ABOUT AICI Philippine Chapter The AICI Philippine Chapter was founded on July 1, 2011 with the purpose of professionalizing the image industry in the Philippines and working towards the recognition, education, and certification of image consultant members. Delby P. Bragais, AICI CIM was elected Founding President, and, together with Abbygale Arenas-de Leon, AICI CIP; Karen Loren Agustin, AICI CIC; Dina Loomis, AICI CIC; and Julia Robillos, started the Philippine Chapter. With their small but dedicated core group, the Founding Members took the initiative to build and grow a professional organization of personal and corporate image consultants who worked towards a common purpose. They met regularly for more than a year to comply with the requirements set by the AICI HQ based in the United States. However, they had to overcome several challenges in order to form the AICI Philippine Chapter. The first and most difficult one was the requirement of having a minimum of 15 chapter members, especially with image consulting being a sunrise industry in the Philippines. The founding group also had to cover the dollar-based annual AICI membership fee as they started with nothing in the organization’s bank account. Staying committed to their goal, the five women pooled their resources together to create awareness about the Chapter, raise funds, and organize educational events for Filipino Image Consultants. These activities all helped in the foundation of the AICI Philippine Chapter and its education opportunities. The AICI Philippine Chapter was finally introduced to the global community of image professionals at the 2011 AICI Global Conference in Orlando, Florida. With three of the Founding Members in attendance, the Chapter received the warm support of the international community.