In 2015, I was working with great people that did really cool things for Fortune 200 companies but did not feel passionate about the company. Not knowing exactly what to do next, I set up a bunch of coffee meetings, read blogs, attended events, and found myself being drawn to more education focused meetups, specifically around postsecondary and professional development and this is when I came across Make School.

After doing some research, I reached out to the founders and successfully persuaded them that they needed someone with my experience, I was hired as the Head of Finance and Operations. I did find what I was looking for, every time I talk to our student or see them engaged in class, their passion keeps me and my team going. It’s been a roller coaster but that was expected, especially when we are building a better way to teach computer science that empowers people to create products that help make the world a better place where students love coming to school every day and are passionate about their work.

Since Jeremy and Ashu launched the first Summer Academy in 2012, Make School has taught over 2,000 students in person and have grown to 12 cities in the US and Asia. Our curriculum is used by MIT, Carnegie Mellon University, and UC Berkeley.

Product College, our 2-year accelerated program has graduated 3 classes and have alumni working in tech companies such as Google, Facebook, Apple, LinkedIn and other venture-backed startups. Facebook just announced that they will be recruiting directly from us, this is really important because it supports our ideology that you don’t need to go to an 4-year university to be a software engineer. We also want to change how students pay for college, our groundbreaking Income Share Agreement collaboration with GS2 creates transparency in higher education by aligning the cost of an education with students’ outcomes.

What do we want to do in the Philippines?

• Share our curriculum with high schools and colleges and offer training to faculty
• Meet with companies who are interested in upskilling their engineers to do iOS development
• Discuss how we can provide world-class science and technology education that is on par with Stanford, MIT, and CMU with policy makers

If you or know someone who would be good to talk to, let’s connect!

A powerful conversation I had in 2015 with someone I admire and respect in my family planted a seed in my heart for a strong desire to do something meaningful in the Philippines. Many of my Filipino friends who are now based in the U.S. feel the same way. We want to extend the same opportunities we had and make it available in the Philippines or at the very least share the skills and knowledge we learned from working with the best and brightest.

This has been my inspiration and the driving force behind Pacific Ventures & Introductions. My mission is to connect San Francisco Bay Area and New York companies, technologies, and best practices for economic development and social empowerment of the Filipino people. Areas of focus will be education, healthcare, agriculture, and transportation technology. It is my vision to take high-potential Filipinos, provide them with technical and professional development training, and an introduction to a network of companies that will provide them above market salaries and a path for career advancement.

My hope is that young people challenge the common belief that working abroad is the answer to a better life. I encourage them to see a path forward by staying in the Philippines and in doing so contribute to the growing and vibrant economy and be able to provide opportunities to the ones who will come after them.

I am really excited to share this journey with everyone. To learn more please reach out to me to see how we can work together. That time is NOW!