At her ripe old age it’s quite commendable that she endeavours to be "tech savvy." This just goes to prove that learning (and education) doesn’t have any age limit. What one needs is the willingness to add to his/her knowledge. Which brings me to today’s topic.

Jackie Maniquis’ PR history has spanned a quarter of a century, having been the Public Relations officer to brands that quite ring a bell. Names such as Kenny Rogers Roasters, Seattle’s Best Coffee, Auntie Anne’s, Popeye’s Chicken, Ms. Makati, Ricky Reyes, Gary Valenciano, moving onto persona even in politics the likes of Congressman Jules Ledesma and others. But did you know that up until four years ago Jackie used messengers or the fax machine to send correspondence? Ting Blando, known for her excellent event organizing skills have a lot of memorable and notable events to boast of, but the Claudine-Raymart wedding in Tagaytay is one favourite accolade on her cap. Up until recently, Ting also was reliant on couriers, assistants to do her mail, her deliveries, was always on the go to make her face-to-face meetings with clients and prospects. Both women were always up on their toes doing a myriad of things, both being working mothers, their lives were a continuous struggle of "juggling" their time and for us working moms, we all know how taxing that could be. Not only physically but mentally and emotionally as well. Theirs is a dilemma shared by most working mothers and finding a formidable ally in any form or manner to facilitate all our tasks is always a welcome respite.

Time being the essence of working mothers’ lives, it wasn’t long before Jackie and Ting found a way to fit everything in and even have time for a bit of R & R! Technology was the answer. Jackie and Ting realized how much faster communication is through the Internet. From manually sending their proposals and going on face-to-face meetings, they discovered email. One funny anecdote I care to share is about Jackie. Jackie by the way is my sister. My "Ate." She went to the U.S. more than five years ago and stayed with a friend of mine who happened to be chatting with me on PIRCH (a chat relay system such as MIRC). She was so amazed at "real time" chat that when she returned, we taught her how to do email, too, but one day she called me and asked, "Nette (yeah some family members call me this), bakit usap ako ng usap sa email, inaantay ko sumagot pagkatapos ko mag-type di sumasagot?" Hahaha. She really thought at the time that emailing was like chatting. Ting Blando, on the other hand, couldn’t even bring herself to turn on a PC for fear of contracting a virus or clicking at the wrong things. Jackie’s kids soon needed a computer and through her sons Brian and Patrick, she "saw the light." Homeworks were facilitated and wow! No more bulky encyclopedias, just one click at "google" and the answers were there! Ting’s hubby is majorly tech savvy and soon Ting realized the importance of why Rich (her hubby) spends ample time working on those PCs and laptops strewn all over their house and what was worst, little Kirsten (Ting’s daughter) was already tinkering away at Daddy’s PC playing her online games while mommy sat clueless! These stories are not unfamiliar. But both women took time to know more about technology and found out how they can make use of it to their advantage.

Jackie and Ting are now in tune with technology. Both attest to the fact that their work is cut down to more than half because of technology. Jackie now can’t do without Adobe Photoshop, PowerPoint and Microsoft Word to do her numerous proposals. For someone who didn’t know the difference between emailing and chatting, well, Jackie now uses the latest in communication technology and even teaches English cyberly! Aside from doing PR, events and the food business, Jackie works part-time for ITI Consulting, a multimedia company in Eastwood City that caters to European clientele teaching conversational English via the Internet! Thus holds true for Ting as well. Ting being an "eventologist" and now restaurateur, she has found the beauty of the worldwide web and now can’t do without her handy "lappy" (laptop to most). She makes it a point to log on and check her email everyday and surfs the net to google the latest trends in floral arrangement, know what’s going on in the food business as well. They both also found Yahoo messenger and now talk to friends, family and even clients on the net! Ah… the wonders of technology… now these two wonder... no more.