Author: Stephanie "Honey" Caragos

When I was a wee kid (wee … coz I only bloated at age 12 … probably from some kind of allergic reaction … yeah right…haha), I wanted to be a doctor. I really wanted to be like my pediatrician since I thought… “This is so cool, all you have to do is listen to heartbeats, poke kids with a needle and hey! I’m going to have a refrigerator full of lollipops!” Until I found out you would have to be dealing with “booboos” … “blood” blech .. the wretched idea of looking at it made me back out of that “ambition” I then I wanted to become a priest … haha! Yeah yeah… As a child, weren’t you intrigued by the idea that you would be handing out that thing that looked like domino (round) cookies? Oh man… I would get a pack of “dominoes” from our sari-sari store and I’d ask my sister and my younger cousin to take turns in forming a line and opening their mouths to receive the “host” until we consume the whole pack. Of course, later on I understood that primarily you had to be a guy to become a priest and that that there were so much meaning to the host rather than just a cookie (believe it or not, I only fully understood the meaning of the Holy Eucharist just...

Finally, we were able to move to our new office space. We went through all the stress and burden of finding a new office space, negotiating for space, looking for the right contractor, renovation to actual moving of furniture. Last November, we started the grueling task of looking for the best location for our new office as we had to vacate our office space in Limketkai Center. We started looking for spaces within the Divisoria Area (FYI, Divisoria here in Cagayan de Oro is our business district). A good friend recommended a building along Velez-Cruz Taal streets. Instantly, I loved the place, but I realized that it needed much renovation. As a sound businessperson of course, I had to check out the other options, which were many but location was crucial. Another option was the 6th floor of a building, also along Velez St. The space was okay, the size was just enough and the rent was also okay, the walls were already painted and all we had to do was apply for a meter with CEPALCO. But not everybody knew the building. What I did was inform a lot of people about my options and their first reaction about the second space was “where is that?” Taking note of such reaction, we decided on the first choice and signed the lease contract with the building owner around December....

Welcome to the DigitalFilipino IT Amazing Race, women’s series. For this race, each contestant must be able to give a talk about their experiences in the IT industry and must be able to travel to 4 different cities in the Philippines in four days and must cover the three major islands: Luzon, Vizayas and Mindanao. The team members are: Abby O. Lim – AKA Ecommerce Site Starter – Owner of www.virramall.com and Alfox Computer Center. Cannie Mae Encarnacion – AKA Pinoy Payment Gateway hope and savior – www.yossn.com Stephanie “Honey” Caragos – AKA, the Sweetest IT professional you can ever find (siempre) – www.syntacticsinc.com Aileen Apolo – AKA, Diosa ng Philippine SEO– (Apolo with one “L” please) Philippines Country Consultant for www.Google.com Jonas De Los Reyes – AKA, ang lider ng online bentahan (Ecommerce Manager) for www.yehey.com Here’s my summary of the entire ITventure: Women on the Web, Wireless and Outsourcing Day 1: Team members (Janette, Cannie, Abby, Aileen and Jonas) flew in from Manila to setup the Venue for the launching of the Forum. I picked up Cannie and Abby from the hotel and was so happy to see them personally (“live”) for the first time. We have constantly communicated through YM and have discussed for this roadshow. We took a sidetrip to Del Monte Bukidnon to show them around and then came back to Cagayan de Oro...