Born and raised in the Philippines, Geraldine Bernardo developed a passion for dragon boat racing at a young age. Though she didn’t begin competing until she was 37, she credits the sport with teaching her valuable life lessons that would help propel her along her life’s journey.

In 2013, after the devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan, Geraldine created several initiatives to empower survivors of natural disasters and other conflicts. The two most prominent of those initiatives are SWEEP-Sport for Women’s Empowerment and Employment Program, and Replay. Relive. Recreate: Community Resilience through Sports. Geraldine’s initiatives focus on training individuals, especially women, to pursue employment and leadership positions in the sports world. In 2016, she launched Pace Magazine (Philippine Athletes and Coaches Empowerment), a digital magazine and website to celebrate the country’s athletes, and a year later founded the Sport Management Council of the Philippines (SportPhil). Geraldine has helped organize various events all over the country, from school-based outreach sports clinics and rebuilding programs, to management seminars, sport academic conferences, and basketball and dragon boat race tournaments.