Marie Fernandez
Executive Office
Executive Office Assistant

First Job: Insurance Clerk at SunLife of Canada Financial (Manila, Philippines)

Birthplace: Manila, Philippines

Years at FCEOC: 3 years in January 2008

Best advice ever received: Always be nice to people on the way up; because you'll meet the same people on the way down.

Favorite advice I give: A good education is the finest gift you can ever give your child.

Favorite restaurant, dish, or pig-out food: Los Panchos! Haha! I have a lot of favorite cuisines - Mediterranean, Japanese, Mexican, Spanish, Chinese, and of course, Filipino!

Proudest moment(s): Emigrating to the US with my sons and finding a good job just 2 after giving birth to Joshie. Also, despite being in the US for only two years, my sons have already been receiving various academic and leadership awards.

Greatest personal accomplishment: Raising two fine, talented and intelligent young men on my own for 12 years.

Best vacation I’ve taken/dream vacation: My first of many trips to the United States in 2002. Dream vacation - visit China’s Great Wall, Japan and Eastern Europe – visit Vlad the Impaler’s castle!

Favorite weekend activity: Go “malling”, play Trivial Pursuit, watch movies, cook or travel,

Last good movie I saw: We Own The Night

Scariest experience: Giving birth! - It was a scary but very fulfilling experience.

If I had a million dollars I would… Give a portion to family and charity. Invest the rest in T-bills, real estate and in an investment-grade insurance plans.

Favorite place to shop: JC Penney, Ross, Nordstrom Rack and TJ Maxx/Marshall’s

Favorite childhood memory: Being a young couch potato - watching favorite cartoon shows - Wacky Races, Superfriends and Japanese super robots with my siblings, watching 70s/ 80s cop shows with my grandpa and Lone Wolf and Cub/Zatoichi with my uncles.

Words that describe me best: Trustworthy, a loyal friend, a movie and trivia enthusiast, friendly, creative, resourceful, a shopaholic!

I like to watch: House, M.D., Law and Order SVU, Jeopardy, HGTV, What Not To Wear, Discovery Channel, NatGeo, and documentaries.

In my spare time…I shop :-D, chat with family and friends online, surf the net, read, cook, play Literati, trivia and tinker with the computer.

If I’ve learned one thing in life, it is… "What's right isn't always popular. What's popular isn't always right."