How taking up a hobby gets us through tough times

For Dana Campomanes, creativity springs from a devastating experience. She lost her mother in the early months of the pandemic. It left her feeling empty. She could not even properly grieve.

“It was really hard because apart from my mom being my best friend, we were not able to celebrate her life surrounded by friends and family,” she said.

Her mom had a rare type of blood cancer, multiple myeloma, and passed away last March 2020. Dana, being a mom to a one-year-old at that time, depended on her mother as she juggled work and family duties. She looked up to her as her role model.

“Travelling has always been my way to de-stress, but it wasn’t possible. So I needed to find something else to move on,” said Dana.

Luckily, she found herself a creative outlet close to her heart. “I stumbled upon a florist on Instagram, and I thought it would be nice to try flower arranging because my mom loved flowers. So I signed up for a floristry class,” she said. Dried flowers became her way of preserving her mother’s memory.

A newfound passion sprouts

After learning the basics of floristry, Dana began arranging dried flowers for her family and friends. She explored selling her arrangements for fun. To her surprise, her first collection was immediately sold out.

“I still remember the first two flower arrangements I made. I showed it to everyone in the family and they were very supportive of my newfound hobby, especially my husband. They would share my social media posts and help me do the arrangements for bulk orders too,” she said.

WeekendHome Manila was born in August 2020. The name meant she would be doing her business only on weekends, and also producing something that will help people feel relaxed, like it is the weekend already. As a brand management professional, she also didn’t want to limit her business to flowers. It could expand to something else, she thought.

Dana is no full-time entrepreneur, but with BPI as her trusted partner, managing her business has been a breeze. QR codes and online transfers spare her from the hassles of handling payments and finances. “Going digital is really a game changer. Once you experience the convenience, there’s no turning back,” she said.

Despite her initial success, she had her doubts, too. As an amateur florist who only took a two-hour online class, she wondered if she deserved a spot in the field amid all the experienced florists.

A life in full bloom

Pregnant with her second child and expecting to give birth in December, she asked herself, “Itutuloy ko pa ba ‘to?”

What kept her going was the thought of what her mom would tell her.

“She lived her life to the fullest and made sure we experienced the same,” said Dana. “One thing that I can tell from the way she lived her life is that, despite being the busy women that we are, we can take up something that we want for ourselves. We can have relaxing weekends, doing what we want to do.”
Running a business allowed Dana to see her work at BPI through the client’s perspective.

“Dealing with my clients and having conversations with them led me to ask a crucial question when it comes to BPI’s brand: How will people relate to your brand on a personal level?” said Dana.

Dana’s Most Memorable Arrangement

“I got a last-minute order from a work colleague. He gave the colors that his girlfriend loves, and I arranged the flowers for him,” Dana recalls.

“Suddenly, we received news that he passed away. He was very young. A month later, my colleague’s girlfriend asked me to do a flower arrangement for him. No one knew that it would be his last Valentine’s day, and I’m happy that I accommodated his last-minute order.

“Making flowers for people who have passed on always feels heavy. I empathize with my clients because I know how it feels.”