This month of May, we are looking forward to the annual PSTD TD Summit. To get to know more about the event and the woman behind the preparations for the summit, Louie Banta of the Publications Committee interviewed Trustee Sheryl Camarines. Here is the transcript of the interview.

Louie Banta:
A good day to our talent development practitioners. This is Louie Banta, avid fan and volunteer of the PSTD or Philippine Society for Talent Development. This coming May 30, PSTD will hold another Talent Development Summit in Discovery Premia, Makati. This TD summit is a flagship project of the talent development framework committee and in this interview, we’ll get to know better the current Board of Trustee sponsor of the talent development framework committee. Our guest is a senior manager for talent development in an HMO industry leader in Intellicare. She has spent the last sixteen years in talent development. As mentioned, she is also the BOT or Board of Trustee sponsor for this committee that organized this upcoming talent development summit. In this interview, I’m pleased to speak with Miss Sheryl Camarines. Hello Sheryl.

Sheryl Camarines:
Hello, good afternoon, Louie! Nice to see you.

Louie Banta:
Thank you and of course, there’s an upcoming talent development summit and before we say more about that, let’s talk more about you. How would you describe your PSTD journey? How did you come across the Philippine Society for Talent Development and what has made you stay over the years?

Sheryl Camarines:
Alright, I would consider my PSTD journey as a worthwhile journey and the reason I say that is because I started to be part of the PSTD when I was a trainer. I was starting to be a trainer and it was 16 years ago so not so long ago, and I’ve always looked up to, you know, going back to 16 years, as I started as a member of PSTD I have always looked up to the officers and staff of those who organized the conferences, the Tipanan, the learning sessions. I’ve always felt that you were all doing a good job. In fact, you were already one of the trainer’s that I look up to when I started as a member.

Louie Banta:
You made me count, because if that’s 16 years ago, that was 2007-2008, noh?

Sheryl Camarines:
Yes, so nagcompute kana, Louie, noh? (laughs)

Louie Banta:
You were there at the same time sila Pido Aguilar, noh? (???)

Sheryl Camarines:
That is so true. Yes, yes.

Louie Banta:
Wow, that was 16 years ago and here you are. You’re now a BOT sponsor of this upcoming big summit.

Sheryl Camarines:
That’s right, Louie and I like to share a bit of now. I mean, you know, flashback and now, I’m now part of the Board of Trustees and there are two main reasons that I actually tried, you know, to really file my candidacy last year. And first reason is, I was part of Intellicare and my mentor, my former boss was really someone who was very active in PSTD and in many ways we were supporting him in terms of, you know, his projects, the committees that he was leading, so he inspired a lot of us in the team and another is that I actually transitioned to a new role which is focusing more on talent development because, you know, in the last five years I was handling recruitments, employee relations but this new role actually, I really believe that you know, God has a way of ordaining things so here I am today as part of the BOT.

Louie Banta:
And I’m sure that you bring with you a lot of memorable experiences. As you said you were supporting your immediate manager who’s also an active volunteer in PSTD. What were some or perhaps the top most memorable experience in PSTD?

Sheryl Camarines:
Alright, so what I love about being part of PSTD is that I really got to meet friends in the organization. They are TD practitioners that I really found to be good friends, and to stand out, I hope they will see this. I hope they will see or read our interview today and it’s actually there for us so, I hope she’s still with PSTD and the reason I share that is because, you know, the learning journey of  being a talent development practitioner can be quite challenging, but because of the people you can call and consult, so it’s easier to navigate. Back then, PSTD was still on learning and development so my friends in PSTD were leading their own learning and development teams and I really found it very productive and I would say it was learning with fun. We were learning and having fun while we were doing what we needed to do in the organization so that is, to me, very memorable and maybe one of the reasons why I really stayed with PSTD because of the friendly mentors and trainers that we have in the organization.

Louie Banta:
When asked about a memorable experience you referred to the relationships, right, that made your stay in PSTD memorable.
Now, getting to know you better so that our talent development professionals watching this interview will get to know you beyond your role as Board of Trustees.

Who is Sheryl as a person? Please give three adjectives, that describe you best.

Sheryl Camarines:
I can be described in many ways, but maybe what stands out is that I’m really an optimist and I am spontaneous and adventurous.

I would say spontaneous, I do, of course, plan, but I thrive on when it comes to, let’s say a learning and development session or a training session. I’m sure you’ve been doing learning and development sessions, Louie and we all know that when we do training, we have a design.
But me, when I do a training, there will be instances that there is a need to adjust your design, while you are doing the training so, I thrive while sprinting spontaneity, in that sense. That’s why I would say that, it’s something that would describe me because I can adjust quickly based on the need of the learning session.

Louie Banta:
And that is really required since you may not fully anticipate what will happen in the class. So, it’s good to be spontaneous.

Sheryl Camarines:
That is true.

Louie Banta:
The first one is “O” optimistic, yes. The second one is “S” spontaneous or you know, you can be free-flowing. The last one is adventurous, right?

Sheryl Camarines: 
Yes, adventurous.

Louie Banta: 
Those are three adjectives that describes Ms. Sheryl, very easy to remember. I just remember “OSA.” O-S-A: optimistic, spontaneous and adventurous.

What about your passion? What are you most passionate about? What are the things that motivate you and drive you?

Sheryl Camarines:
Alright. When I look at my life now I realize that I’m passionate about human behavior and understanding human behavior. Earlier in college, I actually took up Behavioral Sciences in UP Manila, and in fact on my thesis was about mental health at that time, mental health of teenagers. Even at the time when, you know, mental health wasn’t yet a buzzword so that led me to a career in HR and then later on, I fell in love with training and of course, now as I transition to talent development, so developing people or understanding talents is, you know, goes beyond training and I think the passion for human behavior or understanding people is something that I’m really passionate about and also, another thing that I’m passionate about is that I want to continuously be an agent of change in the organization that’s something that I love working on.

Louie Banta:
Then you are in the right career, because you are fascinated about human behavior and motivated and passionate about being an Agent of Change. Fast talk tayo, Sheryl. You know the drill, I mention a keyword and just answer the items that we have here.

Sheryl Camarines: 
Alright!

Louie Banta:
What’s your real nickname?

Sheryl Camarines:
It’s actually just “She.”

Louie Banta:
Your MBTI profile?

Sheryl Camarines:
My MBTI is actually ENFP and I realize the president and I have the same profile.

Louie Banta: 
Your dream job?

Sheryl Camarines: 
Secret agent or like an NBI or FBI.

Louie Banta:
Your favorite food?

Sheryl Camarines:
I love anything na inihaw and seafood.

Louie Banta:
Hobbies, top two.

Sheryl Camarines:
I love dancing and singing.

Louie Banta:
You’re in the arts. Your favorite TV show?

Sheryl Camarines:
Actually, documentaries on travel and food, but one thing that I would recommend, I know there are a lot, but one thing I would recommend is that of Luke Nguyen so I hope you’ll check that out. It’s Luke Nguyen hosts a travel and food documentary but I think the reason I’m fascinated about the show is because of the stories behind the places that he visits.

Louie Banta:
Your favorite book?

Sheryl Camarines:
I love reading leadership books and I would say that it’s also because of the fact that I want to develop the leadership in me, so I think that’s the reason.

Louie Banta:
Okay, major dislike in an object, in a person, in a situation.

Sheryl Camarines:
Alright, one thing that I dislike is when people are not open to feedback or criticism. And that’s also something that you know I also manage in myself. I think it is common that what you dislike is also something that you want to manage within yourself.

Louie Banta:
A person whom you idolize or treat as a hero?

Sheryl Camarines: 
So okay, actually, I actually idolize my mom for, you know, she really took care of us really well and raised us really well so I look up to her.

Louie Banta:
Your favorite quote in life?

Sheryl Camarines:
Favorite quote…  very short but it’s I think it will encompass everything. It’s about, you know, “Love others as much as you love yourself.” So actually, it’s a Bible verse in Matthew 22-29

Louie Banta:
Tell us more about the talent development committees’ activities.

Sheryl Camarines:
Alright so this is really an exciting update, Louie. We’re organizing the TD Summit on May 30 and one of the primary or very important activity that we need to do is to understand what are the current challenges of our talent development professionals so that was very prominent, when we had a meeting with the talent development committee and that is the reason why we partnered with our research committee to work on a research on what are the challenges and how can the Philippine Society for Talent and Development really help them so I think that’s really the first step that we did and in fact, we’ve already launch or we’ve already released two of the surveys and I hope that many of those who are watching this will have already participated that survey.

Louie Banta:
Sheryl, please invite the talent development practitioners who are watching this interview. Invite them to the May 30 event.

Sheryl Camarines:
Alright, thank you. Thank you, Louie, for this opportunity. So, to everyone watching this interview today, we’re really glad to be able to have these conversations with you and we want you to be there. The TD Summit is actually a face-to-face event and so it’s not a hybrid event. We’re excited to have this opportunity to invite everyone to the Talent Development Summit happening on May 30. This is going to be a full face-to-face event and the reason that we did a face-to-face session is because we will do a deep dive conversation and there will be a collaborative workshop in the afternoon so that’s going to be an exciting part of the summit. Aside from the speakers that we will be getting from very renowned organizations so it’s going to be really a full day pack with a lot of sharing of best practices in terms of how we can elevate our talent development programs in our respective organizations so we hope to see you on May 30. Thank you, Louie.

Louie Banta:
There you go, to our talent development, practitioners out there. You have just gotten to know better the Board of Trustees sponsor for the talent development framework committee, that is Sheryl Camarines, inviting you once again. Kita kits tayo, May 30, 8:00am to 5:00pm, Discovery Premia. Thank you so much. Sheryl.

Sheryl Camarines: 
Thank you, Louie! I had a great time talking to you today.

Louie Banta:
See you, there May 30.

This interview shows Sheryl’s journey from pursuing something that she is passionate about to finding fulfillment in volunteering to take part in PSTD’s programs. Her enthusiasm, commitment and motivation are an inspiration to TD practitioners. She is proof that working on something that aligned to one’s passion truly brings out one’s best. Meet Sheryl this May 30 in the TD Summit and network with likeminded TD practitioners. Register now to be a PSTD member.