From Broadway to Swedish e-commerce

His journey from simple conditions to multiply awarded world artists is an astonishing success story. This is the story of Jon-Joven Uy, who now begins a new chapter at OnlineFactory, in the role of Vice CEO. Follow along throughout a fast-paced life and be inspired by the lessons along the way.

He has been educated in the United States and has dual bachelor’s degrees; one in Hotel & Restaurant Management and one in Sales & Marketing. He has also held high positions with hotels and casinos in Las Vegas, been a top seller with his own insurance company, and he has also – of course – performed at Broadway in New York. Both as a director and lead actor

It is perhaps easy to attribute Joven’s success to an affluent background. But that is not the case. Far from it. In our interview with Joven, we went down to the roots, and in order to understand how he got to where he is today, we first need to rewind the tape.

A tough start in life

Manila, Philippines. Early 70’s. On a chair at home in the kitchen, Joven sits, barely three years old, sucking on a feeding bottle. The family's finances are so strained that the milk has been diluted with water.

"It's my earliest memory from childhood,” he says. "That was the moment I learned that our parents could no longer afford to feed me and my two siblings."

Determined to support his family, Joven’s father managed to get a job at an oil company, but it would require enormous sacrifices. The job was located abroad and he would have to cross war zones in Lebanon to get there.

Leaving the Philippines for a war-torn Middle East didn't just mean putting his life at risk. He would also have to be away during most of his children's upbringing. Because of this, Joven barely has any memories of his father until his teens.

"My dad taught me the meaning of hard work, and the possibilities that come from refusing to see limitations. Fortunately, he survived the years abroad, and our family would later grow with 3 more children," he continues.

A singer who could have become a dentist

Joven was interested in music early on and spent his days singing in front of the radio at home. He says: "One day when I was 11 years old, the door suddenly rang. There stood a woman who asked who was singing. She had heard me from the outside and was so impressed that she wanted to introduce me to German Moreno, who at the time was a famous TV personality."

This was Joven’s first contact with showbusiness. After being introduced to German Moreno, Kuya Germs, he was repeatedly allowed to guest star on his TV shows and sing. But it would take a couple of years more before the singing career took off. Before that, he would almost become a dentist.

"I graduated from high school in Manila and then applied for dental school”, he says, “and I only studied there for a year before I changed my mind." Contemplating his next move, he learns that the school has a student exchange program with the United States. He adds: "But it would mean that, despite my high school diploma, I would have to repeat senior year of high school in the US."

He decided to go, and off he went to the US.

All-State Champion

Joven moves to Kansas, USA, as an exchange student. Just before he is about to graduate high school – again – a nationwide music competition is announced. "The competition was about being given a piece of music that you only have 5 minutes to learn," he says. "Then the contestant would go on stage and sing in front of a jury. The winner would receive a full-fledged music scholarship at a good college. "

Joven entered the competition and won. He became the All-State Champion and his stay in the United States was extended. He begins his music scholarship in college. But it wouldn’t take more than a year before Joven again decides to drop out and change course.

"Instead, I began studying for a bachelor’s degree in Hotel & Restaurant management, which I later completed”, he says. "Parallel to my studies, I worked as a janitor, busboy and waiter. Eventually, I worked my way up to chef, then head chef and later manager."

Music was still a part of Joven's life during his student years. On three occasions he went to Chicago and performed in musicals.

The Singing career takes off

After graduating, Joven gets a job as a Supervisor at the Marriott Hotel and quickly works his way up. "It went fast," he says. "I worked extremely hard and within a couple of months, I had advanced to Front Desk Manager. Not long after that, I had taken another step up, to a higher management position."

One day the phone suddenly rings and Joven’s family is on the other end. "They tell me that there was a man who’s been trying to get in touch with me. Something about an audition”, he says. "Finally, I manage to get hold of that man, and he asks me if I would consider auditioning for a role in the musical Miss Saigon. "

This was big. Miss Saigon is a well-known musical. The audition was to be held in the Philippines, but the musical itself was to be performed in Germany. Joven decides to take a chance. He packs his bags and flies back home to the Philippines.

The role he was up for was a minor role in the production, as chorus. Back in the Philippines, he goes to the audition and try his best. Then he goes home to his family and waits to hear back from the casting crew.

A week passed. Nobody gets back to him. And then another week. Still nothing. A third week passed, also this one without hearing anything. Then came the phone call that would change everything.

"All of a sudden, the phone rings and it’s a person from the production," Joven says. The caller explains that the call is not about the chorus role. Instead, he asks: "Do you want to play the lead role?"

A stormy trip to Germany

There was only one small problem

The musical was to be performed in Germany. In German. In 20 days.

And the problem? Joven doesn't speak a word of German.

"I had 20 days to learn all the songs in German", Joven says. "So I took the next flight that went from Manila to Germany. During the flight, a terrible storm hit, and I got stuck in Hong Kong because the next flight got cancelled. It would take a whole day before the next flight departed, and when we finally landed in London, the flight to Frankfurt was also delayed."

It would cost him two days before he arrived in Germany. Now there were only 18 days left before he was to stand on stage and sing in front of an audience – in a language he still didn’t know.

He needed to isolate himself and remove any distractions if he were to succeed in this. It wouldn't have been as difficult if it wasn't for the fact that he at this point met his future wife – a Filipina who had one of the main roles in Miss Saigon.

"We met during the orientation when we had just arrived at the theatre. As soon as I saw her, I knew she was the one”, Joven says.

"I used her as inspiration to practice hard and do everything in my power to learn the songs in German during the two weeks I had to left to practice", he continues.

And the practice paid off. Miss Saigon was a success and their production played for two years in Germany. During this time, Joven married his wife in Cologne.

To Las Vegas

After two years in Germany, Joven and his wife moved to Las Vegas, USA. He got a job at a hotel and casino called New York New York. There he worked as the manager of the hotel's communications center. During his time there, his wife gave birth to their first son.

"As head of the communication center, I mostly sat in the basement without meeting people. It wasn't something I enjoyed. After a year, I applied to become Front Desk Manager instead", he says.

His application was denied and as a result of this, Joven chose to resign. He wanted a job where he had the chance to both travel and meet people. Joven saddled up and became a flight attendant at United Airlines.

"I worked at United Airlines for two years and usually flew between the US and Hong Kong. That way, I could often visit my family in the Philippines after I landed in Hong Kong", he says. "But over time, I began to question whether the income from work as a flight attendant was worth all the time I had to be away from my family. After I had been on United Airlines for two years, the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center occurred. I chose to resign not long after", he continues.

"Potentially unlimited income"

After his job at United Airlines, Joven, his wife and their son stayed in Las Vegas. She was now pregnant with their second child. In his search for a new job, he stumbles across a job ad whose title read: "Potentially unlimited income".

"The headline piqued my curiosity. The company behind the ad was called American Family Insurance, an insurance company that was by now looking for sales agents. Their arrangement was for them to go in with money and let a chosen candidate open up their own franchise with the company", he explains, continuing: "I went for a job interview with them and they explained that I needed a bachelor's degree in Sales & Marketing, which I didn't have."

Joven refused to let this stop him. He learned that there was a two-year education available, which would give him the bachelor's degree he needed. At this time, the United States had a system that allowed students to study two-year courses at double the speed, and thus complete their bachelor's degree after only one year. To pass, you needed to have a perfect score on your final exam.

Joven chose the latter. In the year that followed, he studied from morning to evening, seven days a week. The inner force that once helped him learn an entire musical in German in just under two weeks now came in handy. Just days before his final exam, his wife gave birth to their second son.

Money can't buy happiness

Joven passes the final exam and is hired by American Family Insurance. He gets his own franchise and now enters perhaps the most stressful period of his life.

"It was an extremely competitive industry. But I knew that if I gave everything and worked harder than everyone else, I could perform better than my competitors", Joven says. "I spent 14-16 hours in the office every day. Within six months I had hired a dozen people and we were very successful."

By now, he had put his music career on hold. All his time was spent working, and his personal life suffered as well – not to mention his health.

"I became a workaholic and was under chronic stress. During this time, I also gained over 40 lbs. as a result of my poor diet", he says. "I didn’t feel happy so I tried to buy happiness. One day I called up my brother, who also lived in Las Vegas, and went to pick him up. Then we went to Los Angeles just so I could buy a new car spontaneously. A Nissan 350Z. But I was still unhappy afterwards."

"After three years, I was reaching a breaking point," he continues. “I had pushed myself so hard that I started having memory problems. When I visited a doctor, he explained that my body was under such stress that the brain started shutting things out in order to handle the stress."

An unexpected rescue

In the midst of all the turmoil, a man from Las Vegas showed up. It was an old contact from the showbusiness days in the Philippines. He asked Joven if he was still singing.

"He asked me to sing for him, which I did. After that, he offered to be my manager and wanted me to go back with him to the Philippines and return to show business. Given how burned out I was by now, I started to see this as a possible ticket out of my stressful lifestyle", Joven says.

He ended up selling his business, house and car. The family then moved back to the Philippines.

But when they arrived, the man who offered to help Joven suddenly disappeared.

The Olympics for singers - WCOPA

With the man, who was supposed to help, out of the picture, he instead begins to reach out to his old network of contacts. He starts working out and get back in shape, while performing on TV, musicals and other music events in the Philippines

It is now the year 2006 and while Joven is performing around the Philippines, an exciting opportunity suddenly arises. "I get the chance to compete in the World Championship of Performing Arts, WCOPA, which can be likened to the Olympics, but for singers, and it takes place in Hollywood," Joven says.

He decides to take a chance, and flies back to the United States. It would prove to be a good move – ¬Joven wins a gold medal and with it came the title of World Champion. Now a chain reaction is started in the background.

The Road to Broadway

After winning gold in WCOPA, Joven travels back to the Philippines. His victory has been noticed at home and the offers do not wait. Both locally and internationally. He gets lead roles in bigger musicals and performs, among others, in Bangkok.

Almost a year after the gold in WCOPA, the great, once in a lifetime, opportunity arises, the one he has only dared to dream of. The musical Song of Joseph is setting up for a world tour, including Broadway. Joven gets the chance to audition for the lead role.

"I audition for the lead role and they picked me,” he says. "At the same time, they were still missing a director for the musical. It turned out that the director role landed on me too."

Song of Joseph became a successful tour and played in the United States for more than a year, including three weeks on Broadway in New York.

"Performing on Broadway was an eye-opener for me”, he says. "Directing and taking on the lead role in such a production is no easy task. And to do it for over a year too – there were so many important lessons I took with ¬me from doing that. I learned that anything was possible. The secret to success is, first and foremost, to just show up. When you show up, make sure you know what you're doing. Worrying won’t get you anywhere”, he continues.

From Broadway to Swedish e-commerce

After his successful tour, Joven starts working for Alphaland Corporation in the Philippines. It is a large company that owns luxury properties, hotels and resorts.

Joven is hired as Director of Entertainment, and later Director of Hospitality, on one of the Philippines' most exclusive island; Balesin. Their luxury resort is a popular retreat for actors, other high-ranking people and the occasional lost Swedish tourist.

Through Alphaland, Joven also got the opportunity to make use of his background from the hotel industry. Alpha Suites, a hotel that had just opened when Joven joined Alphaland, needed a General Manager and here he had the chance to once again benefit from his experience.

"We built Alpha Suites from scratch and the hotel went on to be ranked number one throughout Luzon, the largest and most populous island in the Philippines, where Manila is also located," he says.

But it is through Balesin that Joven first comes into contact with OnlineFactory. He talks about how it happened:

"I met Peter and Kristina – the couple who founded OnlineFactory – when they visited Balesin with their children. The way they described their company awakened something inside me. Their family-oriented organization, their visions and goals with the company. It resonated with me."

When the position of Vice CEO came up, something clicked.

"I looked back on my career and realized that everything I had learned from my various professions in management, service, sales and marketing can be tied together into one at OnlineFactory. Suddenly, everything I had done so far made sense. I can use everything I've learned in the same role," he says.

As Vice CEO of OnlineFactory, Joven comes in with energy and motivation. Together with the management team, they now begin a new, exciting chapter in the company's history!