Kwentong Creatives

Ashely is a content creator whose made a huge name for herself in the world of gaming & cosplay. She's also a talented musician & photographer whose been creating her own content for over a decade now. And more recently, she's been diving deep into spirituality & esoteric knowledge as a certified tarot card reader.

Kookie is the former creative director of Serious Studio and is currently one of the Design Leads at Canva Philippines.  Her work has gotten recognized all over the world in publications like Adobe & The New York Times. She gives talks and workshops that focus on nurturing one's own creative identity, with a leadership style that focuses on compassion and empathy.   This episode was done in partnership with Canva. Listen to the episode to find out how you can win a voucher for a Canva Pro subscription valid for 1 year!

This 2023, take a step back and take some time to think about your journey as a creative. Some of our favorite excerpts from my conversations with guests - all lessons and insight that you can apply to your own big picture thinking. You'll hear from photographer BJ Pascual, comedian Red Ollero, journalist Atom Araullo, and content creator Erwan Heussaff.

Angelo Mendoza is a photographer known for his work in travel, landscape and portraiture. As a full-time creative, he’s done plenty of prominent commercial work and is also a co-owner of a wedding photography studio. We talk about having photography as a career in the Philippines, finding personal style and the intricacies of capturing images out on assignment.

A new short format episode where Gio collates the best excerpts from guests around a specific topic. Now, we explore the strategies & lessons that can help us overcome that dreaded creative block. Featuring interviews from creatives in music, design & filmmaking. 

Jazz Nicolas is an award winning songwriter, musical scorer and multi-instrumentalist. He's also the drummer and vocalist of the Itchyworms, responsible for hit songs such as "Di Na Muli", "Beer", and "Akin Ka Na Lang" - to name a few. We talk about his career as a professional musician for over 20 years, his thoughts on chasing the "Filipino sound", and techniques on getting over creative blocks. 

This was recorded live for Design Week Philippines 2022: Design For All. In this roundtable discussion and open forum we try to demystify what it means to have a career in design across different sectors: image-making, place-making and experience-making.  Dan Matutina is a designer, illustrator, founding partner at Plus63 and Hydra Design Group. Joel Luna is someone with over 30 years of design experience in architecture, planning, urban design and design management. He is the former Chief Architect at Ayala Land and founder of  JLPD studio. Maine Manalansan-Veneracion is the former editor of YoungSTAR and Design Director of the Sandbox Collective. Today, she uses her design background in an applied field as Brand Strategy Lead at Edukasyon PH.

Erwan is a dedicated writer, content creator and entrepreneur. He's been building his own brand in the food & culture space for over a decade now, from the Fat Kid Inside to his new and thriving content studio FEATR. We talk about his journey through the restaurant business and how he finally took on content creation as a full-time job. This is a great episode for any creative with goals in brand building, entrepreneurship and content creation. 

Shaira Luna has been a professional photographer for 15 years now, with an impressive body of work in fashion, beauty, food & advertising. Her unique style particularly shines in her recent works with musicians like IV of Spades, SB19 & Zild. She shares the inspirations behind her passions in fashion, thrifting and vintage things. Also, we get into her history from growing up as a Promil kid/"gifted child". 

Brian Sy has been acting professionally for over 10 years now, landing roles in film, TV & the stage. He's gathered plenty of insight on the craft & business of acting from his mentors in the local theatre community. We touch up on being present in creative work, career advice in a Filipino context, and mental health. 

Quark Henares is a writer, director, producer & DJ who is now head of Amazon Prime Video Philippines, after heading Globe Studio for 6 years. He's been at the creative and business ends of the filmmaking industry, which affords him a unique perspective on production and media. Quark's life and work has also hugely been influenced by an immersion in music, starting off as a band manager; then a music video director for a many influential local artists. You'll enjoy this episode if you have a lot of interests that interconnect and inform the work you do.  

Mia Claravall-Reyes is an established tattoo artist who runs her own shop called Chronic Ink. After learning from her mentor Ricky Sta. Ana, she's then gone on to become one of the most prominent names in the country's tattoo industry. She's a constant presence at tattoo festivals locally and abroad, and has become a brand ambassador for brands like Vans and Globe. We talk about tattoos, the interesting Filipino culture surrounding it, and developing an artistic style through experience. Mia also shares mental health wisdom from her unique perspective as a tattoo artist. See her work on IG @mialocatattoo 

We talk to production designer Katrish Aristoki & graphic designer Lazir Caluya  - both collaborators of Gio on Alas Netflix, an online show created for Netflix Philippines. We touch on process, mindset and strategies in both of these design-centric fields. 

See what it takes to create an online show by hearing from several key staff behind Alas Netflix, a series created for the Netflix Philippines Youtube channel. For this episode we're talking to writers Toni Potenciano & Marga Buenaventura and then producers Alec Rivera & Nina Mendoza. We talk about collaboration, adapting to circumstance, and mental health for busy creatives. 

Pong Ignacio is a cinematographer who's worked on films like Heneral Luna, Goyo, Tandem and Liway. He's also built an impressive body of work in the commercial and music video spaces. In this episode we tackle his philosophy in lighting and technology, stories from experiences on specific projects, the beauty of collaboration, and his learnings on mental health from a career in production. 

Growing up as a Filipino in San Francisco, DJ ET IV shares his insights on music, art, community and identity. He's the resident DJ of Ruby Ibarra & the Balikbayans, a collage artist, a teacher and a photographer. Anyone who's interested in the pride & creative energy of the Filipino diaspora will definitely enjoy this episode. 

Advertising directors Pao Abrihan and Gab Quimel join our host Gio Puyat in sharing their experiences in founding & developing ManilaMan, a boutique production house. Learn about the stories and lessons they gained along the way. 

Red Ollero is a stand-up comedian, host, writer, wrestler and producer. He's sold out theatres and arenas with Comedy Manila, and is currently doing his latest series of shows called Finally! - one of the first live comedy shows since the pandemic. He's gone viral for his characters, sketches, and on-stage presence as the current hypeman of the Leni Robredo rallies. 

Take control of your financial matters with Mariel Bitanga of Simply Finance PH. We explore general topics like financial foundations, investing, and self-care. Also we dive into specific questions from a creative and freelancer perspective.

BJ Pascual is one of the country’s most in-demand photographers - having shot over 300 magazine covers thus far - as well as countless billboards and ads for major brands in the Philippines. Aside from learning more about his personal history and journey in the industry, we also get plenty of insight into BJ's approach to identity, creative direction & mental health.  

We talk to creative couples Jim & Saab Bacarro (Wake Up with Jim & Saab Podcast/Cheats/Puddy Rock) and directing duo Raymond & Trina Dacones (Two Fold Media) about the ins and outs of collaboration. 

JP is an advertising veteran with 17 years of experience in the industry, with two Cannes Young Lions Advertising awards under his belt. He's a prolific painter and illustrator with countless works for gigs, local bands and movies like Babae sa Septic Tank. He is currently entering game design in the blockchain gaming & NFT space. 

A new year of Kwentong Creatives sees us look into the practice of making resolutions. How can you start 2022 with the right mindset moving forward? We gather answers from AF Benaza (Director, Ep1), Jaz Reyes (Content Creator, Ep4) and Atom Araullo (Journalist, Ep12). Gio also shares some of his favorite insights and tools for achieving goals, habit formation & introspection. 

After 8 years of work in the advertising industry he started making funny Tagaolg dubs as a creative outlet.  Eventually he found huge success in comedy sketches and characters like everyone's favorite internet tita, Auntie Julie.  Macoy talks about creating content that is honest, real and personal to the creative. He stresses the importance of work with a social conscience, a mindset he adapts in talking about LGBTQI representation, sex positivity and politics. 

Atom Araullo is a journalist, presenter, photographer, and host. With a career that's spanned almost 15 years in journalism, he's done documentaries and exposés for GMA, ABS-CBN, VICE News and many more. He is also a national Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 

Rob Cham is an illustrator, comic book creator, artist, and friend. He received the National Book Award for his first graphic novel Light and the National Children’s Book Award for the follow-up, Lost. He is part of the core team of Unnamed, a South East Asian Comics Collective. Former web designer, teacher, art director, and editor for Abangan: The Best in Philippine Komiks.

CRWN is a music producer and August Wahh is a singer/songwriter. Together they put out the highly-acclaimed Labyrinth EP in 2019, and have continued making waves in the local & international music scenes ever since. They're musicians at the top of their game, still finding ways to be creative with music amidst a pandemic. In this collab episode, we cover a span of topics that can benefit  any creative who's had to work with another person or within a team. So all of that, plus many colorful stories from their journeys as artists. 

Jake Aycardo is a cook and entrepreneur who's opened up many food concepts since his stint at MasterChef Asia in 2015. Toni Potenciano is a brand strategist and writer who works for the design studio And-A-Half. Together they make up the team that brought Kodawari to life - a cloud kitchen concept that serves glorious Gyudon and Shroomdon. We get into a lot in this episode: the business of running a cloud kitchen, how to have your brand adapt under these new pandemic rules, learning to trust other creatives and collaborators, anime and manga recommendations  - all these and so much more. This is also the first of our Kwentuhan series - casual roundtable discussions between myself and other creative partners or collaborators.

Chef Nicco Santos has owned restaurants like Your Local, Hey Handsome and now a cloud concept called Sambar. In this episode we get insight from the mind of a chef - a job that requires one to be an artist, an entrepreneur and a leader. 

Victor is a stand-up comedian and comedy actor. He's also the host of the Sabayan with Victor podcast. We get into a lot of interesting stuff like the history of Comedy Manila, the fluid career path of an entertainer in this country, and a lot of great advice for aspiring comedians. This episode features a unique kind of creativity, but anyone who's ever had to perform, or write and produce anything creative will definitely find these conversations not only useful, but funny and relatable too.

Jaz is a content creator, host and radio DJ. She's also 200% Asian. You'll find this episode useful if you make a living with creative work from home, either through an online presence or work portfolio. We talk about things like finding your voice, building relationships & working through rough patches. This episode also has a lot of insight on influencer culture and the creativity behind content creation. Check out Jaz's Instagram @_jazreyes

Seña is a creative who pursues music full-time. He’s the vocalist of local indie band She’s Only Sixteen, a producer known as Lazy McGuire, and a DJ under the name of St. Vincent & the Grenadines. You'll find this episode useful if you want to get into the headspace of the freelance creative, and see what it's like from a musician's point of view. We get into practical insights on how to treat your creative work like an actual job.

Karen AKA @rocket has made a name for herself as a photographer in the local music scene, creating striking images for acts like Ben&Ben,  Sandwich , IV OF SPADES  , tide/edit and Autotelic — just to name a few.   We cover tips on photography, reflections on the culture of local music, and personal advice on mental health amidst the pressures of creative work.

Direk AF shares the wisdom he's picked up from two decades of experience as an advertising director . You'll find this episode valuable if you're into the craft and business of filmmaking. For anyone with the title "Director" attached to their job, we also go over crucial advice on leading a creative team. 

This is a podcast to get to know creative Filipinos in different fields and the stories behind their unique journeys of growth. My hope is to create a resource to other creatives, with clear, concise & crucial advice that I wish I had gotten much earlier in my career. We discuss the strategies and beliefs that help us stay healthy and centered amidst the challenges of creative work.