Today we’d like to introduce you to BeeAy Urbano-Aldaba.
Hi BeeAy, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I am one of the happy 14,000+ Filipino Minnesotans statewide. I am also what most of my countrymen call an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW), a term we loosely use for all who leave the Philippines in pursuit of promising work and a future. Indeed, work has brought me to the USA as an ex-pat from a multinational IT consulting company, and have found a home away from home in Richfield since 2015 where I’ve made a beautiful life with my husband Vincent and our 3-year-old daughter Bea Margaret.
Moving abroad was the perfect opportunity to assimilate and localize a new way of living and understand cultures other than my own. Yet as my understanding of other cultures increases, I’ve realized that my understanding of myself and my own Filipino culture increases even more. Being abroad has actually brought out the Filipino in me!
I am often bemused by how I felt more Filipino in the USA than back in the Philippines. I guess the exposure to other cultures has made me more aware of the strengths & weaknesses of the underlying cultural DNA that brought me up as one and I now have an appreciation of all the quirky Filipino nuances and values that differentiates us from the rest of the world.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
What started out as a hobby quickly became a passion that I wanted to expand on. There is no shortage of Filipino fun themes I can leverage and in fact, my content notebook is beaming with so many ideas I need to execute. Hence, off the bat, the hardest thing was finding the time. I have a 40+ hour/week job that was pretty demanding. I worked at night and on the weekends to grow and expand my craft.
Building enough reach for my new platform is another challenge that comes to mind, but I have not been losing sleep over it, at least for now. At the moment, I have an Instagram and a Facebook page and have been slowly and steadily gaining some followers. I do intend to open an online store in May this year, thanks to the encouragement of family & friends who sincerely attest that I can turn this into a lucrative endeavor beyond being just a hobby.
I have also begun to establish broader connections to the Filipino community starting here in Minnesota with the goal of continuing to celebrate & find joy in all things Pinoy.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
These “Filipino-isms” is what I try to capture in my creative platform “Gawa ni Tita BA” which directly translates as “Made by Auntie BA”. It showcases my lovingly drawn unique virtual day-in-a-life sketches of a Filipino abroad that caters to and understands the humor & sentiments of the fun-loving Pinoy lensed from a chatty, opinionated “tita” character.
This is inspired by the Filipino “tita” culture which is an homage to the wise women (typically our parents’ siblings or close friends) who extra-parentally raise us, criticize us, and comfort us in the ways our parents can’t. As they say, growing up in the Philippines, life is better when you’ve got a tita.
Aside from virtual sketches, I also dabble in polymer clay art which is a medium I use to create miniature Filipino food replica fridge magnets. I call this my KLAYRINDERIA series which is a play on the words Clay & Karinderya which is Tagalog for a small friendly eatery that can be found in most streets back home. Doing these clay creations remind me of the Pinoy food I enjoy so much and panders to most Filipinos’ penchant for collecting fridge magnets.
Admittedly, making this clay art greatly helps in lessening the pangs of homesickness I feel every now & then. To make it fun & set my work apart from others, I do put in witty food puns disguised as life advice flavor fully dished in usual Pinoy humor. Aside from “Gawa ni Tita BA” being a creative outlet away from my stressful day job as an IT Consulting professional, what ultimately drives me to pursue this passion project is for my daughter to still be aware & reminded of her Filipino roots while growing up here in Minnesota.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Throughout the conceptualization & development of “Gawa ni Tita BA”, my mantra has been to always be my authentic self and that is a big piece of advice I want to share. Authenticity means accepting who you are and what you do well and having the courage and self-confidence to share that with the world. Work past the self-doubt and don’t compare yourself with others.
One of the most joyful aspects of life too is having people with whom you can be your true, unfiltered version of you so make sure you surround yourself with people who love you for who you are, with all your perfect imperfections.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gawanititaba
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090822342046
