Maria Santos

## About Maria Santos Maria Santos is a Filipino remote work writer and platform optimization expert with over 8 years of experience helping Filipino freelancers scale from Upwork beginners to 5,000 USD per month earners working with US and European clients. A graduate of UP Diliman with a Bachelor in Economics, Maria started her freelance career in 2016 as a virtual assistant earning 3 USD per hour before systematically building her skills and rate. By 2021 she was earning 400,000 pesos per month (approximately 7,200 USD) through Upwork Top Rated Plus and direct clients, working entirely from her home in Makati. Today she splits her time between high-ticket client work and running Trabaho Online a Filipino-focused resource with over 300 practical guides. Maria specializes in helping Filipino freelancers with: payment optimization (Wise has been her recommendation since 2020 she has documented every transfer from Upwork to BDO, BPI, and GCash over 4 years), profile positioning to overcome Filipino discount (where clients pay Filipino freelancers 40-60 percent less for identical work), skill upgrades that justify premium rates (30-60 USD per hour for specialized skills vs 5-15 USD for generic VA work), and navigating BIR registration as self-employed professional. She tests every tool and platform herself before recommending her Upwork vs Fiverr comparison is based on 4 years of active use of both, with concrete income comparisons. Maria mentors 40+ Filipino freelancers monthly through a Discord community of 9,000 members, and has been featured in local Manila publications. Her mission: prove that Filipino freelancers can command the same rates as any global freelancer when properly positioned no compromise needed. ## Credentials & experience

• Bachelor in Economics from UP Diliman
• Active Upwork Top Rated Plus
• 8+ years freelance experience

## Connect with Maria Santos

• linkedin.com — Maria Santos
• twitter.com — Maria Santos
• Email: [email protected]

## Latest articles by Maria Santos

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