Juggling corporate work and humanitarian service

Ayuyu

With her twin roles as owner/vice-president of the McDonald’s franchise on Saipan and in Guam and president of the Rotary Club of Saipan, Marcia “Ruri” E. Ayuyu is doing a delicate balancing act of doing good for both the corporate world and humankind.

Managing two restaurants on Saipan and overseeing approximately 120 employees requires an almost instinctive sense of good stewardship. “I oversee all aspects of the business for the two restaurants here on Saipan, representing the McDonald’s brand and building a strong team of 120 employees at the same time,” she said.

“…I want my employees to know that…they are just not my employees. …I treat them as they are part of my family and they motivate me. Same goes for our customers every single day. …Just seeing their smiles and happy faces makes me want to do more, makes me committed to be better every day,” she added.

Ayuyu is not fazed about holding a management position in the corporate world that is usually male-dominated. “I don’t see any difference …What a man can do, a woman can do too. A man can do shuffling on the road, bush cutting; I can do those too,” she said.

“I set my goals, I organize myself and I am good at that. I have my way of prioritizing and I make time for myself and my loved ones,” she added.

As president of the Rotary Club of Saipan, Ayuyu takes this position with heart and grit. “I take the Rotary’s mission—(‘Rotary connects the world’)—to heart and thus, leading to bring in more members to become a part of our organization. I believe the more members we have, the more tasks we can achieve,” Ayuyu said.

“In the early months of my leadership at RCS, we have been working to maintain our budget, welcomed new members. We were able to do some work to protect our youth and children by spearheading cleanups, repainting and repairing our bus stops and the Rotary basketball court in Kagman,” Ayuyu added. Those are on top of the donations that the Rotary Club regularly hands out.

Ayuyu believes that part of improving the quality of people’s lives start with beautifying the island. One of RCS’ project is putting up the Hafa Adai & Welcome sign along Airport Road.

“This helps the club be visible in playing an active part of our community. …It is more important to do beautification of our island because our island is truly beautiful and we want to present our island well. …We are all relying on tourism, so we don’t want visitors and tourists to see an ugly or dirty island…,” she said.

“When visitors and tourists see the preserved beauty of the Marianas, they will keep coming back. This will result in having businesses thrive and continue,” she added.