“WHEN good opportunity knocks, grab it.”This was true to life experience of prominent Bacolod media personality Charie Ginete-Ilon who has thrived in her social media career following her migration to Canada at the onslaught of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.She formerly worked at ABS-CBN Bacolod as an anchor of the top television programs “Ilonggaka Day” and “Hoy Gising!”Ilon, a former Mass Communications professor at the University of St. La Salle-Bacolod, was also the former station manager of ABS-CBN Iloilo.She said she was able to add to her academic achievements, her Post Degree Diploma in Marketing while working in Canada.But prior to the inevitable closure of ABS-CBN Bacolod, Charie has shifted her career path to discover opportunities that were meant for her as she goes on with her life.Two years ago, she decided to migrate to Vancouver, Canada to search for a greener pasture.She went there during the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic.It was a risk leaving her family in Bacolod and some of her part-time occupations here.With her long years of experience in media practice, Ilon found her new “workstation” — the effective and contemporary social media platform.Being eloquent in the English language coupled with a remarkable confidence and personality, she indeed has good command and mastery in her media practice, “remade” to social media practice.Currently, she works as an account manager and marketing strategist/executive assistant to the CEO of Canada Wide Media, a multi-media company based in Vancouver, Canada.She anchors her social media program dubbed “Life Expressions” where she also interviews successful Filipinos who either work or live abroad.”Don’t quit believing in yourself and God. When your roots of faith go deep, you are stable, consistent, and unmoved. Most of all, you know all things are working together for good,” Ilon stressed.Her crossing over from traditional media to social media provided her the venue to continue her passion for media practice in a contemporary way.Despite her being an immigrant, she is still abreast of what is going on in the political season in the Philippines and she was happy to share that she was granted by the Commission on Elections Office of the Overseas Voting, National Registry of Voters, permission to vote.“Being in Vancouver did not lessen my awareness of what’s happening in my home country. It hasn’t in any way diminished my interest in national issues (either),” she said.“My concern for my fellow Pinoys is the same if not deeper, that’s why I’m so glad that I have confirmed that I can vote in the upcoming elections,” she added.She said she is part of the 1.69 million overseas absentee voters and that one thing is for sure, “I will vote for a servant leader and someone who lives by the values that I adhere to.”“Being a Filipino, it is not only a right to vote but her duty as a citizen of her country of origin,” Ilon emphasized.