NANCI LABARES? life has always been a struggle between doing what she wants and what other people want her to be. At age 17, while girls her age went to the university, she was deciding what name to give her firstborn child. In those days, instead of pursuing a college degree, she chose to attend to her family.

Nanci raised five level-headed children, each of them successful in his or her own right ? which, for her, is the true test of a successful mother. She may have held back her own ambition because of her children, but she believes that hope springs eternal.

Thereafter, she packed her bags and headed for New York to start pursuing a career in cooking by enrolling at the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan. Later, by some stroke of luck, she landed a job at the Shea Stadium for the US Open in tennis. For Nanci, life has come full circle.

Now that she?s free from family responsibilities, she is in a job she adores. ?Life doesn?t end when you get married or have children,? she beamed. ?It jumpstarts your life into something beyond your imagination if you?re willing to get out of your comfort zone and take risks.?

Extra time

Since Nanci works for only three months a year at the US Open, where she serves the likes of Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova, she spends her extra time managing her slipper business.

Nanci joined the February batch of the Batanes Photo Safari, where she distributed Havana rubber slippers while we conducted the Immersion Read-Aloud for Gig and the Amazing Sampaguita Foundation at the Chavayan Barrio School.

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Learn portraiture, naturescape, fashion, architectural and macro photography at the Batanes Photo Safari on March 19-22, April 1-5, April 23-26 and May 6-9, as well as the Coron Photo Safari on May 15-18, and Macau and Hong Kong in May. E-mail mandynavaseroahoo.com, or call 899-1767.