Last January 31, 2016, Fellow Filipino Abby Asistio flew to San Francisco and
had the wonderful opportunity of being chosen as one of the eighteen invited by
Facebook on their 12th Anniversary Friends Day celebration with
California-based Alopecia awareness advocate, Rachel Regal. Alopecia is an autoimmune condition which
results in partial or total head and body hair loss. Abby Asistio have had it since she was four
while Rachel just developed it sometime in 2012, the same year she discovered
that her 10-year-old daughter, Eliana, had it, too. Six inspiring stories were picked by Facebook
among its 1.64 billion users and Abby’s friends were all amazed when they’ve
found out that Abby’s Alopecia story was one of them. Imagine that!
Abby and Rachel met each other through the double
A hand sign campaign that Aby started in 2012, and They've been
"connected" since then. Last
year, Facebook Stories featured how these two were able to build a friendship,
as well as campaign for disease awareness through Facebook! And last February 1st, Abby and Rachel had
the chance to tour FB headquarters in Menlo Park, San Francisco, meet and chat
with the people behind Facebook (Founder & CEO Mark Zuckerberg, COO Sheryl
Sandberg, CPO Chris Cox, and a whole lot of awesome people), get crazy cool
gadgets and have one of the best experiences of their lives.
Abby recounted that it was such a surreal feeling
to be in the same room as the creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg. Mark Z was
wearing his trademark look (jeans, sneakers, shirt and a big smile on his
face), and had such a friendly, approachable aura and demeanor about him. Not at all intimidating! He shared stories about how the company
started, its mission-vision, the ups and downs that come along, and their future
plans. Those invited also had the chance
to ask him questions. When Mark Z was asked about achieving success and life’s
“impossibilities”. He said, “There’s a
difference between impossible and things taking a really long time. Even if
you’re not going to be able to do something in a short time period, if you care
about something, you want to see the world to move into that direction… So the best thing to do is just get started
and not be discouraged. It’s tough
because this stuff is hard, or else people would’ve already done it.”
Abby Asistio got the chance to ask a question to
one of the world’s 50 most powerful, successful women in business, Facebook COO
Sheryl Sandberg. Aside from Alopecia awareness,
Abby is also an active Real Beauty advocate with girls and women struggling
with various insecurities, being so consumed by the world’s unrealistic and
sometimes superficial standards of beauty. So Abby asked Sheryl about her perception of
it. Sheryl said that beauty is just like
success and that no one could really define it for you. We are all unique. We have different stories, dreams and desires.
We should explore our own inner and outer beauty, believe and embrace that we
are beautiful, and never allow anyone to tell us otherwise.
Mark capped off his talk by sharing their company
philosophy with everyone present. Though already having over 1 billion
subscribers, there are still 7 billion people all over the world without access
to all the meaningful connections and information that Facebook brings. One thing that the company stands by is that
“things are always 1% completed”. It
keeps them grounded, reminding them that there is always so much work, growth
and progress to be done, and so many people to reach out to and help.
Everything about the Facebook trip was
overwhelming and inspiring according to Abby.
More than anything, it reminded her about “responsibility”. We are all given our own platforms, in this
case “accounts and connections”, to make a dent in this world. It is up to us to become complacent and take
these vehicles for granted, or maximize the opportunities and use them to make
a positive impact in this generation. Abby
is grateful that Facebook has become a medium for her to communicate disease
awareness and touch people beyond the confines of her tiny room and her
country. Abby is also glad that she and
Rachel are two out of millions of people choosing to recognize the importance
of social media in contributing to making this world a better place, and
actually doing something about it.
Truly, God plans the best adventures and creates
the most beautiful surprises. Abby knows
that she wouldn't have been handpicked for this if it weren't for Him, as well
as the countless individuals who have cared and showed support for my advocacy.
Abby would like to leave a positive
thought to everyone that we should really take the time to search for and
identify our “purpose” – that one unique, very specific calling that is the
result of our talents, dreams, desires, passions and experiences. Once you find it, be faithful to it no matter
how long or difficult the journey towards its fulfillment may be. You’ll never know where it could lead to, how
far it could go and how large it could grow. Abby is also thankful that her campaign
continues to spread and reach new heights and she is particularly grateful to
Facebook for giving her this opportunity and to Novuhair, Nature's Answer to Hair Loss
(www.novuhair.com), for always being so supportive of her advocacy and
endeavors. Abby is proud and honored to
have represented the Philippines and the Alopecia community in this once-in-a-lifetime,
international event.
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