Mary Yap – Administrative Assistant

mary-neilany-yap-vaHello, my name is Mary Neilany Yap or “Eila” for short. I am married and a mother of two beautiful daughters. These two little girls have been my inspiration and motivation to continuously develop myself. That is why even if I have several years of work experience already under my belt, I never stopped striving and looking for other opportunities that would help me grow.

I graduated with a degree in Industrial Economics, a course that is heavy in math. I was never good at this subject and it’s very far from what I usually loved doing, that is, arts and crafts. However, it is also that exact thought that actually led me to decide on this course. I wanted to challenge myself. I looked at my weakness as both a challenge and an opportunity to grow and learn more – a kind of attitude that I have even to my work life.

It was in 2006 when I landed my first job in a multinational financial services company, dealing with various large brokers and investment management firms worldwide. I started in the entry level position, learning new skill sets such as how to navigate through CRMs and market research. But by 2009, I was promoted to being a Team Leader, bypassing the role of being a senior. Being a team leader became a new challenge to me, but it was also through this role that I learned and developed different work attitudes, such as resiliency and resourcefulness when facing a difficult situation, and always being ready to find solutions to problems that may come up unexpectedly.

It was only a year after when another opportunity knocked on my door. Our company offered me the role of being a manager to our US team. It was frightening at first. Some people questioned whether I was ready for it because I had only been a team leader for a year, but then I have always been willing to take on a challenge so I accepted the role. Although it was a major adjustment at first with the bigger responsibilities that came with it, I took it as a learning experience. Eventually, I can proudly say that I was able to successfully improve the team assigned to me and help them progress more before I finally left that company in 2012 when I decided to focus on building a family after getting married.

mary-neilany-yap-vaEven when I left the corporate world already, I never stopped looking for opportunities that would let me continue practicing my work skills and learn more. I have done several home based jobs now, including editing, transcription, and now ESL. Simultaneously, I have also been helping in my husband’s family businesses. I really don’t have many gaps in my career life because I am the type of person who never stops learning and taking on new challenges. I have always been hungry for new skills and experiences. This is how I see work. Although it can be challenging and scary, I see it more as a chance for me to grow, and gain more knowledge and skills.

This kind of attitude is what I can offer. I am definitely not perfect, but one assurance I can give is that I would always make sure that I would work to the best of my capacity. Through my years of various job experiences, I have come to understand how it is to be both a leader and a staff, so I know the needs of both sides and I try to balance them. With any work assigned to me, may it be as simple as data entry or a more complicated operations process, I would always be the resilient, resourceful, independent, efficient, meticulous and highly dependable person that most people I have worked with know.

I would be honored to work hand in hand with a client in making their business grow and prosper. I don’t see clients as merely “clients” because I treat them more as partners as I help them grow their business while they also help me grow my career and skill sets. As I continue to look for opportunities, I keep myself busy right now by familiarizing myself more with various common VA tasks and apps, so that once I am finally given this chance, I would not be ill-equipped anymore.
To whoever is reading my story, thank you for taking the time to learn more about me. Cheers to you and I am looking forward to meeting you soon.

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