I was invited by a longtime friend, a very active member of Soroptimist International, Lady Datin Lourdes Sa;inas de la Cruz Salinas Stutely to the Membership Recognition 2026 of SI at the Alabang Clubhouse and look who I met and talked to.
No less than the SI Region Membership Chair Farah Acierto.
Farah Acierto who?
Who else but the educator Farah Acierto who has a doctorate on School Administration and a charismatic leader of a women's organization.
What is more serendipitous is that Farah Acierto is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Casa del Nino Montessori, a school right here in the heart of San Pedro City.
According to Farah, her school has just turned forty-five years old recently.
"Sayang (Oh!) I should have known you when we celebrated our forty-fifth year," Acierto enthused as she made a squeeze of our interview in the middle of the SI event.
As a woman leader, Farah is a cool but aggressive point woman of the whole caboodle of her fellow Soroptimists.
She rises to every occasion.
At the Recognition Day, she was a tireless figure who would engage in any activity of the program.
Her stamina and enthusiasm (fervor) are akin to running a school like Casa del Nino where she never stops learning and serving students.
In the hierarchy of SI leadership, Acierto is one who also inspires the whole organization especially but not limited to its old and new members.
According to Farah, Soroptimist as a group isn't elitist.
"They thought that our organization is only for the well-off. But no, we have diverse memberships. We encourage women from poor communities to join because SI is an organization open to all types of members, rich or poor," she clarified.
"We empower women from all walks of life," she stressed.
Equality is one virtue Farah has held and valued for the longest time which is also a trait she applies as an educator and administrator of her learning institution.
Many of the Casa del Nino graduates have achieved significant honors and laurels in their chosen fields of profession, the backbone of which they proudly obtained from their primary, junior and senior high school college preparatory courses.
Some of the successful celebrities who graduated from Casa are Julia Clarete and Christopher Roxas (Christopher Sommereux in real life) among others.
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