Balancing the Grind with Thalia Bondoc, CEO & Co-Founder at Eduloco

Thalia Bondoc is the CEO & Co-Founder at Eduloco, a study abroad platform helping more students of the current generation can study abroad.

1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?

I started off as a hotelier, I spent 3 years in Switzerland to study in a Swiss hotel school with a goal in mind to be a GM.

I started my first job in Switzerland as a waitress at the age of 17. After that, I moved to Barcelona for 6 months to work at Majestic Hotel & Spa Barcelona GL as a Guest Relations Officer, solely managing VIP guests. At the time I managed to enhance my Spanish language skills and was able to still utilise that until today.

In 2018, I had the opportunity to work for the biggest Marriott property in the world that has over 4,000+ guest rooms which is located in Nashville, USA. I stayed with them for a year, working in room divisions.

Between 2019-2020, I moved back to the Philippines and worked for Philippine Plaza Sofitel Manila as the Guest Experience Manager.

In between my time in Sofitel, I was already in Digital Marketing specialising in E-commerce as my hobby helping small businesses get ROI.

Today, I am currently the founder and CEO of Eduloco Pte Ltd, a company which I originally founded in Malaysia in 2021 and now incorporated and headquartered in Singapore in 2022. Our mission is to be the tech for the youth by Gen Z-fying (remodelling the outdated process) the study abroad ecosystem so more students of the current generation can study abroad.

2) What does a day in your life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?

My schedule fluctuates a lot depending on my calendar and scheduled meetings. But in general, I would be focusing on strategy, meetings, P&L and business development to ensure we reach our goals.

3) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?

Work life balance to me is being able to get the work done, spend some time with friends and at the same time take care of my health. I usually work around my schedule to be able to do all three.

It’s actually not that difficult, if I am not able to go to the gym, I make sure I walk to work or reach a specific number of steps in a day. And if one of my friends wants to go out, I would still be down to go. Unwinding after a long day at work is what energises me for the next day.

4) In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life?

I used to go to the gym everyday however because of how demanding the startup life is, I have stopped for 3 months. Though now I make it up by walking every day to work. I do plan to go back to it though.

5) Do you have any favourite books, podcasts or newsletters that you’d like to recommend?

I would recommend Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. It would surely unlock something once you’ve read it.

6) If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be?

No one in particular, but perhaps a combination of all female entrepreneurs around my age. I would love to know how they balance everything from sleep, nutrition, family, friends, relationships, travel, work and fitness.

7) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?

Personally, if I have to work 17 hours a day on Eduloco, that is still a balance for me. I really think it depends on the person and their mindset what balance is. So as long as you love what you are doing, that’s all that matters.

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