16TH ANNUAL PISTAHAN PARADE AND FESTIVAL | AUGUST 8-9, 2009

Marily Mondejar was born into an entrepreneurial family from Leyte in the Philippines. Her parents owned a bookstore, office

supplies distributor, a security services agency, a farm, and the first modern printing press (inaugurated by President Ramon Magsaysay) in the city where she was born. Her lawyer-father started the first local weekly paper and for many years the only newspaper in their province. Their largest account was the printing and publishing of the Philippine Congressional Records. The sixth of 13 children, Marily learned early how to stand out from the crowd, make sure her voice is heard and get the best seat at the table.

She married at a young age and raised two children in Manila. As a working mother, juggling her family and professional lives was a challenge, often bringing along her children to business trips and work events. Her family became involved in a movie production company, and she took on various duties in catering, casting, costume, and set design. Many of their movie productions won film awards. Later Marily worked in sales and marketing for an international publishing company in Southeast Asia. Her job included special projects in Hongkong, Thailand,

Singapore, and Malaysia. She trained the company’s Southeast Asian distributors’ sales teams, and managed the launching of the Thailand operations.

In 1980 Marily changed the course of her life by immigrating to the United States. She was recruited as a high potential in a major bank’s management training program and held a management position for many years. In the late 80s, Marily combined her knowledge of strategy, sales, management, communications, color, and fashion to begin a career as an image consultant. Corporate America’s response to image and the subtle impact of attire amazed her. Surveys she conducted revealed that a carefully selected wardrobe can influence the outcome of a business decision. Formulating her concept of image as a proponent of success, Marily marketed her seminars to businesses and offered a training called “Dressing To Influence”. Marily then developed the seven aspects of image for influencing results, a standard adopted by the image industry.

Marily expanded her industry influence when she founded the Institute for Image Management, an organization development, image consulting and training firm skilled in developing leadership and career programs to increase credibility and improve the personal

effectiveness of professionals, executives, and business owners. She developed the Culture Image 360®, a method for measuring executive image performance and corporate reputation. As an organizational change practitioner, image consultant and career coach, she advises clients in the U.S., Mexico, and Asia, on corporate image strategies, implications of mergers, scenario planning, and maximizing performance results, through work with executive teams, large-scale change, alliance-building, and corporate culture development.

Coming from a big family, Marily thrived in business associations and community organizations. Her skills in building relationships and getting people to come together to further a cause, and effect positive change have inspired many. She has held leadership positions in industry groups like the Association of Fashion and Image Consultants, the Image Industry Council International and the American Society of Training and Development. In addition, Marily serves on non-profit boards including the City of San Francisco’s Justice and Courage Oversight Panel. Recently Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed Marily to the Sweatfree Procurement Advisory Group, which evaluates the city’s implementation, administration, and

enforcement of the Sweatfree Contracting Ordinance. She is passionate about women’s rights ensuring that Filipina women’s voices are represented through involvement in organizations. She was elected board chair of the Friends of the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women and is a member of Women Impacting Public Policy, California Leadership, and Emerge California, among others. She is also a board member of the Filipino American Arts Exposition.

Marily’s involvement in the Bay Area’s Filipino community began when she joined the Filipina Women’s Network in 2001. Rodel Rodis, former president and trustee of the San Francisco Community College Board, recalls the first time he met Marily. “I met her more than 25 years ago at one of the PESCOM meetings. When I first ran for public office in 1990, Marily volunteered her services as my image consultant offering helpful suggestions on how I could improve my appearance. When we organized the First Global Filipino Networking Convention at the Moscone Center in August 2002, Marily coordinated the Filipino Women’s Conference. Instead of working only on the image of individual clients, Marily directed her focus to improving and advancing the image of all Filipina women. And in this she has succeeded quite

FILIPINO AMERICAN ARTS EXPOSITION PRESENTS12

2009 HERMANA MAYOR

MondejarMarily

With Elena Managahas and Sonia Delen of Filipina Women’s Network

With Eve Ensler With her grandchildren

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA | WWW.PISTAHAN.NET

SIXTEEN YEARS OF CELEBRATING CULTURE AND COMMUNITY. 13

well,” he said.As president of the Filipina Women’s

Network (FWN), a non-profit association for women of Philippine ancestry living in the U.S., Marily works to promote the entry and success of Filipina women into positions of leadership in the corporate, government, academic, and nonprofit sectors. Under her leadership, the fledgling organization, operating ad hoc since 1996, grew from 50 members in 2002 to over 5,200 list members today. She has spearheaded initiatives such as the annual Filipina Leadership Summit during Filipino Heritage Month in October, the Nationwide Search for the 100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the U.S. and the “Pinay Power 2012” initiative whose goal is to double the number of Filipina leaders in America by 2012.

Lt. Col. Shirley S. Raguindin, Arizona State Diversity Coordinator and the national chair of the nationwide search of the 100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the U. S., says of

Marily’s passion for advancing positive images of Filipina women,“ Anson Dorrance, former coach of the University of Southern California and owner of the most successful record in the history of athletics said, ‘The vision of a champion is someone who is bent over, drenched in sweat, and at the point of exhaustion, when no one else is watching.’ Marily is truly a champion when it comes to the recognition of Filipina women who shape our community’s influence in American society today and in the future. This is important because oftentimes Filipina’s contributions are often overlooked as insignificant due to our own cultural biases. Marily is truly commended as a pioneer that blazed the way to continue to empower Filipinas not just in their professional and personal goals but to continually positively impact their communities in which they live and serve.”

In 2004 Marily established FWN’s Filipinas Against Violence campaign to raise awareness of domestic violence in the Filipino community. “I was married at a young age and was in an abusive relationship. I raised my two children as a single mother. When they grew up, I wanted to give back to my community,” she says. In collaboration with Eve Ensler’s V-Day organization, FWN annually stages an all-Filipina women benefit production of “The Vagina Monologues” and its Tagalog version, “Usaping Puki”.

Now in its sixth year of production with over 20 performances, FWN’s performances have been a large success, inspiring Filipina women in national productions in Washington, D.C. and New York. But the path to success has not always been such an easy road. During its first year, FWN received little support and much negative feedback from the Filipino community. “I was called the vagina lady,” recalls Marily. “When people saw me coming up to them at Filipino events, some shunned me and turned the other way. It was a struggle to get our message received by the community.”

Elena Mangahas, Chair of the Little Manila

Foundation, first met Marily in 2004 during the inaugural production of the all-Filipina “The Vagina Monologues” in San Francisco. “I watched her mobilize a roomful of women volunteers as show marketers and promoters, ticket sellers, production helpers, and to top it all, as stage actors. That to me demonstrated community work that is driven by sheer talent, an all-Filipina powerhouse of talents at that. I felt the connection to what she represented, and I saw the moment ripe for a movement. I realized that Marily and I shared a similar vision for Filipinas in America - for them and for us to become empowered and find our place in our chosen professional field. For me it is a total shift of how empowerment will be played out if the playing field was in the home country where Filipinas are still breaking through the colonized male structure. But the Filipina resolve is unwavering, wherever she might be. So right then I decided to join FWN, and it has been quite a journey.”

Over the years, FWN has worked to spread its message, etching domestic violence into the public consciousness to such an extent that the production is no longer seen as shameful, enabling women, especially Filipinas and Asian women, to break the silence and shame around domestic violence and to seek help. Slowly but steadily its mission has become a large success through the years, spurring community leaders such as California Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, activist Helen Zia, broadcaster Jan Yanehiro, feminist Emily Murase, and San Francisco School Board Trustee Hydra Mendoza, to perform at this

year’s first all-Asian American women production of “The Vagina Monologues”.

Gloria Caoile, senior political director of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance and esteemed community trailblazer and leader, says of Marily, “The Pistahan festival could not have picked a more outstanding person to serve as Hermana Mayor. Marily is the personification of everything great about our community – unequaled passion and commitment to the Filipino American empowerment. Her leadership in Filipina American women’s issues is unparalleled thus raising the awareness of our community. She is not afraid to raise issues that will cross the line but benefit the disadvantaged. Marily leads by doing, not just talking!”

Marily has received numerous awards; most notably the Award of Excellence from the Image Industry Council International, Filipinas Magazine’s Achievement Award for Community Service and was nominated for the Philippine Presidential Award for Outstanding Filipinos Overseas. But, of her many accomplishments, she considers her work in the campaign to end domestic violence to be one of her key achievements and inspiration.

Elena Mangahas, who was also recently elected Board Chair of the Filipina Women’s Network, describes working with Marily as “wear[ing] many hats, sometimes

we exchange hats, and sometimes we pass the hat! Working with Marily is as power charged as discovering unknown frontiers in

space – you know you’re equipped but you don’t know which frontier will give you space. Either you make small steps, or take giant leaps. Or you re-tool.”

Dr. Jennifer Ong who is the Statewide Treasurer for the California Democratic Party’s Asian Pacific Islander Caucus currently chairs FWN’s Filipina Salo Salo, a monthly gathering at some of the Bay Area’s best Filipino-owned restaurants. “You don’t need to know Marily for very long to feel inspired by her dedication to the power of women and the importance of helping Filipinas realize their full potential in leadership positions. Marily’s vision is limitless, and I will always remember her reminder to me ‘aim high and don’t hold yourself back.’ She is genuine in her regard to advance women and create awareness in people who may have fallen to some unrecognized fallacies in their views of women and women’s roles in society,” she says.

Moving forward, Marily’s goal is to create sustainable programs that engage accomplished Filipina American women to give back to the community that advance representation for Filipina women in corporate, government, academic, and non-profit sectors.

“We need to be part of the decisions that affect our lives and make sure that we have a seat at all the important tables -- from the economic table to the government table to the health table,” Marily said. “Through our work, we are planting the seeds in youth and women to make a difference. Let’s start now. Let’s start with us.”

Mondejar

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