From Cleaning Toilets to Corporate Leadership: The Remarkable Journey of Kuya Bisdak

In 2016, a young Filipino couple stepped off a plane in Australia with a student visa, a baby, and a dream. Kuya Bisdak—known warmly to his online followers—had arrived as a dependent while his wife began her Master’s in Professional Accounting. The early days were defined by hard work, sleepless nights, and quiet faith.

For the first eight months, he took whatever jobs he could find: cleaning offices before dawn, delivering food in the afternoons, caring for the elderly at night. Some weeks, he worked all three. Meanwhile, his wife balanced full-time studies, part-time work, and motherhood. Their budget was so tight that childcare sometimes cost more than his weekly pay. Still, they pressed on.

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On days when no one could watch their son, he would sit outside his wife’s campus with the baby in his arms, waiting for class to end. Then they would swap—she heading to work, he returning home. It was a rhythm of sacrifice they kept without complaint, building resilience one day at a time.

One night, during a shift cleaning a public toilet, his phone rang. A recruiter had found his LinkedIn profile and asked what he was doing. “I’m working as a cleaner,” he replied.

The recruiter had noticed his corporate compliance background from his years in Singapore and encouraged him to interview at a mid-tier global firm in Sydney. When the day came, the whole family traveled together by train. “Whatever happens, it’s okay,” his wife told him. “I believe in you.”

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The interview was a test of composure and quiet confidence. Afterward, they made a rare stop at Manly Beach—just to breathe. While they watched their son play in the sand, the phone rang again. He had been offered the job.

It was the break they had been praying for. Kuya Bisdak enrolled in a diploma program with the Governance Institute of Australia, completing it while working full-time. His employer covered the tuition in full. By 2024, he was named one of Australia’s Top 100 Governance Professionals—likely the only Filipino to make the list that year. Today, he is a Chartered Secretary and a Fellow of the Governance Institute, leading a team of ten.

His wife’s career has flourished too—she now works at a top-tier accounting firm and is close to completing her Chartered Public Accountant modules, with plans to become a Registered Tax Agent. Their son, now almost ten, excels in Taekwondo, chess, basketball, and piano. They live in a modest townhouse, a far cry from the cramped shared room where they once ate meals on the floor.

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For Kuya Bisdak, the journey is more than a career success story—it’s a testament to perseverance, gratitude, and the power of starting small.

Watch His Journey

In this short video, Kuya Bisdak shares his path from janitorial shifts to boardroom leadership—an inspiring reminder that the human spirit can rise above the hardest beginnings.

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