Burnout and boredom, if used perversely, may appear to be a deadly pair.

But to Mita Quiogue, these twin states of mind fueled her desire to come to the U.S. in 2008 and set up eyelashes and anti-aging business in the heart of New York’s shopping district.

She had a propitious start in Manila where she ran a cluster of businesses in construction and restaurants after earning a business degree from De La Salle University (DLSU) – College of St. Benilde. By her account, they were all successful. She appears to have this ‘green thumb’ for starting businesses and making them grow.

Perhaps she is just genetically predisposed, she told The FilAm in an interview, being a descendant of a Chinese immigrant family of entrepreneurs who pioneered the funeral parlor business in the Philippines. Who hasn’t heard of the popular Funeraria Quiogue, often the butt of Dolphy jokes about death and an overdone makeup?