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Chinoy Personalities, Rise Up Podcast Guests: How to Rise Above the Pandemic

Top Chinoy personalities that have appeared on CHiNOY TV’s podcast, Rise Up have given audiences insightful tips from their career journeys and life stories. The lessons they imparted share a common ground that’s still relevant today — how to rise above the pandemic. 

Here are the their empowering tips on how to do just that:

1. Nicole Cordoves

Binibining Pilipinas 2016 Nicole Cordoves shared how she suddenly felt lost when the pandemic struck. “How am I going to visualize what’s gonna happen in my career path? So that level of uncertainty lang really [brings] you in this sort of really black hole, diba? Even if puro sige mo narin naman ngayon, wala ka magagawa about it e, so it’s something you have to accept,” she shared. 

“I have learned to redefine how I define success in the pandemic, how I see blessings in a different way as well,” she said, stating how she adjusted her thinking to realign herself with her goals once again. “So it’s really important to change your perspective and not just wait for things to happen for you because you can’t depend on the world right now. You need to define stability for yourselves right now.”

 

2. Jacqe Yuengtian-Gutierrez

Jacqe Yuengtian-Gutierrez, the entrepreneur behind Happy Skin and BLK cosmetics, shared how she kept her relationship with her husband strong throughout the pandemic.

“So ako, I studied how to cook, and that’s my form of language of love,” Gutierrez explained. “I make sure that kahit sobrang busy ako na parang, lalo na ngayon kasi COVID, nasa bahay lang kayo so parang, you lose sense of time, ang dami e so sabay sabay nangyayari, so I make sure na by 6:30, stop na ako, okay, pause, so that I could cook.”

 

3. Tim Yap

TV and radio host and newspaper editor, Tim Yap, emphasized the value of self-reflection during the pandemic. In his episode, Yap shared that he took some “alone time” in a province to commune with nature and with a journal in hand, trying to find himself. “Now is the perfect time to do that. Now, it’s okay if you are lost. Part of what the pandemic is forcing us to do is to also embrace nothing,” he shared.

“[Life’s] not easy, but who said life was?” Yap said. “So it’s okay, take your time. Get to know yourself. Live life offline, not just online, and be in the moment. The moment is now, now is present.”

 

4. Camille Co

Camille Co, a vlogger and content creator, shares how people must stay inspired and find time to rest in order to keep going amid the pandemic.

“Every now and then, I am always looking for different inspo because I am interested,” Co shared. “That’s why you should not go into [vlogging/content creation] if this isn’t your passion, because then, everything will just feel like, [sighs] why am I doing this, you know? So it really comes more naturally if you really love what you’re doing, so that’s why I’m always on the lookout, and again if you feel burned out, always, always reset so that you’re at the right headspace, and so that you’re fresh!” 

 

5. Renelyn Tan-Castillejos

With the lines between home and work becoming blurred during the pandemic, Renelyn Tan-Castillejos, a certified KonMari consultant, stressed the importance of keeping them separate.

“When it’s work time, just set it, and tell the people at home, and make sure that your workspace, wherever you choose that, you don’t use that as your personal space para hindi karin nalilito na parang ah, okay, maybe now I don’t have work, I can relax, I can just be at home and get some rest.”

 

6. Janeena Chan

Janeena Chan, host of the Rise Up podcast and vlogger, said, “We have to have a kind inner voice, first of all, and just allow ourselves to learn from every situation.”

“You can take a step back first so that you could regroup, and realign, and maybe you can see how you are able to solve nalang the problem,” Chan advised. “For me, if it’s a real problem na parang alarming or something, I think we have to train our hearts and minds to be resilient, that we can be positive but at the same time be strong na when things don’t go our way, we can still take it and we can think of practical ways to overcome these challenges and obstacles.”

 

7. Dr. Ging Zamora

For her part, rheumatologist Dr. Geraldine “Ging” Zamora’s emphasized self-love as a source of internal strength. 

“To love yourself, we have to understand that we are not perfect. There will always be somebody who will be more beautiful, more intelligent, more successful than you or than us,” Zamora said. “But if you’re able to accept who [you] are, and love ourselves, then we will be in a better position in life. And I’d like to impart, or I’d like to share, and to remind everybody, that the best part of falling or failing is that you get to decide how you’ll get up or if you’ll get up rather, if you are gonna get up strong, stronger, then it’s going to be better in the long run. So we will fail many times, but the more important part is getting up strong and not letting the roadblocks hinder us from achieving our full potential and being happy.”

 

8. Roxanne Ang-Farillas

Roxanne Ang-Farillas, co-founder of Plains and Prints, talked about learning from life as it comes at you. The lockdown shouldn’t give you an excuse to stay idle. 

“Don’t be afraid to learn more,” Farillas advised. “Other people kasi don’t like to be told what to do but you know it’s a never-ending process of learning and development, diba? To me, at this time, at my age, I still learn a few things. I learn from my team, and my team learns from me, so it’s a two way process. So it’s not just teaching what I want them to do, but I’m also listening to what they’re telling me, so I’m also learning from them at the same time. So it’s always a two-way communication all the time.”

 

9. Christine Ong Te

Events planner and coordinator of COTE Events, Christine Ong Te, shared the importance of accepting things that are beyond our control and staying positive. “We learn to accept that the pandemic is out there. Let’s just not focus on that. Instead of us focusing on the pandemic, just focus on trying to lead what we normally do on a regular basis.”

“This pandemic can never stop us,” Ong Te stated firmly. “Tayo pa ba mga Filipino, tayo mga Chinoys are very-strong willed. We will never know what will happen next and let’s not focus on that. Let’s just focus on what we can do for now. Do not welcome negativity. Embrace all the challenges and have an open-mind.”

 

To listen to their full podcast episodes, check them out here.

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