2023!

Welcome to a new year.

The first month is ending so I thought I’d do some reflecting… This year marks my 10th year “out in the world” as a creative professional. Graduated as part of University of Santo Tomas’ College of Fine Arts and Design batch 2013 (wow, that’s a mouthful). Hahaha I remember how I got hired just 2 weeks after graduation so I asked my employer if I can take just one more week of vacation before I start as their newest copywriter.

I stayed at that first job for about a year, then tried freelancing…which didn’t yield the results I needed financially so I went back to a full-time job as a graphic designer for a design school. Built my creative backbone for almost four years before deciding to try freelancing again… Haha! Thought I’d be flourishing as a freelancer by this time… I had high hopes and big dreams. But again…it didn’t translate into income.

So got back again in advertising…as a copywriter but kept working on freelance gigs.

I resigned right before the pandemic happened… Talk about bad timing. I didn’t get any project for months! It’s like God pressed pause on my career during that season, but towards the end of the year…I was slowly getting new clients and since I needed to replenish my finances, I accepted a job as a copywriter and an art director. An idea that sounded okay and feasible at first but after a year of working 2 roles, I got burnt out really badly.

God dealt with so much in my heart throughout that time: Work became an idol. I became a slave to money.

It hurt my health physically, mentally, emotionally.

Yet amidst all of that, God was inviting me into a deeper trust in Him. But this realization didn’t happen in a snap.

It wasn’t like the eureka moment Archimedes had in the bath. It was incremental. I needed to step back, I coveted prayers, lots of it. I repented of my toxic ways. And God was so gracious in every way.

That incremental growth in my relationship with God led me to where I am today: an independent design studio (in progress) catering to clients from different industries. Just to name a few of the clients I’m working with right now:

1) Compassionate Community Kitchen, an initiative under The Ruth Foundation that helps feed underprivileged palliative care patients.
2) Luminosa Aesthetic & Wellness Center, a clinic for slimming, dermatological, skincare, and wellness treatments.

I’ve been designing and writing for their social media for a year now! Plus, just this month, I turned over logo designs for a co-working cafe in Bulacan and a seafood grill and bar in Palawan. I also signed a new client!

After all the starts and stops, God was growing my grit, my wisdom, my creativity, and my savviness on the business side of things.

Jesus is the Shepherd, leading me through all kinds of terrains—the wilderness, the mud pits, the valleys, and the mountaintops. He is still leading me out of certain mindsets. Growth is still ongoing.

None of it is immediate. He is transforming me, little by little. After each step of obedience, big and small, I find Him growing, too. Just as how Lucy found Aslan bigger in C.S. Lewis’s Prince Caspian.

The adventure is just getting started. In increments, let’s keep going.

growth is incremental, not immediate.

empowering compassion

Slow is beautiful