Hey y'all! We're back with another episode - in honor of Filipino Heritage Month in Canada, we will be featuring some of the notable Filipino-Canadian entrepreneurs who are putting Filipino products on the world map. Kicking off our 'Community Cultivator' Series is Vincent Garcia from Kasama Chocolate. We talk about the the history of cacao in the Philippines, the story behind creating bean-to-bar chocolate from Philippine cacao beans, and becoming a disrupter in the specialty chocolate industry by winning international awards with Filipino chocolate products - including gaining accolades for their single origin 70% Davao chocolate bar. By being rooted in the Filipino identity and gaining international recognition, Kasama Chocolate is an example of when we are stand in our power as a Filipino, we become living examples of Filipino excellence. The heart of the company is also rooted in its name, "Kasama" - which is the Tagalog word for friendship, camaraderie and collaboration - proving that success is a collective effort best achieved, together. In the spirit of community, we also talk about why it's important to work together towards openness and dialogue behind our struggles in order to learn from each other and elevate each other to thrive and succeed. We also discuss the generational shift happening today where many 2nd gens and beyond are rising to the challenge and becoming a part of the Filipino culture movement. Based in Vancouver BC, Vincent Garcia is one of the co-founders and owners at the international award-winning, bean-to-bar chocolate shop KASAMA CHOCOLATE on Granville Island. A second-generation Filipino-Canadian, born to Itawis and Ilocano parents who immigrated to Canada in the 1970s, Vince credits chocolate-making for allowing him to delve deeper into his roots and discover the beauty and nuances of our culture during Philippine cacao origin visits to Cagayan, Malvar, Zamboanga Del Sur, and the Cordilleras to name a few. Holding true to the name of the chocolate company - KASAMA - Vince hopes to help build and nurture collaboration and camaraderie within the newly emerging Filipino Food Movement scene and business community in Vancouver and beyond. Check out KASAMA Chocolate at www.kasamachocolate.com Thank you to our partners Potato Corner BC and CiTR 101.9 FM for supporting this podcast. Follow Filipino Fridays Podcast on Instagram: @FilipinoFridaysPodcast Email us at contact@filipinofridays.com. Follow Archie on Instagram: @saychiees / Follow Archia on Instagram: @nah.tividad Music: Hot Coffee by Patrick Patrikios
In celebration of Filipino Heritage Month in Canada, we are back with another episode featuring Filipino-Canadian filmmaker Joella Cabalu. The award winning director and producer joins us to talk about her new short film, 'Ode to a Seafaring People' featuring spoken word artist Sol Diana. A story that poetically reveals the often-hidden world of Filipino seafarers, and in doing so celebrates the resiliency of the Filipino community. Produced by Lantern Films, the film is one of the collection of stories featured in 'Behind the Facade', airing on Knowledge Network. According to the Global Maritime Forum, about 400,000 of the world's 1.6 million seafarers are Filipino - contributing $6.14 Billion to the Philippine economy. Filipino seafarers are lauded to be the unsung heroes in the shipping industry and world trade. Upon the development of the film, Joella wanted this film to be rooted in community and reach out to the Filipino Canadian arts & literary community to be a part of telling the story. Sol Diana was able to convey a moving story about the life of a Filipino seafarer. "It's a marvel how we make ghosts out of the living" - a compelling line that illustrates how Filipinos are often forgotten, overlooked and invisible. Even as major contributors in many sectors and industries, we find ourselves as living ghosts fighting for our representation to be known. We discuss at length on the great imbalance and disparity of our representation, along with the other factors that affect our ability to have conviction in our presence; internalized racism and identity insecurity where we find ourselves 'gaslighting' or second-guessing ourselves in what we are able to do. These are the results from colonial influence, capitalism and white supremacy - a reality we are still working through today. We talk about celebrating Filipino excellence in the arts and filmmaking, storytelling with care and the ongoing learning process of exploring our Filipino cultural identity. Joella Cabalu is a Filipino Canadian documentary filmmaker based in Vancouver, BC. Her films lay bare narratives about intimacies, identities, and relationships. Her first mid-length documentary, It Runs in the Family (2015) — a personal exploration of acceptance and what the modern queer family can be in the Filipino diaspora — won the Audience Choice Awards at the Seattle Asian American Film Festival and Vancouver Queer Film Festival and a special jury mention at CAAMFest for the Loni Ding Award for Social Justice Documentary. In 2021, with support from the Canada Council for the Arts and the DOC BC + YT + NWT Breakthrough program, Joella is developing Nakabingwit: First Comes Love, a feature-length documentary that follows four Filipino Canadians and their white partners as they navigate race and romance against the backdrop of Canadian multiculturalism. Nakabingwit is Joella’s first feature documentary as a director. Joella is an alumni of the Langara Documentary Production Program (2015), the BC Arts Council Early Career Development program (2014-2015), Hot Docs Shaw Media Diverse Voices program (2015), and CBC Development Workshop for Diverse Creators (2016).
**Producer's Note: this episode has been published with consent from former host of Filipino Fridays - OJ** Hey y'all - this is our most personal and most vulnerable episode yet. We address going off-air for over a month with the outcome of one of our main hosts departing from the show. To help us navigate these conversations, this week's hosts RJ Galea and Byron Cadano have joined the show and taken the lead to interview Archie and Chia on what went down during the Filipino Fridays fallout. As we all know, family feuds in the Filipino culture is nothing new. We discuss conflict between family members and how to solve those issues. We discuss at length on how Filipino family grudges are legendary and how important it is to reconcile and set aside differences before it's too late. We talk about how Filipino pride becomes counterproductive in relationships and communication. How many times have we heard of relatives never seeing eye to eye, never to speak again? The hosts also shared their experiences on how to take the initial steps in mending family feuds. We hope to learn through this experience together as an episode of reflection, growth and shift in a new direction. With that said, we are delighted to share that we are going back to regular programming with episodes released every Friday with new voices coming on the show. The new reformatting of Filipino Fridays will include a variety of Filipino voices with fresh takes on Filipino culture. We would like to especially thank this community for continuing to support the show - it is because of you that we are able to produce more Filipino stories that matter. Especially with Filipino Heritage Month in Canada in June, we have an exciting line up of guests featured each week. Maraming, maraming salamat sa pagmamahal at suporta (Thank you, thank you so much for the love and support) RJ Galea (@thisguy.rj) is an actor, vlogger, podcaster, host and music A&R - you can also find him on the following shows: The Double D Show - https://youtu.be/IA36FMpBCcoThe Comfort Room Podcast - https://youtu.be/Zawin27NBcY Byron Cadano (@b.cadano92) is the host of "The Northside" on KUMU and music recording artist. Thank you to our partners Potato Corner BC and CiTR 101.9 FM for supporting this podcast.Follow Filipino Fridays Podcast on Instagram: @FilipinoFridaysPodcast Email us at contact@filipinofridays.com. Follow Archie on Instagram: @saychiees / Follow Archia on Instagram: @nah.tividad Music: Hot Coffee by Patrick Patrikios
We are back with an episode y'all! Our special guest is Julia Menez who is a travel hacking coach, speaker, and host of the Geobreeze Travel podcast. She takes us through what travel hacking is and how to take advantage of points and miles to travel for free. We talk to Julia on what it means to be a voice for underrepresented communities, advocating for women, immigrants and people of color by providing the tools and strategies to get the most benefits from travel hacking. We also go over the "Filipino Frugal Flex" and why it is problematic among Filipino families. We discuss how important it is to change the narrative around personal finance and avoid perpetuating shame and judgement when it comes to handling finances. Julia shares how to manage and leverage credit to our advantage and empowers our community with the financial knowledge to beat the system. Need help in repairing your credit? Our guest gave the best advice on what NOT to do. Want to learn more on how to get started with travel hacking? Take advantage of the digital gift from Geobreeze Travel and go to http://geobreezetravel.com/filipinofridays to get started on how to travel hack! Julia Menez is a travel hacking coach, speaker, and host of the Geobreeze Travel Podcast. After traveling to more than 30 countries before the age of 30 and saving thousands of dollars each year by travel hacking, Julia distills the strategies from top travel hackers around the world in her Geobreeze Travel podcast, and prepares personalized points and miles plans for her private coaching clients. Through her podcast, Julia features a diverse roster of guests with experiences that are traditionally underrepresented in larger points and miles blogs and media. Her episodes often highlight travel hacking women, immigrants, or people of color. Julia has been a speaker for FinConX, a course instructor for Frequent Traveler University Online, and quoted in publications such as creditcards.com and Money Magazine. She has also led workshops for thousands of attendees at events such as the SHEFACTOR 2020 Summit — an event that featured speakers such as Bethany Hamilton, Kaitlyn Bristowe, and Missy Franklin. Thank you to our partners Potato Corner BC and CiTR 101.9 FM for supporting this podcast. Follow Filipino Fridays Podcast on Instagram: @FilipinoFridaysPodcast Email us at contact@filipinofridays.com. Follow Archie on Instagram: @saychiees / Follow Archia on Instagram: @nah.tividad Music: Hot Coffee by Patrick Patrikios
We're back with another fun episode y'all! Our special guest is Paul Bacera who released his new book, Isdaman: The Little Filipino Hero. He is also behind the hit YouTube channel, The Asian Theory. We talk to Paul about how he breaks down the concepts in explaining the Filipino culture on his channel by asking poignant questions and why it is important to understand the historical context of our culture. We even discuss the Filipino's love for Korean entertainment (KPop, KDramas), PPop or Pinoy-Pop and go into a deep dive about Pinoy Baiting - the problematic issue of foreigners exploiting Filipino culture for the purpose of content or entertainment. The Pinoy thirst for global validation is real and we nail down how to identity whether someone is genuine in sharing the Filipino culture. The episode closes with an empowering message about how critical it is to learn and understand each other, and by having love for each other, we are closer to becoming united as a global Filipino community. Paul Bacera is a Youtube creator, filmmaker, actor, and author. He has always had a love for Asian culture, history and entertainment. His Youtube channel, The Asian Theory, is a celebration of all those values. His love of Filipino culture also led him to write his newest children's book, Isdaman: The Little Filipino Hero. The book is about a Filipino superhero who overcomes his trials by working hard and never giving up. Thank you to our partners Potato Corner BC and CiTR 101.9 FM for supporting this podcast. Follow Filipino Fridays Podcast on Instagram: @FilipinoFridaysPodcast Email us at contact@filipinofridays.com. Follow Ojay on Instagram: @ojays_ / Follow Archie on Instagram: @saychiees / Follow Archia on Instagram: @nah.tividad Music: Hot Coffee by Patrick Patrikios