Maria Kathrina Cassandra

My name is Cassandra, and I am from Makati City, Philippines. Ever since I was little, I lived with my grandmother and my two lovely aunties. When I was seven years old, my mother passed away from kidney failure and my dad did not support me. Luckily, my mom's family kept me and raised me. As I grew up, living as a normal teenager, I got the chance to meet new people. I found myself enjoying my friends' company, and we went on adventures together. Life seemed so easy. But the older I got, I slowly faced hardships and sometimes felt lost.

I grew up in a Catholic household, so I was familiar with Jesus. But I wanted to deepen my relationship with him and my curiosity led me to Young Life. My cousins inspired me to join and eventually I found myself genuinely enjoying the company there. They helped me a lot to grow my faith and spirituality. Eventually, I got the chance to be junior leader.

Now, as a part of the Developing Global Leaders program, I am studying tourism management at the University of Makati. My vision is to continually expand my knowledge and understanding across diverse fields and leverage this knowledge in my career to drive innovation and solve complex problems.