Araceli Lanoy Ayuste’s Humble Beginnings

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Araceli Lanoy Ayustes Humble Beginnings
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Araceli Lanoy Ayuste was not born with a silver
spoon in her mouth.  On the contrary, their
family didnt have much.  She is the eldest of 10
children and was born in Lasang, Davao City When
she was young, she experienced first-hand what it
was like to go to school with nothing.  She had
to go to school barefoot and she had bananas and
corn for her snacks.  Since they were poor the
hardship she experienced took a toll on her
grades.  As a matter of fact, she didnt have
grades that reached 80 up until she was in Grade
3.
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However, being the resilient person that she is,
Araceli Lanoy Ayuste took all these challenges
head on.  She didnt let their lack of resources
weaken her spirit, she didnt even mind that she
had to make her Spartan slippers last 3 years
because they didnt have any money to buy new
ones regularly. She saw it as an opportunity to
motivate herself even more.  With this positive
mindset, even if she had to walk 6 km to school
every day, her grades began to pick up and she
slowly had grades more than 80.   She even
showed great promise in sports and she was
awarded the Most Active student of the year when
she was playing softball.
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When she was already in high school, she already
became an honor student and even became the CAT
training Charlie Company Commander.  By college,
she still had to work hard in order for her to
finish her studies.  The University of Mindanao
gave her 50 scholarship and so she worked for
her relatives as household help to make sure she
can pay all her remaining school dues.
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Second Year college she worked as a Merchandiser
with a PHP 10 salary per day and eventually
became a Med Rep for Bayer Philippines.  After
that, she had other various jobs in different
companies because she wanted her family to have a
good life.  Her dream led her to opened up her
own drug store and became a distributor for the
whole Philippines.  Eventually she was blessed
with good business ventures and it led to the
existence of Punta del Sol amongst others.
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As she slowly became successful, Araceli Lanoy
Ayuste couldnt help want to help all the other
people around her.  She knows what it feels like
to come from nothing, to have nothing and to work
hard incessantly just to experience a better
life.  This stirred up a passion in her to help
others.  So, she sought to provide employment and
opportunities for others. Though Araceli was
making a difference by supporting the Samalenos
as a businesswoman, she believes being in public
service will broaden her reach and her
capabilities to help more and to do more.
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It takes one to know one they say, and Araceli
Lanoy Ayuste was born less fortunate and grew up
with all the challenges a majority of us face
today.  There is no one better who can understand
the needs of the marginalized other than someone
who walked barefoot in their footsteps and rose
above to become their voice today.