It’s pretty much become a fact that a mom can do anything and everything. But what happens when a group of moms come together? Imagine what they can do. 

This is exactly what we’re about to find out. Women supergroups Connected Women and Filipina Homebased Moms have come together and recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding to further empower women in the Philippines with support, training, and opportunities.

Originally founded in Singapore in 2013 and then later in the Philippines in 2017, Connected Women is an award-winning social impact platform that aims to “improve the lives of women everywhere.” It offers Filipinas careers from home, first as virtual assistants to entrepreneurs and speakers, before eventually pivoting to technology skills training, future-proofing its members’ skills for the more tech-driven future.

Filipina Homebased Moms, on the other hand, is the first and biggest parenting support group for Filipino moms in the Philippines. Created by a Filipino mom herself, its mission is to help home-based mothers find jobs that can fit within their lifestyle. It also offers webinars and technical courses to hone its members’ skills.

It’s a partnership that is as much fate as it makes sense. Both organizations have a wide network as well as a shared goal, which according to FHMoms CEO and co-founder MK Bertulfo, is to “change lives, one mom at a time.”

A good day for women

According to the memorandum of agreement, both Connected Women and FHMoms will work together so they can leverage and maximize their advantages. Their missions, after all, are perfectly complementary.

Connected Women, for example, wants to create a generation of women who are primed for the digital economy while FHMoms wants to encourage moms who want to find the middle ground between personal and professional success. Connected Women, moreover, has ingrained itself in the tech industry and has its employment platform, while FHMoms is known for its upskilling workshops. Different, but the same.

Together, they can also aim to broaden each other’s networks and improve their members’ prospects.

While there are no concrete plans yet, both organizations are determined to be sisters-in-arms in promoting the welfare of Filipino women. “Coming up with exactly what we can do and how we can make sure is going to be a work in progress,” said CEO and co-founder Gina Romero.

Romero and Bertulfo have known each other for several years, since a contest in 2018. Romero was one of the event’s panelists while Bertulfo was a participant who called the former’s attention by asking a question.

“She was so passionate. She was telling a story of one of the moms who was struggling in her community and my eyes were welling up. It was so real. I really felt the passion,” recalled Romero.

Since then, the two women would continue crossing paths, helping each other out, and collaborating. “I think it’s time to make it official so we empower more women together,” said Romero.

Women for women

There is a famous quote by Madeleine Albright that is apt for this partnership: “There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other.

According to Bertulfo, she would often get asked if Connected Women was her competitor. “We are in the same industry. We’re catering to the same market…But we’re not competitors, we’re helping each other out. I’m just so happy that we’re doing this.”

There’s a historical basis for this common presumption. In the past, there were so few allotments and opportunities for women that there was no choice but to fight it out for those scarce chances.

These days, however, women have come up with a solution: they are stronger together and with that strength, they can break the barriers.

Back in Singapore, Romero recalled how someone organized another similar community just when Connected Women was starting. “They started getting strong and we were still quite small,” she added, remembering how stressed she was about her potential competition.

Eventually, however, she thought it over, trying to figure out the root of her anxiety. She thought about how there are 100 million people in the Philippines and half of them are women. There was no way she could do it all by herself.

“I remember thinking to myself and that’s when the sisters-in-arms came up, if I’m feeling stressed because there’s someone else doing something similar as me, then I’m not thinking big enough. I’m thinking way too small because if I think I can do it all by myself it must be a really small vision,” Romero explained.

“You would never go into a war and say ‘Oh no! Not another person fighting for the same side as me,” she added.

Indeed, if women can’t help each other, then who would?

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