Over ten years ago, I met my now wife, Rowena in a Facebook group, just another ordinary day in the digital world, but little did I know, that one interaction would change everything. At the time, she was a single mother, working as an OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker) in Kuwait, sending money back home to support her family in the Philippines. She had left behind everything, her country, her home, her friends and most heartbreakingly, her three-month-old daughter (Lay Lay). Let that sink in for a second. Three months old. I can't even begin to imagine what it takes to make that kind of sacrifice. But she did it because that’s what love looks like when you’re up against the kind of odds that force you to choose between staying with your baby and making sure her family has a future. That’s the reality for so many Filipinos who leave their families behind, stepping into an unknown world just to make ends meet. Rowena and I started talking first as friends, then something more. She had this incredible strength about her, the kind you don’t see every day. And she was hilarious, too. It was easy to fall for her. She wasn’t just surviving; she was fighting for something bigger than herself. I knew early on that she wasn’t like anyone I’d ever met before. Fast forward a few years, and we built a life together. But even as our own little world started coming together, we couldn’t ignore the bigger problem, the fact that thousands of Filipinos, just like Rowena once had, were still forced to leave their homes, their kids, and everything familiar just to earn a decent wage to support their family. That reality never stopped gnawing at us. And so, Rank Fortress was born. We didn’t start this company just to make money. We started it because we saw firsthand what it meant to be separated from the people you love just to survive. Because no mother should have to choose between feeding her child and being there to watch them grow up. Because no father should have to miss birthdays, graduations, or even the small, everyday moments that make life worth living.