She comes from a long line of tea farmers who cultivated the land long before global supply chains and corporate monopolies reshaped the region’s tea industry. Though she didn’t grow up on the farms full time, that history shaped how she understood land and labor.

Gallaga had attended the University of the Philippines Conservatory of Music in Diliman as a voice major, while belonging to the Philippine Madrigal Singers, an a capella choir that took her around the world for festivals, world tours, and competitions.