James Peñalosa: 'Just hate quitting'

As managing director of the recently set-up JP Communications, our 5’10” bachelor invested nearly half a million pesos to launch his enterprise.  James Penalosa, 27, had been saving money since he was in high school in St. Joseph’s College, Quezon City.  He practiced discipline in spending:  when he would spot a shoe he was keen to buy, for example, James would check his cabinet first to see how many pairs of shoes he had.  If he realized that it was simply a desire to purchase, he chose to save the money instead. 

When he decided to set up his own advertising agency, he approached his friends working in other media agencies. Over a year of countless meetings, four of his friends decided to partner with him and set up their office in Rockwell.  At present he flips from being the financial controller to the messenger of his agency.

I like comments that say I can do it.  

I don’t like comments that say I cannot do it.  I don’t even like that sentence.

Advice is easy to follow from people who inspire me: George Yang of McDonald’s, Ben Chan of Bench, Dr. Vicki Belo.   

My personal style signifier…  Since I like talking, probably it would be my mouth.  I like laughing.   I went to audition for the president of the happiness campaign of Coca-Cola because I like to spread happiness. 

My proudest moment… the weight loss.  I grew up really fat and weighed 250 lbs.  The boys from school would keep me out of their group, call me Mr. Piggy and traumatize me with their taunting.  I had a hard time fitting into my uniforms and choosing clothes.  From Grade 3 to college, my shoes would be so stylish but the clothes I had to use would be dark. Then I decided that I wanted to change.  My entire teen life was not fun and I started to do personal research on weight management.   

I realized that attitude, the right diet and exercise had to combine to get the fitness goal that I wanted to have.  Junk chips, super soda had to go. When I started losing weight, I noticed that my waistline was dropping and friends would congratulate me because they could see my neck.  I needed belts to hold my clothes up.  Belts used to interrupt my eating schedules.

I see my role as the company visionary.  I love imaging things for myself and the people I work with. 

One fear of mine was losing hope when I was very fat.

For grooming and style I rely on myself.   Now I am so into collecting boots, Doc Martens, Timberland and Caterpillar that I envision myself as a casual engineer — a construction-worker look.

Good advice I have given is make believe that you deserve everything that you dream about. 

?Good advice I have received is just hate quitting.  I got this from a friend recently and he taught me to just hate quitting. 

A quality that I have been working to address is discipline.  My desire is to instill within myself that discipline. It’s the greatest value that we should all have so we can create positive results.

A recent find is Ben Brillantes, whom I met at a TV shoot.  The concept was a chef showdown between two guys and a celebrity. After the shoot, we spent so much time together and through the day we bonded and related like brothers.   He is a Fil-Canadian actor who wants to try living in the Philippines.

Beside my bed are a lot of pillows.  I am a pillow person.

The best gift I have given recently is a personalized journal magazine that I created for someone.  Every entry is handwritten.  Images, drawings, icons were all handwritten.

?In my fridge you’ll always find… when I stay in Rockwell there is water.  Tap water that I put into containers.  I consume more than three liters of water per day.

The grooming basic I am never without… perfume.  The Scent of Success of Willie Revillame and if you try it, it is world-class.  The other one is Inno Sotto’s Mondo.  And my third favorite is Obsession by Calvin Klein.

?In school, I learned the value of life.  I experienced academic failure and rejection from people around me.  I learned to accept that not all people would really like me and that is the value of life. 

My blog is jamespenalosa.blogspot.com.   My best moments are when I inspire youth to be conscious that obesity is spreading.

The sport I do the most… I do weight training, basketball, and 5K charity runs.  Swimming in the Marikina Heights clubhouse and Joya Rockwell swimming pool. 

?After being in business, I realized it is really hard to work on your own.  I am the all-around manager, delivery, clerical, and I must be very flexible.  When I was an employee I had my own secretary and could ask help from co-employees.

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?Email: babycamp2@gmail.com