There is a particular kind of quiet that settles over you near the end of your studies — or just after you finish. You have the degree, or you are close to it. You have done the work everyone told you to do. And still, some small voice asks: am I actually ready for what comes next?
I remember that voice well. For a long time I believed the people who seemed to have it all figured out were simply made of something I wasn't. It took me years, and more than a few humbling seasons, to learn how wrong that was. They were not more gifted than me. They had just started — before they felt ready, before every answer was in place.
So let me tell you where I'll be on Saturday, the 18th of July, and why I hope you'll come find me.
The Interns Summit 2026
The good people at The Interns Hub are hosting the Interns Summit 2026, and I'm genuinely honoured that they invited me to speak. This is their event — dreamed up and built by a team that truly cares about young Filipinos stepping into the working world — and iStart is proud to come alongside them as a Bronze sponsor.
I said yes without hesitating, and I'll tell you why. A room full of interns, graduating students, and fresh graduates is exactly the room I wish someone had been standing in when I was that age, unsure and a little afraid. If I can be that person for even a few of you, that's an afternoon well spent.
Here are the details, plainly:
- What: Interns Summit 2026, hosted by The Interns Hub
- When: Saturday, 18 July 2026, 1:00 to 6:00 PM
- Where: Ayala Malls Central Bloc, Cebu IT Park, Cebu City
- Cost: Free to attend
- Who it's for: students, fresh graduates, and young professionals just finding their footing
If that last line sounds like you, this afternoon was built with you in mind.
Come hear the talk — then come say hello
I'll be giving a talk, and I would love for you to be in the room for it. I'm not there to sell you anything. I'm there to speak honestly about something I wish someone had said to me earlier — that readiness is not a gate you must pass through before you're allowed to begin. It is something you build on the way.
But if I'm honest, the talk is not the part I'm most looking forward to. It's the part after.
My team will be at the iStart booth for the whole afternoon, and I'll be there with them whenever I'm off the stage. Come by. Ask us anything. Tell me what you're working toward and what's making you hesitate — I have watched enough capable young people quietly talk themselves out of good futures to know that the hesitation is usually the only thing standing in the way.
And right there at the booth, if you'd like, you can take our free Career Readiness check.
What the readiness check actually is
Let me be honest about what it is, and what it isn't — because I don't want you walking up expecting either a magic number or a judgment.
It is a mirror, not a verdict. In a few minutes it shows you where you stand right now across the things that quietly matter to an employer — not your grades, but the practical readiness no one ever sits you down and explains. Where you're already strong. Where a little focused work would make a real difference. That's all it is.
Here's the honest insight most people never get told: the distance between "not ready" and "ready" is almost always smaller than it feels from the inside. When you can see it laid out plainly — this part solid, this part just needs a little work — the fear loses most of its grip. You stop picturing a mountain and start seeing a set of steps. That clarity is free, and it's yours to keep whether or not you ever do another thing with iStart.
So if you take one thing home from our booth, let it be that: an honest picture of where you are, and the quiet confidence that the distance is walkable.
A small word on how to make the most of a day like this
Since I'm the one inviting you, let me also hand you something useful for the whole afternoon — not just for our corner of it.
Summits like this one are generous with freebies, giveaways, and group photos, and there's nothing wrong with any of that. But the students who walk away changed by a day like this tend to do one simple thing: they have one real conversation. Not ten quick hellos — one honest exchange where they say out loud what they're actually trying to figure out, and let someone who has walked a little further answer them straight.
So come with one real question. Ask it at our booth, or at any booth that speaks to you. That single conversation will do more for you than a bag full of flyers ever could.
If you can't make it to Cebu
I know not everyone reading this can get to Cebu IT Park on a Saturday afternoon. If that's you, please don't feel left behind — because you aren't.
The same free Career Readiness check is coming online soon, so you'll be able to see where you stand from wherever you are, in your own time. I'll share it here the moment it's ready. Until then, hold on to the part that matters most: your big dream is valid, and the first real step toward it is one you're allowed to take today — event or no event, Cebu or not.
Come say hello
The "i" in iStart has always meant ownership — the future you want is yours to reach for, and no one else gets to take that first step for you. But taking it is so much easier when someone is standing there, believing you can. On the 18th, I'll be that someone, in person, for anyone who walks up.
So come to the Interns Summit 2026. Sit in on the talk. Take the readiness check if you'd like. And please — come say hello. I would genuinely love to meet you, and to hear what you're dreaming toward.