Brimming Here, There and Everywhere

Rudy U. Dimayacyac - Regional Vice-President, Global Workplace Solutions at Firmenich Asia Pte Ltd, makes us believe in the power of talent, grit and faith.

Rudy U. Dimayacyac, fmag.online August 2020 cover feature.

From a humble childhood in Sariaya, Quezon and San Pablo City, Laguna, Rudy U. Dimayacyac, had always dreamt of making it big in the city of Makati, Philippines in a way he excels best: being top of his class. This determination and childhood dream paved the way for Rudy to win scholarship after scholarship - from the University of Santo Tomas to the University of Hawaii. His intelligence and perseverance are a potent combination that had brought him to sought after jobs at prominent organisations up to his current role as Regional Vice President at Firmenich Asia Pte Ltd’s Global Workplace Solutions. 

The admirable thing about Rudy besides his dizzying accomplishments, is his time for his faith and family. While many people struggle to find time for the gym, fine dining and seemingly endless work, Rudy who is busier than most of us, makes time for his family and for his community - worlds far away from form and materialism that consume us. 

Family had and will always be a priority for Rudy and Dina Dimayacyac.

Good-looking Dimayacyac Family (L-R): Rudy, Dina, Jayg, Fiel, Riel and Migs.

Perhaps this is also the reason why Rudy brims with all the things we hope for in life: love from family and friends, success in every endeavor he sets his sights on and blessings that overflow to people around him.

FMAG: As Firmenich Asia Pte Ltd’s Regional Vice-President, Global Workplace Solutions, what excites you?

RUD: My current role is a real dream job for me. This September, I will be celebrating my fourth year with Firmenich Asia Private Limited, and I can safely say that I continue to be inspired, motivated, and excited with the demands and challenges of my regional role. 

As Regional Vice President, my primary responsibility is to ensure that I can provide the most appropriate workplace environment for our employees in Asia Pacific, India, Middle East, and Africa. My regional team always endeavours to provide workplace solutions and services that touch employees’ lives and drive their overall productivity and satisfaction. This “line of sight” connection between what my team and I do to the company bottomline is what keeps me excited to go to work every morning.

FMAG: Can you share some memorable milestones in your life that brought you to where you are?

RUD: I would say they were my graduation with a degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Santo in 1986, my completion of an MBA Degree at the University of Hawaii in 1993, and my first foreign assignment in Kobe, Japan in 2000. 

My BS Degree in UST opened up a great world of opportunities for me. That included landing a job and starting up a successful career with Pilipinas Shell, gaining financial independence and providing support to my family, and gaining access to an opportunity to pursue a graduate education in Hawaii.  

My MBA Degree enabled me to land a good job at Procter & Gamble, do part time teaching in UST, and eventually meet the love-of-my-life, Dina, with whom I got married to and started my family in 1996. 

Finally, my first foreign assignment in Kobe, Japan in the year 2000 gave me and my family the chance to experience life outside the Philippines and opened up subsequent opportunities for us to live in some of the more exciting cities in Asia such as Singapore and Beijing. It also gave the opportunity to my children to study at various international schools where they got exposed to different cultures and people. 

FMAG: You lead a very busy work life with frequent business travels. How do you balance career and personal life? 

RUD: I always believe that work life balance is a choice. My family is always my top priority and this was especially important to me when my four boys were in their formative years. 

Being a member of Couples for Christ, my wife and I adhere to the teachings of the community that put a lot of emphasis on the importance of marriage and family. We also like being surrounded with friends, especially those whom we met in the community and in the various locations that we have been assigned to.  

I am fortunate to have worked in companies that share this value. With P&G before and now with Firmenich, striking a good balance between career and personal life, although quite challenging at times, had always been manageable. It especially helps now that in my current VP role, my boss gives me greater leeway, leaving to me the decision on most of my travels and overseas meeting schedule.  

FMAG: Faith is an important aspect of your life. Have you always been so active in community life? If not, what had been the turning point?

RUD: I went to a public elementary school where religion was not necessarily formally taught. My family, although Catholic, was not practicing it, so I grew up without going to church on a regular basis.  

My  turning point came when I met my religious education teacher in second year high school who taught me how to appreciate and embrace my Catholic faith more. From then on, faith had become an important aspect of my life. That kind of religiosity, however, was quite different from the charism my wife Dina and I found when we joined Couples For Christ in 2005. From a contemplative and dogmatic kind of faith, CFC introduced me and my wife to a charismatic way of life. We find life in the community to be a real gift to both of us and to our four children.

FMAG: If you are limited to giving only three life advices to your four sons, what would those be?

RUD: My first advice would be to keep their faith in the Lord and to continue practicing and observing the Catholic religion that they grew up with wherever they may be. One of the sayings that I adhere to and that I would like to impart to them is based on the teaching of St. Augustine: “Pray as if everything depends on God; work as if everything depends on you”. As they pursue their own lives and build their professional careers, I want to make sure that they anchor everything on the values and teachings that they learned from their Catholic upbringing. 

Second, I would advice them to always do their best in everything that they do. When they were growing up, I consistently emphasized to my children the importance of exerting their best efforts that to me is far more important than the results that they achieve. Having said that, we are blessed with wonderful children and we have observed that as long as they exert their best efforts in whatever they do, they would almost always come up with the best results.

Third, I would also tell them that “it is always better to love than to be right”. One thing that my wife Dina and I always made sure we have in the family is the abundance of love. We trained our four boys to learn the values of love and forgiveness as they relate to one another. That way, it became easier for them to let go of misgivings and to trust that everyone is always with a positive intent.

FMAG: Which two events in your life: the proudest and the saddest, altered your life or points of view in life? 

RUD: The proudest event in my life so far was when my eldest son finished with a BS Chemical Engineering Degree at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada in June 2020. Aside from earning his BS Degree, he was also recognized to be among the Rising Stars in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering Department at UBC. It was a very special moment because it is the fulfilment of a dream and a culmination of several years of hardwork for my son. As a father, it is my ultimate dream to see all my four children finish their studies and pursue their career aspirations. My eldest son’s graduation took me a step closer to realizing that dream. 

The saddest event of my life was when I began to realize that our grown up children would be leaving one by one to go to college and that life will never be the same at home. Although I understand it is inevitable, still, I can’t help but be sentimental about the old days when they were all little and spending fun time together with us at home. But as an old adage says, “life goes on”, and so should we. 

FMAG: What memory of being Filipino brings you pride or melts your heart?

RUD: My memory of the 1986 EDSA Revolution is the one that gives me pride and joy. I belonged to the EDSA 1 Revolution batch of graduates and I was at EDSA on the first couple of days when the revolution could have gone either way… peaceful or bloody. At that time, I was filled with hope for our people and for our country, and I had always considered it to be the ultimate demonstration of the Filipino’s unity and love of country. Until now, just listening to the songs “Bayan Ko”, “Handog ng Pilipino Sa Mundo”, and “Magkaisa” could make me feel nostalgic and teary-eyed.  

FMAG: You have a very successful career and a very successful family life. What were key to these successes?

RUD: I would attribute my success in both my career and family to God’s Providence. I maintain that everything I have and all that I have achieved were all answered prayers; the scholarships that enabled me to finish my studies, the good jobs that I had, my MBA graduate scholarship, the beautiful family that I am blessed with, the foreign assignments and the successful career that I enjoy now, all started in prayers that the Lord had generously answered. I can also relate my answer to this question to the three pieces of life advice that I would give to my children: Keeping my faith in the Lord, always trying to do my best, and trying to love more than to be right.

FMAG: Who is your figure of influence in life?

RUD: My mother, Inay Siony, is a key figure of influence in my life. She was the one who taught me to dream big and to always work hard to achieve my personal goals. I learned from her the values of courage, perseverance, and assertiveness. No doubt, she is a staunch disciplinarian just like many parents in her generation. She is someone who would do everything  in her ability to protect and defend her children and to show them her unconditional love. It takes a strong woman to raise five boys steep in discipline and proper behaviour, and I am proud to say that my mother was able to do that and more.

Rudy with his major influence in life, his mom “Inay Siony.”

The other figure of influence in my life is my wife Dina. She has been my partner in life for almost twenty five years, and she has inspired me to always be the better person that I could ever be. She is a very loving wife and a dedicated mother to our children. Dina led me into the CFC Community and is instrumental in making our family life Spirit-filled, prayerful, and God-centered. Although I have the headship and I am leading as the priest in my family, in our service and in our spiritual journey, my wife Dina is the “wind beneath my wings”.

FMAG: Having gone through a series of great and challenging times, what would you say to your 18-year old self?

RUD: I am happy and blessed to have the life I live and given another chance, I will not choose any other way.  However, there is one reminder that I would tell my 18-year old self, and I have taken it from the first book of the Harry Potter series (The Sorcerer’s Stone). The quote goes - “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live”. 

Yes, my life is filled with aspirations and dreams and I am grateful for, that a whole lot of them were realized and almost all my prayers had been answered. But perhaps, there may have been times when I was living more for my dreams than in the moment, and that is what I would remind my 18-year old self to reconsider and watch out for.