ChARTs - Team

Sonja is the creative heart of ChARTs and the Organizer and also Manager, mainly found „in the frontline” with the guests and busy with handling the staff.
Experience in services sector for years and her open mind will benefits in this position.
Excellent service, kindness and cooperativeness are in the first place, but you also could have a nice chat with her.
Besides Sonja is a fairly good cook and she likes to try out new recipes for herself and others.
In her spare time she likes practicing Yoga and walk Arwen- the dog- to the beach for searching shells.
Everything which is connected with art, interior and architecture enthuses her very much and useful ideas are realized immediately.

Brief personal background:

After graduation and a successful apprenticeship in hairdressing in Germany she went abroad the first time as a “Au-pair” girl in the USA. After this adventure her passion for travelling was awoken which she has had in her blood since childhood.

Nevertheless she passed the college for cosmetics in Karlsruhe/ Germany and another special training as a make-up artist in Frankfurt.
Target was to be a famous make-up artist, but even jobs at TV-Stations, Photo-shootings and advertisement productions couldn’t stop her passion for travelling the world. So she stopped her carrier in Germany and went to a famous German holiday club (“Robinson Club”) in Greece and worked as an entertainer and teacher for silk painting.

That was in 1996. Since then Sonja works in the tourism industry.
As a Tourist Guide for young people between 18-30 years she worked in different European countries. After that followed jobs as travel guide in Sardegna /Italy for small tourist companies and then as team coach for “TUI Family Clubs” in Europe.
The winter months of the last decade she made full use of travelling overseas with her bagpack. At this she got precious experiences in entire South-East-Asia (India, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Burma,...) and to her favourite country Australia, where she almost spent two years in total.
Curiosity for land and people, spirit of adventure and wanderlust brought her also to Latin-and South-America, parts of Africa and New Zealand.
In 2003 she changed her job from land to water and from now on she worked as a “Scout” for the famous German Cruise ship “AIDAcara” in Europe and Asia, where she accompanied the guests to excursions.

Another highlight in her carrier was the assignment for one of the best cruise ships in the world “MS Europa” as Shore-ex Manager and Travel Guide worldwide. For the same company and on another cruise ship (“MS Columbus”) she made her way back from Asia to Europe as a Travel Guide,  teacher for silk painting, Yoga and make-up Seminars.

Then she went back to her beloved Island of Sardegna /Italy where she spent the summer of 2006. Once again she worked for a small tourist company and also a guide for boat trips.
By the way: The reasons why Sonja end up in the Philippines with constructing a Resort are many…besides she loves to live in warm clima without cold winters, the economy aspect was important. Also  the warmth and friendliness of the Philippine people, the beautiful and peaceful landscape and the long existing wish of self-reliance brought the idea of Charts Project.

In Panglao they end up, because a  friend of Sonja Philipp, the owner of Sun Divers (they worked before on the cruise ship “AIDA” together), where already established. Also the urgent need for quality and value worth accommodation in this area made the decision easy to stay.