Diana Roldan, a Filipino executive assistant, manages operations for eight financial advisors at an Australian wealth firm. She saves each advisor one to two hours daily through meeting prep, inbox management, and task chasing. She's worked remotely for eight years and advocates for hiring Filipino remote workers for their reliability and minimal supervision needs.
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How much time do you think you save the financial advisors?
I'm able to save them an hour or two. This is per financial advisor and there's a total of eight.
And so how long have you been working with them?
I've worked with them for eight years. Hi, my name is Diana Roldan and I am an online Filipino specialist. I work as a team administrator for an Australian firm doing estate planning and wealth management.
So what are your daily tasks with this Australian firm?
My daily tasks include meeting preparations such as providing documents that are necessary for each client meetings. I also do inbox management for the director. I also did a bit of payroll and HR for the financial advisors. It could be as little as chasing a task from someone else to document creation like drafting for statement of accounts and filling up application forms for our clients to sign.
How much time do you think you save the financial advisors?
I'm able to save them an hour or two. This is per financial advisor and there's a total of eight financial advisors.
And so can you tell us more about this firm?
Yeah, so the company that I work for, we do wealth management, we also do law and technology, so we have different departments for that. I have multiple managers that I assist and this is on a daily basis. And on top of that I am also the executive assistant to the director. Ten managers and one director that I assist on a daily basis.
And so how long have you been working with them?
I've worked with them for eight years.
Before working for them, what work did you do?
I was an operations manager at a call Center. I did iBuyDirect, which is an online prescription glasses. It's an E commerce business. So we were dealing with sales. We did customer service, we did logistics and also we were in charge with the manufacturing quality. We have customer service and chat support. And then after that I did management for adverts. So I had clients from the UK who's ordering adverts from us. From the team here we have graphic artists who were divided to do adverts for different countries like Australia, uk, Ireland, Canada.
How long did you work for that?
The iBuydirect, the online prescription? I did for three years. I was an operations manager and then I was also an operations manager for the advert which is Blue sky outsourcing and that's for three years as well.
Coming from an operations manager handling 500 to 1,000 employees you mentioned to doing basic admin stuff, how did that make you feel?
Okay, well initially I didn't feel like I have been using my skills to its full potential. But I held onto it and eventually I got promoted as an executive assistant. And as an executive assistant, I was given more responsibilities and making my tasks more mentally stimulating, and I was happy.
For employers who still have doubt about hiring in the Philippines, what can you say to them?
For employers who are still in doubt, I highly recommend that you should look for Filipino workers. Why? Because we are resilient, we work with minimal supervision, and we are dedicated with what we do. We are also aiming for a long term working relationship with our employers.
Are you married with kids?
Yes.
How many kids do you have?
Three kids.
What are their ages?
The eldest is 28, so that divulges my age. And then the middle is 24. And then the youngest is 17.
And so as a family, what's your favorite family bonding?
I just love cooking for my family. I love to see their reactions. I love granting their wishes if they have, like, specific dishes that they'd like to eat or that they miss.
Is there any specific dish that you love to cook? Your favorite?
I love pasta. Cream based, tomato based. My husband loves tomato. The kids love cream.
So this is more of the Italian style?
Yes, for sure.
No, not the Filipino.
Not the Filipino. Not the sweet ones. The Italian, you know, you use the oregano. You use like canned tomatoes. You don't use sweeteners or stuff. So. Yeah.
Can you tell us about your husband? How did you meet?
We met in high school. We were high school sweethearts because at the time we had grunge music like the music of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and he would bring me to those gigs because he was already in a band in high school. So I was kind of like impressed and, you know, feeling giggly. And he was actually the one who opened my mind in terms of listening to alternative music. So we were like jamming. So we were enjoying each other's company.
Do you play an instrument?
I do play the drums and I do play the keyboard guitar too, sometimes.
You mentioned you were able to put up a studio with the income you had.
Yes. So my husband is still in a band. Right. And so we love music so much. And so he started like putting up all these amplifiers and speakers one by one until we built everything up. It was kind of like a side hustle that we do aside from the job that we have.
So, Diana, when you first look for an online job, were you looking for a full time job for the long term or just a gig?
I really wanted a full time, long term job, but this was 2017 and so remember, Zoom wasn't even a thing yet. I just kept my options open and see what's there for me and initially I was offered twice a week or part time and then it just progressed to three days and then I became full time.
But why did you decide to shift to online work in the first place?
It was a need that I had to fulfill for the family. The kids are growing and we didn't have help so they needed someone who would help them in the morning prepare their food and uniform. It was really basic.
What benefit did online work give to your life?
Well aside from the pay I get to have more quality time with family and my three dogs so for family I get to spend more time with them, cook for them, being able to run our music studio. Lastly spend more time with my husband and support his gigs and be able to be present. All of these won't be possible without onlinejobs.
