Shanine Escalon – General Virtual Assistant

Hi, My name is Shanine Escalon, but you can call me Sha for short. I am twenty-seven years old and was born and raised in Cebu, Philippines. I have a degree in Management Accounting from the University of San Jose Recoletos.

After graduating from college, I took a leap of faith and tried working in a call center company, something that is not in line with my degree. I had this thought back then that through that field, I will be able to practice my communication skills. However, I soon realized that the night shift schedule was not healthy for me, so I decided to end my training.

It took me months of pondering as to what career I would really want to pursue. Being the eldest, I felt so much pressure trying to win validation from my family. This pressure made me accept whatever position is offered to me. I landed a job in a chain of supermarket company and worked as an Account Receivable clerk, wherein my only tasks are to generate debit memos, answer supplier queries, and do a little account reconciliation. Eight months of working there made me realize that I will never have the career growth that I am aiming for. I felt like a robot that has limited capacity, and like a clock running in a circle.

With big courage, I decided to explore more and that’s when I learned about the world of Virtual Assistance. I started working as a Financial Planning Assistant helping Australian Financial Advisers with their day-to-day tasks such as preparing review documents for the adviser and the client’s review appointment, filling up documents, doing research calls, etc. I learned to love my job and I am blessed to be able to work with people who are supportive and very easy to go along with. Day by day I get to understand and learn more about Wealth Management. I was able to see myself growing in this career. And the best thing, the effort you exerted doing the jobs is appreciated and given credit.

When Covid hit, I was one of those employees who had the opportunity of working from home. Working at home is not always easy. There are a lot of challenges, like unstable internet connection, unreachable teammates, etc. A remote work setup is really different from what we are used to but this gave me more comfort and have a lesser chance of being in danger. Although the pandemic isn’t something to celebrate, this became a chance for me to get closer to our family, and to have more time for other activities after work instead of lining up in the terminal for hours waiting for the buses to ride home.

Working as a VA might be a challenge, but I am up for any challenges as I know that through these challenges I will learn more and have the chance of growing and having a greater career.

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