There’s a particular kind of quiet confidence that comes not from never having struggled, but from having rebuilt anyway. Regina Ramirez Malabad carries it the way most people carry experience — without announcing it.
The 44-year-old Finance and Accounting Manager at Yugen Care by Dr. Gehad didn’t arrive in Dubai chasing a dream she’d scripted for herself. She arrived in December 2015 because her husband had gone ahead, had seen the possibilities, and had simply said: come.
“My husband arrived ahead of me and requested that our son and I stay here,” she recalls. “He knew it would be easier for me to find work.”
It sounds straightforward. It wasn’t.
Starting over with something to prove
Landing a senior accountant role as a first Dubai posting is not the norm. Most professionals — regardless of their home-country credentials — spend their early years abroad renegotiating their worth. Regina didn’t have the luxury of a head-start reputation in a new market. What she did have was a track record sharp enough to cross borders.
Her foundation was built at RC Cola Philippines, at the Canlubang Plant, where she was among the pioneers of its finance and operations team. Under the guidance of the plant’s Operations Controller, she developed what would become the spine of her professional identity: an instinct for operational efficiency and a precision for financial oversight that stuck with her through every role that followed.
“This experience provided me with a deep understanding of operational efficiency and financial oversight, which became the cornerstone of my career,” she says. “I have consistently applied these learnings — particularly in process optimization and strategic reporting — to excel in all my subsequent roles.”
That foundation made the difference when recruiters in Dubai looked at her résumé and weighed whether someone without local experience could carry a senior title. She could — and she did.
More than a job title
A decade into her time abroad, Regina’s influence at Yugen Care extends well beyond the balance sheets. As head of finance and accounting, she oversees the company’s financial health, manages cash flow, and supports business units in hitting their targets. That much is what the job description says. What it doesn’t say is that her recommendations are now sought across departments — not because she insisted on a seat at the table, but because she consistently proved her seat was worth taking.
“The most satisfying aspect is the balance the company provides,” she says. “Having access to our own aesthetic services, like facials and lymphatic massages, allows me to recharge and stay passionate about the high-quality care we provide.”
It’s a detail that sounds small but says something larger: she’s found a workplace that returns something to its people. And among those people, she has found something familiar — a Bayanihan spirit among her Filipino colleagues that makes even the hardest days feel shared rather than solitary.
Outside office hours, she co-founded Pansit Malabad Restaurant in Dubai and serves on the leadership team of PICPA Dubai, where she channels her professional expertise into community enrichment.
The anchor and the lesson
Regina is candid about what settling abroad really costs. It isn’t the paperwork or the unfamiliar commutes. It’s the ground-level disorientation of rebuilding a life — this time with a child watching, adjusting, absorbing a new culture, a new language, a new rhythm.
“Settling abroad isn’t just about changing locations,” she says. “It’s about rebuilding your life from the ground up while looking forward to a better future.”
Her strategy: stay adaptable, stay focused, and strive to be indispensable. Her anchor: family. Her source of inspiration: every OFW she has ever seen leave behind someone they love in order to give that person a better shot.
When her time abroad eventually closes, she wants to go home as a mentor — to bring back what she’s learned about international standards and financial leadership and hand it to young professionals who are still figuring out where to begin.
Her advice to kababayans struggling overseas is characteristically direct: “No one will help you better than yourself. You get what you give, so always give your best and deliver more than what is expected of you.”
And when the self-doubt creeps in, she offers this: “Never be embarrassed by your failures. Confidence comes from how many times you stand up to chase your dreams.”
