It’s ‘astig’ being a Yahoo! Intern

Indeed, Yahoo! is astig.

The pristine white walls accented with their trademark royal purple color is a testament to a place where professionalism meets creativity. The prestige of saying that “I write for Yahoo,” or “I intern at Yahoo” was always met with “Oh that’s so cool!” from friends who asked me what I’ve been up to lately.

It’s hard not to fan girl when Yahoo! Philippines is one of the premier digital internet companies in the world, but you forget to be intimidated when the work, the people and the place are fun. I may have been the lone intern for the months of January to March but the stint never felt lonely.

You make your internship what it is and Yahoo! never limits how much you want to learn. All you have to do is ask — questions about people’s work, to pitch a story, tag along in a shoot, write for a different section, etc — none of which was in my official job description. They’re flexible if the intern is flexible.

While I’ve written and worked with other companies before, this is the first time I’ve learned about the business and technical aspect of the industry. Even in editorials, the numbers are just as important as the words.

My Pops is right when he says there’s a business side to everything, even for the artsy fartsy careers, which is something my communication upbringing is quickly trying to learn. As my boss Erwin Oliva, country editor for Yahoo! Philippines always tells me. If you can master both then you’re an asset anywhere, whether in the Philippines or abroad.

With my mentors at the Yahoo! She press launch. Top left: Charley Braga Bautista, Lifestyle editor; Bottom left: Erwin Oliva, Country Editor;

Speaking of my boss, and my other office mates as well, being surrounded by talented people with years worth of experience and accomplishments under their purple belt is not only inspiring but humbling. That was my realization after having drinks out with them one night. The burden of my generation is that we demand and expect a lot from the getgo, but what have we really accomplished at twenty-something?

Last December I applied to be an editorials intern, but I learned more than how to tighten my writing skills. Thank you to the Purple family for the the experience and the opportunity. Let me take you through my days at Yahoo! Philippines!

Yahoo! door handles will greet you in the morning. Excellent branding everywhere!

I arrive at my desk which has my name on the tag and the telephone. Pretty awesome.

The coffee I look forward to starting my day every morning. Really good! Unlimited too.

Sometimes I walk around the office whenever I need a break. I look around at some of the quirky interior designs like this doodle.

Editorial meetings and lunch out with the staff

Sometimes I buy chocolate at the 711 down stairs. I see this really cute trashcan. Monsters invade the fort!

The office is near Burgos Circle so sometimes I walk around, explore and shoot the skyline.

I want to work at the Fort because it's so aesthetically pleasing!

The "tree" found in the center of Burgos Circle which I didn't really pay attention to until I saw it in the day light. Beautiful!

Feed the media! Delicious fine dining at the Prada LG Press launch

One day I asked Jason Domantay, who's the video producer and reporter for Yahoo! Philippines if I could tag along on a shoot. So I did! I love going to these places I probably would never have gone to otherwise.

The sights you see in top secret places.

Drinking some coke in a plastic bag (old school!) As Jason told me, the work isn't always that glamorous. Lots of waiting.

My favorite tag along was interviewing/shooting with Boys Night Out! They were nice to me (kind of) haha! But fun, fun, fun interview where I saw a side of them I haven't heard of before.

One word to sum up my internship -- not just astig but ASTEEG!

View some of my Yahoo! articles here

The Great Migration

It is now past two in the morning and I just spent the last 40 minutes watching NatGeo’s Great Migrations Part 1: Born to move. As a writer, part of what I enjoy doing is retelling stories, so I can only imagine how difficult it is to share those of creatures who can’t speak. Since you can’t interview animals, the only way to understand them is to observe how they live.  National Geographic (NatGeo) has mastered this skill beautifully.

One thing I can’t get over is how NatGeo is able to capture nature so personally. Although they are animals, it’s humanizing to see a red crab struggle to crawl 5 miles with their seemingly microscopic steps to the ocean. Along the way they use their pincers to pick away the yellow ants that sting their eyes and threaten their life. I was sympathizing for the wildebeast caught between her maternal and survival instinct. Either she leaves her frail calf to be picked upon by predators and scavengers, or risks getting left behind. Both are on a journey to beat the odds. Doesn’t that sound oddly familiar?

The documentary reminds me of my own soon to be great migration — life after college. Actually, I was just googling my future away before unintentionally watching this afterwards.

As the title suggests, if these animals are born to move, trusting nothing but their instincts to trudge along nature’s treacherous terrain, then I can too. My great migration is nothing but a a grain of sand compared to those crossing the Serengeti Desert.

Tuesdays with Pops – Don’t just scratch your balls

People are filled with stories. Some travel all around the world to find them while others bury themselves in books and get lost in movies. I’ve met my fair share of characters who make meeting them, even if only briefly, interesting.

From coffee shops to bars, I’ve always looked outside of the house for my stories until I recently realized that I was living with one. My pops. Sometimes we forget that our parents had a life too.

So, Tuesdays with Pops (TWP) is born! I’ve had this idea for months now. I just recently had the time to sit down and write.  Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie inspired the title. I first picked up a copy when i was 12 and now I realize that its story didn’t stop when I came to the last chapter. In its own way Morrie’s story and everything it stood for continued through me.

When you get older at some point you realize that hanging and talking out with your parents isn’t uncool anymore. Being the youngest and “daddy’s little girl,” Pops always gave unsolicited advice. Back then I listened not only by running away, but by coming home past curfew, passing out in my room and learning the hard way. Funny how now I’m the one who’s  making the initiative to talk. TWP is my attempt to listen, learn and to love from a wise old man. He’s better than a real life Morrie. He’s my Pops.

————————————–

Me: So Pops, what do you want to talk about?

Pops: Anything. Life, love, you name it. 

Me: How about work? Since I need to find a job soon. 

Pops: Work? Pssh, work is easy. It’s common sense. But you have to have the necessary skills especially when you’re up there to make the proper decisions.

The world is a big, bad and scary place, especially after college when you need to find a job. But we are fickle minded people living in a constantly changing world. The faster it spins, the worse we experience vertigo, even if we’re just standing. Pop’s points out fundamental principles we need to keep from falling. It’s not as complex as it seems.

Be like Leo 

“It’s like driving your car. When you know how to drive you can drive any kind of car. It’s just about getting a license. “

I suppose that means you can drive where ever you want to go too. I suddenly thought of Leonardo De Caprio in Catch Me If You Can. No wonder Frank Abagnale Jr., a real life con artist can get away as a pseudo pilot, doctor and layer and succeed doing it.

Regardless of the industry, there’s a basic framework he says. “The corporate set ups are all the same. You have the owners, shareholders, execom, etc. Of course there are variations depending on what your needs are and innovation makes it faster.”

Even though I have an idea of the career I want to pursue after college, maybe knowing exactly what I want to do is not the fundamental principle here. Rather it’s understanding the patterns behind people, the world, and society so you know how and where to place your talents and succeed in whatever you want to do. Without this understanding, maybe that’s why people get so lost later on in life.

Pops says don't just scratch your balls.

So where’s my place? 

“If you’re an executive you’re paid to make decisions. They don’t hire you so you just scratch your balls there. Right? They pay you for your skills and what you have in your brain. You might be a paraplegic but if you have the skills stored in your brain then you’re okay. ”

I don’t have balls (obviously) and if I did I don’t think I’m the type to scratch them (at least in public. Do it in secret.)

Me: But pops, even if I’m the type to become an executive, there are hundreds of people who can do what I do. I don’t have that technical expertise which gives others their competitive edge.

Earlier Pops used an example of a pilot. You can’t just replace him with someone because  not everyone knows how to fly a plane and the company still needs to fly people out the next day. So, what then?

Find your Q = RSF

Pops: You will not be paid just because you’re Rica Facundo. You’re paid for your output — the quality and need for it. 

Me: But my output makes me Rica Facundo.

After briefly explaining to me some basic accounting principles where assets = liabilities + capital, he suggested I make my own equation:

Q (uality) = r s f (Rica Salanguit Facundo)

There’s definitely more to add to my personal equation. But whatever that balance might turn out to be, I must keep one other thing in mind. Lets re-write that shall we.

Q(UALITY) = RSF (RICA SALANGUIT FACUNDO)

Because, Pops says, “In the real world you should always write your name in all caps.”

Teach me how to duck face

Project Separation Anxiety

"Never depend on people needing you"

Project Separation Anxiety:

Noun: Anxiety provoked in a Vice President regarding separation from a project to whom the Vice President has a strong emotional attachment to. Symptoms include mixed emotions about wanting to be hands on yet trusting his/her constituents to figure it out on their own.

Keyword: Trust

Key phrase: ”It’s up to you” or “What do you think?”

The other day Job, my thesis partner and I were talking about how much easier finding and balancing part-time work with school would be if we weren’t committed to school, particularly with orgs. He’s the current president of Ateneo Debate Society (Swerte ako for thesis, noh? Haha!) and I’m in a relationship with ACOMM.

My boyfriend is red, genderless and wears no pants. Taken during the General Assembly

Indeed that would be easier and more beneficial for life after college, but the sense of fulfillment I have in seeing my department grow is a high that pure careerism can’t give. This is my present. I’ll work on my future later.

Dun dun dun. Project Manager deliberations over banapple!

Because our job description is to be results oriented, I am definitely seeing my obsessive compulsive and controlling side come out. While I want to train and allow for mistakes to be made, at the end of the day I need to make sure that we deliver or else as my former boss always says “My ass will be on the line.” The challenge is in trying to find that balance.  But I always keep what Idge, our president, told me during my last individual consultation in mind: Learn how to let go.

Idge, our president, showing us how to let go haha. Cutiepie!

It’s expected that a certain amount of training and guidance is needed in the beginning. But after all the stress and anxiety, the best part is that feeling when you no longer need to and they can do it  and most importantly want to do it on their own. It’s like being a catalyst for change but not having to be the change yourself.

2 months down, and 7 more to go. So far, so good! :) As long as I live by this…

“The mark of true leadership is getting people to stop needing you.”

“They understand that if they can tap the hidden genius inside the organization, and the collective genius outside the organization, they will create ideas that will be much more powerful than what even the smartest individual leader could ever come up with on his or her own. No body alone is as smart as everybody together.”

Some shots from this year:

The projects family <3

Credit goes to Kev for this awesome shot. That's a speech not fart bubble btw.

Yes, i know i'm a whore for my org. We don't talk, we communicate! For recruitment week.

Org-torn survivors.

Can't get enough of those signs...

General assembly!

Kev, Abby and I always ready to serve you guise!

The dynamics of your team are very important. Can you tell ours? :))

My Write Summer

“What can you do now and today that will contribute to your future” – R, Editor in Chief of STATUS Magazine

** Disclosure: LONG ENTRY. This is for posterity’s sake. Pictures included after the jump

Months before summer began and prior to my internship there was only one thing I wanted to do – take a step into the working world and get a taste of where in the industry I wanted to walk for at least the next 5-10 years of my life. Luckily my persistence and constant declarations to the universe paid off because after months of stressing out I got what I wished for. Two months later and I’ve got more out of the experience than just another line in my resume. From the nonsensical to the most practical, I’ve picked up things that I never expected to such as…

• Fashion friendly vocabulary which now includes: Uppers and Tongue Tip (Street wear), Colorway (synonym for color palette.) Yes I’ve become somewhat more fashion savvy.
• SUPRA designers are insanely creative. They seem to constantly come up with a new style every week! How they do so is beyond me!
• When in doubt, google.
• I’m secretly in love with Banksy and his work. Genius!
• I get a kick out of covering events and scribbling in my little notebook
• The importance of research and keeping updated! My googling skills have improved so much!
• It’s possible to tastefully use douche bag in an article/blog

And now that I’ve gotten a glimpse of what’s out there, this is what I’m certain of…

• As much as possible I don’t want to go corporate. I love power suits but I love the fun, creative, and fresh working environment that I’ve had this summer even more. I want an office where wearing shorts is part of the dress code.
• I need a job that keeps me on my feet and puts my people skills to good use. I enjoy writing but I think I need another outlet for my energy besides my computer screen.
• Journalism is awesome but maybe it’s not totally my thing partly due to the aforementioned reason (although it might be something I do on the side.) Sometimes you have to experience it yourself to figure out what does and doesn’t work for you

As for everything else in between…

• In whatever industry you’re in there will always be someone who’s better than you in one way or another (and vice versa.) So, the best you can do is to learn as much as you can from them, and immerse yourself in your environment because you’ll learn more about yourself in the process
• Ask questions and be open minded about your strengths and weaknesses. As long as you’re always putting your best food forward you’ll keep on growing in the right direction  and in time you’ll see that you’ve gotten so much better.
• Always give quality work because not only does it show but someone out there will eventually notice and reward you for it.
• As Diana Vreeland said “The rules of good taste were bendable, as long as you did it with style.” Style. There’s something admirable in taking a chance and expressing your individuality in front of judging eyes. Those people have guts.
• When you’re passionate about something, getting paid doesn’t matter that much. That’s why there’s not much money in publishing haha

Overall I love that it takes me 2 hours to research and write two blogs when it used to take me 5. I love that I’ve gotten faster and more straight to the point. I love that my articles/blogs bleed less and less after being edited. I love that I’ve discovered new awesome bands to add to my playlist. I love that I was able to interview someone cool and get my words printed in a magazine. I love that I know what hypebeast and highsnobiety are. I love that I can include attending coachella to my bucket list.

But most of all I love that I made this happen all on my own. I’ve had many unfulfilled goals before partly because I never followed through in accomplishing them. Not only was this purely my initiative but I did anything and everything to make it happen without the help of my parents or anyone else.

I may have sacrificed a summer of being able to sleep in and bum at home, but looking back it was definitely the write kind. I have no regrets!

Click to see pictures of my last week!

Catch me if you can

Usually my relationship with long breaks tends to be a little bit dysfunctional. All that free time in between the days has my thoughts quarreling with each other resulting in a period of wanting to be anti-social and invisible for awhile. Typically this occurs when the motions slow down (because they always do) which allows a feeling of “nothing-ness” to take over -  a term I coined in my formative years to explain that state of numbness that results from a lonely mind with a lot of contradicting and irrational feelings.

But surprisingly that wasn’t the dynamic this summer, partly because I’ve been so busy with work,  seeing friends and going out of town. Being constantly on the go means that there isn’t enough time for anything to settle but allows for new exciting things to (temporarily) take its place. A relatively fast pace keeps the particles of my life suspended in the air, charged with all kinds of energy, fueling the drive of my days, weeks, and months.

It’s the last week of my internship and  less than 3 weeks till school officially starts. As exciting as a summer filled with working days, partying nights, and out of town weekends is, I’m kinda glad that the days  have been slowing down and so have I.  Everything is catching up with me. I actually need and want some time to let everything that has happened this summer settle because it’s been one hell of an experience for it not to.

I can’t wait for this 2 week break from my summer!

The insatiable appetite

Food isn’t the only thing I like filling my plate with. My menu always includes an assortment of friends, each with their own particular taste but equally as satisfying especially when experienced with a side dish of events, parties and gimmiks – just for some added flavor. Now my glass is brimming with all kinds of potential extra curricular activities. Instead of being half empty, the glass is now almost half full.

In my attempt to make some money I just came back from an interview with the Tutoring Club at the fort earlier. In my short experience with job hunting she was far by the most fierce with her no nonsense attitude and quick, direct and straight to the point interrogation of my credentials and explanation of the job. Perhaps she’s a dragon lady in hiding but that’s hard to imagine when you’re teaching kids right?  Sometimes I don’t mind being around people like that because it means that they mean business.

She said she liked my credentials which makes me think about how job interviewers know within 30 seconds whether they’ll hire you or not (I heard this somewhere.) So make sure you make a good first impression – if not on your resume then on your outfit!

Anyways, I landed myself a saturday 9-12 job which will hopefully continue even when school starts! Yes i know i have a tendency of over stuffing myself but it’s hard not to when the choices are so delicious and cater to my insatiable appetite for “something more.” Plus, i’m near broke and it would be great to have some extra money.

“You’re pretty busy for someone who has no school”

That’s what Marco told me the other day when he messaged asking why I was still up at 2:30 am. I had just come home from Eastwood with some of the Bacolodians and I still had to work on my STATUS article and my G! Magazine application which I ended up finishing this morning anyway. It was kinda counterproductive and useless because I stayed up till almost 5am and still woke up kinda early anyway (kinda early = before 12 haha.) Note to self: MUST STOP DOING THIS. Efficiency would be easier on my health (and so would less social media.)