Coming Home to Ourselves:
Reflections on the Pinayista 2025 Summit
The OPENING SPEECH I DIDN’T EXPECT TO GIVE
This year’s summit began with gratitude. Gratitude for our brilliant planning committee, our generous sponsors, and especially for Gina Rosales—our Pinayista mother—who created this space years ago so Filipina entrepreneurs could be seen, held, and uplifted. Her belief in me from the very beginning, back when Hella Pinay was in its infancy, is something I carry with me always. The fact that she took me under her wing to help plan the first Summit back in 2018, and then entrusted me with curating this year’s summit, has been such an honor.
Then my opening remarks veered into something far more personal.
Just days before the Summit, my mom underwent emergency surgery and was admitted to the ICU in critical condition. I spent the week moving between hospital rooms and (barely) helping with summit preparations (forever shoutouts to the squad for holding it down!!), and wondering if I’d even be able to show up that day.
And in the most “Pinay mom” way possible, she told me she hadn’t called me right away when she was rushed to the ER because she didn’t want to bother me during such a crucial week. She didn’t want to distract me from something she knew was important. That gesture revealed a kind of love and self-sacrifice ingrained in so many of our families (for better or worse)—the ways our mothers show support even when they don’t always understand our choices, our risks, our careers, or why we insist on chasing passions that don’t come with neat job titles.
Sharing that story in front of the room was vulnerable, but I felt safe—even as someone who rarely shares their personal life with like, anyone. And when the audience joined me in recording a “Get well soon, Tita!” video for my mom, I felt so incredibly held and grateful. It reminded me, and all of us, why spaces like this matter so deeply.
Reimagining Homecoming
This year’s theme, Homecoming, was intentionally complex. For those of us in the diaspora, the idea of “coming home” is layered. It asks us to honor our roots while simultaneously forging paths our families never even imagined. It asks us to reconcile the distance between who we were raised to be, who we are, and who we’re becoming. And it asks us to witness one another through all of it.
At the Summit, we explored that terrain together—sometimes softly, sometimes boldly, sometimes with humor (you know Filipinos got jokes jokes jokes), sometimes through tears. We talked legacy and limiting beliefs, ancestral wisdom and money mindset, identity and leadership. We held space for intergenerational exchange, bringing entrepreneurs together with their mothers, titas, mentors, and daughters to remember that our journey is never ours alone.
And, in true Scorpio season fashion, we went deep. The shadow work, the honesty, the unlearning—it all felt like a collective recalibration.
THE POWER OF SEEING OURSELVES
One of the most powerful parts of the summit was simply the visibility: a room full of brilliant, driven, heart-led Pinays occupying space unapologetically. Not as tokens. Not as the only ones. But as leaders and business owners.
Representation wasn’t just a theme—it was a lived experience. Every speaker, every facilitator, every organizer held the mic with conviction and with softness. And being surrounded by that level of power, possibility, and authenticity does something to the spirit. It expands what we believe is possible for ourselves. This was a Summit made by, for, and with Pinays, with four boss ass Lightning Talk speakers, six incredible workshops, and 22 speakers across three generations, It was also super incredible to be able to partner with and uplift over 20 Filipino and Asian-owned businesses, from our food to our florals (and of course our DJs!). These are the spaces I dreamed of having growing up. Something just for us, where we don’t have to explain who we are and can just be.
WHY THIS COMMUNITY MATTERS
Straight up: this summit healed me. In the middle of personal crisis and emotional exhaustion, it gave me grounding, clarity, warmth, and strength. The conversations, the laughter, the vulnerability, the food, the creative energy, the wisdom—it reminded me that we are never meant to do this alone.
Pinayista is not just a Filipina women’s entrepreneurial summit. It is a living, breathing community built on care, intention, creativity, and liberation. It is a space where we see one another fully and advocate for one another fiercely. It is a movement that refuses to let any of us shrink.
And we’re just getting (re)started.
LOOKING AHEAD
If this summit was a homecoming, then what comes next is the building—strengthening our connections, nourishing our dreams, and continuing to grow a community where every Pinay entrepreneur feels held, seen, and supported.
To Gina, whose leadership continues to open doors—thank you.
To the planning committee and sponsors who made this possible—thank you.
To my mom, for your love and support, even when you don’t fully understand my world—thank you.
And to every Pinay who showed up exactly as she was—you made this Summit unforgettable.
Let’s Regroup, Reground, and Keep Building
If the Summit left you wanting more connection (same), we’re already creating space for it. Join us for our next gathering as we continue reconnecting and regrounding in community with a soundbath, spinal care and massage services, sips and light bites:
I can’t wait to be in circle with you all again.
<3
Steph