Journalist Ces Oreña-Drilon has interviewed countless businessmen and women, and featured industry leaders as well as budding entrepreneurs in her 30-year career in broadcasting. Since she became an entrepreneur herself, Ces has become a farmer, a student, an inspiration—and more.
FWD Life Insurance and Ces Oreňa-Drilon bring to the public “Manifesto: An FWD Masterclass,” where she shares lessons and tips on starting a business, staying committed to one’s goals, and how she manifested her own dreams to encourage people to take that step and find their own secret sauce to success.
While many people had to postpone their dreams during the pandemic, Ces had the opposite experience. Ces quickly found the opportunity (and the time) to pursue her dream of starting a business of self-care products from natural ingredients.
“The loss of a job that was not just a source of income but a passion was jarring, but the change of pace gave me time to study, research and learn new skills to develop another facet of myself. It led me to become an entrepreneur,” she says.
Thus was born Provenciana, which makes smudge sticks or bundles of dried herbs that you burn to produce a cleansing cloud of smoke for positive energy, soaps and other natural self-care and home products.
Manifesto: An FWD Masterclass divided into 6 lessons over 6 weeks
In Lesson 1:
How to start under your own steam (November 4), Ces will talk about the importance of knowing what drives you and rediscovering your passions. She will also share tips on getting started and staying committed. In Provenciana, she started by recruiting her own children to be her business partners. “We share goals and we’re quite
disciplined. I’m very happy to be ordered around by my sons and that they have so much wisdom,” she says.
In Lesson 2:
How to grow what you’ve started (November 11), she will discuss upskilling and finding the right investment that will help grow your hard-earned money. “I invested a lot, I studied, I enrolled in classes, I upgraded my skills. And this is really the road to success. You have to be patient,” she says.
In Lesson 3:
How to overcome challenges (November 18), Ces will share tips on facing the challenges that may come along the way and what it takes to develop a winning character, one that will let you stay on top of daunting situations.
“Sa krisis o hamon sa buhay, di dapat tayo magpapatalo,” Ces says. “There really is opportunity in a crisis.
May paraan yan, baka di niyo pa lang nakikita.”
Lesson 4:
How to protect what you’ve built (November 25) is a lesson that Ces knows very well, especially since she was a single parent raising four young boys. At the recent FWD Manifesters Roundtable, she shared that when she was kidnapped in 2008 in Mindanao, when she had the chance to talk to her family on the phone she told her sibling to make sure her insurance payments were up to date.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen to me,” she said in the livestreamed event. “Of course, I was thinking about my sons.”
It’s the same when starting a business: “be prepared for the unexpected things in life or not getting what you want. If your goal is to live a financially comfortable life, then you have to plan the trajectory of your career, your income and investments. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice from experts.”
In Lesson 5
: How to celebrate living (December 2), Ces will talk about how achieving your goals and dreams can bring “happiness and will give you time to celebrate the little moments in our lives. Achieving little milestones is a reason to celebrate. In your own journey towards
manifesting your dreams, always remember that life is a big adventure, don’t forget to have fun and to celebrate your little victories. Always keep in mind that the journey is as important as the destination.”
In Lesson 6:
How to manifest your dream (December 9), Ces will discuss the importance of first visualizing your dream and then learning concrete ways to start early.
“If you don’t act on your dreams, they’re only an idea,” she says. “You have to visualize in your mind what it is you really want so that it’s very clear to you what you have to focus on. You have to work at it. Tiyaga.”
Watch and learn from Ces Drilon in Manifesto: An FWD Masterclass. Watch the series here.