Citi toasts inspiring women on Women’s Day

MANILA, Philippines - A gardener, a social enterpreneur and a former aerobics instructor took center stage during Citi Philippines’ celebration of International Women’s Day.

The gardener is Flor Gozon-Tarriela whose day job is serving as chairperson of the Philippine National Bank; Kaye Tinga, president of Lightomorrow Foundation, the social entrepreneur; Atty. Darlene Berberabe, former aerobics instructor and currently the president and CEO of the Home Development Mutual Fund.

The women accepted Citi’s invitation to talk about their careers to the bank’s women employees.

The venue was abuzz with laughter and excitement as the three women shared their journey to finding their passion as well as the secrets to their success. Flor, who was the first woman vice president at Citi Philippines, related that she considers herself “retired from Citi, but re-tired for life.” She emphasized the importance of a positive mindset in every endeavor.

Kaye is the director of social enterprise at W17 Home and president of Lightomorrow Foundation. An “aha” moment with her young daughter empowered Kaye to work for a good cause and change people’s lives while supporting the bottom line. What keeps Kaye on track is the desire to be a good example to her two daughters.  Like Flor, Kaye is a Citi alumnus and worked with the bank in the Philippines and Hong Kong.

Atty. Berberabe, summa cum laude graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Philosophy, became the first female member of its faculty.  Her road to the law profession was not smooth and she candidly admitted once being sidetracked and working briefly as an aerobics instructor.  She now holds a senior government position and credits her success to being the master of her own ship. She also shared how she constantly seized the day, chose to do the right thing, and nurtured a grateful heart in the course of her career and personal life.

Another highlight which all the women in the room warmly welcomed was the announcement of the new Consumer Business Manager (CBM) for Citi Philippines, Bea Teh-Tan.  Bea was previously Credit Payment Products director and is the second Filipina CBM in the 111-year history of the franchise in the country.

Bea joined Citi in 1998 and since then has held a variety of roles within the cards organization, including strategic planning head  and head for cards marketing, sales and distribution.  Addressing the appreciative crowd, Bea vowed to give her full commitment to taking the consumer bank business to new heights.

The panel is just one of many activities hosted by Citi in celebration of diversity.  Earlier in the day, Citi country officer for the Philippines Sanjiv Vohra hosted a breakfast dialogue with emerging and senior women leaders. Over the weekend, nearly 50 Citi volunteers signed up to serve as legal mentors for a day for low-income women micro-entrepreneurs enrolled at the Citi Microenterprise Development Center (CMDC) in Quezon City, and worked side by side volunteers and officers of Virlanie Foundation in caring for orphaned children and young girls.

Sanjiv concluded, “I am privileged to be part of an organization with a wealth of talented women colleagues.  This has been a unique celebration, where we showcased our strong tradition of volunteerism as well as engaged women across our various stakeholders – from clients to community partners to employees”

This year, Citi hosted nearly 200 events in over 125 cities and 87 countries across the globe in celebration of IWD. Many of these events took place in one day, as the sun moved around the globe throughout the course of a 24-hour day.