`80 for 80 Project’ In Recognition of Exemplary Filipino-American Women Leaders

By: Veronica Leighton

 

The Philippine Consulate General’s letter addressed to me regarding the “80 for 80 Project,” was saying, ” The Philippine Consulate General in Chicago, through its Gender and Development Program, is undertaking a project called “80 for 80” to feature 80 exemplary Filipino-American women leaders in the Midwest United States, who have worked tirelessly and have inspired others through their dedication, vision, and excellence over the past 80 years of Philippines-United States diplomatic friendship that we will
celebrate this year. “The “80 for 80” aims to document Filipino-American women’s work in support of Filipinos and Filipino-Americans in particular and the Philippines in general. Patterned after the “Humans of New York,” wherein a photo and a brief write-up are featured, the “80 for 80” will focus on women leaders’ experiences, challenges, opportunities and accomplishments with the objective of providing inspiration to other Filipinos and Filipino-
Americans, especially the younger generations.
In this regard, the Consulate would be honored to feature you and your leadership story in our social media pages (FaceBook and Instagram) and “website.”
I wholeheartedly thank the Philippine Consulate General in Chicago, especially to Consul General Melanie Rita Diano and Consul Theresa Alders, for including me among the list of 80 Fil-Am women leaders from around the Midwest, and happy to share with you, dear readers, my invaluable life story that hopefully could provide inspiration to other Filipinos, Fil-Ams, and the younger generations. Here we go….
“I am a first-generation Filipino American from a big family of fifteen children of hardworking parents from Navotas, Rizal, Philippines; mother, a Tagala native of the town and father, born in Bogo, Cebu, who moved to the outskirts of Metro Manila at a young age. I, (the third older) together with the other older siblings, were given the responsibility of caring and supervising the younger siblings and helping in managing the household while parents were attending to all kinds of business activities and transactions for the family’s survival. After doing the tasks assigned to us older siblings, we were permitted to go out and play with friends, with emphasis on `after doing your school homework.’
`80 for 80 Project’
In Recognition of Exemplary Filipino-American Women Leaders
Education was strictly emphasized in the family as the pursuit of education is looked up to as the primary goal in improving our lives’ precious goals toward survival, happiness, and success. Our parents who married quite young, did not have the opportunity to pursue the level of higher education they needed due to the calls of responsibilities and obligations toward their growing family.
After college graduation with a bachelor’s degree in Foreign Service from the University of the Philippines, class 1962, and working briefly on a couple of jobs as an
executive secretary post-grad, I embarked on traveling to the country of opportunities, the U.S.A., and settled in the midwestern city of Chicago where some college friends had been settled ahead of me. It was a reunion for all of us, with some starting their own families and as members of the workforce in our new country. It was a fun, young, carefree days for all of us as the newly-transplanted Chicagoans.
But, of course, there were some challenges along the way in trying to build your own identity in a foreign country, personally and professionally. It was the interesting moment of enjoying life and establishing one’s self and choosing, pursuing, and surviving in a new role in another world at the same time. Marriage came along, then the offspring. Did I just want to be a stay-home mom as a young mother and/or be a member of the working community to contribute to the household expenses, and at the same time listening to the calls of getting involved in the growing Fil-Am community of Chicago, with so many young clubs/associations sprouting out all over the city? I adjusted, conformed, and went ahead with the three roles: motherhood, office worker, and community volunteer/leader, until life’s destiny brought me to become a media person in the fields of print publication and television media platforms (scary to tread as I didn’t have any knowledge or experience in the field of journalism).
A big challenge faced me when I entered the unfamiliar world of Media during the pre-computerized print industry era, a new challenge and a new learning experience for me in the 1970’s/80’s; had to go through the woodwork, from pre-production, production, and distribution works: starting with the copying and pasting articles manually,
typing and editing in electric typewriter, personally collecting contributors’ articles, personally calling on the advertisers for the company’s finances to stay afloat, then delivering the free papers to several business locations all over town for exposure and marketing purposes.
The Via Times Newsmagazine was born in August, 1972 amidst about a dozen male-competing publishers in ethnic and mainstream communities in Chicago, the first publication owned by a native-born Filipina, and it was instantly a big hit in our community. Within five years later, the addition of a weekly one-hour broadcast media, the Chicago Philippine Reports TV, was welcomed with open arms in our Chicago Fil-Am community and completed the first Filipina-run print and broadcast media entities with mainstream exposure, not only in the Chicagoland area, but possibly in North America. And, definitely, it has served as a defining moment in my life (ethnic female with neither a single journalism subject nor finance-savvy to sustain a media business in a foreign land). My whole journalism world was on a trial-and-error mode, combined with great character assets of guts, determination, and resilience, from the start.
Lessons learned through the process? Anyone can attain what the heart and mind desire in pursuit of success, happiness, and life’s dream; to not listen to negative blockades; to not think of wrong gender or ethnicity in the field of interest; that the unlimited door of opportunity is endless whether you’re a woman or a man; in my case, a female person who came from a third-world country and established herself in America, and found her niche in the best country in the world, “breaking the glass ceiling,” as they would say, in the restricted world of journalism in America. On the other hand, my mother country, the Philippines, could likewise see and listen when the Commission on Filipinos Overseas under the office of the President of the Philippines gave me recognition and awarded the Via Times Newsmagazine as “the best Print Magazine on `Migration and Media’ ” in 2019.
Currently, if I could talk to my younger self, I would say, “Hey, Veronica, that is it! You’ve done and accomplished things so well, and learned through the process with blood, sweat, and tears, but with no regrets. Congratulations! You’ve been hearing words, such as, “You’re my idol,” “You’re my hero,” “You’re my inspiration,” and you have received all kinds of accolades, awards, and recognitions through all those hard-fought years from recognized institutions, particularly the City of Chicago under Mayor Richard M. Daley when I was awarded “Women’s Hall of Fame in Communications in 1991” and my own beloved alma mater, the University of the Philippines, as an “Outstanding Alumna 2019.” And, isn’t it so wonderful that you’ve founded, organized, and produced a well-recognized and well-respected cultural institution known as the “Chicago Filipino Asian American Hall of Fame,” an established global institution for recognizing most-deserving Filipinos, Asians, and Friends for twenty-five years” throughout the U.S. and Philippines.
What other words would describe and recap what I have accomplished in life after more than four decades in media success in America, even globally, while wholeheartedly serving our Filipino-American community and my familial roots to these days, I’ve asked myself several times in this lifetime? I’ve secretly congratulated myself for having the guts, the nerves, the equanimity, and the brilliance to transport my young self from the Philippines to another world of dreams and ambitions, as a pioneer for my family (mother, sisters, brothers, aunts, cousins, nephews and nieces) and other relatives and love two cultures at the same time. What a beautiful world we live in, looking back, in a recap!
Salute to America, the land of opportunities, for your welcome and warm embrace to immigrants like me; for the light, promise, hope, and glory. Happy 250th year of independence, liberty, and freedom!”