The Food Club: Your Lifestyle Buffet In Manila

Wazzup Pilipinas bloggers (including myself) as guests at Radyo Inquirer DZIQ 990 AM

My Airbnb Travel Bucket Wish List

iBlog10: FREE 10th Philippine Blogging Summit in Manila 2014

Screenshot from iblog.ph

As a blogger for 4 years and counting, the annual Philippine Blogging Summit is one big event I always look forward. Not just because I get to meet a lot of fellow bloggers but I get a lot of tremendous inspirations from speakers about their advocacy and success stories! 

My first two years in the blogosphere was the hardest because I did not know where I am heading. I reached the point when I seriously want to know if blog posts can take me to somewhere I want. Luckily after years of immersing myself to the blogosphere, It was all worth it! 

My Blogapalooza 2013 Review

My Blogapalooza ID

I cannot count how many blogging events in Manila I have joined since I started to blog in 2009. Among them, Blogapalooza 2013 is noteworthy because this is the very first time that in a whole - day activity I was not rushing to go back to work. 

Having a full - time job at the same time running a travel blog and shop has put my health at risk. I had shorter sleeping hours and my productivity in my previous company is suffering because my attention is divided. 

So I followed what my heart says and I quit my job! I am now a full - time blogger and a bootstrapping entrepreneur aiming to follow the path of a location - independent style.  I make sure that I am updated with the trends and events in the Philippine blogosphere more so that I know what is going on and who are the persons that make it going!

Blogapalooza 2013 is one of the biggest blogging events in Manila this year. Four hundred plus bloggers, dozens of brands and a handful of online personalities convened to make this a reality. Again this is not the first time I have been to an event like this so pretty much I have an idea of what are the usual topics that will be tackled like social media ethics, building online influence and working with brands so on and so forth.  

Blogapalooza 2013 for Bloggers and Businesses

Running a blog - based business is not easy that is why I am always looking for events about using blogging and business together. Blogapalooza 2013 is one of the few kick - ass events to connect with  fellow bloggers and discover products I can collaborate with. 

I want to maximize the potential of my blog and one of this is my dream of working with my dream big brands, events / meetups and famous personalities in the travel industry since this is the niche of my blog. 

I want to spread this to the rest of the Philippine blogosphere and business - owners who believe in the power of social media.  See you there!

BLOGAPALOOZA 2013

Date: November 16, 2013 Saturday

Website: http://blogapalooza.wheninmanila.com/

Time: 11am – 9pm

Venue: Function Room 1, SMX Aura, Taguig

My Philippines’ Top Travel Blogs for 2013

Five years ago when I moved from Bicol to Manila because of work, I was a shy provenciana then who only knew three places from where I rent a space: my office, the  church and the nearest mall I can hangout on my rest days. That’s how small I thought the world is. But everything changed when I met a number of foreign travelers who visited the country recently. Their travel stories made such a great impact that I got bitten by the travel bug quickly.  Meeting them through a traveler’s website, opened a door for me to join a local travel community and to meet the local travelers.  I got very curious big time on how they made it possible to go places that I discovered most of them have blogs where they share their travel experiences. I did started my own  travel blog too but my accomplishments since I have work on holidays are just a dot to what they have. This is how I got hooked up on travel blogs.

Note: This is in response to Melo Villareal's  Out of Town Blog Top Travel Blog of the Philippines Survey

FREE: iBlog9, The 9Th Philippine Blogging Summit

It seems that it is just like yesterday that the iBlog8 happened and now the iBlog9 is coming in a few weeks. Blogging gave me so many opportunities (meeting incredible people and non-stop learning) that it literally changed my world.  Being able to create a blog-based business is the most important thing I am very thankful for because it paved the way for me to have extra income. Starting a blog overnight or after a length of time is not a guarantee that a monetization surely happens next instead it is a rigorous dedication of time and immeasurable patience. I cannot count how many blog-related events I joined for me to learn everything from getting to know who are the influencers related to my interest I have to follow, meetups I look forward to attend, fellow bloggers and blogs I have to keep checking for inspiration etc.  This is one of the events I super recommend to any bloggers either starting or already established because this event alone can give you a thousand more reasons to keep blogging.

Win a Travel Bloggers Expo Slot at Toronto, Canada!

Travel Bloggers Expo (TBEX), the world's largest gathering of travel bloggers, writers, and new media content creators will hold their 2013 North American Conference at the Metro Convention Centre in Toronto, Canada. Now they knew that there are a lot of bloggers who want to join this but are cash- strapped so they will send one lucky blogger on a free trip to TBEX Toronto.

What does a travel blogger can get out of this event?

As described by the event’s website, “This is the place where you learn and improve your blogging skills, meet and network with fellow bloggers, and also meet interesting companies who want to work with you. Whether you are a starting blogger or an established high-profile blogger, chances are you want to work with companies.”

Prizes:

A Travel Blogger Pass to TBEX

Free accommodations at Hostelling International Toronto

A $500 flight voucher from Webjet to help you get to Toronto

Digital Influencers Marketing Summit 2012 Review

Just like what I expected the Digital Influencers Marketing Summit 2012 was jam-packed by people doing online stuff: seo practitioners, social media specialists, internet marketers, networkers and entrepreneurs etc. While everyone was giving their introduction, I don’t know how to tell my profile because my seven year old job is not in any way related to what my online persona is that dragged me in this event. So I passed on the microphone to the next one because I was there to listen, observe and be inspired of whatever the social media or digital influence that I can learn from.

After almost three years of blogging “silently” and realizing that my blog is all about “forgotten stories and dead people”, I decided to deactivate its Facebook Fan Page long ago. I got two reasons: not many

Social Good Summit 2012 in Manila

 Social Good Summit is a global event initiated by Mashable held during UN week (Sept. 22 - 24) where big ideas meet new media to create innovative solutions. In New York, it is a three-day conference which the ideas are Digital + Global + Action. In China and Kenya, its leaders and citizens will gather on Sept. 24. In Manila, the Social Good Summit is 1 day only organized by Rappler and TweetupManila under the ideas of Innovation + Social Media + Social Good. The event aims to bring together the country’s brightest minds and creative thinkers to come up with innovative new ways in which digital technologies like social media can be used to solve the world’s challenges and make this world a better place – and then translate these ideas to action.

I Am Featured as a Phenomenal Filipina in Pinay.com!

Did you know that in early days of Internet the keywords "Filipina" and "Pinay" when googled in search engines mostly return dating sites, sex scandals & pornography-related contents? Sucks, yeah! Meaning there is nothing much positive that represents these keywords in the online world before. How did I knew it? Well, late of 2009 when I was searching for a name of this blog I just started without knowing what will I blog about after. A group of Filipinas who are very active online campaigned to their very best and encouraged every Filipinas to write more positive content about these keywords may it be an article, photo, video audio etc. Being a full-blooded filipina myself or pinay in short, I know I had to do my part so this is the explanation why I ended up naming my blog www dot iampinay dot com or in other words i am a filipina. I hope I kept the screenshot of the Page one Google result as a proof way, way back but I can't find it anymore. 

My Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs of 2012

In the eight online hours I spend five days a week at the office and a few more on weekends at home, there is no single day that I haven't stumbled upon a blog of any kind whenever I google stuff for reliable information and up-to-date reviews. As a matter of fact I have several blogs I literally stalk and check everyday sometimes more frequent than my own blog! 

While I admit up to now I still struggle about the technicalities of blogging and the challenges of keeping "afloat" I admire the bloggers behind these who are starting to make big waves out there. These blogs can be compared to a few good books though stashed in the highest space on top of the drawer, the readers never get tired of reaching those because of the worth. These blogs are ot all from the pioneers who knew the tricks already but a good number are from the new ones who exactly knew how to take advantage of the immeasurable privileges of blogging and social media today. Below is my top ten emerging infuential blogs of 2012:

My iBlog8 Philippine Blogging Summit Review

Year 2005 I first heard of the word “blogging” when I was a college graduating student. I somewhat “belittled” its worth back when then blogging is defined as an online diary for one’s happenings, rants and raves. Late of 2009, that all changed when I signed up to Blogspot with no idea what domain I will take or what niche will my blog be! Now, blogging is not anymore the definition I used to know about it before. It is now used for marketing, advocacy and so many possibilities we never imagined it would evolve this way. When I started blogging I did not thought about money, I was trying to make use of my idle time.

FREE! iBlog: The 8th Philippine Blogging Summit

It has been two years and a half since I started blogging. I never thought I would last this far as I am still struggling with the technical details and all that stuff  when it comes to blogging so when I heard about this iBlog: The 8th Philippine Blogging Summit, I wasted no time to register and get to know these fellow bloggers I only see online.

WHAT:	iBlog:The 8th Philippine Blogging Summit
WHERE:	Malcolm Theater, Malcolm Hall, UP Diliman, Quezon City
WHEN:	May 25 and 26, 2012

The topics are very, very much interesting. Whew! Can't wait to be part of it.

My Journalism Experience

Access to the Internet is now a basic human right declared by the United Nations. Since millions and millions of people go online every day, we need journalists to guide us like a traffic aide to pedestrians crossing the streets. One does not need to be a Journalism graduate, newspaper writer or TV anchor to be a journalist today. Through social media , anyone who has an account to leading social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter can post a write up, tweet a link or upload a Youtube video, get in touch with celebrities, brands, local and public figures directly. 

To impress someone, I started blogging late of 2009 about my rants, raves and announcing my daily minutiae but turned out nobody read my blog except my mom and my siblings. Knowing that this is a powerful medium to any noble reason, I started blogging about my country’s heritage, tourism, local events and some random thoughts. I noticed that my friends would comment, share what I post and eventually I connected online to people who share the same interest. I found myself joining events the next time and getting to know these people personally. I got more inspired knowing that the power of blogging or citizen journalism lead me closer to my advocacy.