ICUC Employee Spotlight: Charissa Tosio, Social Strategist

Meet Charissa Tosio

For ICUC’s Social Strategist Charissa Tosio, creating a workspace that is warm, collaborative, and patient is her #1 priority. In fact, embodying these qualities is how she defines success, and it’s what drew her to ICUC’s team. When she’s not supporting top-tier clients with strategic insights or connecting with teammates, you can catch her riding her bike and hosting friends with delicious food and drink. We had a chance to sit down with Charissa (Cha-ree-sah) and learn more about what wakes her up every morning! Read on…

How long have you been with ICUC, then?

One year as of July! Or was it June ???? ????

What drew you to ICUC Initially?

I really liked the energy I got from the people who interviewed me at ICUC. I enjoyed the onboarding process — I spent one week getting to know the team and then working with the client a week after.

What do you like most about your job?

I enjoy the flexibility and autonomy I have. I feel as though there’s a lot of trust between myself, our clients and ICUC. This allows me to produce my best work and be my best self.

How do you define success?

I want to achieve success and meet my goals by being my authentic self. I know I can produce my best work by being comfortable enough to express myself as a cis queer Filipina woman and bringing those parts of me into my role.

My view of success is interpersonal. I care most about making sure the people I work with feel comfortable coming up to me with any questions. In my role, I try to bring warmth, empathy, support, patience, and the kinds of qualities that I appreciated most early on in my career.

Most roles that I have been in have had similar enough responsibilities. What truly made a job memorable was the positive environment that my colleagues created.

If you could tell your younger self some career advice, what would it be?

You don’t have to be hard on yourself to produce good work!

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

In a pre-COVID world, I enjoyed going for bicycle rides, attending local art shows and music events, hosting friends with food and drinks, and meeting new people.

If could pick three words to describe yourself, what would they be?

Empathetic, curious, and evolving.

What is the best place you’ve traveled to, and why?

Iguazú Falls, the Argentinian side! It was one of the most beautiful places I’ve been to in the world. If you haven’t seen photos of it, Google it and read up on it! It’s incredible.

Last question … Tell us something about yourself that would surprise us.

In some Filipino families, it’s tradition for parents to combine two names to make their child’s name. My parents combined Chona, my Tita (aunt), and Marissa, my parent’s friend, to make Charissa, which is pronounced “Cha-ree-sah”