Curious Vedanth
A fireplace chat hosted by a curious secondary school kid. Every few weeks, I interview different guests about their lives.
Curious Vedanth
From Filmmaking to Animal Welfare: J Signey's Inspiring Journey
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Season 7 Episode 2: Discover the inspiring journey of J Signey, whose path from filmmaking to animal welfare advocacy is as captivating as it is inspiring. In this podcast, J, the Corporate Engagement Lead in the Philippines for Global Food Partners, shares how her narrative skills and passion for animals led her to champion cage-free commitments across Asia. Hear how her diverse experiences—from teaching English to volunteering at the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)—shaped her career. This episode offers a glimpse into J’s world, showcasing how personal growth and a deep-seated passion for a cause can lead to meaningful change in the food industry and beyond.
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Hi, I'm Furious Vedant and welcome to Season 7 of my podcast. Today, my guest is Jay Signe, who is the Corporate Engagement Lead in the Philippines for Global Food Partners, a multinational consulting company that helps food businesses in Asia meet their cage-3 commitments. Jay has a degree in communications and films and was also a fellow of the first cohort of the Southeast Asia Farm Animal Welfare Fellowship. Hi, jay, welcome to my show.
Speaker 2Hello, hi Vedant, thanks for inviting me.
Speaker 1No problem, I'm extremely excited to talk to you. Me too. Me too. I'm extremely excited to talk to you. Me too, me too. Okay, so let's start with your college degree. What does one learn in communications and film course? What kind of projects did you get to do?
Speaker 2Well, a lot of things. It's actually a very broad degree or broad course, so it depends on what you really want to focus on. So, me, I focus on production. So it means that I got to do a lot of events, a lot of films, theater, plays as well, and I did, yeah, like what I said, I did theater, which I really enjoyed. I did short films as well, and I would usually gun for a position of a director, because that's what I like to do.
Speaker 1That sounds like an extremely fun course. Yeah it is, and now you work in the animal welfare space. So, from studying filmmaking to now working in the animal welfare space, how did your transition happen?
Speaker 2Yeah, it happened because I took a break, because I got burned out. So after university I took a break for one year and then, after one year, when I felt like I was ready to do work, I did that. So, yeah, I started teaching first, actually, so I teach English to Korean students and some Japanese students, and After that I still volunteered for the Philippine Animal Welfare Society in the Philippines. And then I got fished out by your mom, divya, so PAWS announced that there's going to be a fellowship for Southeast Asia, so I started applying and then I got it and I did the fellowship for I think six weeks was it, or like some, like several weeks, and I presented my project proposal, which is about cage free, and that's where GFP or Global Food Partners found me and now I work for them. I work for your father, for your dad.
Speaker 1That's a really inspiring journey. Yeah, can you tell me more about the kind of rescues done at the Pulse shelter and what specifically you volunteered in?
Speaker 2Okay. So the Philippine Animal Welfare Society is more focused on companion animals, but now they do farm animal welfare as well. So I started volunteering at 20 in 2018. So what happened was I had this five hour break in classes and I'm a person who doesn't want to do nothing, so I looked for volunteer opportunities. I went online and I typed volunteer opportunities near my school and I found this opportunity. I found PAWS, as we call it, and I found that it's really close to my university, and then I submitted my application and, six years later, still here, still volunteering At PAWS. We do a lot of different things because we don't have a lot of active volunteers. So we do cleaning, so we scrub the floor, we paint the walls, so from stuff like that to direct animal care, which means that we get to take care of the cats and the dogs. We get to volunteer in outreaches, so we do spay and neuter, vaccination drives, and we also do some admin work. Yeah, so it's a range of tasks that we do.
Speaker 1Did you enjoy all of the tasks?
Speaker 2Yeah, definitely, even the cleaning. I like it. So if you visit PAWS, you will see a mural like a painting, or like a wall where there are paintings of dogs rescue dogs that we had before and, yeah, it's a doggy park, as we call it. So I encourage you to visit the shelter in the Philippines, if ever you come back.
Speaker 1So, from volunteering at the PAWS shelter to taking up a career in animal welfare, you explained that journey and it was very inspiring. Can you tell me more about your role at your current organization, gfp?
Speaker 2Yeah, so, like what you mentioned a while ago when you introduced the company, we do cage-free, so we focus on cage-free. So we focus on cage-free for now. So as a corporate engagement lead in the Philippines, we again engage with the corporates, so the multinational corporations in the Philippines. So we do meetings there, we do a lot of networking. So when we have meetings with the corporates who are looking into sourcing cage-free eggs, or those who have commitment to source cage-free eggs, we provide them solutions, because cage-free eggs are very scarce in the Philippines too, but not just in the Philippines, but in all of the whole of Asia. So that's the bottleneck for corporates. They have a commitment, they don't know how to achieve their goals, they don't know how to fulfill this policy. So that's where we come in. We provide them solutions, we explain the programs, we do roadmaps for them, so those kinds of things. So basically, we help them source cage-free eggs in the Philippines.
Speaker 1Wow. So what are some of the bigger companies that you've interacted with directly?
Speaker 2We work with Marriott in the. Philippines and a bunch of other companies.
Speaker 1Wow, marriott is really big Because aren't they the biggest hotel operator in the world?
Speaker 2Yeah, one of them Correct Wow.
Speaker 1So do you have any advice for others who are interested in working in the field of animal welfare, whether it be in an animal shelter or doing corporate engagement like you do?
Speaker 2yeah, um, start with volunteering, because when you volunteer that's when you really get to know if you belong there or if you like this space right. Because I feel like if you're working for something, that should be something that you enjoy doing or something that gives you happiness. So the first step to know if it gives you joy is to try it. So you do volunteer stuff like what I did, so made before companion animal welfare, farmed animal welfare, wild animal welfare so you do volunteer first and if you like it, then maybe you can go for a career, maybe you can network with people, see if they can help you with this career path. So I think that's what you do. Yeah, that's what I did.
Speaker 2Apart from Combined Animal Welfare, I also volunteered for Fish Welfare Initiative. So I went to Cebu with the former Philippine team of Fish Welfare Initiative, the former Philippine team of Fish Welfare Initiative, and that was like my first dip in the farmed animal welfare space. So we did producer engagement, so we engaged with fish farmers there and that's how I really got to see the work that's being done in the remote areas, for example, or for the welfare of fish in the region, and I got to see that it's not an easy job, but it's a job that I can. I think I can do.
Speaker 1And I think I can have an impact on which one did you like more fish welfare, the corporate, corporate engagement for animals that you do now for the cage decks or your work at the shelter? Which one did you find more fun?
Speaker 2oh, these are different things because for the companion animal welfare or the shelter you get to move a lot right, so you use your hands a lot, but for corporate engagement you're most of the time sitting in front of the computer right, doing outreach, sending emails. So very different things, but I enjoy both of them. So it's like Monday to Friday I do my corporate engagement work and then Saturday or Sunday I do animal shelter work.
Speaker 1Yeah, so that's like my typical week, All for the animals. If you don't mind me asking what made you join GFP and do the animal shelter work instead of choosing a fish welfare month?
Speaker 2Oh, interesting question, Because GFP was looking for a person in the Philippines and my project proposal when I did the fellowship was about cage-free eggs, so I thought that it really aligned to whatever I wanted to take up or the path that I wanted to take, and fish welfare was just for volunteering. They don't have operations in the Philippines anymore, but I hope in the future they'll be able to work here, work in the Philippines. Sorry, hit it again, but I hope that in the future they'll be able to continue their work in the Philippines. So, yeah, global Food Partners offered me a job and I thought that it was great and the working environment is really really good, really healthy. So I'm happy. I'm happy that I am with Global Food Partners.
Speaker 1Yeah, I mean, you seem like, from what you told me during this interview, you seem like you're really, really passionate about animal welfare and it seems like you really like your job. So, apart from doing your job what you love what are some of your other hobbies?
Speaker 2My hobbies. I like playing sports. I think that I'm good at volleyball. I like hard court volleyball or indoor volleyball. I also like beach volleyball, but I also play basketball, badminton a lot of sports actually and I want to learn more, like climbing, for example, or soccer or pickleball, those things. Yeah, I also like traveling. I think that I've traveled to a lot of countries. I like backpacking, so those are things that I do when I'm not working or after work.
Speaker 1Wow, I mean, that's a lot of. I mean, how do you manage your time?
Speaker 2It's important to have a work-life balance. So at GFP, I think we do have that, or at least to me. I try to do my best to have Hobbies outside of work, because that's how you keep yourself sane, right, because you're working all the time, we're working most of the day, and it's how you keep yourself sane, right, because you're working all the time, you're working most of the day, and it's important to give yourself a chance to enjoy as well, like to have fun, and this is how I have fun. So I do sports, and it's also good for you, it's healthy, right?
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, I mean, I play sports as well, and, yeah, it is extremely fun.
Speaker 2And I heard you play volleyball now too. Yeah, yeah, I mean, I play sports as well and yeah, it is extremely fun. Uh-huh, and I heard you play volleyball now too.
Speaker 1Yeah, I'm part of my school team.
Speaker 2Very nice. I'm excited. I'm excited for you.
Speaker 1Thank you. I mean good luck on your sports journey as well. You too, you too. So this podcast has been very interesting and fun, so thank you so much for coming on my show.
Speaker 2Thank you. Thank you so much, vedant for inviting me.
Speaker 1Yeah, I learned a lot, and I'm sure my listeners will also have enjoyed this.
Speaker 2I hope so, fingers crossed.
Speaker 1Yeah, so thank you and bye. Bye. Dear listeners, follow my Facebook page Curious Vedant to get updates on my upcoming episodes. To listen at leisure on your phone and get notified about future episodes, subscribe by searching for Curious Vedant. Wherever you get your podcasts, such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube and many more, you can also listen to my show on CuriousVedantcom. Thank you for listening to Curious Vedant and don't forget to rate and leave comments.