’s degree in computer science and electrical engineering from the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University; she graduated with high honors in 1979. Rometty went to work at General Motors Institute shortly after. In 1981, she started her career in IBM as a systems engineer. Ten years later, she joined its Consulting Group.

Fortuitously, Rometty has a life outside IBM.  She has retained her ties with Northwestern University as a member of its Board of Trustees. She is also on the Board of Overseers of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

And oh, she goes home to husband Mark Anthony Rometty at the end of a long, hard day.

By Maridol R. Bismark

The president and chief financial officer of Oracle Corporation would be the last to admit it, but the figures speak for themselves. Because of the financial wonders that she has been orchestrating at Oracle, the fiercely private Safra Catz is one of the highest-paid women in the world of business. Fortune Magazine estimates her earnings at $42 million in 2008. No wonder, she ranked 11th in the business magazine’s list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business in 2011.

Oracle has been on expansion mode since she took over in January 2004. Under her leadership, the largest business software company in the world acquired no less than 50 companies in five years.

One of its best acquisitions, Sun Microsystems, is a maker of server computers. As a result, Oracle now controls the widely-popular Java and MySQL. It’s no surprise that Oracle now sells a whopping $23-billion annually in software and services, thanks to Catz’s vision.

Before Catz took over, Oracle’s operating margins were pegged at around 22 percent; this wasn’t such a good number. Catz thought that the solution was to centralize control of the then fragmented company. The results proved her right. Oracle’s margins rose to 35 percent the year after Catz took action.

Of course, her success didn’t happen overnight. Through sheer hard work, Catz rose from one executive position to another in a number of companies. She got part of her experience in mergers and acquisitions at the investment banking group Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, where Catz was Managing Director from 1997 to 1999.

The 50-year-old Catz graduated from the prestigious Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She transferred to Harvard in her final year.

As she represented big clients like Softbank, Symantec, and Oracle, Catz proved herself a disciplined, hard worker. She had the foresight to see the blossoming of the then budding software industry.

In 1999, Catz joined Oracle as senior vice-president. She rose to become executive vice-president, chief executive officer, and Oracle founder Larry Ellison’s co-president in 2004.

Despite her success in business, Catz has never forgotten her academic roots as she shares her theoretical and practical knowledge when she lectures students at the Stanford Graduate School of Business on “Mergers and Acquisitions: Accounting, Regulatory, and Governance Issues.”

Success has not changed Catz’s self-effacing personality. She may be one of the most powerful women in industry, but the Israeli-American executive has consistently kept a low profile. Oracle board member Joseph Grundfest says, “She’s much more interested in Oracle’s stock going up than she is in having her picture on the cover of a magazine.”

Little is thus known about her private life, except for the fact that she is married and has two children. For fans of her roaring success, that’s more than enough.

By Maridol R. Bismark

Growing up, Sara Blakely remembers her father asking her one simple question every single week: “What did you fail at?” When she couldn’t come up with an answer, dear old dad told him how disappointed he was.

Her father’s persistent prodding encouraged Sara to try new things and take on big challenges—even if there was some likelihood that she would fail at them. In the end, this kind of daredevil thinking worked out very well for Sara, who would eventually establish the wildly successful Spanx line of undergarments. At age 30, Sara made her first million dollars. At 41, she landed on Forbes World’s Billionaires 2012 list. It’s not surprising then that Sara is also on Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World.

It all started with one simple idea: Sara didn’t like the way her butt looked when she wore white pants. To firm up her fanny, she cut the feet off her control top pantyhose and wore them under her white pants. Her butt looked great, but the pantyhose rolled up her legs all the time. She knew she had stumbled on a glorious idea; she just had to work things out.

And work it out she did.

While Sara didn’t have a background in business, she had a lot of common sense and spunk. Taking her lifetime savings of $5,000, Sara started doing research on her novel idea.  She read marketing books, designed her own logo using a friend’s computer, and trademarked her own Spanx name to save on lawyer’s fees.  All the while, she kept her idea to herself.  Otherwise, she reasons out, people will only be too glad to tear it to pieces.

Eventually, she offered her line to local manufacturers in Atlanta, who mostly said no. That didn’t bother Sara one bit. She knew she had a winning product. She only needed to find the right people who thought the same.

One day, Sam Kaplan, co-owner of Highland Mills, decided to ask his two daughters to try Sara’s Spanx.  They liked it; the rest is history.

Needless to say, Sara’s “Don’t be afraid to fail big” mantra has become an inspiration to many.  Another lesson that Sara loves sharing with fellow entrepreneurs is “Don’t take no for an answer.” Had she stopped when all those manufacturers said no to her, Sara would not have stumbled on those two ladies who became her first customers.

Now that she’s having fun, Sara is giving back.  She put up the Sara Blakely Foundation to educate women who want to be entrepreneurs. Thus far, it has financed scholarships for young women in South Africa.  Sara also donated $1-M to Oprah Winfrey’s Leadership Academy.

Yes, Spanx can very well stand for spunk, which Sara Blakely will never ever run out of.