Isabelle Gavino – Sales, CSR and Tech Support

Hello – I’m Belle or Bella, as they call me. 🙂

It took me a while to gather words on how to tell my “story” as I find myself a little boring, and I didn’t know how to start… but here it goes…

I am youngest in my family. I have a sister who is 15 years older than me, and honestly, I never had the opportunity to know her better as she moved to the US to pursue her career when I was still a little kid. So – I ended up being raised like an “only child” with my parents. That has its pro’s and con’s and like any other person, I craved independence and freedom as I had so much attention from my parents treating me like a baby – even these days!

Growing up, I enjoyed most of my time being alone, or with very limited friends. I value honesty, privacy and trust. I was bullied in school for many years, until finally I stood up to the bullies by simply mocking what they did, which proved to be an effective technique. 🙂

College days: I went to Saint Louis University in Baguio, which was 8 hours away from home. I first took up Accountancy, which my parents wanted, even though it wasn’t my passion. And eventually, I shifted to a different course. I honestly wanted to take up Architecture or Pre-medicine studies as I wanted to become a doctor, but I knew my parents couldn’t afford the associated fees, so I opted for a business course instead.

I didn’t get my “independence card” until I graduated with my Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing.

I came about my first job in a very surprising way. I was just accompanying my friend to a job fair and I was lucky enough to land a job within 2 hours – which was in Manila.

I started my career in Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) as Technical Support for a Sony account. We were supporting Smart TVs. I am thankful to the company because they really built my foundation for speaking English well. Sadly, after 6 months they had to let go of some employees as the account was dissolved, and I was one of them.

My 2nd job commenced in under a month later, at a Sales account, Synnex – Concentrix. I was hesitant at first as I had no experience. Fortunately, the company ensured that their people were trained properly. I was a Sales Representative and was part of a team with our US partners and other team members within the territory. I worked for almost 6 years there, and my pay doubled more than what I expected over the years. I gained valuable experience with, and understandings of, the B2B (Business-to-Business) industry. I built great relationships there – even with our reseller, and our vendor – who has kept in touch despite resigning a while back. He said I was his ‘favorite’ sales rep and friend. Overall, I felt that the company and clients trusted me and respected the way that I was able to help them in terms of work and non-work… which I do think is essential when forming bonds with others.

We’ve had our ups and downs, which I think is a normal part of life. Over the years, I developed diabetes and hypertension (runs in the family) which also affected my work back then causing a bit of depression. So, I decided to take a break. It was hard for me to leave my job as I’d been with the company and my colleagues for so long. They had helped me grow and I felt like I belonged there. But I had to make changes back then for the sake of my health. I wasn’t sure at the time if I was going to regret it or not later… and then my 3rd job came along…

3rd job: I applied and was lucky enough to be accepted for a day shift job at Shopify as a Customer Service Representative. I was excited to try day shift as I had just spent the last 6 years doing night shift. The account was very complex and new to me, but I gained a lot of new learning during my time with them. The atmosphere was great, and the management was so engaged with their employees’ satisfaction. After a few months though, I began weighing up the pro’s and con’s. My expenses had skyrocketed from the need to go and stay nearby. Don’t get me wrong – BGC is a great place to work – but a day shift job costs you huge chunks of time in travel and money – which I had miscalculated… and don’t get me started on the traffic! 🙂

I’ve learned in life that once you make any decision, it works around that decision. There is no right or wrong, only a series of possibilities that shift with each thought, feeling, and action that you experience or put in motion. My decision now is to explore the possibilities of being a valuable part in the Virtual Assistant world… and hopefully in your world too. 🙂

Thank you for reading my story.

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