ECQ Stories: Travel CEO Angely Dub navigates the pandemic from accessing the world to working at her kitchen
Angely Dub may have repositioned herself and her business amid the COVID-19 pandemic but this young CEO of a travel agency remains steadfast in battling her way through the crisis.
Angely is the CEO behind Access Travel, a travel agency more popularized by its long list of influential and famous celebrity clients including Vic Sotto and Pauleen Luna, Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera, Mikael Daez and Megan Young.
Angely Dub in different parts of the world / Source: angelydub (IG)
Her business marks its 10th anniversary this year but celebrating this milestone was upended by the pandemic. Despite the disheartening circumstance Angely found herself in, along with other players in the travel industry, this girl boss remains optimistic that her dream venture will survive the crisis.
She shares through an email interview with GMANetwork.com, “This pandemic will filter only the strong ones in every industry, in every business. It's very easy to say I have a company, I'm a businesswoman... But the true leadership and the true strength of a business is tested during times like this.
“If you're prepared for emergencies like this one, nothing will happen to you, you know. If you were smart enough to save money to run your business no matter what happens, you will survive, right.
Of course I'm sad. I mean I've lost the only purpose I had to wake up to, like my purpose for the last 10 years. Basically, my whole 20s was to make people travel the world, see the world, and now I don't have it. It's gone. But that's okay, that's part of life. You know, that's being resilient.”
Focusing on life's essentials and emergencies
What makes Angely secure despite the ongoing crisis is that she has always prepared for emergencies and that she chooses to focus on the essential.
She reveals “Like my whole life, I've lived below my means. People always thought travel was my lifestyle but it was all work. In real life, I'm so different from what people think of me. I've saved so much so I think I can restart all over again because I'm not that kind of person who spends a lot on things that I don't need. So that really helped me and my foundation as a person and what I am today and what I have today.
“Of course, it's painful but I will get through it. Ten years of sacrifices and pain is nothing, to be honest, compared to what I have experienced so far for the last four months. And maybe I'm blessed enough to say this because I've already experienced so much in my life. I'm already so contented, I have everything I want, everything I need. So after all, I just want to live a simple life. Access [Travel] is already like well-established so whenever we want to restart, when every thing starts to go back to normal, I think it will be not that hard for us to start over.”
According to Angely, she is in no hurry to return to work despite the government lifting the non-essential outbound travels in the Philippines.
She points out, “I haven't travelled. I don't plan to travel anywhere soon, even [if] my special someone is from Spain. I mean I don't think it's really like worth it to take a risk because I'm thinking about everyone around me, not just about myself. I mean I can go if I want to but of course… this is my contribution to everyone; not going anywhere if not needed. This is what I understand, parang pwedeng hindi ka magkasakit pero 'yung sakit na 'yun pwede mo ipasa sa iba. So my personal comment on this is better to not just go if kaya naman hindi pumunta.”
She further adds, “I consider this as my sabbatical break, like a pause from everything. So when things go back to normal I can just resume to what my life used to be. Of course it's hard but I'm not gonna say I'm depressed or I get anxieties kasi I converted it into a blessing. Right now with my Bulilit Kitchen, I'm helping so many people who've lost their jobs. So I think it's a blessing in some way. I was able to rest, I was able to spend time with my family that I never really had for the last 10 years.”
From accessing the world to moving around her kitchen
Now that the operations of her travel company is on pause, Angely opened a backyard business she called Bulilit Kitchen.
Angely Dub / Source: angelydub (IG) & @bulilitkitchen (IG)
For her, this new brand she initiated during the pandemic reflects both similar and different things about her bigger business venture.
She explains, “So now with the customer service experience, with the marketing experience, with the social media experience, I am very confident to start any business. With Bulilit Kitchen, people expect the same treatment as from Access Travel which is napo-provide ko naman. It's just now it's a different concept. So in the end naman, people crave for like you know, they are valued, they are loved, [you] are providing them good things so that's what we are doing. That's how I'm trying to build another brand. It's basically the same concept, same values, same principles.
“Maybe the only thing different about the Bulilit Kitchen and Access Travel is Access Travel has been all about me, my career, my future, my dreams, my goals but Bulilit Kitchen gives me a different inspiration. Because now the reason why I started it was to help the people in our community, to give them jobs, 'yung mga taong nawalan ng [trabaho] sa palengke, mga tricycle driver, mga ate na nagtitinda. Now it's them, it's about them.”