Abby Asistio's Facebook Friends Day Experience and Meeting Mark Zuckerberg
Novuhair Brand Ambassador Abby Asistio had been chosen as one of the
eighteen invited by Facebook on their 12th Anniversary Friends Day celebration along
with California-based Alopecia awareness advocate, Rachel Regal.
Alopecia is an autoimmune condition which results in partial or
total head and body hair loss. Abby
Asistio have had it since she was four while Rachel just developed it sometime
in 2012, the same year she discovered that her 10-year-old daughter, Eliana,
had it, too. Six inspiring stories were
picked by Facebook among its 1.64 billion users and Abby’s friends were all
amazed when theye’ve found out that Abby’s Alopecia story was one of them. Imagine that!
Abby and Rachel met each other through the double A hand sign
campaign that Aby started in 2012, and They've been "connected" since
then. Last year, Facebook Stories
featured how these two were able to build a friendship, as well as campaign for
disease awareness through Facebook! And
last February 1st, Abby and Rachel had the chance to tour FB headquarters in
Menlo Park, San Francisco, meet and chat with the people behind Facebook
(Founder & CEO Mark Zuckerberg, COO Sheryl Sandberg, CPO Chris Cox, and a
whole lot of awesome people), get crazy cool gadgets and have one of the best
experiences of their lives.
Abby recounted that it was such a surreal feeling to be in the same
room as the creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg. Mark Z was wearing his
trademark look (jeans, sneakers, shirt and a big smile on his face), and had
such a friendly, approachable aura and demeanor about him. Not at all intimidating! He shared stories about how the company
started, its mission-vision, the ups and downs that come along, and their future
plans.
Those invited also had the chance to ask him questions. When Mark Z was asked about achieving success and life’s “impossibilities”. He said, “There’s a difference between impossible and things taking a really long time. Even if you’re not going tobe able to do something in a short time period, if you care about something,you want to see the world to move into that direction… So the best thing to do is just get started and not be discouraged. It’s tough because this stuff is hard, or else people would’ve already done it.”
Those invited also had the chance to ask him questions. When Mark Z was asked about achieving success and life’s “impossibilities”. He said, “There’s a difference between impossible and things taking a really long time. Even if you’re not going tobe able to do something in a short time period, if you care about something,you want to see the world to move into that direction… So the best thing to do is just get started and not be discouraged. It’s tough because this stuff is hard, or else people would’ve already done it.”
Abby Asistio got the chance to ask a question to one of the world’s
50 most powerful, successful women in business, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. Aside from Alopecia awareness, Abby is also an
active Real Beauty advocate with girls and women struggling with various
insecurities, being so consumed by the world’s unrealistic and sometimes
superficial standards of beauty. So Abby asked Sheryl about her perception of
it. Sheryl said that beauty is just like success and that no one could really
define it for you. We are all
unique. We have different stories,
dreams and desires. We should explore our own inner and outer beauty, believe
and embrace that we are beautiful, and never allow anyone to tell us otherwise.
Everything about the Facebook trip was overwhelming and inspiring
according to Abby. More than anything,
it reminded her about “responsibility”. We
are all given our own platforms, in this case “accounts and connections”, to
make a dent in this world. It is up to us to become complacent and take these
vehicles for granted, or maximize the opportunities and use them to make a
positive impact in this generation. Abby is grateful that Facebook has become a
medium for her to communicate disease awareness and touch people beyond the
confines of her tiny room and her country. Abby is also glad that she and
Rachel are two out of millions of people choosing to recognize the importance
of social media in contributing to making this world a better place, and
actually doing something about it.
Truly, God plans the best adventures and creates the most beautiful
surprises. Abby knows that she wouldn't
have been handpicked for this if it weren't for Him, as well as the countless individuals
who have cared and showed support for my advocacy.Abby would like to leave a
positive thought to everyone that we should really take the time to search for
and identify our “purpose” – that one unique, very specific calling that is the
result of our talents, dreams, desires, passions and experiences. Once you find it, be faithful to it no matter
how long or difficult the journey towards its fulfillment may be. You’ll never
know where it could lead to, how far it could go and how large it could grow.
Abby is also thankful that her campaign continues to spread and
reach new heights and she is particularly grateful to Facebook for giving her
this opportunity and to Novuhair,Nature's
Answer to Hair Loss (www.novuhair.com), for always being so supportive of her
advocacy and endeavors. Abby is proud and honored to have represented the
Philippines and the Alopecia community in this once-in-a-lifetime,
international event.
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