"Likhang HABI Market Fair" Slated October 13-15 at Makati City

 

Seeing the various colors, textures and ingenuity done on Philippine fabric in one place was overwhelming to see. I had the chance to actually experience all these at the preview of "Web of Woven Wonders", an activity of HABI: The Philippine Text Tile Council. They will be mounting the Likhang HABI Market Fair this coming October 13-15 at the Glorietta 2 and Palm Drive Activity Center grounds in Makati City.

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HABI President Adelaida Lim says "People are connected, like textiles, people, places and things bind us together. As you can see in this preview, it's the outstanding skill of our weavers that make these world class products happen. Definitely, it's something we can all be proud of!"

The fair will be having over 72 vendors from all across the country. They will converge at the venue to showcase, promote and make available the hand woven textiles, clothes, bags, trinkets and more. They also have pieces made of pineapple, abaca, cotton that will be shown in a bigger space this year and other international exhibitors from countries like Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia so PH vendors get inspired from our SEA neighbors. The event is supported by Ayala Land, Ayala Foundation, government agencies and private corporations. There will also be competitions happening at the event, particularly the 6th Lourdes Montinola Pina Weaving and the 2nd Eloisa Hizon Gomez Abaca Weaving. This will be an exciting venue to showcase their work!

Dr. Randy Madrid's book "Pina Futures: Weaving Memories and Innovations" will be launched at the same fair, so for those who are passionate about PH textile, you can get them all there!   

This is just the tip of the iceberg, so make sure to be there on October 13-15 when the event happens!

GCash Insider Sessions Showcase Partner Solutions

It was a nice evening of letting GCash users know that there's more to the app than meets the eye during the GCash Insider sessions at XYLO in BGC. They called it Passion Forward, where harnessing consumer behavior for business success is being encouraged. GCash has really gone beyond just finance (and your ability to conveniently transfer funds) and show you how your passions can also be used to increase profit from your businesses, level up what you've been doing by utilizing their various solutions designed specifically for their partners no matte how big you are.

 

One of their guests Ms. Weng Rivera the Head of Travel for AirAsia Super App says "We are most decorated low cost carrier and in 2019 a lot of you have been traveling before the pandemic struck. It put us, our ground crew, and air personnel in a limbo. It was one opportunity to put one of our core values in front, we brought fresh produce to different places across the region helping out and opening doors in the country. Employees were given funds so they could put up their businesses, we didn't want to waste a crisis. A lot of things were uncertain, so we converted our usual airline to a more travel inclined super app, and people were ready for it. Hence, we became a digital airline quite fast. Now it's got flight, hotels, shops, transportation, ride, super plus, and rewards system in place. We now can connect you via land or sea, have more flights and redeem points every time you travel. Go download the app today and enjoy the discounts, travel is back with a vengeance! With GCash, we are now able to increase transactions and make travel affordable, and accessible. It is also our advertising platform, an effective one at that as it directly correlates with GCash transactions."

Mr. Franco Pantangco the Business Development and Partnership Lead of mgames also discussed about Hyper Casual Games where you compete, play and get rewards. In GCash initiatives, there are now in app advertising which resulted in phenomenal growth on engaging with GLife users, coming from leads of successful campaigns. It's a multifaceted segment, and their next move is to utilize mgames partnership with Tempo that also utilizes all Filipino music. 

Improvements to the app will certainly continue and they plan to use AI technologies to further fuel your passions with solutions that effectively increase what you can do with your business, make it easy use and safe at all points of transaction. If you want to see what they can do for you, head on to beta.gcash.com/partner-solutions and be connected to existing GCash users worldwide!

Passion: An Indespensible Ingredient in Blogging

The era of blogging is still alive in the country, which for me - is still in its infancy. I believe we've barely scratched the surface; as the expertise and passion required to be in this industry has been satisfied by the skin of one's teeth.

I've been writing online since 1995. I started doing journals of my life, of goofy personal anecdotes as I was already building websites and didn't have content for them during the dial up era. My official hosted website started around 2003 as I've seen a surge of it of sorts in the US. I felt there were barely a few blogs in the Philippines and most of them were transcribed in Filipino which I wasn't too confident writing with. It was awesome to have been able to talk to them (US bloggers) while I was starting, I got the advice I needed from industry leaders/professional bloggers whom I could learn from early on.

 

I started covering local events in Manila and saw how my writing passion could help businesses and startups be known on the web. This started the expansion of my network as I got to be recognized with the value of what I write and see conversion first hand as people started to tell me about what I wrote about this and that product. In 2010, I got bit by the photography bug and bought my first DSLR camera. With it, I combined my love for fashion, photography and  writing appearing in Philippine Fashion Week, fashion shows, bi annual brand shows (the biggest in the country) and got to see the Philippines brightest celebrities, international stars, models, fashion designers and got to know them a little better. I also started to interview stars from broadcast stations, and increased my tribe including those from other countries because of the medium I decided to write with and established what my website is today.

Prior to that, I've been working for a multinational corporation as a Computer Engineer. It was totally off from my day job but it was something that I believed would take me places, unbeknownst to some of my peers. Others say it was a crazy idea to quit a secure and prestigious job and do this full time. When I left the corporate world a few years ago and did this stint, I didn't feel that it was work and I was only following my passion. I also had the chance to write for a travel magazine, a men's magazine with an international circulation which was only a dream for a budding writer like me. It happened all so fast, but I'm glad to have been able to go through the trials and tribulations of blogging early on.

Some international celebrities who have graced my blog. There are more, we couldn't fit them in one frame!

 
Here’s some pointers to note if you would like to start in the same profession:

1.    Don’t do it because you can earn from it. It’s a perk, but it’s not a good place to start. Pretty soon, you’ll run out of ideas and you won’t be in the right place to find inspiration to write if it’s something you’re not passionate about.

2.    Get a handy camera. These days, telling a story isn’t just going to cut it if you don’t spend time telling a story with photos or videos. Invest in a good digital camera or a mobile phone that can be your best buddy when doing interviews. It will save you a lot of time. Owning your own images and videos will also save you from the headache of fighting copyright issues from day 1.

3.    Be nice to people. Say hello and thank you often. Make sure the connections you make in one event last a lifetime because brands, deals, people would make you thrive in this industry. Help them as they help you.

4.    Appreciate the little things. From saying thanks to a simple gift, it wouldn’t hurt to reciprocate the good things people do for you. 

5.    Don’t shortchange yourself. In this industry, the last person that should doubt yourself is YOU. If you feel and think you are in the right, fight for it. Just like in any job, the playing field is huge… and there are people that will take advantage of your kindness. Be nice, but if you find a situation where you need to be stern, become it.

6.    Be honest with your readers, because they can spot who’s not from a mile away even before you press that publish button.

7.    Follow your passion. At the end of the day, it will make you happy. 

One of the highlights of my career probably was the chance to go back to my university and tell them about what I've gone through; so they too would take the chance and follow their dreams. I’ve been blogging for a little around 22 years, yet I feel like I’ve just started doing what I love… and I have no plans of stopping anytime soon. Passion is an ingredient mostly looked over, but it is the most important thing I've had - it kept my desire for writing stay.