Women in LRB turn to online selling as pandemic affects livelihood

by Bojo Saclolo | September 23, 2021

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Since the first enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) took place in March 2020, many within the LRB community either lost their jobs or took a hit or saw their monthly income plunge. One of those who experienced this is Jennyln Pernecita Castillo as it pushed her to try selling online.

Castillo now owns Ava’s Pizza & Milk Tea, an online business she launched on August 5, 2021. But before this, she used to sell clothes online.

According to her, she started becoming an online seller of clothes back in 2018. She added that this was not as easy as it looks as she went through a lot of struggles to attract buyers.

Castillo said that she eventually had to give it up as she lacked the budget to continue. She only went back to selling clothes she was no longer using when ECQ was implemented in 2020.

However, having a lot of competitors in this sphere can’t be helped. So she decided to plan ahead and try out selling pizza and milk tea instead.

But a few days after they launched, the second ECQ took place. Fortunately, Castillo said that the feedback from her customers had been positive, and that her previous experience as an online seller also helped in running her small business.

Watch the video interview with Castillo below:


UPWARD UP is spearheaded by academics from the Ateneo de Manila University, De la Salle University, and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven for the Alliance of People’s Organizations along the Manggahan Floodways. (english version)