IT WAS A RIDE!
Gerardo’s School of Culinary Arts – a school I have only known through a friend who graduated from
there. I enrolled on the behest of following that route, and because the graduates there are already
given better opportunities than most of us, by working in reputable hotels, cruise ships, and abroad. I
wanted the same for myself as well.
The training being intense, I eventually graduated out of sheer hard work and will. Expectations were
high when graduation season arrived – personally, I saw my graduation as the first step in achieving my
dream to become a successful chef. As I went on with my career, I eventually reached the supervisory ranks of the industry. Reaching such rank was the first real challenge for me. Specifically, it was particularly difficult to be able to handle different personalities and attitudes within my team – something that took me a while to master, since most of them are older than me. It was difficult for me to impose rules and standards at first, given their seniority, but it pushed through in the end.
I am happy where I am now, but still hungry for more learnings that would come. My current goal in my
career is to achieve the Executive Chef position.
Right now, I am currently working in one of the most reputable hotel companies in the world. I am currently the Chef de Cuisine of Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa, which has been a dream of mine. I have been working in different places, and this has always been on my bucket list, and it is still surreal to me how I am where I am today.
I will never forget my experiences in Gerardo’s – the training affects my career not only because I learned the fundamentals of the culinary arts the proper way, but also Gerardo’s was one of the big
reasons behind my development as a professional in terms of developing good work ethics, conduct,
and being passionate towards my job. I would consider where I am right now as the biggest achievement in my career thus far – my stint with Shangri-La Mactan. A close second would be my time in Movenpick Hotel Mactan, where I was awarded a Supervisor of the Quarter certification, an award given to those who have exemplary supervisorial skills in our profession.
What can I say, it was a ride. Thank you, Gerardo’s, for the first big leap in my career, to my family, who I
am doing all of this for, I love all of you, to my friends, to God, whom these blessings are from, and to
everyone who has been part of my journey. In this career, one needs to learn patience, one needs to learn discipline, and more importantly, perseverance.