Banking on Motherhood: Jojo Marquez-Ocampo
Jojo Ocampo, senior vice president of BPI Consumer Bank and wife of musician Louie Ocampo, comes to work at 8:30 a.m. Until 6 p.m., she gracefully maneuvers around her workplace and performs her tasks with such ease. Then she bounces away from the office and comes home to her four beautiful kids: Patricia, 13; Roberta, 12; Isabella, eight; and Quito, four.
Jojo is an archetype of modern motherhood, a shining example that it only takes time management to earn a living and get a life. After graduating magna cum laude from the Ateneo de Manila University, she was immediately hired by business bigwigs like Procter and Gamble and Johnsons and Johnsons. Her career skyrocketed at an impressive speed but that did not stop her from becoming a fantastic mother. 
"I do have time," she affirms. She gets home before dinner and attends to her children’s needs, ranging from school assignments to pre-teen issues. She is still hands-on when it comes to the homework of the two younger kids. Handling the teenagers is a tricky thing, she admits, as she must strike a balance between being a mother and a friend.
"I try to be a friend to them. My children’s assessment is when it comes to school, I am the disciplinarian. With everything else, it’s their father," she laughs. And the results are awesome – her daughters are above average students at the Assumption Convent.
Weekends stand as glorious occasions for her and her family. That’s when they go out of town and explore new places together. She is as giddy to attend musicals as her kids who have love affair with the theater and arts. "Whatever they are into now, I do it with them," she says, her eyes crinkling with childlike glee.
Jojo attests to fidelity to duty, value of time and the importance of delegating the tasks and empowering people. "It is all about surrounding yourself with good people and having a good support group." This group consists of her "very supportive" husband and her girlfriends whom she can always count on for quiet dinners.
"To me, it’s just when you love your children so much," her voice trails off, a swirl of powerful emotions momentarily stopping her. "I’ve been blessed. I just want to be able to provide the environment where they can also be blessed. My best legacy to them is strong values, good education and exposing them to a variety of opportunities so they realize that there’s a bigger world out there. I’m hoping that by being where I am now, I am showing them an example of having a career, of having a life. I hope they can see me as a role model."
And she is, in more ways than one.
