Nina Lou Carta once spent her days behind a pharmacy counter in the Philippines, filling prescriptions in a career that paid the bills, but never quite filled her cup. Today, she’s the Chief Operations Officer of her own company, Portavia (pronounced por-TAY-vee-yah) and she’ll be the first to tell you it’s the coffee that made Dawson Creek finally feel like home for her.
“I never loved being a pharmacist as much as I loved being an entrepreneur,” Nina said. “Pharmacy was a stable career that paid the bills… but I’ve always enjoyed building something of my own.”
Nina worked as a licensed pharmacist at Southern Philippines Medical Center from 2015 to 2022, then later, ran a small coffee venture with her husband. When the couple’s application to Northern Lights College (NLC) was accepted in October 2022, Nina knew it was time to bet on the business side of herself.
Moving to a new country so many thousand miles from home felt like the “something missing” she’d been feeling her whole life.
She resigned from her hospital position that December, and arrived in Canada with her husband in April 2023, ready to begin the NLC Post-Graduate Diploma in Business Management-Health Administration.
Nina considered colleges all across Canada, but something about Dawson Creek (and the college that happened to share her initials) felt right.
“I also liked that Dawson Creek was a smaller community;” she said. “Coming from a provincial hometown myself, I never saw myself living in a big city. The environment felt familiar and comfortable. In the end, it simply clicked.”
School had never come easily to Nina. She took pharmacy studies because of a scholarship she couldn’t turn down and struggled to push through for her degree. At NLC, however, was able to experience something new.
“For the first time I genuinely looked forward to learning,” she said. “I came to class hoping to gain knowledge and grow, and that’s exactly what happened.”
“It was one of our biggest regrets that we weren’t able to open a café back home in 2021. So we pushed ourselves to open one here.”
When asked who made the biggest impact on her learning, Nina talked about instructors Dennis Stavrou and Iuliia Shakirova.
“They were more than instructors,” she explained. “They genuinely cared about their students and created an environment where learning felt meaningful and enjoyable.”
Even with her newfound love of learning and supportive instructors, school was still a challenge. Balancing coursework, group projects, cultural adjustment, and making money to pay for international tuition costs, meant for long days. While walking from home to school, school to work, and back again, Nina had to stay focused on why she and her husband had made the move in the first place.
Along with the challenges, Nina had some really positive experiences at NLC. She found herself drawn into student life, helping organize the student council’s semester-end party in November 2024. Also, graduation stood out as one of her proudest moments.
Nina almost skipped the ceremony, feeling “a little too old for it,” but she’s glad she didn’t.
“It marked the end of one chapter and the beginning of another,” she said. “It was a proud and emotional moment that I’ll always remember. It was made even more special that my family was there. My sister who flew from Philippines to attend my graduation even got inspired and enrolled at NLC as well.”
Her sister will be starting her first semester this September.
Nina added, “It’s never too late to pursue something different than the path you are currently on, I guess.”
Nina’s next chapter began with her taking the lessons from her courses in management, leadership, and business operations right into the real world and into Portavia. Portavia is a family-owned business that currently has five employees and Nina is Chief Operations Officer.
“NLC opened doors for us that we never imagined. It welcomed us into a new country, expanded our knowledge, strengthened our skills, and helped prepare us to compete in a global environment. For me, it was an investment that paid off in many ways beyond academics.”
“Many of the concepts we discussed in class seemed theoretical at the time. Now I find myself applying them regularly while managing Portavia and working with a team. It turns out our professors were right — we really should have listened carefully.”
In order to face the challenges of building Portavia from the ground up, Nina keeps returning to a phrase that’s become something of a personal motto.
“Now or never,” she said. “It was one of our biggest regrets that we weren’t able to open a café back home in 2021. So we pushed ourselves to open one here.” she said. She also explained that she is grateful for all of her employees.
“What a wonderful team we forged,” she said. “Each of us have different strengths that have contributed to the success of this business.”
She is also very grateful to our supportive community.
When asked what she would tell anyone weighing whether post-secondary education or NLC specifically is worth it, Nina doesn’t mince words.
“Just do it,” she said. “There are no wrong decisions — only experiences, opportunities, and lessons learned.”
“NLC opened doors for us that we never imagined. It welcomed us into a new country, expanded our knowledge, strengthened our skills, and helped prepare us to compete in a global environment. For me, it was an investment that paid off in many ways beyond academics.”
Portavia is celebrating its one-year anniversary on August 13.