On Saturday, May 29, 2021, another inspiring talk transpired between the girls and Ms. Natalie Chan, the guest for this month’s (May) champion session.
Chan is the founder and CEO of Own Academy, an innovative education solution for the 21st century focusing on life skills, connected learning, and career life planning of students.
The online session, which was attended by twenty (20) girls from Leyte and Samar provinces in region 8, was a guiding tool for the girls who are in their junior and senior high school years to really ask themselves what career they want to pursue in life and to find out their personalities and what jobs fit for them.
“There’s no right or wrong personality or career path here. It’s just preference. Think for yourself, what comes first? Income or passion? The people around you are also a big source of knowledge and inspiration to help you understand yourself better and determine the career path you want to follow,” said Chan while facilitating a personality test activity for the girls. Chan is an engineer, corporate professional, film producer, educator, and entrepreneur. Growing up in Hong Kong, Chan never knew what she wanted to be in the future; instead, she took an unconventional path to begin her self-discovery journey. Through this process, Chan learned that success in the real world requires specific attitudes, self-awareness, skills, and network.
Halfway through the session, Chan shared her travel experiences around the world and how meeting people from different cultures gave her so many perspectives in life, which inspired her to journey through many paths. She told the girls that everyone is intelligent in their own ways and that each one has a talent inside that has to be discovered by themselves alone.
“The world out there has a lot of options or jobs for you to choose from. But you are more than what you think you can do. Don’t think that when you finally know what you want to do, it is the ending. It’s just the beginning. Your dreams are possible, but you really have to work hard to achieve them,” said Chan in encouraging the girls to work harder in achieving their dreams.
One of the girls asked what the inspiration of Chan is in founding the Own Academy. Chan shared that not having control before over her life and being imprisoned to what the society dictates what she ought to be is her inspiration for establishing the academy.
“OWN stands for Ownership or taking control of your own life. My inspiration comes from being lost, then finally finding my purpose and making people happy and content by showing them possibilities on what they can become,” said Chan in answer to the girls. She then told the girls to make the most out of life and that dreams can be achieved through hard work and passion.
“The session today was an eye-opener for me. It was a good sharing. It helped me find my personality type and, at the same time, re-align it to what I want to become in the future. Thanks to Ms. Natalie, I am more encouraged to achieve my dreams,” one of the girls shared.
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