In the early ’90s, Nanette Medved-Po’s acting career took off, most notably with her titular role in Darna, a 1991 feature film of the Philippines’ iconic superheroine. But she would eventually give up her career in entertainment to pursue further studies and advocacy work.

From 2007 to 2012, Medved-Po served on the Advisory Board of Bantay Bata, a social welfare programme. In 2012, she founded the non-profit Hope, which invests in education, agriculture and carbon sequestration in the Philippines. She introduced Hope in a Bottle two years later, now a well-known bottled water brand that uses 100% of its profits to build public school classrooms across the Philippines.

Medved-Po founded Plastic Credit Exchange (PCX) in 2019, a plastic offset programme that takes plastic pledges from businesses worldwide and provides solutions to offset their plastic footprint responsibly. “[During the pandemic], I was inspired by the PCX team's determination to roll out plastic clean-up operations in the poorest communities. Despite very strict lockdowns, they ended 2021 with over 32 million kilos diverted from polluting nature into the circular economy,” she shared.

In October 2022, she received the Asia Game Changer Award in New York from the prestigious Asia Society, whose past honourees include Jack Ma, Shigeru Ban, Aga Khan and Yo-Yo Ma. In 2023, Hope and PCX was recognised as one of the world’s top 300 impact companies by the Real Leaders Impact Awards alongside brands such as Tesla, Ben & Jerry’s and Lego Group. Throughout the year, the inspiring philanthropist represented the Philippines at global conferences and forums such as the United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in Paris, the World Trade Organization Public Forum in Geneva, the Forbes Sustainability Leaders Summit in New York, and The Economist Global Plastics Summit in Bangkok.

As Hope in a Bottle and the Plastic Credit Exchange continue to make a difference, Medved-Po also serves on the board of trustees of the World Wildlife Fund Philippines, the board of Endeavour Philippines, and the board of directors of Winrock International—both roles involving environmental advocacies. She also works with her husband, Century Pacific Group heir and all-around businessman Chris Po.