Bittersweet endings, taking a pause, and eventually new beginnings.

After two years at Computer Professionals Inc, I decided to take a pause, yesterday was my last day. The past year and a half have been hard for everyone and losing loved ones for the past 6 months made it even harder. I would say it’s a bittersweet ending, I was given an opportunity to move out of my comfort zone after so many years of working and advocating on Google technologies by learning and building stuff on AWS. Some of the amazing things that I got to do were:

• From starting the partnership ground-up and on the road to the Advance tier.
• Launched Digital Insurance Platform for Non-Life Insurance companies — BLISS that we built using AWS technologies.
• Helped an entire industry cope and innovate through series of webinars in partnership with PIRA and IIAP.
• We helped companies move to the cloud and enjoy great benefits in using it.
• Creating a new revenue stream and more opportunities through cloud.
• Worked on rebranding after 32 years and a new website where we got to try new technologies such as Strapi and Eleventy which was used to build the Chrome Dev Summit, web.dev, CERN Conference, CSS Tricks Conference sites etc.

I will be forever grateful to my mentors Ms. Ito and Ms. Bebette for the opportunities and support when I lost my mother last December after battling a long ailment. Thank you, CPI for being my home for the past two years! It’s been amazing working with all of you.

I’m taking the break to go back to coding again, take certifications, possibly go back to university and work on passion projects. Launching today also as we start the second half of 2021 is one of my passion projects — my own line of fashion earrings — Chellebrate. I’ve been known to wear fabulous earrings over the years and this time I’m hoping that I can grow it to a social enterprise and help out other solo moms who lost their jobs during the pandemic. We’ll be using local and regional materials to promote local weaves and textiles from the Philippines and Southeast Asia. I’ve always had a passion for tech and social good. Do check out and support this small biz and the cause — shopee.ph/chellebrate Big thank you to my sister May for doing the packaging and product shoot.

Taking this sweet break to cook more dishes for my 17 yr old teen and send care packages to friends. Might start blogging or who knows even vlogging too.

Who knows where the road will take me and where my next adventure is but truly thankful for learnings, the love, and support from friends and colleagues. Remember, sometimes taking a step back, actually means taking a huge step forward.