SHA Nacino is a prolific author of six books, a public speaker and a book-writing coach.
She was dubbed as the “e-book Queen” and has graced the stage of many international symposia, including the most recent Manila International Book Fair from September 13 to 17.
Among her books are How to Earn While On Vacation, How to Make Your Dreams Come True, How To Write a Book, Why You Need to Write a Book, Who Took My Hard-Earned Money and, the most recent one, Mission Happiness: The Millennial’s Guide to a Happy, Inspired and Meaningful Life.
With a clear mind and a sense of purpose, Nacino is an advocate of “writing because you care and because you have a message to share.” Her composed and easy demeanor tell of her own happiness and belie her astute business sense, as she heads her own company, talks on a radio and podcast and travels the country promoting her book and giving seminars and talks.
Paying debt
NACINO has come a long way since her elementary days when she says that she was babied.
Both her parents, Camilo and Crispa, came from a poor family and were all too familiar with days of not having enough to eat. However, they made sure that Nacino was always covered—her dad even going as far as talking to the dean to make sure that if she needed some food—he would pay it after.
“Every little pain, they would try to catch it for me,” Nacino recounts.
Her mom, Crispa, was a professor in their school, would always be by her side if she got sick. She would shower Sha with love, attention, affirmative words of encouragement, and, together with the provision of her dad, they both would pretty much cover all five love languages of Gary Chapman.
As a fresh graduate living in Manila, Nacino had accrued P80,000 in debt, and needed a way out. During that time, her father had already verbally warned her that she was going to go bankrupt. Hearing anything that resembled a sermon from her father was a blue-moon experience for her, and she took it to heart, mustering her capabilities into solving her financial crisis.
Trust me
SOLVING her debt was the catalyst for Nacino to write her book Money and Me, but it was just a pipe dream for three years. Her father would jocosely jibe her, “Asan na yung libro mo?” [Where’s the book you promised writing?] as a way of pushing her to really do what she had promised to do.
It became a family joke, and spurred her on. It was also what engendered so much pride in her to be able to tell her father years later to give his blessing when Nacino was planning to quit her job and start a company on her own. “Papa, kaya ko ito. [I can do this.] I need you to trust me,” were the words she told him that would assuage his fatherly worries.
Sha’s mother passed away in 2001 and, she always wondered, “Did I say I love you to my mother enough?” Since then, their whole family says “I love you” to each other. Since then, every morning, after her morning ritual of thanking the Lord, reading Didache, writing on her gratitude journal, reviewing her dreams and drinking a glass of water, she texts her dad.
Loving daughter
EVEN today, Nacino is single without a need for a man.
“I never felt na may kulang,” she said. [I never felt I’m missing something.]
That is true, because her eyes light up as she recounts how her father, despite being a professor in their school, would swallow his pride and work as a tricycle driver just to put food on the table for his family.
Nacino attributes her desire to speak from her dad’s improvisational performances every time there would be a blackout during the Cory administration. She attributes her love of mathematics from the days when her mother used to spend hours tutoring her and would give her hugs and kisses in exchange for right answers.
How do you become a Sha Nacino, a successful and loving daughter, who knows her purpose and confidently takes action toward her dreams? Easy.
One should have parents like Crispa and Camilo, whose love and sacrifice know no bounds. One should have a father like Camilo, who provides and guides every step of the way, and a mother like Crispa, whose love is expressed to her children and her husband in everything she does.