While hopping in between continents, Ms. Joana Bacallo managed to finish her postgraduate in Aviation Management in Coventry University.
Her passion for aviation and customer care were surpassed by the fuel that fills her heart, which is water. She would like to believe She is a social entrepreneur and as an advocate, one thing you should know about her is that She is a serial crowdfunder: She pledged her birthday each year to a water project of her choice or She goes on hiking to rural areas where she can engage with children to teach them importance of hygiene and water conservation through arts and fun games.
She rolls out a call to action on social media platforms to her friends, former classmates and co-workers to take a vacation off and celebrate with her.
Her 30th birthday gained some international media attention and She was able to sponsor (through crowdfunding) 200 indigenous kids in the highest elementary school in the Philippines.
As per Joana:
The lives the youth live nowadays are unparalleled.
I work among the clouds- I am responsible for your inflight safety and comfort because I am an international senior flight stewardess. I have moved away from the Philippines about eight years ago and embarked on a traveled life.
Free flights are amazing- this is one of the perks of my day job and it made me experience art and beauty but I also saw the ugly side of it too especially with water, sanitation and hygiene to countries I visit.
Although my office is 40,000 feet up, I spend my days on ground learning about surrounding topics on water and advocating for people in rural communities to have more knowledge and access to cheap drinkable water.
I wanted my impact magnified even after I created Agua Pura Natural, a purified water filtration and refilling station startup in my hometown in Metro Manila and I am continuously pioneering on how to engage young people to be advocates of water and its conservation even they belong to different industries and practicing different crafts- they can make a change, they can start a difference in their respective communities.
I believe entrepreneurship empowers communities especially its young women as this activity provides the tools to immediate solutions to grassroots yet basic social problems we usually take for granted like the lack of water and poor sanitation.
This is where the real impact starts. Everyone can be a practical and a tangible sources of hope in their small respective circles- the ripple effect!