Some people land abroad with a five-year plan already mapped out. Others land with nothing but guts and a one-way ticket, ready to figure it out as they go. JP Cosico did neither—he took the long, winding, plot-twist-after-plot-twist route, and somehow ended up exactly where he was meant to be.
At 34, JP is closing out his chapter as Assistant Sales and Marketing Manager at The Global Filipino Magazine, capping off one of the most refreshingly honest career stories you'll come across.
It all started with a leap of faith
JP's story doesn't begin in glitzy Dubai—it begins in Sariaya, Quezon, where like so many Pinoys chasing a better life, his first real shot came through a call center job back in 2012. His very first paycheck? Straight to family. "My happiest memory would be giving and providing for my family the best way I can," he shares.
Fast forward to 2014, and JP found himself behind the bar in Macau, working as a barista and bartender at a swanky four-star hotel-casino—miles away from the Mass Communication degree he earned back home. "Hospitality business is way far from the course I took and finished back in college," he admits. He bounced from role to role, chasing clarity that wouldn't come easy. "I became worse finding the right career," he says. "Family couldn't understand why… I wasn't just sure of everything that's happening." At 24, he finally had a name for what he was going through: an existential career crisis. Real talk, but real relatable too.
Next stop: Bangkok, where survival mode kicked in hard—teaching English across multiple school levels while also juggling shifts as a server and cashier at a vegan restaurant in Sukhumvit. Somehow, in the chaos, things started clicking. He found his groove in FMCG, leveled up to brand specialist for a top-tier company, and started racking up stamps across Asia and Europe. Finally, momentum.
Then 2020 happened, and just like that, everything he built came crashing down.
Dubai, and the soft landing he didn't know he needed
It wasn't some grand career strategy that brought JP to Dubai—it was his aunties. "To finally end all the severe anxieties and depression, my aunties had to move me to Dubai," he says, no sugarcoating involved. That kind of honesty? Not easy to put out there, but it's exactly what makes his story hit different.
From there, things shifted. JP built genuine connections within the Filipino community in the UAE, became known for his warmth, and eventually found his way to The Global Filipino Magazine—a platform he proudly calls "acclaimed" and the "most trusted." It became the space where everything he'd been quietly working toward all along finally made sense: connecting Filipino brands and stories to the world.
"Communicating to a lot of people, introducing Filipino brands because we are so proud of our native local brands, closing deals—everyday is a learning process so I always seize it," he says of the work that lights him up. By October 2023, the industry was paying attention, naming him an Emerging Marketing Icon.
His two guiding mantras say it all: "Until it's done, tell none"—the discipline of someone who's learned the hard way—and "Kindness is the highest form of intelligence," the belief of someone who knows exactly what gets people through the hard seasons.
A restaurant called Florencio's
JP lost his father in 2015, right in the middle of one of his toughest chapters. "I thought it was the end of our life too," he reflects. "But it was only the beginning."
He holds onto Lamentations 3:28-30 like a personal compass—a passage about sitting in silence, waiting for hope, and not running from the hard stuff. "The 'worst' is never the worst," it goes, and JP has carried that close ever since.
Looking ahead, JP's eyeing another move abroad and, eventually, his retirement dream: opening a restaurant-café called Florencio's—named after his late father. A tribute that speaks for itself.
For fellow Filipinos building a life overseas, his advice keeps it simple: "Resilience and always be compassionate. Two secret tips to a better and healthy living."
From a call center in Manila to hotel floors in Macau, restaurant counters in Bangkok, and a desk at one of the Gulf's most trusted Filipino publications—JP Cosico's road was anything but straight. But he got there. And honestly? That's the whole point.