Monday, May 14, 2007 For these two, Cebu is where the action is By Jenara Regis Newman
PR power ladies Joan Carabio-Danao and Ma. Elvira Kaye Luym could easily have been based elsewhere, but they have chosen to be in Cebu and make waves in the public relations field, Joan as PR manager of Cebu City Marriot Hotel, and Kaye as marketing communications manager for F&B at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino.
Joan took up AB English in UP Diliman in 1984-85, and AB Communication in UP Cebu in 1985-86, after which she worked as flight attendant for Philippines Airlines, moving up from domestic to international flights. When she decided to stop flying, she and her husband, who also works for PAL, decided to make Cebu home for them and their four children. She kept herself busy managing and being program anchor for MOM’s Radio (during which stint she was PRO of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasters ng Pilipinas) and then doing consultancy work mostly for events and related PR work before joining Marriot.
In the case of Kaye, she was a commerce/business management major graduate of the Ateneo de Manila University when she decided to pursue B.A. International Relations in the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada. She stayed there for five years, working as she studied; she also did volunteer work. When she came home to Cebu for vacation, she realized that this is where she wants to be and so applied for a job and went back to Canada to pack up and come home.
She worked for Marco Polo Plaza as banquet sales executive before joining Waterfront.
Of her job, Joan says “There is not much difference between airline work and hotel work, the main difference being you stay put in a hotel. Also, airline work is more on service while in Marriot, I do more of collaterals for sales and promos.
It’s a great help that my family is in Cebu. When I am in the hotel, my parents help out at home. I’m very appreciative that in this hotel, they also value your time with the family, like giving my leave to enroll my children – three boys in Grades I, II, and III and a girl in third year high school.”
For Kaye, working in Waterfront has been a challenge which she has successfully met. She says, “It’s been great working in Marco (Protacio, the hotel GM), Renee (Villasin, also in communications but focusing on rooms), Carlo (Sainz, F&B manager) and the chefs.”
Aside from PR work, Kaye also teaches yoga at the Citigym of the hotel. To unwind, she does yoga, read, drink wine. Joan, on the other hand, goes from the hotel to her kitchen where she loves to cook and bake (she bakes the most delicious brownies) and tries out new recipes. To relax, she reads and, as she puts it, “I still write.”
Joan and Kaye. Two women of varying backgrounds engaged in the same line of work and doing just great, as well as feeling great about their jobs.
And staying put in Cebu, helping to make the city a livelier place to be in.
