By Trisha Mae Carual
“I wanted to help other people, particularly professionals and their organizations address their challenges in communicating.”
How do you make your dreams come true? To some, it may sound like it has something to do with fairy tales or sometimes followed by another question or two. But we know, we have an answer to such a question, it’s not something trivial, we all have our own dreams. Thirteen years ago, a simple dream to conquer one’s inability to express herself came into life. It is a story of Ms. Monica Prado and how she founded Communicare Training and Development with the purpose to help individuals, particularly the professionals to overcome and develop their communication skills.
Ms. Monica Prado’s resolve to help other people with their communication skills by establishing Communicare did not come from a smooth road. In an interview that I conducted with Ms. Monica Prado, she tells an inspirational story of how Communicare grows and the challenges it faces since its establishment.
Below, is a short interview that tells the story of Ms. Monica Prado and the continuous growth and success of Communicare Training and Development:
What is your motivation for establishing Communicare?
Growing up, I was very shy. Different events and people eventually helped me gain the courage to express myself. When I started working, I realized that I was not alone as many professionals also had difficulties expressing themselves. However, this and other communication problems hindered them and their companies from achieving their goals.
Because of this, I wanted to help other people, particularly professionals and their organizations address their challenges in communicating. This led to the birth of Communicare Training and Development.
What were the challenges Communicare encountered in its early years?
The first was finding the best business direction. Next was creating the branding strategy. Then, the third was gaining the trust of potential clients.
Fortunately, I started taking up my master’s degree at Miriam College in the same year that I founded Communicare. Hence, Communicare was the topic of many of my projects and case studies. I was blessed that my professors and mentors at Miriam College were there to guide me in the early years of the company. Because of this, our business strategies and courses are research-based.
Were there any particular struggles or obstacles that the company faced during the pandemic?
Definitely! Before the pandemic, the majority of our courses were delivered through in-person sessions. When the lockdown happened, our training sessions were either canceled or postponed indefinitely. We had to convert our booked sessions into an online format and prove to our clients that we could do it seamlessly. Furthermore, we had to create a new system for the operations of Communicare and find effective ways and channels for internal communication. Honestly, it felt like we were starting a new business again.
There have been a lot of changes in our technology in recent years, especially during the pandemic. How did Communicare manage to keep up with the ‘new normal’ setup?
I reminded myself and our team that our service was not solely to conduct in-person training sessions. Our main service was (and still is) to provide communication learning solutions so we only had to explore other ways to deliver these. This mindset allowed us to be innovative. But we also had to act fast and take risks. We first worked on the best way to communicate internally by trying different platforms. Then, we immediately converted our programs to an online format. Fortunately, before the lockdown, our shoot for our first e-learning course on speaking skills was completed. When the lockdown happened, we were in the editing phase of the course materials. Of course, I did not do all these alone. I was blessed to have the support and commitment of our lean but talented team (Shoutout to JP, Angel, and Andy!) and helpful vendors and consultants.
While it was challenging, all our efforts then allow us now to offer more options for the delivery of our courses. At present, some clients want to go back to in-person sessions. But some still prefer the online format. Moreover, we now have a wider reach because we can conduct online sessions for remote workers and our participants based in different parts of the Philippines and the world! We also help people learn about different communication strategies through our different social media platforms where we have a stronger presence now. Our Facebook community is growing bigger, too.
What is the recent good news from the company?
Through God’s grace, we are celebrating our 13th anniversary this September!
With this, is Communicare on its way to one of its goals?
Yes, when the pandemic started, one of my goals for Communicare was to be resilient enough to overcome the challenges and evolve to offer more learning solutions to our clients and participants. Thus, to reach our 13th year is a big blessing and milestone.
What is your wish for Communicare after ten years?
Communicare’s mission is to help people become the best communicators and persons that they can be. How we can accomplish this mission always depends on the best way to meet the needs of our clients, participants, and social media followers. When we started, we offered mostly in-person sessions. But now, we also have online courses, books, and digital content on our different social media pages.
“My wish is that Communicare will continue to grow and evolve with the times and according to how God wants us to be. He’s our ultimate Boss so wherever He wants us to go, that is where we will be.”
Ms. Monica Prado’s perseverance and innovation lead Communicare to a successful and inspiring story. It started with the genuine interest to help people with their communication skills, and now, Communicare, the company Ms. Monica Prado founded to address these challenges, is celebrating its thirteenth anniversary. It is the embodiment of dedication to change one’s self to helping others to change and communicate effectively. Communicare will keep on growing as it is filled with people who share the same goal and communicate to each other effectively in order to achieve this milestone.
Below are some photos of the Communicare Team over the years.
About the Contributor
Trisha Mae Carual is a senior taking Bachelor of Arts in Literary and Cultural Studies at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Manila. She likes reading and writing prose and fiction, and she dreams to publish a novel someday, or even a compilation of short stories. She also likes photography and photo and video editing as her hobbies. During her free time, she watches movies, series, and documentaries of different genres. She’s currently focusing on her education and her future endeavors after college.