The finest steel passes through the hottest furnace: The youngest in a family of 10, turnover manager Ulysses grew up in the suburbs of Manila in an impoverished environment. “We didn’t experience any form of luxury at all,” he says. “We had just enough to last day to day.”
In his youth, Ulysses was a happy-go-lucky guy who didn’t place value in hard work. But his then police officer-turned-electrician father taught him to approach life with a more serious attitude: Pops wasn’t going to be around forever and Ulysses needed to learn to fend for himself.
He took his father’s word to heart, graduating and securing a job with a Japanese multinational company. But then his father became stricken with heart disease and sadly passed away in 2006. “His last words to me were to keep myself healthy and to always put God first in everything I do.”
Because his mum had to work odd jobs to supplement his dad’s income, Ulysses had to learn to prepare his own meals. “We didn’t have any maid,” he jokes. He still cooks all his meals and follows a strict diet comprising brown rice, grilled fish, chicken, nuts, vegetables and fruits. “I maintain a healthy lifestyle not for myself, but for the people who depend on me.”
Ulysses now has five children, a plum job and has also mastered six languages, but trials are still coming his way.
“Working with international colleagues can be very daunting,” he admits. “I first felt like a toothpick among chopsticks.” But he dug deep – and realised that life’s not about who you are or where you come from.
“I take care of the people around me because they are eventually the people who will help you through tough times.”
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