Ms. Abby Asistio Meets Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg

California- United States of America

Last January 31, 2016, Fellow Filipino Alopecia Ambassador Ms. Abby Asistio flew to San Francisco and had the wonderful opportunity of being chosen as one of the eighteen invited by Facebook on their 12th Anniversary Friends Day celebration with California-based Alopecia awareness advocate, Ms. Rachel Regal.

l-r Ms. Rachel Regal  , Mark Zukerberg and Ms. Abby Asistio

Alopecia is an autoimmune condition which results in partial or total head and body hair loss. Abby Asistio have had it since she was four while Rachel just developed itsometime in 2012, the same year she discovered that her 10-year-old daughter, Eliana, had it,too. Six inspiring stories were picked by Facebook among its 1.64 billion users and Abby’s friends were all amazed when theye’ve found out that Abby’s Alopecia story was one of them.

 

Abby and Rachel met each other through the double A hand sign campaign that Aby started in2012, and They’ve been “connected” since then. Last year, Facebook Stories featured how thesetwo were able to build a friendship, as well as campaign for disease awareness throughFacebook! And last February 1st, Abby and Rachel had the chance to tour FB headquarters inMenlo Park, San Francisco, meet and chat with the people behind Facebook (Founder & CEOMark Zuckerberg, COO Sheryl Sandberg, CPO Chris Cox, and a whole lot of awesome people),get crazy cool gadgets and have one of the best experiences of their lives.

 Ms. Rachel Regal and Ms. Abby Asistio

Abby recounted that it was such a surreal feeling to be in the same room as the creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg. Mark Z was wearing his trademark look (jeans, sneakers, shirt anda big smile on his face), and had such a friendly, approachable aura and demeanor about him.

Not at all intimidating! He shared stories about how the company started, its mission-vision,  the ups and downs that come along, and their future plans. Those invited also had the chance to ask him questions. When Mark Z was asked about achieving success and life’s “impossibilities”. Hesaid, “There’s a difference between impossible and things taking a really long time. Even if you’re not going to be able to do something in a short time period, if you care about something,you want to see the world to move into that direction… So the best thing to do is just get started and not be discouraged. It’s tough because this stuff is hard, or else people would’ve already done it.”

Abby Asistio got the chance to ask a question to one of the world’s 50 most powerful, successful women in business, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. Aside from Alopecia awareness, Abby isalso an active Real Beauty advocate with girls and women struggling with various insecurities,being so consumed by the world’s unrealistic and sometimes superficial standards of beauty. So Abby asked Sheryl about her perception of it. Sheryl said that beauty is just like success and thatno one could really define it for you. We are all unique. We have different stories, dreams and desires. We should explore our own inner and outer beauty, believe and embrace that we are beautiful, and never allow anyone to tell us otherwise.

Mark capped off his talk by sharing their company philosophy with everyone present. Though already having over 1 billion subscribers, there are still 7 billion people all over the world without access to all the meaningful connections and information that Facebook brings. One thing that the company stands by is that “things are always 1% completed”. It keeps them grounded, reminding them that there is always so much work, growth and progress to be done, and so many people to reach out to and help.

Everything about the Facebook trip was overwhelming and inspiring according to Abby. More than anything, it reminded her about “responsibility”. We are all given our own platforms, in this case “accounts and connections”, to make a dent in this world. It is up to us to become complacent and take these vehicles for granted, or maximize the opportunities and use them to make a positive impact in this generation. Abby is grateful that Facebook has become a medium for her to communicate disease awareness and touch people beyond the confines of her tiny room and her country. Abby is also glad that she and Rachel are two out of millions of people choosing to recognize the importance of social media in contributing to making this world abetter place, and actually doing something about it.

Ms. Abby Asistio amazing hair transformation with NovuHair

Truly, God plans the best adventures and creates the most beautiful surprises. Abby knows that to spread and reach new heights and she is particularly grateful to Facebook for giving her this opportunity and to Novuhair, Nature’s Answer to Hair Loss (www.novuhair.com), for always

being so supportive of her advocacy and endeavors. Abby is proud and honored to have represented the Philippines and the Alopecia community in this once-in-a-lifetime, international experience.

 

 

Advertisement

Philippine Orchid Society exhibit at the 12th Asia Pacific Orchid Congress

Impact Forum at Impact Exhibition,  Bangkok- Thailand

The Asia Pacific Orchid conference was initiated in 1984. One of the founding members is professor Rapee Sagarik ( He is known to be the Father of Thailand Orchid Industry).

 

It aims to achieve an international cooperation for trends in development and conservation of orchids in Asia Pacific region. The 1st conference started in 1984 in Japan and has been held  in different countries rotated among member countries in APOC community every three years.

In 1992, Thailand hosted the 4th conference which was organized in Chiang Mai,
where Maejo University took the main responsibility hosting the event. In 2010, Professor Rapee Sagarik, an ornamental plant advisor of the department of agriculture, foresaw particularly benefit for being the host of the conference.

The department of Agriculture then submitted a project to the Thailand Ministry of agriculture and cooperation and Asia Pacific Orchid Committee. The committee has recognized the potential of Orchid Thailand and therefore agreed that Thailand will host the 12th Asia Pacific Orchid Conference (APOC)  from March 19th-27th, 2016.

The Philippine Orchid Society exhibit booth -Photo courtesy of Mr. Ray Ong

The Philippine Orchid Society was represented by the team of Ms. Vangie Go ( President ) Mr. Andres Golamco Jr. , Ms. Alily Galo and Mrs. Baby Alarcon . The exhibit showcased a traditional nipa hut ( bahay kubo ) with carabao horn , native orchid species like sanggumay or Dendrobium anosmum, Asplenium musifolium and orchid hybrids  as part of the landscape exhibit.

Aside from Philippine Orchid Society , There are also some Filipino delegates from other plant societies like Philippine Horticultural Society Inc. among others.

For more information about the current exhibition , Please try to visit the link:

Facebook Page: APOC2016

Website : http://www.apoc12.com/

 

 

 

Relay for Life with Brother PH

Quezon Memorial Circle , Quezon City 

This was the probably the biggest and most enthusiastic group at the Philippine Cancer Society (PCS)’s Relay for Life event recently held at the Quezon City Memorial Circle, the 250 plus-strong contingent from Brother International Philippines, Corp. (Brother PH), along with their partners, family and friends, took turns going around the oval track in this year’s cancer awareness overnight vigil.

This is the fifth consecutive year that Brother PH joined PCS’s Relay for Life, which annually raises funds for cancer awareness and patients’ services.

 Brother Philippines President Glenn P. Hocson said that their continued support for the event allows the company to contribute funds for cancer patients and support groups, give moral support to all patients battling the disease, and cheer on the cancer survivors who already won the fight against the Big C.

 Hocson said that it is also the company’s way of providing its employees, as well as the company’s partners, opportunities to give back to those in need of compassion and support and to make them aware of the health risks that may lead to cancer.

 The company’s support for the program is in line with the Brother Group’s “Golden Ring Project”, where different offices of Brother worldwide participate in Relay for Life events in their respective countries. A symbolic sash embroidered with the flag of each of the participating countries is being routed yearly so that they can add their latest year of participation in the embroidery work.

 “We echo Relay for Life’s battle cry:  celebrate life, remember those who died of cancer, fight back and—If I may add—prevent cancer by living a healthy lifestyle,” said Hocson.

symbolic sash

The company’s support for the program is in line with the Brother Group’s “Golden Ring Project”, where different offices of Brother worldwide participate in Relay for Life events in their respective countries. A symbolic sash embroidered with the flag of each of the participating countries is being routed yearly so that they can add their latest year of participation in the embroidery work.

 “We echo Relay for Life’s battle cry:  celebrate life, remember those who died of cancer, fight back and—If I may add—prevent cancer by living a healthy lifestyle,” said Hocson.