Today was so amazing.  The most amazing speakers, the most amazing ideas. I’ve never been so moved and inspired in my life.  I just want to spread the word because I feel like there are so many people out there that do incredible things that go unrecognized because there isn’t enough awareness about these sorts of events that take place.  I’m not filipino, and obviously at a filipino event like today, there were many times that I couldn’t understand or fully connect to the speakers’ words.  Still, it made me wonder more and it made me more curious. 

I foolishly forgot to take notes for the first 6 speakers… LOL fail. but during the main panel and the first workshop, Loida Lewis and comedian Rich Kiamco both did a similar kind of exercise.  We closed our eyes and tried to imagine how our lives would be in 5 years (for Loida Lewis) and in the future in general (for Rich Kiamco).  What I liked about Kiamco’s exercise was that he went further by asking us to draw what we envision, to write why I can’t have my vision and why I can have that vision.  I’m not going to share what I envisioned or my replies to the last two categories.  It’s just a really good exercise.  He also made us rip up the page where we wrote why we’re wrong to have the vision.  It was kind of like brainstorming if you have writers block.  My mind opened up to so many things that I’ve kept deep inside me for too long. 

Ryan Letada.  Not a lot of people attended this workshop (very unfortunately).  He talked about the truth about Balikbayan Boxes, and basically broke down NPOs and how to tell if they’re real, and how to know where you’re money is going when you donate.  His 6 points to tell if an NPO is legitimate was

1) Ask about failure.

• Look for humility.  Without failure and humility, there’s no success.
• It’s important to be forward.
• If there’s no downfall, there’ no way of coming back up.

2) Invest in Doer & Builder

• Don’t talk, Do!! Anyone can say inspiring things all they want.  But if they don’t take action, nothing will change.

3) Go Beyond Marketing

4) Capture Social Return

• visions can be measured, success cannot.

5) Seek Stability

• Try to imagine what your org will look like in 1, 3, 5 years. 
• Is it successful? If not, how can you change things towards success? 

6) Be invested, be presented.

To have a successful NPO or in order to invest in a worthwhile one, it’s important to remember INTENT, IMPACT, REIMAGINE.  There must be an intention, but a successful follow through is just as important.  You must be able to impact a large number and a wide range of people.  Reimagine.  Change can be made.  We have to reimagine what things could be like if there is enough awareness and changes are actually made.

The reason why Balikbayan boxes often fail is because we send the wrong things.  We send them clothes and spam.  The thing is, these things can sell in the local market for a lot more than what these things are worth to them.  They can make money and buy tons of food.  If we want to help them, we need to send tools that they can utilize to solve their problems.  We need to provide them with things that they are really lacking, like soap!  If they don’t have soap, they can’t do a lot of things, and we don’t think to send them the tools that they need. 

YAY MY FAVORITE PART.  So for the secondary panel session, I went to Teaching and Storytelling.  These speakers were really amazing. 

Alex Cena

• storytelling is the best way to teach boring things.
• home is where our ignorance started, it’s the best place to learn things
• then he did a rap o_O

Renjie Butalio

my favorite point that he made was a “global citizen”.  The reason why I like this is because I’m an American citizen but I’m also proud of my Japanese culture and I want to share it with more people.  I think my goal though is to become a global citizen.  I want to understand and learn other cultures and be able to be a human being of no discrimination and a citizen of the world.  It’s so hard though but it is something that I want to be able to call myself.  A global citizen.  LIKE THE RING OF IT.

Leezel Ramos

Her strongest point was that community building should not stop at college.  I was really impressed to see alumni at this event.  I even met a girl who had graduated graduate school and came just to check out what this was all about.  But Leezel is right, it’s important to move the young people forward in order to have the community moving forward.  People always think that college is where you meet new people and network and create a strong community.  But orgs like Unipro make me realize that it’s important to take something out of what we learn in college and apply it to the real world.

Ray Sison
This guy.  He probably thought I was a creep because I was all like sparkly eyed going up to him after the panel session… but he was honestly my favorite speaker of the whole summit.  I felt like his life is kinda similar to mine, and I hope that it continues to be in the future… except I’m not one of the top designers at nike LOLLL.  He talked about how he did really badly in high school and didn’t get accepted to FIT, went to community college, got straight As, got into FIT, got straight As.  His guidance counselor told him that he wouldn’t make it as a designer, but there he was at FIT.  And after he graduated, his friends told him that he wouldn’t get accepted into all the big companies he applied to.  But there he is designing for nike.  The things that got him to where he is today are his parents and his strong will to push through no matter what.  His parents supported him all the way and believed in him and told him to do what he wanted to do.  Even with all the discouragement, he still continued to do what he believed in.  This reminds me of the Outliers because I really think that it’s the family that he grew up in that allowed him all this success.  He also talked about how he worked 100+ hrs a week, and that follows the 10,000HR rule from the book too. haha he is the definition of an outlier. 

Talk less, do more.

Do what you love, don’t be a regular.

Learn, don’t be afraid.  Don’t compete, learn from who might be your competitor.

Listen more, do more.

By the way! check this site out:

http://www.defineamerican.com/

Jose Antonio Vargas was another amazing speaker and he brought this up, it’s his new campaign.  It’s really awesome!! there are other sites that I will put up if I remember tomorrow because I have to sleep now!

Good night.

(via kzooks)

I’m so puny and pathetic. I’m a speck of nothing and want to become a butterfly.

“I’d love a coffee with you. you could tell me adventure stories, and I’ll wear a colorful hat.” This guy is magical haha

I miss puso so much. late night hang outs in dreiser lounge, stomping, Barrio practice, graduations, parties, modern practice, awkward dancing, and filled with so many other memorable moments.  Spring, 2012.

(Source: startmakingcents, via fuckyeahstephchow)

I act like I don’t care but I secretly do.  I hope that this summer changes things.

synchronicsyndrome:

Family photo

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This is unhealthy. Lol i’ve never hated myself this much. ~emo post~

(Source: pixiv.net, via curvylittlething)

(Source: lovelylops, via chowstyle)

fuckyeahstephchow:

You need my cuddles and I need yours, it’s clear.