M
12
M
arily Mondejar was born
into an entrepreneurial
family from Leyte in the
Philippines. Her parents
owned a bookstore, office
supplies distributor, a security services agency,
a farm, and the first modern printing press
(inaugurated by President Ramon Magsaysay)
in the city where she was born. Her lawyer-
father started the first local weekly paper and
for many years the only newspaper in their
province. Their largest account was the
printing and publishing of the Philippine
Congressional Records. The sixth of 13
children, Marily learned early how to stand
out from the crowd, make sure her voice is
heard and get the best seat at the table.
She married at a young age and raised two
children in Manila. As a working mother,
juggling her family and professional lives was
a challenge, often bringing along her children
to business trips and work events. Her family
became involved in a movie production
company, and she took on various duties in
catering, casting, costume, and set design.
Many of their movie productions won film
awards. Later Marily worked in sales and
marketing for an international publishing
company in Southeast Asia. Her job included
special projects in Hongkong, Thailand,
2009 HERMANA MAYOR
Singapore, and Malaysia. She trained the
company’s Southeast Asian distributors’ sales
teams, and managed the launching of the
Thailand operations.
In 1980 Marily changed the course of her
life by immigrating to the United States. She
was recruited as a high potential in a major
bank’s management training program and
held a management position for many years.
In the late 80s, Marily combined her
knowledge of strategy, sales, management,
communications, color, and fashion to begin a
career as an image consultant. Corporate
America’s response to image and the subtle
impact of attire amazed her. Surveys she
conducted revealed that a carefully selected
wardrobe can influence the outcome of a
business decision. Formulating her concept of
image as a proponent of success, Marily
marketed her seminars to businesses and
offered a training called “Dressing To
Influence”. Marily then developed the seven
aspects of image for influencing results, a
standard adopted by the image industry.
Marily expanded her industry influence
when she founded the Institute for Image
Management, an organization development,
image consulting and training firm skilled in
developing leadership and career programs to
increase credibility and improve the personal
16TH ANNUAL PISTAHAN PARADE AND FESTIVAL | AUGUST 8-9, 2009
FILIPINO A M ERICA N ARTS EXPO SI TI O N PRESEN TS
arily
Mondejar
With Eve Ensler With her grandchildren
effectiveness of professionals, executives, and
business owners. She developed the Culture
Image 360®, a method for measuring
executive image performance and corporate
reputation. As an organizational change
practitioner, image consultant and career
coach, she advises clients in the U.S., Mexico,
and Asia, on corporate image strategies,
implications of mergers, scenario planning,
and maximizing performance results, through
work with executive teams, large-scale
change, alliance-building, and corporate
culture development.
Coming from a big family, Marily thrived in
business associations and community
organizations. Her skills in building
relationships and getting people to come
together to further a cause, and effect positive
change have inspired many. She has held
leadership positions in industry groups like the
Association of Fashion and Image Consultants,
the Image Industry Council International and
the American Society of Training and
Development. In addition, Marily serves on
non-profit boards including the City of San
Francisco’s Justice and Courage Oversight
Panel. Recently Mayor Gavin Newsom
appointed Marily to the Sweatfree
Procurement Advisory Group, which evaluates
the city’s implementation, administration, and
With Elena Managahas
and Sonia Delen of Filipina
Women’s Network
enforcement of the Sweatfree Contracting
Ordinance. She is passionate about women’s
rights ensuring that Filipina women’s voices
are represented through involvement in
organizations. She was elected board chair of
the Friends of the San Francisco Commission
on the Status of Women and is a member of
Women Impacting Public Policy, California
Leadership, and Emerge California, among
others. She is also a board member of the
Filipino American Arts Exposition.
Marily’s involvement in the Bay Area’s
Filipino community began when she joined the
Filipina Women’s Network in 2001. Rodel
Rodis, former president and trustee of the San
Francisco Community College Board, recalls
the first time he met Marily. “I met her more
than 25 years ago at one of the PESCOM
meetings. When I first ran for public office in
1990, Marily volunteered her services as my
image consultant offering helpful suggestions
on how I could improve my appearance.
When we organized the First Global Filipino
Networking Convention at the Moscone
Center in August 2002, Marily coordinated the
Filipino Women’s Conference. Instead of
working only on the image of individual
clients, Marily directed her focus to improving
and advancing the image of all Filipina
women. And in this she has succeeded quite
SIXTEEN YEARS OF CELEBRATING CULTURE AND COMMUNITY. 13

well,” he said.
As president of the Filipina Women’s
Network (FWN), a non-profit association for
women of Philippine ancestry living in the U.S.,
Marily works to promote the entry and success
of Filipina women into positions of leadership
in the corporate, government, academic, and
nonprofit sectors. Under her leadership, the
fledgling organization, operating ad hoc since
1996, grew from 50 members in 2002 to over
5,200 list members today. She has
spearheaded initiatives such as the annual
Filipina Leadership Summit during Filipino
Heritage Month in October, the Nationwide
Search for the 100 Most Influential Filipina
Women in the U.S. and the “Pinay Power
2012” initiative whose goal is to double the

L
number of Filipina leaders in America by 2012.
t. Col. Shirley S. Raguindin, Arizona
State Diversity Coordinator and the
national chair of the nationwide
search of the 100 Most Influential
Filipina Women in the U. S., says of
Marily’s passion for advancing positive images
of Filipina women,“ Anson Dorrance, former
coach of the University of Southern California
and owner of the most successful record in the
history of athletics said, ‘The vision of a
champion is someone who is bent over,
drenched in sweat, and at the point of
exhaustion, when no one else is watching.’
Marily is truly a champion when it comes to
the recognition of Filipina women who shape
our community’s influence in American society
today and in the future. This is important
because oftentimes Filipina’s contributions are
often overlooked as insignificant due to our
own cultural biases. Marily is truly
commended as a pioneer that blazed the
way to continue to empower Filipinas not just
in their professional and personal goals but
to continually positively impact their
communities in which they live and serve.”
In 2004 Marily established FWN’s Filipinas
Against Violence campaign to raise awareness
of domestic violence in the Filipino community.
“I was married at a young age and was in an
abusive relationship. I raised my two children
as a single mother. When they grew up, I
wanted to give back to my community,” she
says. In collaboration with Eve Ensler’s V-Day
organization, FWN annually stages an all-
Filipina women benefit production of “The
Vagina Monologues” and its Tagalog version,
“Usaping Puki”.
Now in its sixth year of production with
over 20 performances, FWN’s performances
have been a large success, inspiring Filipina
women in national productions in Washington,
D.C. and New York. But the path to success
has not always been such an easy road.
Foundation, first met Marily in 2004 during
the inaugural production of the all-Filipina
“The Vagina Monologues” in San Francisco.
“I watched her mobilize a roomful of women
volunteers as show marketers and promoters,
ticket sellers, production helpers, and to top it
all, as stage actors. That to me demonstrated
community work that is driven by sheer talent,
an all-Filipina powerhouse of talents at that. I
felt the connection to what she represented,
and I saw the moment ripe for a movement. I
realized that Marily and I shared a similar
vision for Filipinas in America - for them and
for us to become empowered and find our
place in our chosen professional field. For me
it is a total shift of how empowerment will be
played out if the playing field was in the home
country where Filipinas are still breaking
through the colonized male structure. But the
Filipina resolve is unwavering, wherever she
might be. So right then I decided to join FWN,
and it has been quite a journey.”
Over the years, FWN has worked to spread
its message, etching domestic violence into
the public consciousness to such an extent
that the production is no longer seen as
shameful, enabling women, especially Filipinas
year’s first all-Asian American women
production of “The Vagina Monologues”.
Gloria Caoile, senior political director of the
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance and
esteemed community trailblazer and leader,
says of Marily, “The Pistahan festival could not
have picked a more outstanding person to
serve as Hermana Mayor. Marily is the
personification of everything great about our
community – unequaled passion and
commitment to the Filipino American
empowerment. Her leadership in Filipina
American women’s issues is unparalleled thus
raising the awareness of our community. She
is not afraid to raise issues that will cross the
line but benefit the disadvantaged. Marily
leads by doing, not just talking!”
Marily has received numerous awards;
most notably the Award of Excellence from the
Image Industry Council International, Filipinas
Magazine’s Achievement Award for
Community Service and was nominated for
the Philippine Presidential Award for
Outstanding Filipinos Overseas. But, of her
many accomplishments, she considers her
work in the campaign to end domestic
violence to be one of her key achievements
space – you know you’re equipped but you
don’t know which frontier will give you space.
Either you make small steps, or take giant
leaps. Or you re-tool.”
Dr. Jennifer Ong who is the Statewide
Treasurer for the California Democratic Party’s
Asian Pacific Islander Caucus currently chairs
FWN’s Filipina Salo Salo, a monthly gathering
at some of the Bay Area’s best Filipino-owned
restaurants. “You don’t need to know Marily
for very long to feel inspired by her dedication
to the power of women and the importance of
helping Filipinas realize their full potential in
leadership positions. Marily’s vision is
limitless, and I will always remember her
reminder to me ‘aim high and don’t hold
yourself back.’ She is genuine in her regard to
advance women and create awareness in
people who may have fallen to some
unrecognized fallacies in their views of women
and women’s roles in society,” she says.
Moving forward, Marily’s goal is to create
sustainable programs that engage
accomplished Filipina American women to
give back to the community that advance
representation for Filipina women in
corporate, government, academic, and non-

During its first year, FWN received little
support and much negative feedback from the
Filipino community. “I was called the vagina
lady,” recalls Marily. “When people saw me
coming up to them at Filipino events, some
shunned me and turned the other way. It was
a struggle to get our message received by the
community.”
Elena Mangahas, Chair of the Little Manila
and Asian women, to break the silence and
shame around domestic violence and to seek
help. Slowly but steadily its mission has
become a large success through the years,
spurring community leaders such as California
Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, activist Helen Zia,
broadcaster Jan Yanehiro, feminist Emily
Murase, and San Francisco School Board
Trustee Hydra Mendoza, to perform at this
E
and inspiration.
lena Mangahas, who was also
recently elected Board Chair of the
Filipina Women’s Network,
describes working with Marily as
“wear[ing] many hats, sometimes
we exchange hats, and sometimes we pass
the hat! Working with Marily is as power
charged as discovering unknown frontiers in
profit sectors.
“We need to be part of the decisions that
affect our lives and make sure that we have a
seat at all the important tables -- from the
economic table to the government table to the
health table,” Marily said. “Through our work,
we are planting the seeds in youth and
women to make a difference. Let’s start now.
Let’s start with us.”

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