Dumagueteña is vice consul of Philippine Embassy in London She was once a journalist of The Freeman

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — A native of Dumaguete City has been recently appointed as the third secretary and vice consul of the Philippine Embassy in London, United Kingdom.

At the age of 29, Stacy Danika Alcantara-Garcia is now among the top Filipino diplomats in the United Kingdom, and will be stationed in London for the next six years.

Before pursuing a diplomatic career, Stacy also spent years in journalism, having worked with The FREEMAN as a lifestyle writer. In 2009, she won the Miss Press Freedom title for the Cebu media industry.

Stacy, also concurrently the administrative officer, will be primarily serving as the public and cultural diplomacy officer of the Philippine Embassy in London, where she will lead initiatives aimed to create a “positive, realistic” image of the Philippines in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Among her functions include forging relationships with UK-based media, developing the Embassy’s social media presence, collaborating with top universities in the UK to open platforms for intelligent discussions on Philippine culture, and engaging with Filipinos living in the UK, among others.

“I’m excited to handle this challenging responsibility. Public diplomacy plays an important role in shaping the way other countries and other cultures perceive us,” Stacy said.

This is her first foreign post since joining the Department of Foreign Affairs in 2015, after topping the 30 passers of the Foreign Service Officers’ Examination, considered one of the country’s most difficult tests.

Before her post in the UK, Stacy worked at the Office of Public Diplomacy in the DFA’s headquarters in Manila. She took a quick break to pursue graduate studies on International Relations and Diplomacy at the Geneva School of Diplomacy in Switzerland, where she finished the course with a perfect 4.0 grade point average (GPA).

Among her career highlights in her Manila stint was drafting the DFA Manual of Style, which serves as a guide on how public diplomats write journalistic pieces. She was also instrumental in developing the strong social media presence of the DFA, which she said just “exploded” and “never slept” since she took over the helm.

Stacy is well-remembered in Dumaguete as a “True Red,” having spent all her education years — from early childhood to college — in Silliman University, where she graduated in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication, summa cum laude.

As of this writing, she is still the most recent graduate from SU’s College of Mass Communication who received the university’s highest graduation honors. That year, she was also awarded one of the 10 Outstanding Students of the Philippines.

During her high school in SU, Stacy was editor of the school paper and won in writing competitions. She published her first book, The Secret of the Amulet, a story for children based on Philippine folklore and myths, and then became one of the youngest to have been crowned Miss Silliman.