Repay it with kindness

Just when we're expecting an upsetting rebuke of discontent from our Editor, Ms. Marbs after the "failure" incident I blogged the other day. In her most unflustered yet irrefutable tone, what has caused the entire editorial team a heavy heart for the entire day she instantly dispelled in a matter of two sentences:

"Guys, I guess we've all learned from this experience. Let's try following what the japanese believe in: LETS DO EVERYTHING RIGHT THE FIRST TIME "

As the post-mortem meeting went on, every tensed nerve I forcefully tried calming down for the past hours as if flowing on its natural course, began to loosen up by themselves.

At peace and grateful. Those were the exact emotions that awashed me as I was hearing Ms. Marbs deconstruct every page of WE13, and recount her notes and a few "errors" she found, with no hint of remorse or whatever in her face -- not even in her words.

You know the scene in the movies when the lead actor's feeling all heavy-hearted and then a hazy picture, much like a dream of something as  massive as an anvil gets lifted from his chest and all of a sudden the queasiness and measured breaths vanish dramatically? That is perhaps the most precise painting of what took place inside my heart that very moment.

Soon after the meeting's done, as if we did something that deserves a dinner treat, Ms. Marbs prompted us to shut down our PCs and head out for an early dinner at Serenitea. (which by the way is the team's newest favorite food joint)

Who in this horrible publishing industry has ever encountered such kind of editor who not only refrains from admonishing her team for a bad move in public, but eggs everyone for a dinner that's on her afterwards? If you shot your hands up in the air, then I must tell you this: HELL! We should praise the heavens, because we are among the lucky  ones who seemed to have met THE PERFECT EDITOR.

For an editor who treats everyone as if they're her family by willingly lending an ear for the most profound or the most gibberish chats. For someone who ungrudgingly spends hours dedicatedly working for an issue as if it were her first everytime. For someone who believes in the talent of her team by awarding them the freedom to express who they are in how they work. For someone who's still human enough to be infuriated over acts that were foolishly done, such as arriving on a shoot later than the call time, or something as disastrous as a misplaced text that has been irreversibly printed to 60,000 copies. Yet after her series of rants, every lecture will eventually be resolved by her saying her apologies for having to burst out like that.

Being the editor of the Philippines' Wedding Bible didn't in any way strip her of her natural passion for others. Which is exactly EVERYTHING that I love about Ms. Marbs, and I could only be most certain that a lot of people would agree on. Although, if we're to lay all her credentials, skills, achievements, places she's gone through and her wealth (and I mean cash and properties) a fifteen-pager CV won't suffice. But what's more surprising about this editor of mine is that her character was never tainted by all these material possessions, that by all means scream of her being over-qualified.

When you get to work with her, you will not in any way see a sliver of  expected-cockiness, but instead you would have this once in a lifetime chance of working with the beckiest editor of a high-fashion magazine there is. And despite that, she still merits every bit of respect because she not only knows how to inimitably handle her team, but she's also very much well-versed with the loops and tunnels of the wedding AND publishing industry yet she makes it a point to not let every achievement go over her head, and to ALWAYS, ALWAYS remain humble about it.

The epitome of a smart, sassy and savvy editor-in-chief: that's Ms. Marbee Shing-Go, one of the few people who inspire me to be better in everything I partake on.