\u2014 Ha-ha! That\u2019s because I\u2019m from the Philippines. We\u2019re called the \u201cMexicans of Asia\u201d as we were a colony of Spain for 333 years.<\/p>\n
\u2014 In my country, people from the Philippines are mostly known as massage therapists or babysitters. And they\u2019re always women! I\u2019ve just realized I\u2019ve never met a man from the Philippines!<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2014 That\u2019s totally understandable. It\u2019s Philippine women who usually go abroad to earn for their family. And you\u2019re right: Filipinas abroad are usually helpers, babysitters or nurses!<\/p>\n Filipino men are fond of basketball and\u2026 beer. That\u2019s how I\u2019d best describe them; however, I\u2019m actually not so familiar with Filipinos \u2014 my husband is from India.<\/p>\n \u2014 Did you meet him in Malaysia?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2014 No. I \u201cmet\u201d him through Instagram while I was in the Philippines. We\u2019re currently in a long-distance marriage. He comes to visit me from time to time, and I go to India.<\/p>\n \u2014 What are the main differences between the Philippines and Malaysia?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2014 Well, the climate is almost the same: both the Philippines and Malaysia are tropical countries. But because Malaysia is not part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, it doesn\u2019t get the powerful typhoons or earthquakes like in the Philippines. I always get shocked reactions from my Malaysian colleagues when I say that Filipinos are used to naturally-caused catastrophes such as these.<\/p>\n The language is also different. My mother tongue is Filipino (Tagalog) and our second language in the Philippines is English. Here in Malaysia, people speak Malay (Bahasa), Chinese, and English. The surprising thing I learned is that there are some Filipino words borrowed from Malay. To name a couple, both languages have the same word for five (lima) and child (anak).<\/p>\n In terms of habits, Filipinos are admittedly\u2026 noisier! It\u2019s normal for us to chit-chat loudly \u2014 even in busy public places. And it\u2019s considered normal to comment on people\u2019s weight, social status, salary, or any personal matters! I\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s because I\u2019m a foreigner here, but I think Malaysians are more polite and reserved compared to Filipinos.<\/p>\n \u2014 So, you\u2019re not feeling homesick?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2014 Oh, I am! No country can replace your motherland. I mean, there are lots of things about the Philippines that break my heart, but my family is there, the food I grew up eating is there, and my fondest memories are there too. So there\u2019s still a part of me that aches for home.<\/p>\n \u2014 Why did you move to Malaysia?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2014 I moved back in 2019 to take on my new role at Kaspersky. It was a huge career milestone for me, though it was the scariest thing I\u2019ve ever done as it was my first time outside my motherland.<\/p>\n \u2014 Back in the Philippines, had you any experience of cybersecurity, hackers and things like that?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2014 Oh, not really. The first time I read about cybersecurity was when researching an article I was writing \u2014 about a mobile Trojan \u2014 for Kaspersky. That was in February 2015 \u2014 seven years ago. You see, before I took my current position with the company I was a writer for a PR agency that worked for Kaspersky in the Philippines. My main task was to write media announcements and news articles.<\/p>\n \u2014 Wow, learning about Trojans only in 2015! Does that mean computer life in the Philippines is calm and peaceful?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2014 Possibly. It\u2019s probably more that we\u2019re quite oblivious to the threats. Or perhaps it\u2019s because we were quite late in terms of cybersecurity, IT technologies in general, and awareness as compared to Western countries. In fact, even now, when mobile wallets are becoming more and more popular in the Philippines and in Southeast Asia in general, we\u2019re still doing proactive campaigns to urge people to use security solutions to protect their smartphones \u2014 because not many folks install AV or internet security tools on their phones.<\/p>\n News about hacking and malware has reached our shores and we can see that awareness is much improved now. But when it comes to action, there still remains a gap that needs to be addressed.<\/p>\n \u2014 So you were a PR writer, and now you\u2019re a Corporate Communications Manager for SEA. What\u2019s your current job about?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2014 It was a huge shift to make! Before this, I only wrote PR articles for Philippines-based media and readers. Now my main tasks include developing and implementing regional media relations activities, communications plans, and local content campaigns. The end goal is to maximize positive publicity for Kaspersky and to maintain a healthy level of coverage and exposure for us here.<\/p>\n So now I\u2019m in the driver\u2019s seat, deciding and making strategies for the content campaigns and events that need to be relevant for the six key countries here \u2014 Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Southeast Asia is incredibly diverse, so our communication strategy here is not one-size-fits-all. Each country is at a different stage of technological advancement and cybersecurity maturity so we adapt and strategize as we go along.<\/p>\n Writing articles, though, remains one of the most fulfilling parts of the job for me.<\/p>\n \u2014 You know the Philippines and Malaysia well. But how do you manage campaigns and events for Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam? Do you visit these countries often? Or do you rely on local colleagues?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2014 Before the pandemic, I used to visit these countries a lot. But when the lockdowns started, I had to rethink our PR strategies amid the new reality. That\u2019s when remote collaboration became a thing.<\/p>\n As soon as I took on this role back in 2019, I started making regular calls with our local and regional sales teams to keep track of their business goals and priorities. This proved to be essential during the pandemic. Because we\u2019ve built that internal rapport, our collaboration of PR, marketing and sales in SEA is highly integrated \u2014 both at the local and regional levels.<\/p>\n \u2014 What do you think of Singapore? It\u2019s promoted as a \u201cnew information era city\u201d, but what does it mean for our corporate strategies?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2014 Singapore is indeed one of the most advanced places in Southeast Asia in terms of technological advancement and IT security posture. Topics of media inquiries here are at more advanced levels: the Internet of Things, implementation of regulations and policies related to cybersecurity, telehealth, 5G, cryptocurrency, and more. Some of the media here are also proficient in technical things like coding and reverse engineering.<\/p>\n![\"Meet](\"https:\/\/media.kasperskydaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2022\/05\/25104620\/interview-rosemarie-gonzales-photo-1.jpg\")
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