Born in the Philippines in 1954 , Kate Torres Recto, grew up pampered as the youngest of four children and as the daughter of an aristocratic family. She recalls having maids and drivers, and she describes her mother's sense of fashion. But she also remembers how her parents raised her and her siblings to respect their elders, to be kind, and to be compassionate. In turn, as Kate raised her six children mostly as a single mother, she, too, instilled those values in them.