Her search for the right support became a personal journey that changed how she saw her child, her purpose, and her place in the community.
Dubai: When Robie Torre-Gonzales accepted a job in Dubai, she was not looking for a new identity or a second career. She was looking for a way to provide more for her family.
In the Philippines, she had a promising career and two young children. Her husband was already working in Qatar, and leaving her children behind was a decision she struggled with for months.
The financial demands of raising a family, along with the additional challenges of supporting her neurodivergent eldest child, eventually pushed her to consider opportunities abroad.
In 2009, she arrived in Dubai.
What began as a difficult decision to secure her family’s future eventually became a journey through corporate leadership, entrepreneurship and community work. It also changed the way she understood her own purpose.
Finding Support for Her Child
Gonzales brought her children to the UAE two years after moving to Dubai. She soon found herself looking for answers that many parents of neurodivergent children face.
What support was available? Which educational options were appropriate? Who could help her understand her child’s needs?
In 2011, awareness and support around neurodivergence and inclusion were still developing.
“There wasn’t much visible support at the time, and many parents were hesitant to talk openly about their children’s needs,” Gonzales recalled.
Parents often relied on one another, sharing information and creating informal support networks.
That experience stayed with her because she understood what it meant to search for support without knowing where to begin.
More than a decade later, she has seen a significant change in the UAE.
“There is greater awareness, more openness among parents, and more recognition of the importance of inclusion,” she said.
For Gonzales, the change is personal because she has witnessed it across her children’s lives.
Building a Career in the UAE
While navigating motherhood, Gonzales was also building her professional life.
Her early years in Dubai came during a difficult economic period. She also had to adapt to working with people from different cultural and professional backgrounds.
Instead of allowing those differences to become barriers, she focused on understanding them.
Her approach helped her progress from a junior employee to an HR leader responsible for organisational development and learning and development.
The career gave her greater financial stability and allowed her to invest in her family’s education, support relative,s and continue developing herself. At 45, she also pursued a master’s degree.
Then the pandemic changed everything.
When Losing a Job Created a New Beginning
After 11 years with the same company, Gonzales lost her corporate career during the pandemic.
“If not for the pandemic, I probably would still be with that company today after 11 years,” she said.
The loss was painful, but it also created an opportunity she might never have pursued otherwise.
She moved into entrepreneurship, establishing People Bureau International, a boutique HR consultancy, and later Senyara Learning, a learning support venture.
The UAE, she says, gave her the environment to reinvent herself.
“There is a strong entrepreneurial spirit here, and the country has created an environment where people who are willing to work, learn, and take risks can build something for themselves.”
Turning Personal Experience Into Purpose
Senyara Learning brought her professional experience and personal journey together.
The initiative focuses on helping parents better understand their children’s learning journeys through seminars and parent conversations.
Its purpose comes from a gap Gonzales once experienced herself.
“Sometimes you don’t need someone to tell you what to do. You need someone who understands the journey and can help you navigate the options,” she said.
Her experience also shaped the way she gives back professionally.
Gonzales joined Filipino HR Practitioners in the UAE in 2017, became its president in 2019 and continues to serve on its board. Through the organisation and her consultancy, she has supported career counselling, professional development, people management and learning initiatives.
For her, giving back does not always require a large programme. It can mean sharing knowledge, making an introduction or helping someone see an opportunity they had not considered.
A Different Definition of Success
Gonzales does not describe her journey as a straight path.
There were career setbacks, business challenges, failed partnerships and periods when she was unsure about what came next.
“I experienced what felt like rock bottom at different points in my life. But every time, I learned something, adjusted, and tried again,” she said.
That ability to adapt has become one of the strongest lessons of her experience.
She arrived in Dubai believing she was making a sacrifice for her children’s future. Over time, the journey gave her something she had not anticipated: a career, an entrepreneurial path and an opportunity to support other families facing questions similar to her own.
Her story is therefore not simply about moving to the UAE or building a career.
It is about how an experience that once required her to search for support eventually became the foundation from which she could offer it to others.
“You don’t always get to choose what happens to you, but you can choose what you do next.”
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Dubai-based Filipino expat Robie Torre-Gonzales
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Source: Gulf News
