{"id":61382,"date":"2015-09-11T23:38:24","date_gmt":"2015-09-11T15:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=61382"},"modified":"2015-09-16T01:44:27","modified_gmt":"2015-09-15T17:44:27","slug":"rediscovering-passion-josie-de-leon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/09\/11\/rediscovering-passion-josie-de-leon\/","title":{"rendered":"Rediscovering Passion: Josie de Leon"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Singer-Performer<\/a>
Singer-Performer Josie de Leon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Josie de Leon has always been a performer.<\/p>\n

When Josie immigrated to Canada in 1997, she left her family and a promising singing career in the Philippines.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiving up that career was a tough decision for me, but love won,\u201d Josie said, referring to her Filipino-Canadian husband.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to today, Josie is now a celebrated member of the Filipino-Canadian community, being a champion of women empowerment, Filipino heritage, and the importance of performing arts.<\/p>\n

Life in Canada<\/strong>
\nJosie admitted that moving to Canada was far from easy.<\/p>\n

The mere fact of uprooting one\u2019s self from her home country was hard enough, but to start a whole new life thousands of miles away in a foreign land was a whole other story.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing in the showbiz world in the Philippines, I was used to the glitz and glamour. I was also used to having household help in doing almost everything,\u201d Josie shared. \u201cSo, having a husband and a baby and living in a new country became very overwhelming for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

But as they say, everything becomes better with time. Josie started adjusting to life in the Great White North and began enjoying her new life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started to get used to the life here, taking it one day at a time,\u201d she recalled. \u201cI realized Canada is a great country to raise your family. Being hands on in taking care of my son was the most priceless thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite having fully adapted to the Canadian lifestyle Josie admits she still misses a few things about the Philippines.<\/p>\n

\u201cI miss my family the most in the Philippines,\u201d she said, pointing out that both of her parents and three of her siblings are still in the Philippines. \u201cI also miss the [tropical] weather\u2026 I am not a lover of winter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josie adds that she misses Filipino food and the relaxed pace of Pinoy life. At times she can\u2019t help but miss her friends back home, too.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8783\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Rediscovering Passion and Purpose<\/strong>
\n\u201cWhen I [immigrated] to Canada in \u201897, I concentrated on raising my family. Therefore , I gave \u00a0up something that I loved so much, which is performing,\u201d Josie shared with the Philippine Canadian Inquirer. \u201cIt\u2019s like putting it inside a box and storing it away.\u201d<\/p>\n

But when she and her husband divorced in 2005, she \u201cstarted to go through all the stuff that [she] put away.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI then decided to start performing [again] and was embraced by the Filipino-Canadian community with open arms,\u201d she said. \u201cI was humbled and blessed with all the support I got.\u201d<\/p>\n

Performing opened a lot of opportunities for Josie to share her talents in concerts and shows. She was even featured on a weekly television show and became the Ambassadress of Gawad Kalinga. She became a a multi-awarded Filipino-Canadian, having received awards such as Most Outstanding Filipino, Most Beautiful Filipino, Courage for Women\u2019s Awards, and she became one of the Absolutely Fabulous Women awardees.<\/p>\n

Josie got invited to perform back home in the Philippines, in the United States, and other locations in Canada. Her many invitations led her to re-discover more than her passion for the performing arts, but it gave her a second chance at love as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat re-born career led me to meet a Filipino-Canadian Music Producer Mark Crescini. Not only did he support me in my career, but we both had the same vision in music,\u201d Josie shared. \u201cMarrying him was not a hard decision for me at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple got married in March 2011.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8784\"<\/a><\/p>\n

School of Performing Arts<\/strong>
\nJust a few months after the couple got married, they decided to open a performing arts school.<\/p>\n

Josie shared, \u201cA lot of people urged me to put a school and teach and with the support of my husband\u2014who pretty much speaks the same language\u2014we both decided to put up the Josie de Leon School of Performing Arts in October 2011.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josie and Mark knew that putting up a business will have its own set of challenges, but according to Josie, they \u201clook at it as good challenges.\u201d Their passion for performing arts and teaching is more than enough to keep them going.<\/p>\n

When they started receiving tons of support for the JDL School of Performing Arts, Mark and Josie decided that it\u2019s time to focus more on their school, so they gave up their full-time jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cMark and I love teaching the kids,\u201d Josie said. \u201cI am happy to see the kids improve whenever they perform on stage and become better and better every time. We love what we do and I think that\u2019s what makes it work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The school focuses on kids who want to develop their confidence on stage in singing, dancing, and acting. Their decision to focus on their school has proven worthwhile. Today, they have two campuses\u2014one in Mississauga and one in Scarborough\u2014a few branches now on its way to being a reality.<\/p>\n

Preserving Filipino Heritage<\/strong>
\nFilipinos are born performers and for Josie, this is part of her Filipino heritage.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing Filipino in the work environment is something I am very proud of,\u201d she pointed out. \u201cWe Filipinos are good workers. We are very conscientious of our job, we are very considerate, we are very giving and thoughtful, we are very responsible. We also love to laug, [so] it usually brightens up other people\u2019s day when we share a good laugh or two.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josie never fails to share her Filipino heritage with her friends and students, and her performances stay true to her roots.<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoyed working with the Filipino-Canadian community and [I am] humbled by [their] love and support,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Having been in Canada for over 18 years, Josie shares that moving to Canada has been one of the best decisions she\u2019s ever made.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Josie de Leon has always been a performer. When Josie immigrated to Canada in 1997, she left her family and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":61383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-filipino-canadian-in-focus","mauthors-ching-dee","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61382","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=61382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}