“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with“

-Jim Rohn

During my early years back in the Philippines, I grew up seeing my grandfather manage a propane tank business whilst selling home-made desserts that supplied stores all over the city of Baguio. I grew up seeing my grandmother walk back and forth, selling goods to our neighbors in a small “sari-sari store” she owned. I grew up seeing my mom working day in and day out as a CEO of a recruitment agency business. I knew that I was surrounded with very hard working people, but what I didn’t know is that I was slowly adapting the strong work-ethics my family had. I always believed that you are the average of the five people you always spend most of your time with and this is clearly what happened to me. I moved to the U.S. back in 2012 and lived in a very different environment. I started getting homesick, and lacked motivation. By the age of 17, I got my first job at McDonald’s. I started surrounded myself again with hard-working people, and spent most of my time listening and learning from managers, mentors and leaders. At this time, I am a full-time student of business management at Kapiolani Community College and work 20-25 hours a week as a server in a Japanese restaurant. I strive for excellence every single day and try to work harder and be better than who I was yesterday.