“Rocio, a Morning Dew”

Rocio Nuyda

Former Chairman, FilAm Arts
Owner, Grace Events
FWN100™ Global 2016 & U.S. 2012

Disruption has characterized my life. Born in a small city of the Philippines, I was raised by a mother who was widowed at age 29. My early educated was in the city’s foremost private Catholic school run by Benedictine nuns, I earned my college degree from a university for women, I got married, had five children, and immigrated to the United States. I was widowed at age 42, and raised 5 children single handedly. Professionally, I rose from the ranks to the highest paid position of the largest credit card company in the U. S. I am now retired with a motto to enjoy life while paying it forward. I was the subject of disruption. I was an agent of disruption that catapulted me to a high level of financial comfort and professional status. Through the years, I experienced an evolution of strength and independence and came to realize that I possessed innate leadership abilities. I developed tangibles and intangibles from the ground up. My experiences in leadership revolved around styles that encouraged inclusiveness, some learned from the school of hard knocks and others from theory, but most prominent of all was leadership by inspiration and empowerment. My story is one of involvement in local organizations, board memberships, community service, politics, religion, and family. My story is about a minority woman conquering the boy’s club of a male dominated work place, breaking the glass ceiling without the consequence of being cut by the broken glass, and surmounting the odds despite. My story chronicles the paths that I tread to survive, to provide, to fulfill, and to succeed. It is leadership by a woman in a male dominated norm of business, a legacy that I hope to bequeath to my children and their children.