Kumusta, it's kuya Erick.

I learned to hustle young. To put myself through college, I worked odd jobs and sold whatever I could: pabango, Hansel balls, coffee jelly, and more. I knocked on doors and even tried an MLM, and at 18, mid-pandemic and with zero experience, I took my first US job to fund the rest of my degree.

From there I just kept climbing: a promotion, a Magna Cum Laude diploma, my financial advisor license, and now a seat as an Executive Partner at Athena, where I'm an Athena Scholar too. I turned down a JPMorgan Chase offer to be here. I wanted to work close to the founders and the decisions, not three layers away. The MBA is paused for now, but it's waiting for me in 2027.

These days I run Enclave Digital, my independent practice for the whole digital side of a business: websites and systems, video and design, branding, strategic marketing, and the operations systems that run quietly behind them.

The real goal, though, is content creation, full-time: travel and business videos that follow the climb from a graveyard-shift desk to a life on the move. An ACL injury in 2025 took me off the volleyball court, and the camera filled the gap. I still cut every vlog myself.

Honestly, I'm not proudest of any title or any one thing I've built. What I'm proudest of is the fight itself: the tenacity to keep going, and the love I have for what I do. The free resource library I built for Filipino freelancers starting from zero is part of that. I just give away what I figure out.