Ruth Victoria – Executive Assistant

Hi! My name is Ruth Victoria. You can call me Ruth. I am a proud single parent of three wonderful children who have, in their own little way, made a mark in this world. My eldest was a 100% scholar and graduated Magna Cum Laude from De Montfort University, my second is a scholar at the University of the Philippines and my youngest was a model at a very young age of five.

My story is unique from everyone else’s. It’s a mixture of ups and downs, of changes and chances and everything else that made me into the strong woman that I am today. I am a graduate of Chemical Engineering from the best engineering school in the Philippines (Mapua Institute of Technology). I started my career as a Production Supervisor in a Taiwanese company. My boss (the proprietor), however, saw something in me that he said is lucky in business so he asked me to be his Executive Assistant. I hated the thought initially, but then when I was working as his EA, I learnt a lot of things. I learnt about customer relations, import-export documentation, logistics and materials management. I was still young then and was searching for greener pastures so I went overseas to work as an Executive Assistant to the Managing Director of ESC Group in Brunei. The company set-up was quite different as there is only me and the boss but it is a multimillion company. It is a trading company so my boss meets up with suppliers from around the world and he will be out at least 6 months in a year collectively. In these times, I was handling everything in the office; doing quotations, submitting tenders, liaising with clients and suppliers, and even doing accounting work. I felt like I own the company as I managed to run it on my own. To cut the story short, I’ve been to a lot of different companies and industries and have had successes in the areas of management of office operations, composition of official correspondence, client relationship, call management, data and database management, event management, diary management, logistics and HR functions.

My qualification, along with my drive and determination, made me an asset to the companies that I worked for. I even had a boss who told the staff in our meeting that I have done in three months what they were striving to do for five years.

What I bring to the position is a combination of a strong work ethic, powerful communication skills and superior management abilities. I possess the ability to consistently meet deadlines and prioritize workload while maintaining high standards. I also have a keen eye for detail and experience managing Human Resources as well as Procurement functions.

Then tragedy struck. When we were vacationing in Egypt (where my husband was from), my children were abducted by their own father (as our marriage was already on the rocks). It was a very tragic experience for me and my kids as during that time there was civil war in Libya and Egypt. We do not know the language and we do not know anybody from the country so I seeked help from the Philippine Embassy. It took us nine months before we managed to return to Manila. I spent all my money on the lawyers, so we returned to Manila without any money. My kids were all traumatized, they don’t want me to leave their side. I needed to heal them but at the same time I needed to make a living….that’s when I decided to work remotely. Working remotely, gave me the opportunity to make a living and heal my kids at the same time. I wanted to give them back their confidence and trust in people.

Working remotely and office-based is different. There is not much personal interaction. It is more difficult to build rapport. It was also a bit difficult initially to accept that I was already on top but now I needed to start from the beginning. I am a very positive and witty person so it was to no surprise that I didn’t take time to adjust. I again learnt a lot of new things. I got my experience working in WordPress, Salesforce, Zendesk, MailChimp, Evernote, etc. I also did transcription, blog posting, internet research and online purchasing.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, I lost my VA job. I cannot stay without income so I started my own small food business (www.fb.com/WowMomPinas). Doing this, I again learnt business skills; mostly customer relations and giving importance to customer satisfaction.

Life was difficult for me and my journey is like a roller coaster ride but it helped me be better in my personal and professional life. I am a risk taker who is able to take action in new situations and a team player who is extremely motivated.

In summary, life throws me a lot of things, work gives me vast knowledge, but in the end my most precious asset is that I have the ability to deal with crises in a calm and professional manner. I go out of my way to ensure that tasks are done excellently and on time.

At present, I am enjoying my life with my children who have managed to defeat their trauma and come out successful. Being a VA helped me balance out my life and control how I spend my time to make the most out of my day.

For a copy of Ruth’s resume please click here.