We asked for your nominations for the Most Influential Filipino Women on LinkedIn and from your responses we curated a list of the 100 Most Influential Filipino Women on Linkedin inspired by and in partnership with Virginia Bautista who has published formidable lists like these for the past three years.

We want to celebrate each woman individually, shining a spotlight on her positive impact, wisdom, and experiences.

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Join us with a virtual round of applause as we showcase and celebrate the accomplishments of

Katrina Rausa Chan

No. of Followers: 1,661

Position: Executive Director at IdeaSpace Philippines

What do you think is the most significant contribution Filipino Women make to the country?

It’s difficult to come up with just one answer. I do think Filipino women, while unsung heroes in history, are the backbone of our society and culture. I’ve often heard that the Philippines is a matriarchal society, and speaking from my own experience, I was brought up by an economically independent, loving mother who had strong values and principles, and who raised me to be confident and unafraid to pursue my dreams and passions. My mom has had an outsized influence in my life.

Taking a broader view, the Philippines has had Filipina Presidents and Vice Presidents, Supreme Court justices, heads of conglomerates, Olympic athletes, national artists– in other words, women that have been at the top of their respective fields. In this sense, I believe our most significant contribution as Filipino women is proving to the world that we can do it, and deserve to be seen, heard, and be recognized.

What’s your best advice for Filipino women to achieve success?

Have confidence, get out there, and just start. In working with startups, I’ve learned that:

(1) A lot of success comes via ‘fake it til you make it’, you need to have confidence to get others behind you. A lot of things come from ‘hype’ and if you don’t believe in yourself first, you can’t expect others to believe in your vision too. Modesty is an overrated virtue especially among women.

(2) It’s important to build your network. Nobody gets to do it alone, and your own impact gets amplified when you’re able to work with others that can complement your weaknesses and support your strengths.

(3) Just start. It’s more the exception to get it right the first time, or the first eureka idea being the perfect one (movies like to talk about the Bill Gates/ Mark Zuckerberg college dropout makes the billion dollar idea story). Most successes emerge from iteration– a series of experiments and refinements that eventually get you there. Don’t overthink things and try to get everything perfect before you execute. Rather, get things perfect by executing quickly (having an MVP minimum viable product), getting feedback and learning, making changes and doing it again until you get it right.

Follow Katrina

We hope you enjoyed this feature!

We have so many more women to celebrate! For future inspiration, follow Connected Women on Facebook and Instagram.

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2022 NOMINATIONS

We’ve opened nominations for next year’s 100 Most Influential Women and this time we’re going global!

For 2022 we are opening up nominations to women globally. Countries with the highest number of nominations will have their own list.

Join us in recognizing influential women by nominating for the 2022 list! Ready?
NOMINATE HERE

**Nominations end on November 30, 2021**

We hope this inspires more women to share their voices and connect with each other on LinkedIn.

You can find more information about the criteria at the end of the original Top 100 Most Influential Filipino Women on LinkedIn article.