Ia Louisse Horton – Customer Service Representative, Social Media Marketing

Hi! I’m Ia Louisse Horton, you can call me Ia. I’m a widowed mom of two kids, a boy and a girl. I studied Social Work at the University of the Philippines-Diliman, but I was not able to complete my degree because of personal reasons.

In 2011, I started working as a Customer Service Representative and was eventually cross-trained to do Social Media and Forum Moderation. I also did outbound calling and accounts management in the roles I played in the company. In 2016, I had to leave my corporate job to focus on my pregnancy and eventually raising my kids. I enjoyed being a stay-at-home mom but I have missed using my skills and got worried about getting rusty so I registered in online courses where I learned social media management during the pandemic. The goal was to be equipped with new skills to land a remote job when it is time for me to go back to work. I got inspired by my late husband. He was a software engineer and he could do his job wherever we were.

Our little family lived in the Philippines, Cambodia, Thailand, and Malaysia. Despite being on a career break, I still acted as my husband’s personal assistant. I was the one booking tickets to wherever we should go, managing his emails, calendars and itineraries along with planning playdates and birthday parties for our kids.

2021 started rough for me and my kids. My husband passed away in a freak accident while we were in Malaysia. It took us almost 2 months to go back to the Philippines because of limited flights. The grief comes and goes, but I have to be strong for my kids because I’m the only one they can depend on. My resilience, adaptability and flexibility are what kept me going. I chose to acquire more skills by attending training so I can be fully equipped to be a rockstar virtual assistant.

Working from home really gives meaning to work-life balance. It is a privilege to be able to work and not miss my children’s milestones. I value learning and growth and I love being in a company with the same objectives.

For a copy of Ia’s resume please click here.