My family has been based in Metro Vancouver, Canada for about 18 years now.

I wear different hats as owner of Plato Filipino Restaurant: a server, a driver, an errand girl, a delivery girl, marketing person – and literally “marketing” (i.e. shopping for supplies in markets). I’m everything everyday.

I never imagined that I would be an owner of one of these stores around Joyce Street and Vanness Avenue. But that’s my husband’s goal: to own a business in the area where Filipinos are. We officially started in 2017, partnering with two other cooks and a friend of a friend.

It’s a challenge to head such an establishment, but it will always be the most fun and rewarding experience I get to take part in. A lot of that is because of the people I surround myself with everyday. Without my team, Plato would not be what it is today. And of course, the customers – THE COMMUNITY I get the privilege of connecting with everyday. It is the stories we hear that makes this experience valuable, especially when it’s shared over food – something our Filipino culture gauges a strong affinity for as stewards of connection.

I have a social worker friend who sometimes brings newcomer teenagers here. They would eat Filipino food here as part of their itinerary. I get invited to speak to them and inspire them. “An immigrant can do things and be themselves wherever they are,” I would say, just to let them know that they’re not alone in their journey.

Before being a restaurateur, I was enjoying my dream job.

I previously worked as a foreign representative of the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) International Economic Relations Office at the Department of Foreign Affairs in the Philippines. I would represent the country in several APEC meetings abroad. I also served as the cultural officer for the Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver for six years. After my tour of duty, I went back home briefly for two years.

During that time, I found it difficult to choose between family and career. I finally decided to leave the foreign service in 2016 and go back here to Vancouver. I was able to bring my family with me—raising my two “1.5 generation” daughters in the heart of Joyce Collingwood neighbourhood. I wanted a better life for them.

Looking back, I could also give them a better life in the Philippines. But the security that they have here in Canada is totally different. I’m not demeaning the security we have in the Philippines. But here, I can be at peace, knowing that my daughter is walking at night alone in the streets safely. There’s the security and the consistency of systems at work here.

The transition from my life in the Philippines was different.

Moving to this new world was like leaving behind a sanctuary with all my loved ones and simple things in life, all in exchange for a different environment. On top of that, I also had to understand the layers of Western culture and how to adapt to it.

Back in the Philippines, it was easier to navigate my next steps of adulthood because I have a “village” with me. I was very connected with my family and neighbourhood. However, I arrived here in 2007, before advancements in social media and technology we enjoy now came around. It definitely felt isolating to overcome hurdles and not be with my parents in Baler, Aurora, where they could see my wins and losses. Phone calls were so expensive. I had to deal with the added pressures of raising a child by myself in a new environment. Thankfully, I was still connected to a Filipino community through my work in Plato.

“You have to know who you are and where you belong,” I would tell my daughters even though they’re “coconut” – brown on the outside, white on the inside. One of them, now a psychology student in college, would put things in perspective, ”You were raised totally different from where I am now. So we need to understand each other and meet halfway.” And they blame us on why they never learned to speak Tagalog! They understand but cannot speak fluently, unlike peers who easily speak their own languages. My daughters would then try their best in public or when out with friends: “Mom, tumahimik ka. Madaldal na.” [Shush, Mom. You’re so talkative now]. Or, “Gusto ko ito.” [I want this].

It was definitely difficult to shed my attachments to the Filipino way of living.

A big part is probably because I have never really left Filipino culture; I am always connected to it in some way through work or community. I never had the chance to experience a Canadian work environment outside a Filipino-esque bubble. The Joyce Collingwood neighbourhood is known as a Filipino hub in Vancouver for new immigrants, students, or OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers). This is what they know as the “Filipino area,” that’s why we advocate to preserve this part of the city as a cultural centre.

Being Filipino is a huge part of my identity. I never knew how salient and massive it was until I really took a step back. But it is my sanctuary; it is where family is. The Philippines is where I feel belonging – not to say that I feel like I do not belong in Canada, because I definitely do, especially in spaces where the Filipino community thrives.

I am very patriotic towards my motherland, but I have honed the opportunity of being flexible and adapting my identity wherever I am needed and called. I’m very much into advancing the Philippines in any circumstance that I am in. When I used to work at the consulate and in the foreign service, it was my vision to uplift every Filipino.

I’ve been a delegate, representing the Philippines in so many countries. If you get to travel, you get to see the systems elsewhere. Why can’t we adopt them in the Philippines? I see that there is hope, that we could still achieve something. I think that’s the feeling instilled in me whenever I travel.

As a Filipino living abroad, it’s my wildest dream to truly support each other.

When I started Plato, I looked for Filipino restaurateurs to be my mentors because I’m new to this. Sadly, only one or two were willing to help. Others would see me as competition. You would think I’m not telling the truth, but I’m doing what I can now to support new Filipino restaurants here. They would attest to that. They would ask me, “Where did you get this and that?” and I would tell them.

My dream is that we support each other wholeheartedly. Especially us living abroad. We should be on the same team. Let’s help each other succeed in our industries. Let’s show who we really are and what we can do. Let’s not treat fellow Filipinos as competition. When one rises up, everyone rises up as well.