MANILA, Philippines- AT 64, DR. ABRAHAM F. Pascual may be a man of few words, but according to his daughter, 33-year-old Mia Pascual-Cenzon, ?he has a way of telling you he?s proud of you. You can see it in his face,? she says with a knowing smile. ?He gets teary eyed.?

That?s because she?s given him many reasons to get all choked up. As design services and corporate communications director of Pascual Laboratories, the 62-year-old pharmaceutical business founded by her chemist grandparents Isosceles and Leonora, and elevated to its status as the number two drug company in the country by her chair dad, Mia has made it her job to give consumers more than the best and affordable health care products money can buy.

?Now that we?re transitioning into a new generation, we want people to see Pascual Laboratories as a company that?s also evolving with the times,? says Mia, one of five third-generation Pascuals actively involved in the business.

Her brother Jappy is in finance, sister Ana handles export, another brother Mikey is with the family?s IT department, and cousin Martin is their legal consultant.

?Our company?s theme is ?Passion for health, love for life.? We?re not just about quality and affordability. We care about you and we care about your life.?

Like the generations before her who practiced corporate social responsibility long before there was even a name for it (her grandmother, she says, sent underprivileged children to school, while her father provided farmers livelihood by tapping them to grow herbal plants lagundi and sambong in their Nueva Ecija farm), Mia?s own brand of CSR blends health with well-being.

Last November, she launched Health 4 Humanity, distributing boxes of her family?s medicines and vitamin supplements to Baseco, Manila-based families as part of the company?s partnership with the resettlement group, Habitat for Humanity.

Meanwhile, in the office, she helps create a healthy and positive work environment for the company?s over 600 employees. Guests who drop by their Edsa headquarters, with its ?70s architecture, will note a brighter and more cheerful lobby.

?It used to be gray and dreary and that?s not the signal that we want to give off. I want people to feel happy, to feel a passion for life, when they enter this place,? she explains of the makeover.
The company?s logos have likewise been standardized thanks to a brand identity manual she spearheaded.

?It used to break my heart when I?d see our logos come in different sizes, shapes and colors,? she admits ruefully. ?With the consistency, the message now is that ?we?re strong, we deliver.??

She?s also busy building her staff?s morale, ?reengineering the culture of the company,? she calls it, ?getting them into the practice of thinking that who they are and what they do reflect themselves and the company. We want them to see beyond their responsibilities as, say, a secretary or an employee. Obviously, they?re more than that, they have a bigger role in this office and their lives.?

Middle child

The middle child of five kids (?I broke the chain,? laughs Mia who came after an older sister and brother, and a younger sister and brother), Mia and her siblings were never pressed into joining the family business-even, she says with a smile, ?with my dad?s occasional parinig.? Still, it seemed inevitable, as there were countless opportunities to be a part of Pascual Laboratories. Mia was 8 when she first ?worked? for the company, folding boxes of sample products and tucking in their literature before packing them in a bigger box and sending them off to her brother in the stock room.

She returned in November 2002, when, after teaching pre-school and first grade in New York for a good number of years, came home and accepted the post as her father?s assistant.

?The school year already started so it was too late for me to get in,? she reasons. Mia, however, stayed on as her dad?s assistant even as she took on a teaching job at the Beacon School the next school year. Eventually, she let go of teaching ?as I enjoyed what I was doing with my dad.?

Today, her job entails her to be both teacher and student. While ad campaigns allow her to pitch the kind of ideas that ?elevate? consumers? lives and way of thinking, her days in an office where most employees and executives have seen the corporate communications director through her awkward teens ?is a learning experience. But I?m working to show them that I?m worthy of this position. And I?m glad to be working in a very supportive and family-oriented environment.?

Dad, of course, remains the ultimate role model. They also share a passion for what they do.

Acknowledging the impact her dad had on the company (?His shoes are too big to fill?), Mia aspires to be like him. ?He knows a lot about everything and I admire that about him,? says Mia with obvious pride. ?I like doing things that add on to me as a person.?