The Global Filipino Magazine TGFM Issue 15 - July 2021

After taking the basic and advanced make-up classes at the Filipino Institute, Jessie Magcamit Balodong has finally found more stable and secure employment as a regular make-up artist and hairstylist for a local TV show based at Dubai’s Media City. In a May 23 Facebook post, Dubai-based Filipino Balodong revealed that it was his first day of work–and was tasked to groom one news reporter and TV host in a morning show and a news reporter in an afternoon show. The Global Filipino Magazine spoke with Balodong about his experience with the Filipino Institute who she feels he is indebted. “I enrolled myself in the Filipino Institute because I want to explore my knowledge and skills in the make-up industry and to become a professional make-up artist,” he said. Aside…

Julius Ray Palma Inso initially started working as a general nurse before becoming a Wound Care Nurse Specialist in Healthpoint, a specialty hospital in Abu Dhabi with world-leading medical experts. His previous employer offered him to study International Interprofessional Wound Care Nurse under the program of Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto from 2014 to 2015. “Becoming a wound care nurse specialist is the highlight of my career working abroad,” he said. As a wound care nurse specialist, Inso is responsible for treating complex and chronic wounds and as a resource person by providing advice and recommendations to other caregivers. He has also organized a wound care education program for the staff nurses in their facility to ensure that their wound care decisions are standardized…

Abu Dhabi-based emerging Filipino artist Roberto Aytona has recently secured the UAE government’s golden visa, a long-term residence visa exclusively given to investors, entrepreneurs, and those with specialized talents and researchers in various fields of science and knowledge, and bright students with promising scientific capabilities. Aytona, who hails from Sorsogon, is a known artist in the UAE, showcasing his arts to different prominent personalities in the country, doing artworks in different mediums such as caricatures, portraits, oil painting, murals, and others, to satisfy the drawings and artwork desires of the spectators. He works primarily with 16 mediums in arts, depicting realism for 25 years. “Being an artist in different mediums, I consider myself qualified in applying for the golden visa. I got the visa by immediately applying at the Dubai…

Filipino digital entrepreneur Russel Baquial said that to become truly great in business, one has to take risks. A risk-taker, the Covid19-pandemic has propelled her into the digital economy which has allowed her to help her fellows by providing them job opportunities. Early on in the pandemic, she, together with her business partners, realized that online commerce is getting more and more important for regular consumers and thought that they, too, should move with the times. In the digital era, people need digital stores, so they opened their own website where they sell products made in the UAE through Fincres. Their goal is committed to bringing products made in the UAE to neighboring countries and all over the world. The company supports manufacturers and their main distributors in terms of…

Filipina medical doctor in the UAE Dr. Daffodils Guevarra is among the expatriates in the country granted the −10 year residence visa, a type of visa exclusively given by the UAE government to investors, entrepreneurs, and those with specialized talents and researchers in various fields of science and knowledge, and bright students with promising scientific capabilities. A resident in the UAE for 14 years, Dr. Guevarra is currently working as a General Practitioner and Branch Manager in Prime Medical Centre in Reef Mall Deira. “When the UAE decided to release information about the Golden Visa, I read through the eligibility requirements, and I initially thought I wouldn’t pass the criteria. However, my doctor colleagues in Prime Medical Centre still encouraged me to apply. I went to inquire the UAE Immigration…

Christine Joy Yap Ta-ay decided to work overseas nine years ago with a goal to provide her family back home with a comfortable life and make them proud. One of the reasons why she opted to work in the UAE is due to its top-notch healthcare system. Ta-ay, who started working as a customer service representative in the Philippines, initially worked as a marketing executive for a private company that deals with fit-outs and exhibitions. For four years, she excelled in this field and became its top seller and marketer during her stay in the company. Soon after, she transferred to a new company that deals with the same services. Ta-ay stayed there for almost three years until the Covid19-pandemic strikes. They were placed on unpaid leave for three months…