THE PHILIPPINE LEADER
PAY IT FORWARD Written by: Rhoda M. De Ocampo 2020 President, JCI Ortigas
My mission was crystal clear - cultivate a pay-it-forward culture within the organization and inspire people to do more, be more and give more.
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020 had been unexpectedly extraordinary. It was a year in history when a pandemic struck the world and forced us to change our norms. Here we are now, still in the new normal - trying to push on, while we look out and take care of each other’s health for the sake of those we love. To each of you watching today, I wish us all good health a kinder, brighter 2021.
We kicked off early in 2019 f rom BOD Strat Planning in September and rolled out our f irst project days after NatCon in October 2019. I remember bringing my bouncing 2 year old toddler to the National Conference at CamSur because he just didn’t want to be away f rom mommy. Thanks to our trusted nanny, I was able to multi-task between mommy and presidential duties. We were faced with natural disasters as early as October earthquakes, f ire - name it, we had it! For us that time, it could just be one of the usual disasters that we’ll quickly recover f rom, just like any year. I fondly remember holding our grand recruitment night in November with 30 attendees - for a Category 2 chapter like us, 30 is already a big number for one night. I look back with gratefulness to our past presidents who graced our face to face GMMs since October 2019 through February 2021. It was a delight for the new generation of members to see. To our private and public partners who enabled us to make our trainings and commdev projects rolling consistently month on month - we keep going because of people who trust us, and the members who continue to show up.
Becoming the 17th JCI Ortigas LO President was not a path I did not plan or expect. I joined JCI because I wanted to give back in some way. In 2017, PP Raymond Lising’s thrust of responsible leadership struck a chord in me. JCI Ortigas was well known for fellowship projects but we also mean serious business. As I immersed further I’ve felt that palpable energy within the chapter that aspires to getting better every single year. I felt this even more strongly through PP Tersh Tupas who tapped me to be part of her BOD in 2019 and eventually opened the more weighty challenge of taking the chapter’s leadership after her (such big shoes to f ill!) So there I was, a JCI newbie taking on that next big challenge. What pushed me to go against my original plan to just be a happy member supposedly after PP Tersh’s term was done? It’s that call to continue what the leaders before me has worked hard to built beautifully. When I decided to take the leadership role as LO president, I was certain that it’s not going to be an easy ride. There will be uncertainties along the way. I was ready to embrace the unknown because I was sure I wanted to be an agent of change for our dear chapter.
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I would say the momentum was on a high, I was 4 months into my term - until I was caught off guard by a personal tragedy. We discovered my dad was sick, and I was conf ronted with scary thought : Life is short, how do we want to spend it with our loved ones? Unknown to most of you, this uncertainty shook me to the point of letting go. Because time was against me. I spent days in the hospital because we knew our dad needed us everyday and it matters like a lifetime. From hospital trips to coming home to my toddler at night, so I could
