From furniture to pastry: Lera Villanueva’s Success Stories
“iCareer ko na lang ni ang baking.” Lera, 56
It takes a lot of courage to change walk of life, even if your career is becoming stagnant. The skills you’ve spent years developing in your current career may not be used in a different field, but sometimes the question of “what if?” becomes too much to resist;
Lera Villanueva,56, married with two daughters, a graduate of Bachelor in Science in Commerce at Colegio de La Purisima and business owner of furniture in Estancia, Iloilo , spent years working and managing their family business, the inkling that her best fit may be as an entrepreneur.
During pandemic, her furniture business slowly declined, and began to eventually closed down. Soon she just focused to being a full time housewife. In September 2022, The Municipality of Estancia called for scholars who are willing to be trained in Bread and Pastry NC II, without a second thought, Lera cheerfully joined the program. She went through the training in BPP NC II at Leon Ganzon Polytechnic College. Switching back to school life after a long time away took some adjustment but in the end she was certified and assessed.
That switch, while requiring some effort, went smoothly and only after a week from her national assessment, she started to making online business particularly selling different kinds of pies which she only had learned during her training in Bread and Pastry. She was making orders reaching different towns even reaching to different parts of Panay (Roxas City and Iloilo City). She is making money from 8,000 to 10,000 pesos per month, not bad for a first timer in an online food business. Her customers keep coming ordering back because of her delicious pastries.
“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.”
