06/11/2023
Our Story in Numbers
21 years ago: We set up the company with a "blue ocean" strategy. There were no or just a few firms serving the content needs of clients. We thought being business journalists was our competitive edge.
₱60,000: Our start-up capital that came from our combined savings as a married couple for 3 years.
₱12,000: The cost of a secondhand Power Macintosh we bought as our first office equipment. We converted a spare room in my in-laws' house into an office and started working from home.
75 cents (less than ₱41 in 2002): What my husband inserted into a slot machine in Reno, Nevada that won him $500 (₱20,000). We used his casino winnings to buy our first brand-new equipment: an Epson printer and a flatbed scanner. We also repainted our office in Starbucks green and Seattle's Best red (we love coffee!).
₱5,000: What we earned from our first project: a three-fold brochure on a CSR project of HSBC.
2003: Got our first big breaks - SGV's 60th anniversary coffeetable book and PSBank's 2002 annual report. Ms. Marlu Balmaceda commissioned our team to do interviews, research, and write for the SGV book while then PSBank president Pascual "Tito" Garcia II outsourced the writing, layout and design, and printing of the bank's annual report to us. Both became lifelong friends while PSBank is to date our most loyal annual report client. We also hired our first full-time staff, Toni Samonte, our office manager.
2004: Expanded our menu of services to include public relations, graphic design, and photography. PR veteran Roberto "Bobby" Manzano and award-winning photojournalist Revoli Cortez joined our team. Mr. Manzano played a huge role in our growth as he introduced us to his former employer (ADFIAP) and clients (Chowking, Yehey!, ING Bank, and Coca-Cola) which became our clients, too. He also referred us to the husband-and-wife team of Emil and Camile Kitane of CGKformaprint, our ever-reliable printing partner to date. We threw our first company Christmas party attended by our directors (Salve Duplito and Ed Pesayco) and their children, Mr. Manzano and his wife, and our two writers then, Katt Pascual and Glenn Diaz (now a Palanca award-winning and bestselling novelist).
2005-2006: Wrote for the sustainability reports of Manila Water and TeaM Energy, which were the first in the country.
2007: Bought our first brand-new vehicle, a Toyota Fortuner, out of our company's earnings. We also renovated our office with glass walls and had our logo etched on glass. We hired our second full-time staff, Kenneth Ejusa, who still works with the company. We threw our 5th anniversary party with partners and clients at Conspiracy Bar in Quezon City.
2008: Writers Edge got featured on Entrepreneur Magazine's issue on the Philippines' top SMEs, thanks to a former boss in BusinessWorld, the late Mr. Jose "Ping" Galang who was then its editor-in-chief.
2012: We celebrated our 10th anniversary with our first company-sponsored trip abroad: in Bangkok with Kenneth Ejusa and Gelli-Ann Mae Sapon, who succeeded Toni as office manager.
2014: Mounted our first-ever workshop, "Bricks & Clicks," co-sponsored by our client ADFIAP, which drew around 50 participants and lasted for 5 days.
2015-2016: ADFIAP, our second-oldest client, won in the Asia Best Sustainability Report Awards for two years in a row for its sustainability reports that we helped publish.
2017: Celebrated our 15th anniversary with a trip to Taiwan with Kenneth.
2020: Despite the start of the COVID-19 global pandemic, we managed to grow our client base as we have been working from home since 2002 and got more productive and cost-efficient when client meetings shifted to virtual platforms.
2022: We celebrated our 20th year by throwing a videoke party at Rockstar, SM Aura in Taguig City with partners and friends.
21 years later: What was hatched over several rounds of Scrabble in bed as an idea to set up a full-service writing company turned into a 21-year-old passion and commitment for storytelling. We have many people to thank for aside from those already mentioned here: Dan Duplito, Genesis and Ethel Nolasco of Tagakuwento, Budee Mendoza, PixelMagic, Jeremiah Macasero, Albert Labrador and team, Alane Ty and Tam Urao, the late Fatima Reyes-Niebres, Mr. Bobby Peralta, Tina and Jerome Dumlao, and members of our families and relatives who found themselves working at some point or another with us.
THANK YOU FOR THE 21 YEARS!!! ❤️❤️❤️
