{"id":1156,"date":"2013-09-04T05:08:10","date_gmt":"2013-09-04T12:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/66.147.244.209\/~canadiu3\/?p=1156"},"modified":"2014-02-01T05:11:11","modified_gmt":"2014-02-01T13:11:11","slug":"global-filipino-carissa-villacorta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2013\/09\/04\/global-filipino-carissa-villacorta\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Filipino: Carissa Villacorta"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Carissa<\/a><\/p>\n

2007 was a big year for Carissa Villacorta. She was just your regular neighborhood publisher, traveling to and fro New York and California in the line of duty, until she lived her personal philosophy: believe, begin, become.<\/p>\n

In October 2006, she launched her first book \u201cSurreality\u201d and was soon acclaimed because of her literary genius of telling contemporary life events through her essays and giving it her own unique twists and insights. A year later, she made it to Filipina Women\u2019s Network\u2019s \u2018<\/a>100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the United States\u2019<\/a> and was also given the honor of being an international presenter at the Mensa Society of Greater New York.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Carissa is one very successful global Filipina. Here is her story.<\/p>\n

Influencing an Influencer<\/h6>\n

You would think that in order to produce such an earth-moving, classic-literature-writing person such as Carissa requires more than a handful of people. But when it comes to her influences, Carissa could only think of one runaway influencer in her life.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/b>My grandmother who loved life and was also a columnist. She was a brilliant writer.\u00a0 She loved to laugh and always did. To her, everything was maganda<\/i> (beautiful) and masarap<\/i> (delicious), even the smallest flowers (for maganda<\/i>) and airplane food (for masarap<\/i>). She appreciated everything and never imposed anything or on anyone. She was so generous, always thinking on what and how she could give. She was a true role model on how to live your life, humbly and gratefully,\u201d Carissa fondly recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my Lola, [who] loves the rags to riches stories, philanthropy and helping the poor would be very happy to know that this is my work,\u201d she beamed with nostalgia.<\/p>\n

Carissa also never stopped gathering inspiration from her friends and loved ones who supported her all the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cLoida Nicolas Lewis was my first client as a publicist and event planner. She believed in me and probably saw my potential as a writer, until eventually, doors opened for other\/more clients and projects,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy clients who believe in me and my work. My family who give their support. People who\u2019ve read my book and still talk about it with me and with others on how it\u2019s changed their perspective, and sometimes, their lives,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\"Carissa<\/a>
Carissa reading an excerpt from “Surreality” during her book launch in New York.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Something Good<\/h6>\n

\u201cIf you are doing something good, it\u2019s good for people to know in case they may be inspired to also follow their dreams, help out and make a difference, whatever the case may be for each client,\u201d Carissa shared.<\/p>\n

In everything she gets involved in, she makes sure she contribute something for its publicity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do PR (public relations), but it is Cause-PR. I like PhilDev (Philippine Development Foundation) because it finds and helps the less-privileged brilliant and deserving Filipino students and funds their studies in science and engineering so [they can] reach their potential and eventually, contribute to the society and Philippine economy,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see publicity as a way of helping people: editors and producers get stories and access to subjects to feature, clients get the publicity they need to grow their business or promote their cause, and readers\/ viewers learn something new which hopefully engages them and encourages them to participate and contribute,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

When asked about her vision for her causes, her face lit up with a mixture of pride and fulfillment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always want to give attendees and supporters a positive and memorable time when they attend our events. I also always try to make sure the event is publicized in a positive way so that more people can hear about the event and support the cause. Some may even become beneficiaries of the cause because they heard about it in the media,\u201d Carissa said.<\/p>\n

\"Carissa<\/a>
Carissa at her book launch and signing in New York.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Defining Success<\/h6>\n

For someone who has achieved a lot of things (and surely more in the future), Carissa has a very simple definition of success that she professes to live up to.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuccess is when you\u2019re happy every day with your personal and professional life,\u201d Carissa shared.<\/p>\n

\u201cMary Poppins said, in every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. Sometimes people forget that, or they\u2019re in the wrong job,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

Carissa also believes that there are \u201ca million reasons to be happy in life.\u201d All you need are \u201cprayers and positivity.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while most people will equate achievement to Carissa\u2019s book, she actually begs to differ.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople would probably say it\u2019s writing a book. I would say, it\u2019s reaching people and being able to \u201ctalk\u201d to them through the book. I love conversations and thankfully, through my book, I am able to meet them, and I am happy to hear about their stories too,\u201d Carissa said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was also fun to have organized top class events in the Hamptons and at the Lincoln Center in New York. These were benefits, so there were always beneficiaries while giving attendees and supporters a good and memorable experience,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

As for her future plans, Carissa wants to work on her sequel for Surreality.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be called love life: the verb, not the noun<\/i>,\u201d Carissa beamed.<\/p>\n

Phone interview conducted by Alpha Miguel-Sanford, editor, Aspire.Motivate.Succeed.
\nArticle written and transcribed by Ching Dee, correspondent, Philippine Canadian Inquirer.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2007 was a big year for Carissa Villacorta. She was just your regular neighborhood publisher, traveling to and fro New …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-filipino-canadian-in-focus","mauthors-ching-dee","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}