In celebration of Women’s History Month, we are featuring Filipino women who are all making a difference in their families, communities and their workplace. They come from different backgrounds but each one of them is forging their path as an immigrant woman of colour in the UK.
Name: Renee Karunungan-Edwards
Describe your current work
I am a communications strategist and I work with different non-profit organisations and research institutions, mainly working on climate change issues. I’m currently a communications consultant for The Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations based in Paris, France.
What is the maxim you live by?
I love what John Steinbeck said, “If it is right, it happens — The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.”
Tell us the biggest challenge that you faced and how you overcame it?
One of the biggest challenges I’ve had to face after arriving in the UK is that I had to prove myself again and start from scratch. I worked in the Philippines in the non-profit sector for years, where I already had an established network and people knew my work. But no one really knew me here, and I had to build that network and that trust amongst people in the UK. Fortunately, thanks to a combination of luck and hard work, I was able to find people who believed in me and what I can do.
My advice to young Filipino girls is this: Have the courage to be who you want to be. Do not let others discourage you or make you feel you are not capable of achieving what you want to achieve.
What is the one achievement that you are most proud of and why?
It’s difficult to choose one! But I am proud that I was able to finish my PhD with a fellowship from Loughborough University. Getting a PhD was not in my life plan, but an opportunity was handed to me and I took it. It was a three-year journey where many times I questioned my work as an academic. But I had such a good support system and I managed to write an 80,000-word thesis about the Philippines as a case study for digital political campaigning. This is definitely something I am proud of.
What would be your advice to young Filipino girls of today?
My advice for young Filipino girls is this: Have the courage to be who you want to be. Do not let others discourage you or make you feel you are not capable of achieving what you want to achieve.
