Empowered women empower women.
No words have rung truer for The Entree.Pinays, a collective of Melbourne-based Filipina entrepreneurs seeking to promote awareness of Filipino cuisine, culture and community through creative events.
Grace Guinto: The.Entree Pinays and Sweet Cora
"For me, women supporting other women has always been important because if you don't have someone who looks or sounds like you in a place of power, you won't think [that's] possible for you."
Grace Guinto, along with her fellow Entree.Pinays, are encouraging other Filipino women to discover what's possible. One way the group is doing this is through their Sari-Sari ('variety' or also refers to a 'sundry') Sisterhood initiative.
"The Sari-Sari Sisterhood came to life as a platform to help us connect and celebrate the diversity of talents that we have come across in Filipinas, women of colour and other entrepreneurial individuals here in Australia," Grace shares, adding, "In a similar way that our own mothers found their network in their kumares (female friends) when they first moved to Australia, we can also celebrate the sisterhood that we formed so we can become strong and determined entrepreneurs in our own journeys."
The Entree.Pinays Source: The Entree.Pinays
Through her own journey as owner of Sweet Cora, Grace Guinto has come across other strong and determined entrepreneurs like Marie De Vera, a freelance creative consultant of The Style Co. fame and, Darlene Ladio, owner of Green Empire Street. Both Marie and Darlene are now part of the Sari-Sari Sisterhood.
Grace shares that she has been enjoying a longtime friendship with Marie.
Marie [left] and Grace [right] have been friends since high school. Source: Grace Guinto
"Marie is one of my high school friends and somewhat related to me as a cousin-in-law," she says, adding, "When I got married, I leveraged on Marie's skill set to help me create my invitations. I was her second client. Since then, she's used that as a starting point to evolve her business as well."
While Grace and Marie formed a long time ago, Grace and Darlene connected more recently as vendors in the Footscray market. Darlene was selling pots and indoor plants, while Grace was selling her baked goods.
"All I was hearing was this lovely woman passing by saying [about my baked goods] 'Oh my God! Are those really calamansi tarts?' Grace laughs, adding, "That became a catalyst for us to share our stories, business and [our drive] to promote our culture in a creative way. Darlene through her plants and me through my sweets...Since then, Darlene has been helping green-up our events with her curated pots and plants."
The Entree.Pinays at Green Empire St. Source: The Entree.Pinays
Darlene Ladio: Green Empire St.
While curating and selling pots and plants now occupy a lot of Darlene Ladio's time, she admits that running a business was "unexpected".
"Before starting Green Empire St., I was just your crazy plant lady collecting plants. Later on, there was a little bit too much so I would [put them in wicker baskets] and sell them on Facebook marketplace. I was so excited. I [loved] the feeling of someone [putting[ the wicker basket that I found and the plant that I had in their home. Over time, there was a lot of [buyers] coming in and out of my apartment which looked a little suss," she laughs.
Not wanting to look suss and acquiring even more indoor plants, Darlene decided to join her first market at Kensington.
"I signed up for my first market, which was at Kensington, with a commodore. We had to do so many trips to get the plants into the market space." Source: Darlene Ladio
"We [used a] commodore, so we had to do so many trips to get the plants into the market space," she shares, adding, "We [didn't realise] there would be so many people interested in the plants. We were so overwhelmed we didn't have bags or change. I couldn't keep up and the market managers had to help me. It was crazy."
The craziness didn't deter Darlene from persisting. She continued to sell her products online and in markets, but when her stock started taking up too much space in her sister-in-law's garage, she decided that she needed a physical space of her own. Thus, Green Empire St. the store front found its home in Sunshine North.
"Initially the business wasn't the plan that i had envisioned but, it sort of evolved naturally. It presented itself to me," she shares, adding, "[I think my passion] was a longing for nature. [I grew up] in Pangasinan, which is a farming province....growing our own ampalaya from seeds and watering the fields...discovering that I could have plants - most of which are tropical - inside my home, it reminded me of that."
"I was just your crazy plant lady going to markets and nurseries to find plants to add to my collection." Source: Darlene Ladio
Marie De Vera: The Style Co. and creative consultancy
The way Marie De Vera views creativity is also reminiscent of her own home and family.
"Growing up, my dad and my aunties told me that my grandma used to always create something out of nothing. She did things differently so she can make more money for the family," Marie says, adding, "I always questioned that - maybe I can make money in other [unconventional] ways, so I did."
Marie started exploring creative ventures 10 years ago while working in a full-time corporate job. And while she admits that she took the traditional route of going to school, getting married and finding that secure corporate job, she "was always looking for something different and outside of the corporate world, and constant inspiration in creating new things".
Marie [2nd to the left] and The Style Co. team in the MasterChef launch, one of their high-profile events. Source: Marie De Vera
Because of this need to create new things, Marie explored jewelry making and fashion, invitations and eventually, events styling.
"It wasn't really until I got married that I realised how traditional and rigid weddings could be. I was never really one of those girls who dreamed about my wedding. I just wasn't into flowers or anything like that; so when it came to this big thing that you could be creative with and design, I was asked 'Why don't you want roses? Why don't u want the sash that goes onto the chair? I just didn't want any of it."
What Marie did want was to create a company that would style events bound in storytelling, giving guests and celebrants experiences that were far from being prepackaged. From this want, Marie co-founded The Style Co., which would become one of the most influential and in-demand event design studios in Australia.
Marie De Vera with The Style Co. team Source: Marie De Vera
While The Style Co. enjoys prominence in both the Australian and international events scene and while it has its fair share of high-profile clients, the most memorable event for Marie is one of their firsts. The event was a small wedding held in a field in the regional Victorian town of Traralgon.
"It was the most difficult event I had to do but also my favourite. The couple wanted to get married in their property. We realised that they had another property across the road, but it was completely bare and it had goats running around and grass up to your shoulders - probably even snakes," she laughs, adding, "In the middle of that field, I thought 'Let's just build it from the ground up'.
Building the venue from the ground up meant carving it out of the grass; building a bar and restaurant, dining area and dance floor from scratch; lighting an area that had no power outlets; and pitching teepee tents for guests to stay overnight.
Feast in the Field by The Style Co. Source: The Style Co.
"It was successful and it went viral on social media. It just proved our idea to other people with a visual representation of what we can do with events," she says, adding, "Half of the pitch is about allowing clients to visualise the journey more than it is about the physical pieces coming together. It's about storytelling."
Sari-Sari Sisterhood: The launch and 'Chismis and Chikahan'
The importance of storytelling isn't lost with the other members of the Sari-Sari Sisterhood either. The Entree.Pinays, along with the female entrepreneurs who are part of the collective, believe in the power of sharing their own personal and entrepreneurial stories in order to connect and empower others.
Darlene herself believes that she's benefited from the support of her ates (older sisters) from The Entree.Pinays, sharing, "In terms of being confident and believing in myself to just go and do what I love...to have them as a support network is incredible. It's great to have a sisterhood to with on a cultural level, being driven and being migrants in this country."
Being a migrant in Australia resonates with Grace as well who believes that their initiative is "homage back to us being daughters of immigrants and that the strength we [have] has really drawn from the strength that we saw from our own mothers, titas (aunts) and lolas (grandmothers) when they first migrated here to Australia."
A sisterhood of creatives, entrepreneurs and mums Source: Marie De Vera / Darlene Ladio / Grace Guinto
And with the strength passed on from those who came before them, Marie shares, "The work ethic we've been taught, we do ourselves and pass on to our kids. Meeting these [women] has been really exciting because I haven't seen a lot of women who look like me and has had the similar challenges that I've had. To see them pushing through and showing people what they can do - it's really exciting seeing how things are coming together."
The Entree.Pinays will be launching Sari-Sari Sisterhood in their first “Chismis & Chikahan” session, featuring Darlene Ladio of Green Empire St.; Kimberly Cruz of The Potter x The Clay and; Marie De Vera of The Style Co.
Sari-Sari Sisterhood presents “Chismis & Chikahan” session on “Pots and Plants - Blooming into an entrepreneurial life” Source: The Entree.Pinays
The event, entitled 'Pots and Plants - Blooming into an entrepreneurial life', will be held on November 9.
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