Every year, I’ve had the opportunity to give people a chance to make their Valentine's day a bit more special, by giving baked goods for them to enjoy or to give to their loved ones. This year, it was different, I got a chance to spend the day enjoying some great food with the best people.

Despite being a few days after the official Valentine’s day, this year’s date was still the loving members of YOYO Philippines. The day started with our bi-weekly All Hands meeting where we get to align with the rest of the company and celebrate wins together! During this meeting, some of our members from the Philippine team were recognized for their dedication and hard work. It was a great feeling – sitting beside them while they are awarded as MVPs and Superstars! Congratulations Reese, Luke, and Nori! You deserve this win! 

One of the things I learned from the YOYO team – that isn’t in direct relation to my career – is where to get good food for a reasonable price. For lunch, we enjoyed some chicken and rice while having coffee and chatting at the ever-beautiful Odd Cafe! 

As someone who’s been an intern for the company for almost a year, it has been a habit for me to observe the team; and after lunch was when the real culture of YOYO showed. The ability to have fun while also working, essentially creating a balance between work and fun times is one of the best parts of working with these people. After having lunch, we went back to the office to work and collaborate. It still feels so different and good to be having in-person meetings with them. It’s a whole different experience to see how they actually are during online meetings 😆

In the middle of working (and taking advantage of F2F to film TikToks – follow us!), Ate Mau and Ms. Toni handed us gifts from YOYO. It’s the perfect Valentine’s day gift anyone else can ever ask for. As usual, the team being the team, we spent the next few minutes taking photos of the gifts and while wearing the new YOYO shirt which was part of the package!

We were told to wear dinner date night outfits for work on that day, and almost fitting considering we were having an intimate dinner at Gino’s Brick Oven Pizza. And as usual, as in most moments from this day, there’s always a part of YOYO’s culture showing – we ended up playing different games while waiting for the food. 

It was really fun seeing everyone in person again and seeing how they think and process, whether it be while doing work or while playing some improv games in between. Just walking around Makati at night after enjoying some good food with the best people is the perfect way to cap off Valentine’s day 2023.

💌Gayle