Humans of Dezynspace is a series of interviews with our graphic designers and employees. It is a closer look at them and their heartfelt stories, what drives them, and their inspiring experiences.
Today, we feature Rheyndy Macaranas, our Human Resources and Admin Officer. She talks about her dreams and aspirations, what were the small things that helped her in a big way during hard times, as well as the unique struggles that come with being a counsellor of creative minds in distress during the COVID-19 crisis.
“Hi, I’m Rheyn Macaranas, and I am the assigned HR and Admin Officer here in Dezynspace for more than a year now. Since I have a bit of a background in finance in my previous job, I’m handling the finance side of Dezynspace as well. I’m very glad to be given this kind of opportunity to grow my other skills, and pursue all these avenues for growth that I have with Dezynspace.
…On top of this, to be honest, I really want to study in law school. That’s my childhood dream. I don’t know why exactly, but I always tell my family and my boyfriend that I want to study (law). That’s my ultimate wish. Sometimes when I dream about it, I study and search about it, I get excited. I think about what it would be like for me to enroll, and seeing others pass the bar exam. I thought, ‘I could have been there already by now.’
Q: What’s stopping you?
No. 1, financial considerations. Because we’re not– though I’ve been seeing schools where they have Saturday classes and such. But still, financial reasons. It is quite expensive to study law…
My undergraduate degree is in Psychology. I originally wanted to pursue Legal Psychology. But if I can’t make it into law school, my second choice would be either a Master’s degree (in Psychology) or a certificate in Human Resources.
I would really want to pursue a higher level of education, and not just settle with my undergraduate degree.”
Small things lead to great things
“Of course, I had financial struggles during the lockdowns too. There were unsettled bills where we don’t know where to get money from because we also had pay reduction at the peak of the pandemic. It was really tough…
But it’s also because of this that I appreciated the small things. This is a funny story: I think one or two years ago, my brother and I got on board with this #IponChallenge (Savings Challenge) that trended before. Every day, I would put 5 or 10 peso coins on a piggy bank, and that’s every day. I wasn’t as convinced and consistent at first but my brother pushed me to do it.
So, now the pandemic has happened, we’re surprised! We didn’t expect that money to be big enough to help us during these hard times, really.
We were able to pay our bills, pay for groceries…It’s not that big, maybe around 5,000 pesos, but it’s helpful. Who would’ve thought 5, 10 pesos would amount this much (when saved every day)?
That’s why I realized to appreciate the small things because at the end of the day, these small things, when compounded or added all together, will help you in a big way.”
Virtually struggling
“Transition to virtual work was also very rough. Though we already have a work-from-home day before the pandemic — we only had four days of work in the office, and one day is for work from home. We already had Zoom meetings every Friday but it’s really different when you’re experiencing that every day.
It was hard to adjust, especially in the first few months. There were lots of concerns from designers — their personal struggles, mental health concerns, they’re stuck in one room which is not good for their emotional and mental wellbeing, and it affects their creativity as designers. They also had financial struggles as we did a pay cut then…
On the counseling side, it’s also tough because you would absorb all of those problems, and you can only reach out to them online. As an HR practitioner, I am used to being physically present and being able to read their expressions and movements. It’s hard to make a connection because there will be internet problems on calls sometimes.
So that was really challenging.
And since then, I realized how important it is to communicate with understanding and empathy, to have the commitment to help [people] as we need each other during these tough times… I learned that we need to handle our communication with care with one another, to understand each other, be honest, and just have that open communication around us.”
ABOUT DEZYNSPACE
Dezynspace is the leading online platform where you can easily book a graphic designer, exclusively attending to your design needs the whole 8 hours of the day, on a per demand basis.
All graphic designers are pre-vetted, professionally trained, and are able to respond directly to customer requests and queries in as fast as 30 minutes.
The Dezynspace model eliminates the tedious hiring process and the administrative and management concerns for its clients while providing them with good quality and professional graphic design talents dedicated to help them with their creative needs.