By Rachel Magday

When crisis opens s door: How Dr. Ethel ‘Jet’ Chua turned the pandemic in a Publishing Mission

When the world shut down in 2020 and routines crumbled, most people asked how they could simply survive. Dr. Ethel Reyes Chua—known to students and colleagues as “Jet,” a daughter of Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya—asked a different question: “What could be done in order to live, survive, and thrive because of the pandemic?”

That question became the seed of EduHeart Knowledge Network and Publishing, Inc., a small but ambitious self‑publishing house co‑founded by Jet and her husband Jerome, an IT specialist. What began as a personal response to crisis has grown, in four years, into a home for hundreds of first‑time authors whose stories might otherwise have remained untold.

“Education with a heart,” Jet says simply. “My students always regarded me as an educator with a heart,someone who understands them. We wanted our company to reflect that.” The mission is practical as well as compassionate: give ordinary Filipinos the means to publish, and guide them through the often bewildering path from manuscript to book.

Their partnership is a textbook example of complementary skills. Jet, an English major, librarian and former college dean, serves as editor and proofreader; Jerome oversees layout, graphics and the technical side of production—and keeps their Facebook page running. Together they handle everything authors need except the production cost: publishing logistics, copyright registration, book launch coordination, and help securing accreditation from the National Book Development Board (NBDB).

EduHeart operates on a self‑publishing model: authors fund their own print runs, while the company provides the know‑how and infrastructure that many first‑time writers lack. The results so far are striking. In roughly four years they have worked with around 300 authors—from a 12‑year‑old debut writer to an 88‑year‑old author. The catalog spans inspirational memoirs to textbooks and reference works, reflecting the wide range of voices the couple has helped amplify.

Jet is not only a publisher but also one of EduHeart’s most visible authors. Her book Pandemic Game—an account of surviving and reimagining life during the pandemic—has become a bestseller for the press. Another collaborative work, Fighters for Life, collecting essays on resilience and recovery, was honored as a finalist in the NBDB awards—proof that community publishing can produce work of recognized quality.

“Once they publish with us, we help them become legitimate authors,” Jet says, describing the transition many of her clients experience: from private writer to published, credentialed author with a launched and NBDB accreditation. For many, the book becomes a new platform—an educational resource, a personal legacy, or a tool for advocacy.

A global crisis shut many doors in 2020. For Dr. Ethel “Jet” Chua and EduHeart, it opened another: a small, determined door into publishing that pairs education, technology and heart. Step by step, book by book, they are building a community in which ordinary Filipinos can tell their stories—and find that being published is not the privilege of a few, but the possibility for many.