Most mothers would tell you that there isn’t one single experience that would stand out as the “best ever” or “most memorable” with their kids. Jodi Sta. Maria is one such mom, who notes, “Every single day spent with my son is memorable —something to be cherished talaga. Each moment is different, something na hindi mo na pwedeng ire-replay. Bawat moment, bago.”
An actress, single mom, a student, and all sorts of awesome, Jodi isn’t just a role model onscreen. While she is most known for her role as the relentless Maya, a simple girl who is saddled with the complications of building her life and career, and falling in love with her boss in Be Careful With My Heart, Jodi’s own real-life fate hasn’t exactly been that simple. Yet, she has become someone people, especially young mothers, can look up to.
Though she herself has gone through failed relationships, she retains an outlook that should inspire people – no, she isn’t afraid to fall in love again, as she tells Boy Abunda in an interview. She takes the experiences, and uses the lessons she’s learned from them to try and make herself better and build the best life she can for her son, Thirdy, now a teenager.
Still, Jodi doesn’t seem to be slowing down and continues to juggle being an actress and a solo mom.
“Well, with acting naman, hindi naman every day ‘yung work ko si I regularly tape for (my current show) Sinong May Sala? three times a week,” she shares. “Tapos the rest of the week naman, I’m home. I’m thankful that Thirdy is very supportive of the kind of work I do.”
Jodi has always been open with Thirdy and, even as a kid, she would often bring him to tapings to expose him to what she does for a living.
“Now, he knows na ‘pag wala ako sa house, nasa work ako. He knows our situation – of course, that being an actress is my bread and butter, so he understands. And I’m thankful to the Lord that he does.”
For instance, that Jodi is out of the house on a Sunday is perhaps nothing new or unusual for Thirdy.
“It’s a working holiday for me,” she says with a smile during the Mother’s Day event in Gateway Mall, Araneta Center billed “MOMentous.” The mall appearance happened just hours before she and her son were to leave for a trip out of the country.
At the event, Jodi gamely sang a song for the attendees, who are joined by the Federation of United Solo Parents of the Philippines (FUSPP). She also participated in a cooking demo with PACE (Professional Academy for Culinary Education) and Chef Monicca “Nikki” Dechavez, wherein they made brownies and spicy empanadas as possible ideas for a simple business for solo parents.
The entrepreneurial and empowering theme of Araneta Center’s Mother’s Day celebration was also echoed in Ali Mall and Farmers Plaza, albeit without a celebrity guest. In all three malls, mothers who registered with a P600-single receipt got to experience an afternoon of pampering as well from sponsors like skin and face analysis, hand and foot massage, hair styling, and many others.
Adding to Jodi’s already full plate is her pursuit of a Psychology degree, which she is set to get when she graduates next year. As for plans to pursue something related to the course outside of acting, she notes, “That’s the goal naman talaga. I did not take up Psychology for the sake of just earning a degree – I really want to be able to use the skills, the tools, the knowledge that I’ve learned in school and apply it in real life, to real-life situations. And, hopefully, with me being equipped, makakatulong ako sa kapwa ko.”