Eileen Juan: A Heroine’s Journey

Photo courtesy of Eileen Juan.

It may sound a bit biased because I’m a woman but I can’t help believing that women are the real architects of society. Strong women don’t have ‘attitudes,’ on the contrary, strong women have high standards. I’d like to share a story about a true-to-life Filipina-Canadian heroine who overcame adversities and challenges against all odds while sticking to high standards in her life.

As a Canadian of Filipina descent, I’m always on the lookout for fellow Filipino women based in Canada who have successfully overcome challenges in their lives and are living their lives to the fullest; women who may serve as an inspiration to others that might be in the same predicament or are struggling themselves with their own challenges and situations. I came across Eileen Juan through a mutual friend on Facebook. I was inspired by Eileen’s life story which will surely motivate us to soldier on in life no matter how tough the going gets.

Eileen Juan went to Les Roches International School of Hospitality Management in Switzerland where she graduated with a diploma in Hotel and Restaurant Management in 1990. She also took courses in Business Management and Marketing at the Asian Institute of Management in 1993. In 1998, Eileen graduated from Ateneo de Manila with a professional diploma in Family and Child Counselling. From 2015 to 2018, Eileen pursued higher education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wherein she took her Entrepreneurial Masters Program.

Photo courtesy of Eileen Juan.

Eileen also boasts an impressive career. She started a luxe events company for children, Party Makers Unlimited, when she was only 20 years old back in 1990. After four years, Eileen sold that business and she operated and presided over the Lake Island Business Resort, a boutique business resort for executive retreats and company team buildings on an island in the Philippines. Unfortunately, the boutique business resort sank during a huge typhoon and it was submerged underwater for almost a year. Eileen pivoted from this misfortune and started The Picture Company, a creative portrait studio chain for babies which she expanded in Malaysia. But when she was getting ready for its expansion in Asia, Eileen had to go through a marital separation, thus she decided to focus on her children and their future as a family.

At present, Eileen is based in Whistler, BC and she’s a successful Work-Life Designer at her own company, the Vitamin CEO Company. Through this, she helps other CEOs and corporate leaders get unstuck so they can create the life they want. Eileen helps clients answer their calling in life with confidence and clarity.

We started the interview by discussing the numerous difficulties and obstacles Eileen faced over the last four years.

How is she adjusting to life from Manila to Whistler? How did she end up in this part of Canada? Eileen answers, “I came here originally for a planned ski trip with my children in 2020. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we got ‘stuck’ here during the lockdown. My children and I planned a ski trip but the mountain closed the day we arrived. Because I had just finished my cancer treatments, my kids thought it would be wiser if I didn’t expose myself to covid by travelling, so we decided to stay in Vancouver for a while.”

Photo courtesy of Eileen Juan.

Eileen elaborates, “In 2020 and while living in Vancouver, I reevaluated my life and thought: what do I know that I can share with the world?  As a business mentor, I briefly joined TEC Canada in 2020. TEC Canada is an established Canadian company dedicated to increasing the effectiveness and enhancing the lives of chief executives and business leaders. At TEC Canada, I learned that a lot of Canadian companies needed to form a stronger, richer culture because of the ‘work from home” setup and the sudden great mass resignation due to the pandemic. I thought to myself that this is something I was good at. Hence, I created a business plan to serve CEOs and went on a mission to first help the CEOs before we help their companies. And this is how my company, the Vitamin CEO was born. We just turned 1 this January.”

Eileen expands, “I moved to Whistler (Vancouver’s no.1 ski resort capital) from Vancouver because I wanted to practise what I preach: to live the lifestyle I truly believe in. One of the concepts I teach is freedom and success redefined. I define success as having clean air, nature at my doorstep, availability of recreation, adventure and sports, clean water, being surrounded by beauty, loving relationships, and being close to my children (who are both in UBC taking engineering and business). I love being in nature. When I lived in Manila, I travelled monthly to avoid the city. For me, the only real adjustment I had from Manila to Whistler is being far from family.” Something that most Filipino-Canadians could definitely relate to!

Photo courtesy of Eileen Juan. Still smiling even in pain.

From discussing her family’s relocation from one country to another, we quickly moved on to another topic: her health battles. In late 2019, Eileen battled with thyroid cancer that metastasized to her lymph nodes. Eileen had surgery to remove cancer from her neck and then she had to go through solitary confinement because of the kind of radiation she was treated with. Eileen elaborates, “I was already familiar with lockdown confinement because of my cancer treatment and surgery in late 2019, which happened just a mere few months before the world went into a universal covid lockdown! I will know if I’m really in the clear from thyroid cancer by the year 2024, which will be 5 years since my thyroid cancer treatment. Although, I still plan to be extra vigilant because I learned from a friend (who also had thyroid cancer) that her cancer came back and she lost her voice from the treatment.”

Just when she completed her cancer treatment, Eileen had a scary brush with death.

Eileen opens up and shares, “In 2021, I almost died. I thought I developed adult asthma so I went to a walk-in clinic in Vancouver. Within a few short minutes, I found myself in an ambulance. I did not have a medical condition but somehow my heart failed at that time. I was confused as to how I got sick because I really watch what I eat and I live a clean life. I was taken by ambulance to St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver and I was there for 9 days. My heart was functioning at 20% EF and my lungs were filled with fluid.”

It was a shocking and draining experience for Eileen. “Like I said, it was such a huge surprise for me because I loved working out and I always lived a healthy lifestyle. I’m so grateful and I feel so blessed to have survived that particular episode in my life.”

Photo courtesy of Eileen Juan. Eileen at St. Paul’s Hospital. She always chooses to have a positive vibe even under duress.

She explains in detail, “I was already tired of going in and out of hospitals. I didn’t need more trips to the hospital. Since my last hospital confinement in 2021, I’ve spent so much time in and out of hospitals for endless tests, procedures, and surgeries amongst other things. Then, most recently, I had bleeding complications and had to undergo pelvic surgery. To top that off, I ended up with painful shingles, and blisters on my back. I also suffered from hip and leg pain from my medications. I couldn’t walk long distances due to a mysterious chronic foot injury that needed injections regularly.”

Photo courtesy of Eileen Juan. Eileen at St. Paul’s Hospital.

She was still dealing with her health condition when another obstacle came her way.

Eileen says, “I was also emotionally affected by the bankruptcy of my 20-year-old business in the Philippines, The Picture Company, brought about by covid closure because any business involving children was not allowed to operate for 2 years. I miss my team but I haven’t given up on this company yet, it’s still unresolved so I won’t expound on it too much. I’m still hoping that I can still get this company up and running again!”

She continues, “There is definitely a lot of stress in my life currently because while undergoing health and business challenges, I also incorporated a new business in Canada, which is my new company, the Vitamin CEO. You can just imagine the pressure of dealing with a new start-up business while learning a new industry and not having enough time for it because of medical procedures. Sometimes, I’d attend client meetings right after surgery.”

Photo courtesy of Eileen Juan.

Eileen further divulges, “As if that’s not enough, my dad’s stage 1 cancer quickly progressed and he died in less than a year. Since I was going through all these challenges on my own, plus dealing with my own personal health issues, I could not even go home to grieve with my family and attend my father’s funeral. On top of all these struggles, we also moved homes from Vancouver to Whistler so that’s another huge stressor. Everything was just taking its toll on me and my health.”

Photo courtesy of Eileen Juan.

A lot of challenges were thrown at her but Eileen managed to surpass them. When asked how she did it, Eileen responds, “I choose to see my challenges as my adventures in life. I always ask myself: what can I learn from my challenges? I teach my clients how to integrate work and life. The ‘get LIT’ framework teaches you to Live Intentionally Today — and that’s what I did. I designed my life so I get to live a life I don’t need a vacation from. We also teach leaders to be able to ‘reframe’ their situation. I think to myself, ‘Everything happened for me and not to me.’ Having an attitude of ‘what is the learning opportunity here that will add to my evolution’ helped me not to feel like a victim. While confined in St. Paul’s Hospital, my attitude was gratitude. ‘Thank God I ended up in the heart hospital of the city.’ When my father died, I prayed for the grace to accept. We are all dying every day. It’s a great reminder to live life to the fullest. Every day, love your life as if it were your last day, live it — the way you want to live your life.”

Photo courtesy of Eileen Juan. Eileen skis every day in Whistler and this photo was taken during one of her favourite days, Santa Day in Whistler when 100 skiers ski dressed as Santa!

I just had to ask this strong and fierce survivor for any tips and advice she can share with us. Eileen advises, “Mental fitness is so important. Every day, choose positivity and do a few reps until your positivity muscles get stronger. If one starts today, you can imagine what kind of change will happen in a few months. Choose love over fear, every chance you get. Have a morning routine and stick to it. Let’s say 10 minutes of silence, 10 minutes of gratitude, and 10 minutes of journaling. With physical fitness, do something you love so it doesn’t feel like work. Just move every day. I also like group energy so going to a supportive yoga community or adrenaline and positivity from spin classes are amazing. The discomfort with building stamina and muscle also teaches us to be resilient for whatever difficulty comes in the future.”

Photo courtesy of Eileen Juan.

When asked about her typical day, Eileen says, “A typical day for me is to wake up before the sun rises so I can have some quiet time. I believe rhythms set us free so if you look at my calendar, I follow rhythms in order for me to know what each day looks like one month out. When I do my workout, when I work, when I play, on Wednesdays or Friday mornings, I ski till 11 am, then work till 7 pm. Some days I’ll work from 5 am so I can be free to be at one with nature from 1 pm onwards. My work is my life and sometimes, I can work for 12 hours so I need to really put in playtime in my calendar.”

One can’t help but wonder how this multitasking successful entrepreneur finds balance between working, staying fit, and living an active lifestyle. Eileen responds, “A running joke in my HR department was that there’s no work-life balance. We say, work-life integration. We should love what we do. But what really helps is creating rhythms. I block out my calendar to have time for my life and I stick to it. Even date nights are blocked off! My partner jokes that I even have a set time for spontaneity!”

Photo courtesy of Eileen Juan.

With regard to staying fit, Eileen shares her favourite go-to workout routine, “When I lived in the city (Vancouver), I did yoga 6x a week, I did weight training 3x a week and I attended spin classes 3-5x a week. I went to workout with my managers so we got to bond and instead of dinners, I went to spin with friends. Integration! In Whistler, we just get out as much as we can: hike, bike, climb, paddle, snowshoe, ski.”

Photo courtesy of Eileen Juan.

Eileen was also keen to share what a typical healthy meal looks like for her and her children. “My kids would go nuts with all the things I banned from the pantry. No processed food, no fast food, no refined products, etc. I have been a vegetarian since 2014. Now, I’m more relaxed. We eat whole foods. Fresh. We buy the same day we’re going to eat. We limit eating out to maybe once a week. We eat mostly fibre, healthy fat, and protein. We think of food as medicine.”

Photo courtesy of Eileen Juan. Eileen with her children.

And how about her favourite mantras in life? Eileen broke out into a Monalisa smile, “My favourite mantras are: first, live fully, unapologetically. It’s your life, you don’t need permission to live it the way you want. Second, choose love over fear [at] any time. Third, live with intention. Don’t live on auto-pilot and don’t live by default. Design your life!”

Photo courtesy of Eileen Juan.

Eileen continues, “But the best mantra of all that inspires me: Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu which is a Sanskrit mantra that translates as, ‘May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all.’ When people ask me what I do, I say, ‘I sell freedom.’ Because we all deserve to feel happy and free. And it is our responsibility to add value to other people’s lives. Use your strengths and uniqueness to create impact and leave a dent in the world.”

Photo courtesy of Eileen Juan.

Eileen Juan is not only a strong and fierce woman; she is tenacious to the hilt! She has that fine quality of being extremely determined. She always has a game plan and she never stops trying to achieve a goal even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. She embarks on her journey like a true heroine!