Marc and Leni Stayman
By: Marylaine Viernes
A lasting love, enviable relationship shared by two accomplished professionals. The Staymans share a glimpse of their life as married couple and parents to a bunch of adorable furry babies!
A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN
Dr. Leni Stayman, MD, Ph.D. is not just known in the Filipino-American community as a respected doctor for more than 35 years now, but also as an illustrious entrepreneur and producer. An outstanding Filipino-American figure indeed, Dr. Leni obtained her bachelor's degree in Chemistry back from Far Eastern University – Manila, where she also finished Doctor of Medicine in 1985. Never resting on her laurels, Leni then furthered her credentials, obtaining her Ph.D. in Neuroscience while she specialized in anesthesiology back in 1996 at the renowned Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan.
"I moved to Japan to further my studies in my field of specialty in 1988, upon finishing my residency in Anesthesia at the FEU hospital, where I ended up doing another residency in anesthetics at the Hokkaido University Hospital." Dr. Leni entered a Doctorate program and pursued Neuroscience as well. Living and learning in Japan for over a decade, she obtains fluency in the Japanese language, on top of her English and Tagalog proficiency.
"I then went to the Columbia University Medical Center – Department of Anesthesiology for my post-doctoral fellowship in 1997 and then went back to Japan, where I joined the Brain Science Institute as a Neuroscientist." Eventually, I had a chance to emigrate to the United States, and I joined the Anesthesiology Department of the Stanford University Medical Center."
Outstanding in every way, her immigration story is an exceptional one. "I have been living in the USA for more than 20 years now, and I obtained my Green Card back in 1997 when I was doing my post-doctoral fellowship in New York City. I petitioned myself under the "National Interest Waiver," and the rest is history." It took her only half a year to obtain her permanent residence, a well-deserved feat for such an extraordinary lady.
After many years working for big companies, Dr. Leni decided to work for herself and, in 2002, opened her own Senior Assisted Living practice, which has been flourishing for the past 18 years. This freedom helped her achieve more, letting her break out from medical facilities to musical productions. "It was in 2017 when I started getting involved in productions, mainly concerts, because I arranged tours for my dear friend, Kuh Ledesma's US projects." While the pandemic may have delayed her plans on the production front for now, indeed, Dr. Leni is gearing for more exciting things in the coming years.
Truly living up to the essence of her name, Leni, a derived from the name "Helene," which means "beautiful," "bright" or "shining," Dr. Leni truly enhanced her entire being, making herself a gem that any man would be more than happy to have.
Brimming with joy that comes from an accomplished career and a happy and loving home, Dr. Leni beams proudly about her husband. "Marc was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio, to a Jewish family. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a Degree in Bachelor of Arts in General Studies."
Having taken advantage of the wonders of the internet, Marc seems to have embraced this realm. "Marc is a network engineer for Ross Co., but before this, he worked in mercantile exchange as a trader right after college. He lived in Chicago for about 14 years until he moved to San Francisco, and that's been home for the past 23 years, and then, he worked for Accenture as a network consultant and traveled a lot."
Technology played a significant role in this love story, and Dr. Leni remembers it like it was yesterday. "We met on August 16, 2000, yes online, only two weeks after I arrived in California from Japan. And it was all thanks to a seven days free trial of Match.com!"
Contrary to her high-achieving persona, Dr. Leni remains humble and candid, even revealing that she had met the love of her life, Mr. Marc Kenneth Stayman, in the unlikeliest of places – in www.match.com, and they've been happily married for almost two decades now! Now, this, you can say, is truly a match made in heaven!
And they called it Puppy Love:
While all is not perfect in her seemingly perfect life, Dr. Leni shares that while she and her husband, Marc, have so much love to give, they were, unfortunately, not blessed to have their children. Opening her heart bravely, Dr. Leni has had three miscarriages. But as a firm believer of "the best is yet to come," she has learned to take things in stride and focus on the good, saying, "I brim with peace and happiness when I joyfully help the people in need." Even about the pandemic, she shares how it has opened her eyes to the temporal nature of things and how it is best to make the most out of life.
Making the most out of every day, apart from more time for her husband, Dr. Leni also enjoys bonding with her furballs! "Currently, we have our two baby boys, Kobi and Saki, both of them Yorkshire terriers and both at 16 months old."
In the past, they also opened their happy home to their previous Yorkies named Puki, Miki, Yumi, and Iggy. And while these four have already crossed the rainbow bridge, we are sure that they loved their "Stay" with the beautiful Staymans who loved them unconditionally for more than 17 years!
"In our household, pets are family! They sleep in our beds, and we treat them like our own children. I even give them a nice sponge bath and brush their teeth every night. They get bathed once a week, go to their primary vet regularly. We talk to them, cuddle them, and of course, once a year celebrates their birthdays!"
Dr. Leni is also quick to point out the most important thing when it comes to caring for animals, "Caring and Wanting are two different words. Everyone should bear in mind that you cannot want to have dogs but not care for them. It makes me sad each time I learn about dogs tied up in chains, living in filthy garages, or the backyard. I even trust dogs more than people; they deserve the utmost care and love, like you would give a family member."
An enviable, bemedaled career, a loving husband, and a joyful home, what more can Dr. Leni Stayman ask?
"Still in my bucket list is to be a volunteer in an animal shelter. When I retire, I would like to be an active member of this organization that saves animals called "Compassionate Borders."
The epitome of success, Dr. Leni, is also a firm believer in how God gives his strongest soldiers the hardest battles. Her accomplishments professionally and socially, along with wisdom, kindness, and love in everything she does – great or small – inspire many; her great deeds are here to Stay.
