The CEO Who Empowers Everyone to Shine - Jocelyn See

In this episode of The Quest for Success Podcast, we sit down with Jocelyn See, CEO of Landlite Philippines, whose journey from homemaker to successful entrepreneur is both inspiring and transformative. Guided by her belief that success lies in relationships, business, and legacy, Jocelyn opens up about how early life challenges and family responsibilities shaped her entrepreneurial drive.

She shares how her partnership and early adoption of LED technology positioned Landlite as a leader in the lighting industry, driven by innovation and integrity. With a strong focus on people, family, and continuous improvement, Jocelyn highlights the value of building a company culture rooted in care and collaboration.

Through her story, Jocelyn reminds us that leadership is not just about business success; it is about uplifting others, embracing change, and leaving a lasting legacy built on compassion and purpose.

Key Takeaways

• Success is defined in three categories: relationships, business, and legacy.
• Childhood experiences shaped Jocelyn’s entrepreneurial spirit.
• Early exposure to business taught valuable lessons in integrity and hard work.
• Family involvement has been crucial to business growth and resilience.
• Innovation in technology keeps Land Light ahead in the lighting industry.
• A people-centric approach builds a strong, loyal company culture.
• Global exposure continues to shape Jocelyn’s strategies and mindset.

Connect with Jocelyn See

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jocelyn-see-79a321108

Landlite: https://landlitephilcorp.com/

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Transcript

Dylan Pathirana (00:42.166)
All right. Welcome back to the quest for success podcast. And thanks so much for tuning in once again today. We're really excited because we have a friend of the show on the podcast today and we're joined by Jocelyn C who is the CEO of land light Philippines, which is a lighting provider over in the Philippines. Really excited to sit down and chat.

And I had the privilege of studying with Jocelyn at the Harvard Business School. And also, I was lucky enough to actually visit her probably about two or three months ago and actually seen everything what she's doing and met her family. And she's such an inspirational lady. I know this is her very first podcast. Thank you so much for joining us, Jocelyn. And we love to hear your story.

Jocelyn See (01:40.048)
Thanks, Cham and Dylan. Well, as you said, this is my first podcast and I'm coming out of my comfort zone just purely for the two of you. So I'm excited to talk about what I've achieved and what I've learned throughout this year. So bear with me if sometimes I...

better find the right answers to tell you guys.

Dylan Pathirana (02:12.365)
Yep. No, it's such an honor to to have you on as your first podcast. And I suppose, Jocelyn, for us to begin, we need to understand the very fundamental question. And that is what does success actually mean to you?

Jocelyn See (02:27.184)
For me, success isn't just one thing. Success for me would be in three categories. One would be success in relationship. Second one would be success in business and success in legacy. When I say relationship, it's more relationships more on my immediate family.

and the people that surrounds me, my colleagues, right? So, it's for my family, would be being able to, for my kids being able to provide good education, good life to them. And the same thing with like my mom. Am I able to provide a good retirement for her? With my colleagues as well, am I able to...

make them happy, staying in the company for more than 10 years, 15 years, you know, are they satisfied. And then for me on the other second one, for the business, success for me means building a prosperous company that is rooted in customer trust, employee well-being and...

Financial sustainability. When I say financial sustainability, it's that when I'm long, long gone, the business should still be innovating, still be making profit, continuing the values that I have created. And the third success for me would be the legacy. On a personal level,

Dylan Pathirana (04:07.181)
Still run.

Dylan Pathirana (04:15.757)
Yeah.

Jocelyn See (04:25.956)
That's about preserving family stories, traditions, maybe cooking recipes and family history. And on the leadership side, it's about empowering others to lead, multiplying my values and developing people who will grow and carry the mission I created forward.

Dylan Pathirana (04:55.756)
Amazing.

Jocelyn See (04:56.028)
So success isn't just one thing for me.

Dylan Pathirana (04:59.701)
Absolutely. Yeah. And I suppose for us to understand the Jocelyn that we know and love now, we need to go back to your kind of early life to understand how you shaped and how you were formed. Can you take us through, you know, your childhood and especially how you think your parents shaped your values and who you've become.

Jocelyn See (05:19.812)
please pull up some tissue paper. Yeah. So, actually, my life started in a sadder side, right? My, father passed away five months before I was born and, my mom and my,

Dylan Pathirana (05:24.525)
No, no, this is where we really wanted to understand you.

Dylan Pathirana (05:44.193)
Wow.

Jocelyn See (05:48.346)
brother who was two years old during that time, they had to move back to stay with my maternal grandparents. And they stayed in a place called Olongapo. It's very near the Subic U.S. Naval bases. And business was good in that area because there were a lot of U.S. Marines, Navies.

Coming in, the economy there is good. So my grandparents had a general merchandise store. It's a store that has almost everything except for food and some heavy construction products like cement, wood. We don't have those, but later on they opened also a hardware store. we moved in and stayed with them.

Our, my mom helped them with the business. She was their cashier and purchaser. Our house was just on top of the store. Okay, so most of the time when I was small, my mom would bring me down when she was sitting in the cashier. So the whole store was my playground. It was my playground. So

Dylan Pathirana (07:08.619)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (07:13.665)
Yeah.

Jocelyn See (07:16.77)
Actually, at the age of five, I know how to be a cashier, changes, know. So mathematics was also very, was easy for me during the time because I was learning by looking with my mom on how she do her cashier works. And then I was also a not lady, sales girl during those times. So I learned a lot.

Dylan Pathirana (07:24.941)
You

Jocelyn See (07:46.32)
That was the start of my entrepreneurial journey. The biggest contributor to my knowledge on being an entrepreneur would be my mom and my grandmother. They were the ones who taught me a lot of things about being an interminer, not just about knowledge on buying.

Dylan Pathirana (07:51.489)
Yep. Yep.

Jocelyn See (08:14.884)
things and how to sell them, how much to make profit but also in terms of discipline, resilience and integrity and the value of hard work. So without that store and without their guidance, I don't think I'll be the entrepreneur I am today.

Dylan Pathirana (08:39.723)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And do think it was that early exposure to business and entrepreneurship that kind of led you down this, this path that you're, you're on now?

Jocelyn See (08:48.824)
Yes, yes. I still remember we would go to Manila, which is about three hours ride from Olongapo and we would buy, we would purchase products to sell in our store. So it was really hard work. So we had to carry a lot of stuff, walk about half a mile to our car.

Right? Bring those stuff and then I would see my grandmother when we go to this certain supplier, they would just, okay, how many do you need? They just jot it down and then just give her the products without her paying yet because they know she would return maybe after one month and pay them back. So...

Dylan Pathirana (09:42.295)
Mm-hmm.

Jocelyn See (09:48.184)
I can see the trust that my grandmother and my mom has given, I mean the trust that the suppliers had given to them. So that's where I learned that integrity, being trust is very important. Being trusted is very important in business.

Dylan Pathirana (10:06.519)
Mm.

Dylan Pathirana (10:13.709)
So your brother, you mentioned about two years older than you and he was with you on these journeys going to suppliers and bringing products. So both of you involved in this kind of activities?

Jocelyn See (10:28.942)
Yes, but more on me because my mom don't want me to live in, don't want me to be left in the store by myself. So she had to drive me. My brother, he would be staying in the store to help out and I think go to study during that time because he's older than me. So it's more on me.

Dylan Pathirana (10:55.575)
Yeah,

Jocelyn See (10:57.146)
following my mom and grandmother.

Dylan Pathirana (11:01.035)
Yeah, so this is even before you start schooling.

Jocelyn See (11:05.198)
Yes, yes, I would accompany them and then, but all throughout my schooling, in, I think when I entered elementary grade five, we moved to Manila. So even if I don't work in the store, when they come down to purchase product, I would accompany them and then we would always go back.

Dylan Pathirana (11:06.178)
Wow.

Jocelyn See (11:34.202)
during weekends to along Gabaul and still work in the store. During summer, we would be there.

Dylan Pathirana (11:41.922)
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, that's interesting because when we were young we used to play play shops, So we had like pretend shops and you had the real experience, right?

Jocelyn See (11:53.552)
Yes, yes. And it's funny, I'm showing you something funny that it's like every night I have this goal of I want to see that the cash is full in the cash register. It was not my money, but when I see it's full, it's like, I'm so happy. We made, we stole a lot today. Especially during Christmas.

Dylan Pathirana (12:07.764)
Yeah

Dylan Pathirana (12:17.972)
Yeah.

Jocelyn See (12:23.162)
There's of course people are buying gifts, so sales would be good. I remember sales would be good during class enrollment. Students starting to go to school, so they had to buy their school supplies, so sales would be good. And then Christmas, sales would also be good.

Dylan Pathirana (12:47.03)
Amazing. So what made you decide that your mom went to Manila? What's the reason behind that?

Jocelyn See (12:57.68)
I don't know, she would go back and forth. She would go back. Yes, I moved because of schooling. And then we moved back and forth. And then later on, when I was in my, how old am I, the late 20s, they had to close the store because the US Navy was moved out of Subic.

Dylan Pathirana (13:01.418)
Okay, but you moved because of schooling mainly?

Jocelyn See (13:25.794)
So the business was not good anymore. The business was not good anymore. When my grandparents had different businesses in Alongapo, they have theater. It's called Cinema AB. So we got to watch free movies. And then they got those apartments for rents that they rent out to the sailors or the marines.

Dylan Pathirana (13:45.953)
Wow.

Jocelyn See (13:54.896)
So I would see my grandmother and my grandfather's entrepreneurial businesses at a very young age.

Dylan Pathirana (14:03.798)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (14:07.978)
Yeah. And did you ever want to take over those businesses or did you always want to start your own?

Jocelyn See (14:13.968)
When we were young, I would love to take over, but when you kind of moved to the city, you would feel that life is slower in those places. And being young, you would like to explore what's in the city.

Dylan Pathirana (14:39.754)
Yeah, yeah.

Jocelyn See (14:41.072)
So we came here to study, stay at college and then got married. So we stayed here in Manila.

Dylan Pathirana (14:51.86)
Okay. Yeah. And what did you study at college?

Jocelyn See (14:55.944)
this is the funny thing because I have a very simple, because I had a very simple dream. actually my dream was not to, my dream was to be a housewife. Very simple. I just wanted to study. I went to study hotel and restaurant management because during that time there were no culinary.

Dylan Pathirana (14:57.774)
You

Dylan Pathirana (15:18.892)
All right.

Jocelyn See (15:24.688)
schools in the Philippines. To be able to learn culinary, you go to this kind of restaurant management school, they have cooking. So that's why I took up this course, this degree, because I just wanted to learn how to cook, how to manage some simple maybe restaurants or what. And then I prefer to stay home, take care of the kids, and then maybe help out with my husband if...

He has a business and then do some simple accounting. My dream was very simple.

Dylan Pathirana (15:59.489)
So what changed? What changed from that dream to the path that you're on now?

Jocelyn See (16:02.576)
When you have kids, you start to realize that it's not just you who's a... your simple dream will not be able... it's not sufficient for your kids. You you have to provide more for them. You have to provide good education, good opportunities for them.

So that's why I stepped out of this supposed to be mother housewife role. I had to step into an entrepreneurial role so that I will be able to provide my kids a good future.

Dylan Pathirana (16:52.5)
Yeah, So, so, Justline, how did you come up with this land light idea? Why you went to that business?

Jocelyn See (17:00.4)
I started off with some smaller business that in the end, maybe two business. One is just a wedding souvenir. It's just for fun. You doing all those wedding souvenirs, artworks, and then you just realize, this doesn't make money. Much money. And then I move into another business selling retail.

Dylan Pathirana (17:21.204)
Yeah.

Jocelyn See (17:30.04)
And then I still realized, I think this is not enough. And then my friend, my good friend who's into lighting business also, he needed someone to help him out in the business because he was also, he started the business. He was, think in his third, in his fourth or fifth year. And then he was, the business is doing good.

and then he needed someone to help him out. So he asked me a favor if I can help him out. But I told him, I will help you, but I can only help you about two years time because I want to do my own business. So I went there, I helped him out. I became the assistant general manager because it's a small company. So I had to take over the product development for lighting, not just lighting.

sometimes some transformer, which I don't know anything and I had to learn. It's hard to learn during those times because there were not much information in the internet. So unlike now, there's a lot of information. it was really hard work learning about products. And then I had to take over the importation, the government compliance, and then...

Later on, I took over also the packaging and then the warehouse. So I took over a lot of I learned a lot from that company. And then after two years, I pushed through. I told my friend who owns the company that I'm you. We've got another two months. I'm leaving. So you have to start looking for someone to take over.

my work and then I was I told him that it's I intend to do another business and then I asked him it's your choice if you want to invest on my business or I can do it by myself and then he said okay let's how about if we open another lighting company you you you'll be in charge of it and

Jocelyn See (19:52.677)
That's where it all started but I diversified some of the products from basic lighting. I focused more on the lighting fixtures so that we will not clash in the market. yeah, but actually the market for fixture is even bigger.

Dylan Pathirana (20:04.253)
Industrial, commercial,

Dylan Pathirana (20:09.695)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (20:17.899)
All right. Worked out perfectly. And I suppose one of the things which I saw as, you know, one of the kind of defining moments was you were very early into pushing LEDs in the Philippines. It was kind of, you know, not really a thing. And then you brought it onto the market and really pushed it hard. How important do you think that was for your business?

Jocelyn See (20:31.504)
Yeah.

Jocelyn See (20:41.328)
Yeah, it signified that we're the... we're the technology... we're the trend, company that goes into the trend. We're the earliest... adaptor of this product we're selling but there's always a downside of being the earliest, right? It's because during that time, LEDs were like...

built in a steel structure for heat sink. So the products are all very expensive. It cost about, I think, $20 a piece when we were selling it. And then, of course, development starts to use different materials for those products. It came to ceramic.

which is about half the price. then now it's plastic that is able to tolerate the heat of the LED. So it moved into different stages. The downside for companies, as I've said, like us is that we have to absorb all those inventories that we sell. And then when we move to this next category, this...

old products should be sold at a loss. But I'll tell you the quality of these old products are really good.

Dylan Pathirana (22:17.023)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And one thing I've noticed Joseline, your family also in your business, like your brother is helping you or he's working with you in your business. So how that happened? Like, so initially you start working on this business. Did you get him from the day one or how that happened?

Jocelyn See (22:40.336)
I started this business with me and three investors. So when we were starting up, it was only just me. I can still clearly remember they were in our warehouse. Our office was inside the warehouse.

Only me and another staff in the office and then we have three warehouse staff. So there were only five. My brother joined me after seven or eight years because the business was growing and I told him I need help. I need help. He was initially into...

into producing jeans and t-shirts. He's more into fashion. And then I asked him to come and help me out because I told him I see a good future in this business. And for him, their business, because China has a lot of manufacturing on fashion and...

China's product is starting to coming in with the lower price. So their business is not doing really, really very well because of those competition. So I told him, I think come in, better come and help me because I can see a good future in this lighting business. That's why he, I was able to convince him to join me.

Dylan Pathirana (24:28.235)
All right. And you mentioned how important, you know, LEDs were because they were an innovation and staying ahead of the curve. How, how do you stay innovating in lighting? Like what are you guys doing to make sure you're always at the cutting edge, bringing the best products to the Philippines?

Jocelyn See (24:46.736)
I would... Actually, it's funny. I'm into lighting business and then I decided when I entered Harvard because I wanted to diversify some of my business, I started to sell robots. You know what was my mentality thinking during that time because

Dylan Pathirana (25:10.931)
Okay, yeah.

Jocelyn See (25:16.378)
For lighting, we were like, okay, what do we need to open up? What series of product? And I know that for lighting, there will come a time wherein there's not much to expand anymore. So when we have this opportunity for the robots, I think of it as learning. Learning in terms of technology.

It's something I was afraid to take it at first because this is technology. I don't totally know anything about technology, But I find that you have to have that courage to take that one. if you don't succeed, you don't. It's just a matter of exploration. It's an exploration for me. So...

Honestly, the robots are not yet. We sold some robots, but it's not being widely accepted here because labor here is cheaper. So the robot is quite expensive when they think about it. But for me, the robot is an eye opener in terms of AI and technology. So...

Dylan Pathirana (26:26.037)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (26:39.593)
Yeah. Yeah.

Jocelyn See (26:42.906)
From that mentality of the robot, I started to shift the whole company into the lighting company into more of a technology company. Right now what we have is smart automation, control system, home automation, and we have the hotel's room control.

units. When you go to the hotel, they have all those like when you go in a welcome scene welcomes you, the curtain opens, you know, and then the TV turns on. So the aircon turns colder, you know, so the lights turn on. So this for me, I'm having so much fun with technology right now.

Dylan Pathirana (27:26.389)
Yeah, yeah.

Jocelyn See (27:42.5)
Aside from those, we also have office technology wherein you set up the office into, when you say to Alexa, meeting mode, then he would dim some lights or turn on some lights, turn on the LED smart screen, you know, and then...

the clear glass with the blur, something like that. So those are the technologies that we have right now in our company. So it's a matter of just going out of your comfort zone, testing the water.

Dylan Pathirana (28:13.877)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (28:18.032)
Yeah, yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (28:24.499)
and continue to innovate. Yeah. So I had the chance to come and visit your amazing office or more of a headquarters HQ. Yeah. So, you know, I was greeted by a robot and then fascinating, like, you know, exactly what you mentioned. Right. So I something I've noticed, you know, it was like you took us

Jocelyn See (28:36.176)
It's worth it.

Dylan Pathirana (28:53.723)
show us all the, as you mentioned, know, the smart classrooms, smart office, etc. What I've noticed, you're actually not selling any lights, right? I didn't see a single light, right? You're selling a very like experience, right? So whoever come to your HQ, you get an amazing experience. You're not really selling a product. is that intentionally done, Josly?

Jocelyn See (29:06.213)
Hahaha

Jocelyn See (29:10.714)
Yes.

Jocelyn See (29:21.07)
Yes, yes, yes. Actually, when you came here, the interior was not yet fully done. You would see the slides from the... The experience is not for everyone. Our employees, our colleagues here in the office, and also our guests.

Dylan Pathirana (29:23.434)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (29:40.469)
Yeah.

Jocelyn See (29:50.404)
so that our colleagues during break time, they can explore or go take our slides from the sixth floor going to the fifth floor. And we have like a small golf course and with the big chess players in the floor. And we're finishing the monopoly line there. And then we have...

Dylan Pathirana (30:13.962)
It's a fun place, yeah.

Jocelyn See (30:19.832)
I don't know if you've seen the big in the LED screen because we're doing some movie nights with our colleagues. And then on our executive floor, the one we had lunch, it's going to be a bar. It can be transformed into a bar. So entertaining guests. So this is a...

Dylan Pathirana (30:28.018)
nice

Jocelyn See (30:49.604)
just the first building. The next building we're building, it's a showroom and some retail. We will have a coffee shop, a wine cellar in the basement, and we're gonna have an experience center we're in. You can choose the lighting from daylight, cold white, warm white, and then...

I'm creating a small museum for lighting. It's ton of fun stuff. Ton of fun stuff in here.

Dylan Pathirana (31:25.076)
Yeah.

And when you started out, Landlight, was a fairly small operation, as you said, it was just you. And now, your products are in over 170 stores across the Philippines. What was that growth journey like? And what do you think are the keys to you scaling the company?

Jocelyn See (31:49.627)
Currently, we have about 550 colleagues here in the company. In the company, we have about 220 outlets. aside from the outlets, our business model, we sell to hotels, developers.

Dylan Pathirana (31:56.669)
outlets. Alright.

Jocelyn See (32:14.638)
Initially, when we started, we tried to tap in some of the local distributors, but we had a hard time tapping into them because there were a lot of other brands that they carry already. instead, we focused on the modern trade retail.

We're in, we partnered with the local home depots and we expanded our products from lighting to general lighting fixtures to outdoor lighting, office lighting, restaurant lighting.

We expanded every year, we opened up about one to two new series of products. Actually, every year right now we have about 250 to 300 new SKUs.

Dylan Pathirana (33:32.892)
Wow.

Jocelyn See (33:34.17)
So that's to keep on innovating and providing the market with the new trends. So from the modern trade, then we started to expand also on the projects. Projects, we were, projects can be divided into residential projects.

commercial projects, developer projects, hotel projects. But presidential project we have been doing early on. We've been doing that. And the funny thing before was when I meet new people, I tell them, when they ask, what's your business? I would say, oh, we're selling this brand called Landis.

they would ask me, it's land light. I'd say, it's lighting, LED light. We're selling lights. And then after three years, when I meet new people again, said, okay, we're selling the brand called Land Light. They would say, the Land Light. that's a nice product, but it's a good quality, but it's expensive, right? And then after another...

Dylan Pathirana (34:32.276)
Hm.

Dylan Pathirana (34:54.89)
He

Jocelyn See (34:58.896)
three years when people right now and I knew people I met I would tell them we're selling a land light brand and say that light I'm using that at my home no it's a nice product very good the quality is very good actually even just last night I was in a party and the guy learned that I'm from land I said I'm using your product because the quality is really good so from

something unknown, it started to grow because of the trust of the people for the quality.

Dylan Pathirana (35:34.494)
Yep. Yeah. And that's, that's an important point because I feel like with consumer products, it's a really challenging balance between quality and cost. How do you go about managing that?

Jocelyn See (35:44.6)
Yes.

You know the funny thing about one of my investors before was he asked me, he was telling me, you know your product is one of the most expensive product in the market, lighting product in the market. I said yes, I know it. Because I only have two choice. One is to enter a

Red ocean, you know the red ocean and the blue ocean, right? And red ocean and you know have a bloody fight with all the other brands. The other one is to enter the blue ocean, right? And prove myself and prove to the clients that why are we staying in that blue ocean?

So saying that Blue Ocean would mean to say we have to provide good quality product, product that are innovative or in trend, and three, most importantly, good customer service. People, especially nowadays, they don't just look for the price.

they look, they would find something in this tree, things that I mentioned. And they would find that their value, the value for money, know, the ones that we give them is worth it. Then they would shift from that market, cheaper product to a good product like ours.

Dylan Pathirana (37:36.828)
Yeah, that's great. And something also I noticed while I was at your HQ, you know, how you treat your team, right? I mean, even this discussion, you didn't call them employees, you call my colleagues, which is a nice way to how you feel about them, right? and I've seen we went through to the cafeteria, so you give them the free lunch and even

Jocelyn See (37:53.36)
Thank

Jocelyn See (38:04.708)
Yes.

Dylan Pathirana (38:06.947)
know, accommodation if they want to stay overnight and things like that. And one highlight I actually saw, even had, thought of a lot, right? You even had a breastfeeding room in your place. So that's really, really nice. know, so tell me a little bit, tell us a little bit more about your team and what's your strategy in terms of working with people.

Jocelyn See (38:21.71)
yes.

Jocelyn See (38:36.656)
I think my strategy is not workable particularly for men because I'm more of a motherly figure. So I treat the people here in the company as family. Honestly, Filipino peoples are...

Dylan Pathirana (38:49.394)
Yes.

Jocelyn See (39:05.942)
us Filipinos are, you know, we're very family oriented. Filipinos are very nice people and they're people who would, when you treat them well, they would acknowledge it and, you know, put it in their heart and treat you with respect and

they would always have that gratitude. Initially, there were only a people. I can do it. I can take care of people. I can ask people, how are you guys today? When I meet, by the way, I always try to make it the point

Dylan Pathirana (39:52.905)
You

Jocelyn See (40:05.52)
when the company was in a smaller place. Every day I would walk to all department and try to say hi to everyone, you know, so that because when the people they have a problem and you're far far away, they won't be able to reach you. But when you walk, they would see you. So if they have really some concerns, they would approach you. So that's...

what I always did before. But right now, this place is a bit bigger so I did two things. One is I try at least once or twice a week to go roam around. Another one is I told my managers to do the same thing as what I did. You know you have to walk around and talk to people.

Dylan Pathirana (40:39.817)
You

Jocelyn See (41:03.662)
and then check out how they are doing. It's a simple thing but our people would appreciate it. They would feel the concern of our company towards them. So that's what they're doing. I try to still go once or twice a week to roam around.

Dylan Pathirana (41:09.929)
Mm.

Jocelyn See (41:30.668)
I would always try to work on with our HR department some activities for bonding with our colleagues in here. As I always tell my kids, my managers, couldn't be landlifes cannot be where it is right now without this.

Even if financially we have money, we have the product, the most important thing still is the people, these people that has been working with us. So we always have to value them.

Dylan Pathirana (42:15.877)
Yeah. I think that's a wonderful philosophy to have. And I want to understand, you know, how important you think global exposure has been for you, you know, obviously going over and doing the Harvard program, you know, opening your eyes up to the world and also the innovations coming from around the world as well. How important do you think that exposure has been?

Jocelyn See (42:36.944)
Sorry, the OPM? okay. It was very important to me. I'm a very, I'm an introvert person, I'm a shy person, you know, so earlier, when I was, I think, 38 years old, I went to this global conference. By the way, I was an-

Dylan Pathirana (42:38.739)
the just like global exposure just, you know.

Jocelyn See (43:05.24)
international, a national athlete before for our country. It's a sports called the Wushu. It's a Chinese martial art. Yeah, it's a Chinese martial arts. I have a short stint on that. So I became an officer also for that sports. And then I was sent out to an Olympic Academy session. And then, and then I met

Dylan Pathirana (43:09.201)
Wow.

Dylan Pathirana (43:13.56)
who's who? yeah, yeah.

Jocelyn See (43:33.264)
I was 38 years old and there were a lot of like 18 years old, 20 years old, 24 years old people in about I think 300 people in a convention. And like when we will be having like building or team setup, people would like their question, they would raise their hand.

They have lot of questions on me. I would just be shy. I would be silent. And then when I got home, I told myself, my kids should not be like me. My kids should not be like me. So I started to send them to, from a traditional school, I sent them to an international school. It's a Singapore school. Singapore schools in Manila.

Dylan Pathirana (44:07.378)
You

Dylan Pathirana (44:15.955)
You

Jocelyn See (44:33.146)
wherein I wanted them to learn how to speak voice out which is which is what happened. I groomed them. I would bring them to English classes for them to speak well so that they can have the confidence. Okay, so well, I'm talking and telling you about that because initially I thought I can only groom my kids into having those confidence but

Dylan Pathirana (44:50.309)
Yeah.

Jocelyn See (45:03.226)
When I started, my Joshua, my youngest son, went to Savannah College of Arts in 2021 December, I sent him off there. When I came back, I met someone who also graduated from Harvard OPM. So, and then I told myself, I'm able to send my son for college in the US.

me. Why not me? Right? You know, why not me? I think it's not too late. I think it's not too late. I enrolled myself within one week. When I learned about the Harvard OPM, I enrolled in the I enrolled already and waited for the approval in one month time. I was already enrolled in class.

ready everything to fly over on October. So that was one of the best decisions in my life. Going to Harvard during my LG Unit 1, I was very shy, I was not talking. And then, Elad would always tell me, why are you so quiet? You have to speak out.

Dylan Pathirana (46:07.024)
Amazing

Dylan Pathirana (46:14.044)
Absolutely.

Dylan Pathirana (46:30.729)
You

Jocelyn See (46:32.336)
You have to speak up. Okay, okay. I was trying to speak up. from unit one to two to three, I became, my voice became louder and louder. But I was still always very quiet during our class discussion. I think you will only hear me twice. I counted on my, how many times I spoke.

Dylan Pathirana (46:51.337)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (46:59.057)
Yeah, Justaline, yeah, that's fascinating. I want to go back to your family thing. You now you mentioned about your sons, right? So both of your sons are now involved in the business. And it was the intention you always want them to come to your business or they decided to they want to join your business.

Jocelyn See (47:22.638)
be I'd say that for my eldest because eldest are the most precious for parents they are the ones that we didn't took gamble on you know they were like so precious that we don't take we don't gamble with them so the eldest my eldest son I really wanted him to come back and help out

So he took up entrepreneurship and then he came back to handle our finances right now. He's learning about our finances, he's taking over the finances. But the youngest Joshua, I let him explore. I let him explore. And he's more on the arts side. My eldest son took up entrepreneur.

My youngest went to study about art but the art is linked to my product design and development. So when I send him off to the US, I always had in my mind that I have to prepare it if he's not coming back and it's fine with me. I want him to explore whatever he wants. But he told me

Dylan Pathirana (48:30.044)
He creative guy, very creative as well.

Jocelyn See (48:49.22)
Mom, coming, probably come after I finish college, I'll stay in the US and maybe work for another two or three years and then I'll come home. Then I say, it's fine. But all the while I was thinking he might not come back. He might not come back. But luckily after his graduation, he still decided to come back. coming back,

It's not just him coming back to help our company, but I also felt that it's my responsibility to help him also do whatever he wants to do. And that is the industrial design company he wants to establish.

Dylan Pathirana (49:42.377)
That's amazing. I know talking to Joshua as well, one of the kind of projects that he's been working on with you is in the 3D printing space. And that's really fascinating to me because it goes back to a point you mentioned earlier where, you know, as a lighting company, you have to hold a lot of inventory. Whereas when we think about 3D printing, it revolutionizes that whole model because rather than having to hold stock, we can print on demand.

So I want to understand a little bit about what you guys are doing in that space.

Jocelyn See (50:15.793)
we're still exploring a lot. We're still exploring because 3D is currently in a very, I can say, not in an early stage. And for me, as an entrepreneur, I would always think what would be the most saleable thing in the future.

Dylan Pathirana (50:21.128)
Mm.

Jocelyn See (50:45.615)
You know, for me, printing those customized ones, it's something we can take advantage of using the 3D printer. But the smaller ones are easier for China to chip in. So competition is tough and

Here the Philippines, people can buy their own small 3D printer to print. So we're thinking of maybe concentrating on the big machines for 3D printer.

Dylan Pathirana (51:19.739)
Yeah, yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (51:29.576)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, one of the I had the discussion with Joshua. So one of the things that you guys are thinking of doing, not just having a farm of 3D printers, you actually want planning of distributing 3D printers throughout the country. Right. So on demand, they can distribute from different locations. Right. So

Jocelyn See (51:55.289)
Yes, that's one of the things, if you want.

Dylan Pathirana (51:57.479)
Yeah, so which is amazing because you're not just building a business for like succeed, you're actually helping a whole community, which is a fascinating thing, you know. Yeah, so that I'm looking forward to understand bit more, you know, as the things progress, you know, it's such a wonderful thing. Talking about community, Joseline, I know you are a role model to many.

Filipinos. And I actually had the chance to speak to some of the people while I was there in Philippines. And they said, wow, they really, really adore you. you know, whatever you do, like, you know, you're mentoring them and you're helping them. You said you're like a mother. I can see that. Right. And, you know, what other things you do? Like, you know, I mean, you're actually helping so many other people as well. Right.

Jocelyn See (52:57.753)
I try to as much as possible and sometimes silently. I try to help people when I see some of them would really need my help particularly on the growing up like there's always a certain stage of

Dylan Pathirana (53:06.034)
Yeah.

Jocelyn See (53:27.857)
being lost in life and being able to put them back on the right path. That's what I always try to help a lot of people.

Dylan Pathirana (53:40.616)
Do you think as a female founder, female entrepreneur, you have a responsibility to help other women in Philippines?

Jocelyn See (53:51.502)
Yes, actually this few months, we've been hiring a lot of female colleagues here in the company. Actually, it's not just me. My brother also wanted to balance the company's gender ratio.

In our warehouse, it used to be all majority male. But right now, my brother balanced it. He's hiring a lot more female. He's trying to balance that ratio. Before, because we always felt that females, of course, cannot carry heavier stuff. But what we're doing right now is we're

Dylan Pathirana (54:26.333)
Man,

Jocelyn See (54:50.577)
purchasing equipments to help them carry all those heavier loads. So our mindset is like we're balancing the percentage of the male and female here in the company.

Dylan Pathirana (55:08.996)
That's amazing. And when you think back to, know, Jocelyn, when your mindset was, you know, I just am happy and content being a housewife. What do you think about, you know, the kind of what you've achieved now compared to your, your mindset back then?

Jocelyn See (55:27.569)
I always tell my kids that I've never had any regrets in life. So it's always just a matter of when you are faced with an obstacle, it's how you try to find ways in jumping over it or breaking it.

So, the journey was tough, but perseverance and really hard work, you're able to push step by step up. I never envisioned myself being able to build this headquarters. I was telling my brother, I will find, I would always...

try to find time and take a chair and sit on one of the corners of the building and have a big view of the building and tell myself, wow, I've come a long way in being able to arrive into this situation. With a very simple ambition of being a housewife.

a mother into being a successful entrepreneur. It's a long journey but it's fun. And always for me, it should be no reggets in life. Whatever hardship you encounter, make it as a reason for you.

to improve, to learn and push you more and do better.

Dylan Pathirana (57:40.776)
Absolutely. And you mentioned there, you you were telling your kids that and you also have been trying to get your kids, you know, international exposure. What other lessons are you trying to leave to your children?

Jocelyn See (57:54.099)
I wanted my, I was telling my kids that

I wanted to leave a good legacy for them to continue. But before that, I always tell my kids to be compassionate, have empathy on people. Because Jam, you know, we're Buddhist.

I always have that empathy and compassion for the people. And I'm happy to say that I pass it on to my two kids. They're very like me on that. And I can see sometimes I move out of, I run away from your questions, right?

Dylan Pathirana (58:49.083)
Yep, absolutely. Yeah.

Jocelyn See (59:03.428)
So let me maybe share my famous that I have in my mind. A famous quote that I always have in my mind that pushed me to do what am I doing right now. It's a famous buddhist quote that is, the mind is everything. What you think, you become.

Dylan Pathirana (59:13.36)
Yes.

Jocelyn See (59:33.363)
So this quote for me is very real. I've seen how my mindset had shaped the life that I live today. So from a humble beginning, from a small store, the store in Alongapo, and right now I enjoy so many things.

leading a successful business, raising my two kids, providing for my mom and giving my kids a comfortable life. Started first always with the thought. The thought becomes a dream and then you have to have determination in your mind.

Dylan Pathirana (01:00:30.367)
Yeah, yeah.

Jocelyn See (01:00:33.618)
When you choose to focus on growth instead of limitation and perseverance instead of fear.

everything begins to align with those thoughts. Thoughts and then those dreams. So, I felt right now that the mind is really very important in conditioning. When I said I wanted to become a good housewife, a mother, then I become a good housewife and mother. But when I tell myself that I want to be

a good entrepreneur, a successful businesswoman and I put that in my mind. Then my mind starts to work and then everything in me sinks in and it's like I program to be successful. That's how I...

Dylan Pathirana (01:01:35.398)
Yeah, So Jocelyn, yeah, yeah. No, keep going. That's how you. So my question I was going to ask, you mentioned, you know, you're a mother at work and also you're a mother at home, right? And then you mentioned the your thinking mindset, you know, having this motherly kind of a thing. Do you ever switch from work mother?

Jocelyn See (01:01:45.242)
Yeah, so.

Dylan Pathirana (01:02:04.433)
to your normal family. Mother, how do you do that? How do you balance it?

Jocelyn See (01:02:09.714)
When my kids were young, my eldest son actually told me, he was actually very amazed on how I balance being a mother and being a businesswoman. But he told me that he is grateful and thankful that I always prioritize being a mother to them.

Even here in the office, when my kids...

make some mistake. You will see the businesswoman and me shouting or getting angry with them, confronting them. And then I'll tell you, it's funny. After 10 minutes, the switch just turns off. I'm not angry anymore. I became...

Dylan Pathirana (01:02:56.743)
You

Jocelyn See (01:03:13.68)
Just, I'm not angry anymore, just as long as you realize what you have done. So, at home, of course, it's hard to, it's still hard sometimes to transition yourself there. So I try to cook to remind me that you're still a mom. But it's always a mix. Sometimes when you're here in the morning, when I come here,

Dylan Pathirana (01:03:19.483)
Yep, yep, yep.

Dylan Pathirana (01:03:32.251)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Jocelyn See (01:03:42.791)
I would still sometimes bring some snacks or breakfast and then I would ask my kids, you eaten? Come, have you eaten? Even to my employees, my colleagues, I would have breakfast in here. Anybody would like to come and eat. So the motherly instinct is always there. The motherly instinct. Today it's raining. Later when I go out, I would always check.

Dylan Pathirana (01:03:48.859)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (01:03:58.948)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (01:04:03.612)
Yeah, yeah.

Jocelyn See (01:04:12.326)
I would check the weather because it's easily flooded here in the Philippines. So I would always check what time is if the raining is so hard, would sometimes tell the HR to let go of the our colleagues earlier from work so that they will be home earlier because flooding tends to

Dylan Pathirana (01:04:18.415)
on.

Jocelyn See (01:04:42.226)
be hard on them when they do their public commute. So I would sometimes request earlier, let's say a work stops at 5, but I would let them let go of them at around 3, 3.30 or 4. So I think by releasing them earlier, of course they would be able to

Dylan Pathirana (01:04:46.812)
Yeah, yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (01:04:59.163)
Wow. Yeah.

Jocelyn See (01:05:08.878)
go home earlier, arrive home safely, they would acknowledge. My staff would really be grateful for that. So it's not just me being a mother here, but all the people being acknowledging or being grateful of what we are doing for them.

Dylan Pathirana (01:05:16.261)
Yeah, yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (01:05:33.987)
Absolutely. So Joseline, remember you mentioned you were a little girl in a shop, pretty much looking at your grandparents and your mother doing stuff and selling. Now you're in a massive CEO room, overlooking your boardroom, all your executive floor and leading over 500 staff members. How do you feel?

Jocelyn See (01:06:06.831)
No.

I'm grateful that...

Jocelyn See (01:06:18.342)
have all of this and happy but at the same time sometimes it's funny when you start the family you care about your kids and then when you're establish your business and then you have 10-20 employee you have I always felt I have the responsibility to take care of them.

And then right now it's 500 people. So the responsibility is even bigger. it's stressful because when like for sales, when sales is not increasing, you would worry because you have to like provide for...

You know, so be responsible for so many people. Be responsible for so many people. sometimes trust level is very high. But I learned to relax. Manage it.

Dylan Pathirana (01:07:16.187)
Yeah, absolutely.

Dylan Pathirana (01:07:24.935)
Yeah.

Yeah, manage it. Yeah. And Jocelyn, we've, we've touched on two of the three pillars of your success. We've touched on relationships and business, but I want to touch on the last one that you mentioned, which was about legacy. I want to know what, what is your legacy?

Jocelyn See (01:07:46.363)
Legacy. Actually, I've been touching into that legacy. I've been thinking about this legacy this one year. For me, the legacy, my legacy that I want to create is rooted into two things. Family and leadership.

Family, as I mentioned earlier, I want to be remembered as someone who preserved our stories, our tradition, and values as what we call, we are Chinoise. When you say Chinoise, it's a Chinese Filipino. Chinese Filipinos are...

Dylan Pathirana (01:08:42.458)
All right.

Jocelyn See (01:08:46.266)
our heritage are Chinese, but we are born in the Philippines and we are already very Filipino. So that's what we're trying to preserve for legacy. And for the legacy on leadership, I want my legacy to be about empowering people.

building a culture of trust, growth and service.

Jocelyn See (01:09:26.62)
More than titles and achievements, I'd like to remember as someone who lives with faith, kindness, and perseverance, and who inspires others to keep moving forward and lead well.

Dylan Pathirana (01:09:49.456)
Amazing. think that's a wonderful legacy to have. I suppose Jocelyn, looking back on this journey that we've discussed today, do you feel successful now?

Jocelyn See (01:09:59.569)
Yes, yes, I feel very successful. Always successful and grateful.

I always tell people that I'm happier today than yesterday. And tomorrow, I will be happier tomorrow than today. That's my philosophy always. Tomorrow, I'll be happier than today. It's today I'm happier than yesterday.

Dylan Pathirana (01:10:23.962)
Yep.

Dylan Pathirana (01:10:33.614)
Yeah, it's a great philosophy to have. And Jocelyn, you know, this has been an incredible conversation. But before we wrap it up, I want to share some of the core traits, which I think have been part of your successful life. The first and definitely the biggest one is definitely your incredibly people centric. You know, you are the mother of the company, as you mentioned, and you treat people, you know, with so much compassion. And

Jocelyn See (01:10:45.106)
Thank you.

Dylan Pathirana (01:11:00.102)
Another thing which I really respect is you try and stay approachable. Even as the company grows, you want to be with the people and support them on their journey as well. And I love, you know, your legacy piece about leadership, wanting to empower other people. I think that's so core to your success and the growth has definitely been how you treat others. The next one is your values driven. And I think that was instilled in you as a young girl.

working in that shop, all about trust and integrity and trying to take that with you as you progress into an entrepreneur yourself and also now a mother trying to instill those values into your children as well. The next one is you're incredibly innovative and that's in your business, you're trying to stay ahead of the curve, not just looking at lighting, now looking at robots, looking at 3D printing, you're always keeping your eyes open and trying to stay.

at the edge of that innovation. And then the last one is, it's a mix of taking risks and also taking opportunities. As you mentioned, you could have stayed in that stable, simple kind of life that you wanted to live, just staying as a housewife. Nothing wrong with that, but you took that risk, took the opportunity that you saw arise and really went all in on it. And I think that's a really powerful thing in everything that you've done. You've really...

given everything and put it all in. Yeah. And if I wanted to kind of express my experience with you, it's in one word, it's giving. Right. So you are everything, every day is always looking at what I can, what can I contribute to others? Like whether it's your colleagues or your family or your friends. Right. Always, always thinking of like giving, giving mentality, you know, so which is

I mean, again, it's probably coming from your humble beginning to now leading a very successful business. have you I don't think you haven't changed. You know, you just have a beautiful personality. Always thinking of like, how can I do more to others? And Jocelyn, thank you so much. You know, you've done really well talking about giving. You came out of your comfort zone, gave us this time. And because, you know, you didn't you couldn't say

Jocelyn See (01:13:15.27)
Thanks.

Dylan Pathirana (01:13:24.472)
No to your friends, right? So again, this is you, your typical Joslin. And thank you so much for this conversation, Joslin. We love it. We really enjoyed it.

Jocelyn See (01:13:25.905)
Hahaha

Jocelyn See (01:13:32.146)
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I hope to see you again next time here in Manila, Jem and Dylan. Okay? Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (01:13:39.978)
Yeah, looking forward to it. And if you guys have enjoyed today's conversation and found something useful from it, it would mean the world if you could go and like and subscribe to our YouTube channel really helps us grow the show and get our message out to more and more people. And you can see all of our inspirational content over on our website, the quest for success podcast.com. And with that, we'll catch you guys in the next episode. Thanks for listening. Thank you, Jocelyn. Thanks Jocelyn. That was an awesome one.

Jocelyn See (01:14:05.5)
Thank you.