FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS TO HELPING OTHERS

It's innate for people to help others the best way they can. This is also true with Rossel “Shantal” Dimayuga, a thirty-two-year-old businesswoman taking the reins as chief executive officer and president of multiple business ventures. Her story is one of a modest lass in the province who pushed her way to the top through hard work and resilience. Her goal to help the underprivileged reflects on Yakap Kalinga, a foundation she started herself, which reaches out to the needy in the rural areas, even during the pandemic.

The early years
Dimayuga grew up in a low-income household in the province of Batangas with just enough to get by. Guided by her strict father and hard-working mother, she developed into a woman who values discipline and hard work.

With her humble background, Dimayuga knew that she needed to do more to achieve the financial freedom she wanted to have in her life. After college, she landed a job at the Manila Ocean Park, an achievement on its own as not everyone in the province is privileged to work in Manila. On the side, she started her first business to augment her monthly salary. She sold cellphones online via Facebook. Her experiences helped expand her business and taught her lessons that became instrumental to her success as a businesswoman and as a philanthropist later on.

The fruits of labor
Dimayuga realized that not everything is rosy when it comes to creating........