A top lady executive of PMFTC Inc., the local affiliate of Philip Morris International (PMI) encouraged working women to help themselves find purpose and achieve their goals in life and at work especially during the period of pandemic.

Andreea Chiriac, PMFTC’s People and Culture director, was among the speakers during a webinar dubbed "Women's Month Celebration: The COVID-19 Pandemic Through Her Lens" held virtually on March 9, 2021 to celebrate the accomplishments of women through talks on women empowerment by outstanding female leaders. The online event was organized by the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippine (AMCHAM) with the participation of PMFTC.

During her talk, Chiriac provided advice and delved on the topic of work life-balance, career advancement, learning and navigating the corporate world as a woman.

As a human resource executive who have worked in five different countries, she said she finds one commonality despite all the cultural differences, “everywhere you go, everywhere I went, people need to feel empowered at work, and as I said, this is part of my job as a leader to empower people to bring every day their best selves to work.

Chiriac said “empowerment leadership” plays a big role in bringing out the best in the people.She identified the key elements of her approach which includes,“setting up clear vision and clear direction for the team,giving everybody space, allowing for mistakes. and I think very importantly meritocracy, authenticity and trust. These, for me, are universal values that are permeating all across the world.”

Asked about what she can advice to women who are starting out in their career, Chiriac said, “It starts with having a purpose, deciding on how you like your life to be. Not only about what you want to do in your work but in your overall life. I know that when you are just starting your career this may seem hazy, and admittedly your purpose in life may also change over time.”

“I believe that somehow you need to combine the vision of where you want to go with your unique skillset, also with your unique talents. And very importantly, always prioritize learning, be curious, be a sponge. Have a hunger to learn from everybody around you. Take cross-functional roles.Expand the portfolio of your employability,” Chiriac said.

For women who are finding it hard to find time to learn, Chiriac said, “We really have to manage our time wisely. We need to prioritize the things that are important. Let go of those nice-to-haves because they are dead weight, they do not bring value in the bigger scheme of things both in life and at work. Nobody is going to make time for you, it's in your hands.”

Chiriac also noted to “make yourself visible, sign-up for projects, sign up for assignment which can help you showcase your skills and your capabilities.”

She cautioned on rushing promotions. “Don't always look for promotions because sometimes the best learning comes from lateral moves,” she said.

Sharing her experience, Chiriac said one message that she would like to pass onto to the young women starting their career when they find themselves “in a meeting room where you are the only woman. Don't get discouraged. Don't get intimidated, and definitely do not try to mimic the behavior of man. You’re a woman and you have your unique gifts and insights that you can bring to that conversation.”

As the COVID-19 pandemic stretches on and women finding it hard to find work-life balance, Chiriac offered a different perspective. She said, “I don't think that the question is how to achieve a work-life balance because somehow this presupposes that there is such a thing as a work and a life, two different things.”

For Chiriac, “there is life and work is one part of my life, and somehow as romantic as it may sound, I believe that the answer to everything is love. It is about loving what you do and doing what you love in everything that you do, at work and at home.”

Expounding on her point, she said, “When I’m at work I give my 100 percent to my work, to my team, to my colleagues. When I’m at home, I am 100 percent with my teenage daughter because she needs me, or with my mom, or with my friends.”

“If somehow I make a compromise that give 50 percent of myself to any of these parts of my life it would not be fair to any of them and I think that it would also not be fair to me because I would get only a portion of that sense of fulfilment that each of these parts of my life can give to me,” she added.

Chiriac also stressed the importance of being kind to oneself. “Too often, sometimes I also do this, we are the first ones to crucify ourselves.You will make mistakes.You will have failures. But, you see, my biggest learnings came from mistakes that I made in life and at work.Just learn from them and move on,” she said.

Since Chiriac joined PMFTC’s two years ago, the company has been certified as a Top Employer in the Philippines by the Top Employer Instituteand has been Equal-Salary certified since 2018 in recognition of the company’s excellence in people practices, ability to meet the needs of a modern workforce, and for promoting equal pay regardless of gender in the workplace.

PMI, the parent company of PMFTC, is leading the efforts to start a global conversation to “Unsmoke Your World”, a key corporate advocacy and one of the cornerstones of the company’s bold new vision to deliver a smoke-free future, with the simple message: If you don’t smoke, don’t start. If you smoke, quit. And if you don’t quit, change.

“Yes, we are a tobacco company working to rid the world of cigarettes. This may not happen overnight, but we believe it’s the right thing to do, and we have the resources and the people to begin the journey now,” Chiriac said.

 “We are committed to being a responsible tobacco company by providing better alternatives to the millions of adult smokers who would otherwise continue to smoke. We also advocate for these adult smokers to have access to information on alternatives to make an informed decision.” She added.