31/07/2026
Open Access
๐ข๐๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐ข๐๐ | ๐๐ฎ๐บ๐ถ๐น๐ผ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐๐ฎ
๐ฌ๐ผ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ๐ป'๐ ๐ฒ๐
๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐พ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ผ๐ป ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ผ๐บ ๐๐ผ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐น๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐น๐ผ๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐น๐ถ๐ณ๐ฒ.
Spend a few minutes with Camilo Mendoza Villanueva Jr and you will probably notice his calm before anything else. He speaks gently, laughs easily, and rarely makes himself the center of attention. It would be easy to assume his story is just as ordinary. But it isn't.
A graduate of De La Salle University Manila, Camilo spent years living quietly before joining Open Access Makati. He took on freelance writing, proofreading, and translation work whenever opportunities came through friends. There were long stretches when work was uncertain, money was scarce, and every day was less about planning for the future than surviving the present.
"Life wasn't easy," he says with a small laugh, as if apologizing for telling the truth. Then he quietly corrects himself. "Actually, that's an understatement. It was life and death."
He remembers going on trips even as he was battling health conditions without money for proper medical care. He remembers what it felt like to sleep on the street, watching the feet of passersby from the ground, or walking long distances in a button-up shirt and slacks simply because he couldn't afford the ride.
There were times he attended events at hotels wearing shorts and slippers because those were the only clothes he had. He lived through years of illness, the loss of family, and navigating life completely on his own.
Yet, he refuses to dwell on those years. Every time the conversation drifts too close to his past struggles, he gently steers it somewhere brighter.
"Let's close that chapter," he says with a smile. "I'm here because of all those lessons. I welcome everything, because these are blessings."
After applying to different BPO companies, Camilo found himself unable to commit because his health couldn't handle graveyard shifts or rotating schedules.
So, when opened a door with a day shift role in 2019, he immediately said yes. Over time, his journey led him to another account, and eventually to his current home in Business Development as a Proposal Writer.
When asked about work-life balance, Camilo gently disagrees with the concept. "I don't really separate work from life," he says. "There's only life."
That's why you'll find him saying yes to almost everything outside his core daily tasks. Pride activities, tree planting, wellness events, workshops, or volunteering. He takes part in every experience he can, viewing each one as an unearned gift.
"These opportunities are blessings too," he says. "I didn't ask for most of them. They simply come."
His perspective also changes the way people experience him. He doesn't measure life by titles or recognition. He measures it by moments: a conversation with a teammate, a walk before sunrise, or a stray cat that wandered into his room during the pandemic and never left.
Today, he's a proud fur dad to seven cats. When old friends from La Salle met him at a reunion, they were surprised, relieved, and happy he was still around. He simply laughed.
Ask him what the hardest part of his current work is, and he shrugs.
"I've survived life," he says. "What could be harder than that?"
That quiet resilience is why younger teammates naturally listen whenever he speaks. His guidance rarely sounds like formal advice. It sounds like someone thinking out loud after years of paying close attention to what really matters.
"Do all the requirements and you get a one," he shares, reflecting on his time teaching. "Do more than what you are required to do, and you get extra points. In life and work, the required things are only the beginning. The extra things you choose to do, those are what makes life, life."
He approaches his colleagues with the same humble mindset.
"If you're younger or older than me, I learn from you," he says. "If I close myself off, then I've already stopped learning."
Before ending our conversation, Camilo shared one final thought that perhaps best captures how he sees both work and life.
"Work is my second home, and I honor the blessing of work by showing up every day. Being here is gratitude."
For Camilo, gratitude isn't something reserved for life's biggest milestones. It's found in every opportunity to learn, every chance to contribute, and every ordinary day that becomes a blessing simply by showing up.
