And noble Alice Eduardo is, she started her Sta. Elena Construction and Development Corporation from seizing all the opportunities that came her way. Her foray into this male-dominated industry started with steel, allowing her to carve her identity and reputation on steel.

How she built the Sta. Elena empire.

Alice always wanted to be an engineer, but her mother has a different set of goals for her—to be a doctor or nurse. She did what every dutiful daughter would do, graduating with a business degree, as a compromise.

Alice helped out in the family's garments export and rice mill businesses even to the point of driving an elf to deliver supplies to clients. One of the said clients, Concrete Aggregates, contracted her for its steel requirements. Alice happily obliged.

That was in 1995, the year when Alice etched her name on steel. Now the Founder and CEO of Sta. Elena, Alice and her company provide foundation works, ports, harbors and horizontal constructions. Almost all of the buildings you see and the paths you walk on along Roxas Boulevard's reclamation area are the handiwork of Sta. Elena, although its first big project was the Bacnotan Steel Plant in Batangas.

The firm that she started from scratch an AAA and large B construction firm, one of the largest in the country. Sta. Elena has a capitalization of at least Php300 million, making it qualified to bid for any billion-peso construction project inside and outside the Philippines. The company is reputed to deliver projects ahead of time without any compromise in quality.

Noble as she is, Alice believes the success of Sta. Elena is made possible by the people who are doing all the foundational works. Her empire employs more than 900 people, most of whom are head of the families. If we were to include all the company's subcontractors, Sta. Elena gives livelihood to more than 1,500 people. Alice could not have been more grateful.

Hence, she takes her advocacy a notch higher. She mentors budding entrepreneurs. She also supports the medical community through constructing facilities. She also supports the entertainment industry especially the legacy left by no other than Master Showman himself, German Moreno.

For her, “it is hard work and passion for what I am doing, and being honorable.”

Alice is all that and more, and nobility lives in her soul.