As part of the Ayala Group, the oldest conglomerate in the Philippines, Mariana Zobel de Ayala heads some of the country’s most prominent business ventures. She is the senior vice president and head of leasing and hospitality of Ayala Land. She also serves as a board member for Ayala Land, BPI Wealth and AC Health. Previously, she was with the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), responsible for consumer bank marketing and digital platforms. In 2023, BPI made headlines for its historic growth rates as earnings increased by more than 20 per cent to PHP25 billion during the year's first quarter.

While she has made an impact in different roles throughout her family’s companies, she justly takes pride in her philanthropic initiatives. Zobel is the first Philippine ambassador for U-Go, an international organisation focused on women’s empowerment through education access. In taking on the role, she hopes to enhance the future of Filipino women in marginalised sectors by providing educational opportunities through financial grants.

“The role of women in Philippine society has always been contradictory: we see strong examples of women leadership—as presidents, chairwomen of large private institutions and even heads of households, yet we still lack representation in certain verticals such as mid-level management and the boards of private institutions,” Zobel told Tatler.

Through 2028, U-Go aims to support at least 10,000 female scholars from Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. Zobel hopes to even the odds regarding women’s education and decrease the disproportionate learning rates between men and women, allowing women to rethink their futures and enable their families, communities and the economy.