Fascinating People of the Year

By: Veronica Leighton

 

Fascinating people to me are the extremely interesting people that make me curious in knowing more about them, what they really are, what makes them tick, how they excel, and what life’s lessons can I learn from them. They cross our paths, they just look like the other ordinary people as most of the time they just cannot reveal their real selves and innate talents to anybody, but they leave us with some kind of a feeling of curiosity, of wanting to know them more, and shout to the world that they are special people once you’ve reached their inner souls and unselfish minds.

For this issue, saying goodbye to the old year and welcoming the new year, I picked a couple of these special people that happen to be women who are making a difference in this world for their passion and dedication to the kind of work that they are doing and in touching other people’s lives.

Let me present the first Fascinating Person, Ms. Maria Victoria (Vicki)Smith, VT columnist of “Warrior’s Heart.” As Vicki would like to acknowledge, VIA Times (or Veronica) was the one who gave her first break in printing her collection of poems and here’s quoting one of her most precious thank you’s, “Thank you for your sustained courage and devotion to staying a shining beacon of cultural celebration and communal reflection for our Fil-Am communities!” .

We congratulate Vicki for her literary accolades and awards this year, who humbly admits, “I’ve had such a great literary year this year and next year promises to be the same if not better–and you can thank yourself for being one of the first publishers to “discover” me in America!!!

Easily recognized or classified as B&B (Brains & Beauty), Vicki graduated from the University of the Philippines with Magna Cum Laude distinction in A.B. Political Science, and among the top ten percent of her U.P. College of Law class, and attained her Master of Laws degree from the University of Michigan College of Law. She has been residing in Des Moines, Iowa (and been vacationing in their beautiful Monterey, CA home several months a year) with her loving husband Steve and children Francesca (currently working in Seattle) and Travis, a college student.

Another Vicki’s quote which I love, “While the classic song says, “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere!” I knew long before this, as most immigrants in the U.S. do, that I feel I was already a winner from the beginning, as many of you also are, because it takes great guts, grits, and gravitasse to move from one’s native country and be successful in recreating one’s life by reinventing one’s self anywhere in the world. I feel this is just the start of my beautiful adventure, and I hope you all will continue to follow and join me through the years in this fantastic journey!!!” She was honored and received the Chicago Filipino Asian American Hall of Fame award in the field of Community Volunteer/Writer in 2013.

Let’s recap Vicki’s latest literary accomplishment this year from her recent email…

1. BMP Authors Blog Feature. I’m pleased to share I’m one of the authors featured in Brain Mill Press’ authors blog. Do check out my tips on transcending blocks to creativity!

You can access this feature in the following sites:

–on BMP’s website, http://www.brainmillpress.com/…/12-authorsshare- their-sec…/

–on BMP’s FB, (Do “like” it!)

https://www.facebook.com/brainmillpress/

2. Most recent publishing successes.

2.a. My Christmas-themed poem, “Reconstruction of Lost Things,” will appear in the December issue of Elite Critiques Magazine. Check out E.C.M. in the following link: http://elitecritiques.com/ecm-magazine/

2.b. A short essay of mine, “To Be Known,” appears in the current issue 37 of Ruminate Magazine. Do check it out in the following link: http://www.store.ruminatemagazine.com/…/products/pre-order-…

3. Friendly reminder to order your Limited Fine First Edition of my winning novella, “Faith Healer,” that is due for early release on December 21, 2015, and for general release on January 25, 2016! Don’t miss out on your chance to get this Limited Fine First Edition of my book by pre-ordering it on BMP’s website, http://www.brainmillpress.com/book s/faith-healer. This could make for a great holiday gift for your friends and family!

If you wish a signed and dedicated copy, do let me know. You can send your purchased book to me and I will send it back to you signed and dedicated for you, at no additional cost (I won’t charge you for shipping it back to you).” *****

The next wonderful, fascinating lady that makes me wanting to salute and/or take a bow everytime I meet her and hear her stories of plight in helping light up the lives of the light-deprived mankind, is Ms. Nancy Economou. Nancy is not a Filipino, she is an American lady who’s the recipient of the Friend of the Filipino award in Humanitarian Service by the Chicago Filipino Asian American Hall of Fame in 2014.

Quoting from her biography, “Nancy is the founder and president of Watts of Love, a global solar lighting nonprofit committed to empowering the poorest of the poor in the darkest regions of the developing world.

Nancy founded Watts of Love in 2012 following a trip to the Philippines where she participated in a feeding program and discovered the immediate need for safe and renewable light. While there, she met a young girl whose face had been badly disfigured by a kerosene lamp in a region that had no electricity or doctors.

As a mother of five boys, Nancy could not imagine raising her children in such conditions. She returned home and began to work with her husband to develop a solar LED lantern to equip vulnerable families to help raise them out of a continuous cycle of poverty.

Nancy has learned that sustainable light is the fastest way out of poverty because it reduces exposure to toxic and deadly kerosene, increasing productivity and study time, eliminates large expenditures required to buy expensive fuel for lighting and provides an immediate opportunity to start a micro-business with the cellphone charging function of the lanterns she delivers. Nancy regularly distributes solar lanterns to individuals and families in need in the Philippines where she works with multiple partner organizations to identify and serve those in greatest need.

Watts of Love has operated in the garbage dumps in central Manila and in San Jose, Ambulong Island, and in Ilin Island in Occidental Mindoro, as well as in Roxas City, Cebu, Tacloban, and Bantayan Island.

Watts of Love was onsite in Cebu within days of Super Typhoon Yolanda, providing emergency solar light relief to ravaged hospitals, birthing centers, schools, churches and communities. Millions are still without power in the aftermath of Yolanda, and Nancy has committed to deliver 10,000 solar lanterns to aid those affected this largest tropical storm in recorded history.

Another B&B (Brains & Beauty) lady, Nancy has also been to the far outreaches of Kenya, Haiti and Nepal, besides the Philippines, in giving not only LIGHT but also HOPE to the DEVASTATED and POOREST OF THE POOR of the world.