Your host, Aya Shlachter, talks with Jenika Gonzales, a Visual & Graphic Designer at Mitchell’s Ice Cream and a Freelance Designer (Jenika May LLC)

In this second episode honoring the October Filipino Heritage Month, Aya gets into a hearty conversation with a fellow creative Filipina-Clevelander, Jenika Gonzales. Jenika talks about her upbringing in the Philippines, what it was like to spend eight years apart from her mother, her family’s immigration journey, and how these experiences ultimately affected her outlook in life today. As a creative at heart and in practice, Jenika emphasizes the value of interpersonal connections and that there’s always an opportunity that arises from developing trust and healthy relationships with people. 

This episode dives into Jenika’s creative journey, design process, thoughts on human relationships, and even her enthusiasm for food, so be sure to catch this episode and be part of the conversation!

About the Guest:

Jenika Gonzales is a Visual & Graphic Designer at Mitchell’s Ice Cream and a Freelance Designer (Jenika May LLC). In her past work, Jenika helped design the packaging of Market Garden Brewery’s cans, Created and promoted Global Cleveland’s 10-year anniversary rebrand as it’s first Marketing Director, worked on Dimit Architects logo rebrand, and have collaborated with many small businesses in Cleveland and beyond.

Active in the community, Gonzales was a member of the inaugural Global Rising Leadership Program that Global Cleveland created in 2020 and contributes to the grassroots organization of OPAWL (Ohio Progressive Asian Women Leadership). Jenika was featured  in Cleveland Magazine’s Most Interesting People 2022  And Crain’s Cleveland Notable Immigrant in 2022. In her spare time, she enjoys exploring new culinary adventures along with cooking Filipino food favorites to share!

Where to find Jenika:

www.jenikagonzales.com 

@jenikagonzales

@jenikaeatsmeat

Features:

Jenika featured in Spectrum News

Jenika Featured in Cleveland Magazine

Lost Years

If you’d like to be a guest on Architect My Life, click HERE.

 

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Your host, Aya Shlachter, talks with Jing Lauengco– brand strategist, chief optimist, and female founder of Jing Inc. and Other Brown Girl.

To celebrate October Filipino Heritage Month, Aya shares an uplifting conversation with fellow Filipina-Clevelander Jing Lauengco about their inspiring journeys as creative entrepreneurs, how their Filipino heritage influenced who they are, and how their shared passion for creativity and empowering women brought them together. In this episode, Jing also shared her tips for closing major deals with clients and emphasized the importance of handling business by sharing and serving rather than just selling. 

As Jing discusses her businesses and personal projects, she also delved into how her early years as a female caricature artist at Cedar Point have made her appreciate the value of human connection and how her battle with cancer taught her to live life more passionately.

About the guest:

As a young Manila-born Filipina with a colorful imagination growing up in Ohio, Jing Lauengco saw the power of words, cross-cultural connections, and creative storytelling at an early age. Jing’s passion for Diversity, Design, and Digital Storytelling grew as an award-winning Brand Strategist, Chief Optimist, and Female Founder of Jing Inc., her design and business consultancy; Other Brown Girl (OBG), her social impact blog for modern, multicultural women and next-gen OtherBrownGIrl leaders and entrepreneurs; and her podcast, Next Thing with Jing, exploring next chapters, new adventures, and real life-work life comebacks.

 

Entrepreneur, former Design Firm Founder, and Ad Agency Partner, Jing is currently completing a non-fiction book about traveling to the Philippines to trace her family roots while taking a tour through breast cancer. 

 

Jing serves on Literary Cleveland’s Board of Trustees shaping DEI Community Programming, and OPAWL – Ohio Progressive Asian Women Leadership, a female-led social justice coalition building intersectional feminist advocacy. 

 

Featured in Cleveland Magazine’s 10 Women Who Inspire Us in Cleveland, Cleveland’s Most Interesting People – Creative Thinker, StoryClub Cleveland, and ideastream’s The Sound of Ideas, Jing teaches women and girls how to find their voice and design positive, self-empowering identities in their own words and own way. 

 

Jing’s living the dream and inspiring the next generation of modern women, creative entrepreneurs.

 

Where to find Jing:

https://www.jinginc.com/

https://www.otherbrowngirl.com/

Next Thing With Jing Podcast

Jing Lauengco LinkedIn

Jing Lauengco Instagram

 

If you’d like to be a guest on Architect My Life, click HERE.

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Your host, Aya Shlachter, talks with Liza Morales, Principal of Ecotecture Design Studio, CEO of Philippine Geogreen Inc., and co-founder of Tali Handmade.

In this episode, Aya and her good friend Liza Morales walk us through their experiences as women working in the architecture and design industry, from their time at Columbia University to their early New York lifestyles. Liza also delves into her passion for producing sustainable designs as well as the concept of future-proofing and how it should always go hand in hand with sustainability. She also reveals her secret for managing multimillion-dollar businesses while maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

 

Liza is the Principal and Design Director of Ecotecture Design Studio. Her firm specializes in sustainable architecture.  She was one of the first Filipino Leed Certified Architects. She is the CEO of Philippine Geogreen a Leading distributor of Sustainable  Products in the Philippines. She is also the co-founder of Tali, a social enterprise, that produces handbags and home accessories. She employs and provides a livelihood for women in impoverished rural communities.

 

Liza is a serial entrepreneur who has been featured in Asia’s biggest publications including a 45-minute segment in CNN’s Leading Women dedicated to her accomplishments as a female entrepreneur. She is also an active member of the Entrepreneurs Organization in the Philippines.

 

www.philgeogreen.com

www.ecotecturedesign.com

Lisa Morales LinkedIn 

Ecotecture Instagram

Philgeogreen Instagram

Tali Handmade bags

 

Tune in to this episode to know more about sustainability, future-proofing, and work-life balance from Liza!

 

If you’d like to be a guest on Architect My Life, click HERE.

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