Space to be yourself

Beethoven’s Fũr Elise is perhaps one the most beloved pieces of music, particularly for piano players. It certainly is for Nico Bamboo, Globe’s People Experience Director. “It was my first Beethoven piece,” she shares.

Not many people know this about Nico, but she is an artist at heart. “I learned how to play the piano at the age of four,” Nico shares. At four-and-a-half, she also learned to paint. These early interests became the foundation for what would later be an intuitive sense of what people in an organization need to de-stress and create satisfying work-life experiences. These were also simple tools that got her through the challenges of working from home.

Nico’s elder sister was her inspiration to take music. She was already taking piano lessons at the time, and it piqued Nico’s interest. “I was the type of kid, that time, where everything my sister was doing, I wanted to do too,” she says with a laugh.

Around the same time, Nico also grew fond of painting. Both of her parents worked, and so while they were away, she would copy cartoons like My Little Pupung from the newspaper and show it to them when they came home. “I wanted to surprise [my mom] every time she comes home, even my dad,” Nico recalls.

When Nico was around four-and-a-half, she joined a painting competition “as a saling pusa,” Nico says. The theme was “The favorite thing you do with your family,” Nico remembers. So she painted a scene that brought her joy: being together with her family. “Papunta kaming simbahan,” Nico describes her artwork.

But more than being able to emulate her sister and delight her parents, Nico pursued painting and playing the piano because it gave her a space to express herself: “Both painting and playing the piano allow me to just let everything flow,” Nico shares, “I’m able to express my thoughts and feelings through art and music.” The feeling of drawing a brush across a canvas, whether deliberately or viscerally, and the feeling of gliding her hands through the piano’s black and white keys was, in Nico’s words, “pure bliss.”

Passing on the baton

Nico would continue pursuing these talents until her mid-20s. Although she doesn’t actively pursue them today, Nico still keeps a special place for both in her life. “I play the piano once in a while, paint when I’m in the mood,” Nico shares. They’re also Nico’s go-to when she needs to take a breather: “Playing the piano and painting, they come in handy when I’m super stressed, when I feel tired, or when I’m looking for inspiration,” she says.

More than serving as a space to think and relax, Nico keeps these hobbies alive for the next generation, particularly her niece and nephew. “Minsan pag weekend magpa-paint lang kami,” Nico shares. She would buy them canvas boards and they would spend the day painting away. Her niece, who is eight years old, has taken an interest in playing the piano, too: “Minsan magdu-duet kami nung pamangkin ko; she knows how to play the piano as well now,” Nico shares with a laugh.

Over the course of the pandemic, Nico’s niece and nephew have stayed with Nico and her family in their home in Quezon City, which is how they’ve been able to form a bond over Nico’s childhood hobbies. They’ve even gone beyond just painting and playing the piano: Nico has also encouraged them to get into sports and fitness, an interest that Nico has cultivated in her adulthood.