Michelle Serrano (second from right) with her supportive family. PHOTO BY MARISA ROQUE
TORONTO, Ontario — Michele Serrano has always been drawn to “conceptualizing, creating and building.”
While growing up, she wanted to be an architect and her art projects were good enough to go on display at the Art Gallery of Ontario and other government buildings. She then acquired a string of professional titles in business and immigration.
Now, Michelle Serrano has gone full circle, back to her love of conceptualizing, creating and building, and combining them with her desire to help others. Serrano is running to secure the nomination as the federal Liberal Party’s candidate in Scarborough South West for the upcoming federal election.
If she gets the nod to be the federal Liberal Party’s person, her name will go on the federal election ballot. And If she wins that election — no one knows when the Prime Minister will call for federal elections — she will be the Member of Parliament representing the riding of Scarborough SW.
“You get sick of hearing people being taken advantage of. You can’t keep complaining and not do anything about it,” she says.
So this time the residents of Scarborough South West, where she grew up, may become the recipients of her talent and expertise in crafting doable strategies for government and the framework in which to build them.
“Having grown up in Scarborough South West, I am aware of the different issues that matter to the constituents of the area. I intend to hold a lot of town hall meetings and listen to what is important to them. A lot has been done in SSW, but a lot more needs to happen,” she adds.
“I’ve spent more years in Canada than (in) the Philippines — I’ve always been a ‘Scarberian.’ This is where I grew up and learned what it means to be Filipino, what it means to be Canadian, what it means to be a Filipino in Canada, and what it takes to succeed,” Serrano says.
Quezon City-born
Serrano was born in Quezon City the eldest of four girls to Franklin Serrano and Monina Lim. She attended Stella Maris College in the Philippines and St. Joseph’s College School upon moving to Toronto.
She attended several schools–University of Toronto, Ryerson University, Seneca College and Humber College–all to fuel her hunger for knowledge. “It was never about the money but the challenge!” she exclaims.
Her focus eventually shifted from architecture to business due to her entrepreneurial spirit and she spent several years in the corporate world putting her degrees in Business Administration, Human Resources Management, Accounting and Information Technology, Business Management and Immigration to full use.
Not content with the long string of designations after her name, Serrano is also a Licensed Financial Advisor and currently working toward her CFP (Certified Financial Planner) title.
As a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a Certified General Accountant (CGA), Serrano held high-level positions in both the private and public sectors.
When she decided to fly solo, she was drawn to the financial service and immigration business, mainly for the challenge of being able to serve and help others.
The challenge for Serrano is how to rally Scarborough South West’s voters to support her bid to be the Liberal Party’s name on the election ballot once the 2015 federal election is called.