AIESEC convenes 2nd Philippines Youth to Business Forum (November 2013)

    AIMED at establishing the significant role of the youth in forming a globally competitive economy for the country, AIESEC Philippines held its second Philippines Youth to Business (Y2B) Forum last October 23 at the Ateneo De Manila University (ADMU).

     Hosted by Daniela Louisa Tan, Conference Committee President of the Asia Pacific Congress, Y2B included talks and workshops that promoted interaction between young leaders and business industry giants.

     “Skills are most valued in today’s competitive world,” said Member Committee President Audrey Elumba of AIESEC Philippines in her keynote address.

     Speakers Miriam Quevenco, International Student Identification Card Project director, Eugene Teves, Hewlett Packard APJ Service Management manager, and Mark Bantigue, marketing manager of Groupon Philippines stressed out during the opening forum the competitive advantages of the Philippines, the youth’s responsibility in shaping a globally competitive country, and the image of the nation in the forthcoming years.

     Topic Spaces, as dubbed on the event, included series of talks emphasizing education, technology, and global experience that may prepare the delegates for the future.

     “To be globally competitive, we must be globally competent.” said Quevenco in her speech on education, adding to the discussion the purpose of learning, the duty of global citizens, and accountability as the role of the youth.

     Association of Southeast Asian Nation countries’ resiliency to global economic slowdown, attraction of investors through good economy and governance, and the growth of information technology by transforming it to utility were few of Teves’ core agenda in his speech on technology.

     Meanwhile, Pakistani Project of PH Realty Syed Raza discussed the perks of travelling abroad, self-realization on learning, and his belief on failure as a kind of success.

     For the holistic personal development of the delegates, workshops on personal branding, online marketing, social business, and value-based leadership were conducted.

     “The greatest ability in this world is availability,” said Pocholo de Leon Gonzales about personal branding. De Leon is the voice master who established Creativoices Production, and founder and main anchor of Radio Inquirer’s show “Voice of the Youth Radio.”

     According to Bantigue, speaker on the subject of marketing, there is better business through online platforms. He then added that the sources of innovation today are porn industry, gaming industry, hackers, and the street.

     Associate Editor of Yourstory Media Alessio Pieroni shared his beliefs and tips regarding social business. Leadership styles and needs of leaders were conferred by international economist Rahul Maira, AIESEC Asia Pacific Coordinator, in his talk on value-based leadership.

     “Open Spaces,” where the youth delegates were given time to answer 12 questions noted to test their absorbed knowledge on being sustainable in the economy, was carried out after the workshops. The delegates wrapped up the event with thoughts on promotion of technical literacy, advanced learning environment, proposed partnerships and investments, and upholding local product industry.

     The host concluded the event with a closing forum, giving the delegates ideas to ponder on with regards to the vision of other countries towards the Philippines, and the targeted future of the country which is parallel to the duty of the youth today.

     The forum was attended by 415 delegates from different universities, including University of Santo Tomas (UST), ADMU, De La Salle University, University of the Philippines-Diliman, University of the Philippines-Los Baños, University of Asia and the Pacific, Miriam College, and Assumption College, who were screened through online registration.

     The Philippines Youth to Business Forum was in partnership with Hewlett Packard, in cooperation with Manila Bulletin, Nuffnang Philippines, WhenInManila.com, BusinessWorld, Chalk Magazine, 99.5 Play FM, Monster Radio RX 93.1, and Radio Inquirer’s Voice of the Youth Radio. The event was covered by local campus media including UST’s TomasinoWeb and Thomasian Cable Television.

Courtesy of TomasinoWeb

Pocholo "The VoiceMaster" Gonzales on MMDA On the Road (June 2014)

Pocholo Gonzales 'The VoiceMaster' featured on AHA GMA 7 (September 2013)

Pocholo 'The VoiceMaster' showed his talent in Sweet Life QTV (November 2013)

CHInoy TV Hosting and Personality Workshop: On Standing Out, Learning Chinese and Living Life (May 2012)

     Last May 5, 2012, my friends at CHInoy TV together with John Robert Powers held the TV and Personality Development Workshop at Ramada Central Manila.

     Chinoy TV Personality Development and TV Hosting Workshop
It was a packed whole-day event for CHInoy TV host hopefuls to learn valuable insights from the media world’s insiders on what it takes to succeed in the industry.
It was a healthy mix of:

Amazement          Pocholo Gonzales (CreatiVoices)
Wit                         Vince Golangco (Mellow 94.7/When in Manila) and Valerie Tan (GMA 7)
Engagement         John Robert Powers
Realization           Cris Garcia (Confucius Institute)
Inspiration           Chinkee Tan (Motivational Speaker)

     I didn’t realize how much one could learn from a compilation of speakers. I was under the impression that you’ll just get really tiny bits and pieces of advice from a cast like this, but I was dead wrong.

     It was a meaty day of event from start to finish. Just read along if you want to have a piece of the action and learn what made me turn to Alvin Tan, CHInoy TV head, and say…
“These guys got in here for a bargain”



On Standing Out

     There is a massive amount of people who wants to be on T.V. With so much competition, you can’t simply just blend in with the crowd. You should definitely stand out!

CHInoy TV Workshop was packed!

Here are the tips and tricks of the trade from the industry insiders!
Pocholo Gonzales (CreatiVoices) : Personal Branding

Pocholo Gonzales on Personal Branding

     Heard of Coke? Colgate? Apple? Of course you have. These are the top brands in their respective industries. People associate certain qualities for each one and have specific expectations on what they can deliver.

     This is how you should see yourself. You must create a personal brand for yourself in order for people to quickly recognize you and pick you out from a crowd.
Pocholo, for example, branded himself as the Voicemaster. This was eventually picked-up by different media outlets who then perpetuated this image through various features and interviews.
    
 Think Bruce Willis (Action), Megan Fox (Sexy Bombshell) and Adam Sandler (Comedy). Personal branding gives the people a clear idea of your identity and what your skills are, thus carving out that specific niche in their mind that belongs only to you.
Vince Golongco (Mellow 94.7 / When in Manila) – Fake it ‘til You make it

Vince Golangco and Valerie Tan sharing their industry experience

Question: Do you still get nervous when you’re on air?

Vince: I do, but I just fake it ‘til I make it (paraphrased :) )
I found this answer to be funny and insightful at the same time.
Vince shared that when he gets asked if he was nervous or not, he’d just brush it off and say he’s fine (despite being a nervous wreck). He just kept pretending to be confident and cool until little by little he actually is.

This is a testament to the power of mental fortitude and how our actions externally could actually affect us internally. He kept positive reinforcements close by through saying “I’m fine” that it eventually led him to actually believe it.
Of course pretending could only get you so far, would you go on an exam pretending you know the answer? Of course not.

What is important here is the mental game. You need to believe that you can go through any obstacle you may face. Granted, you can still be defeated regardless of your mental preparation, but without it you are certainly doomed for failure.

Valerie Tan (GMA 7) – Success is when preparation meets opportunity

Valerie shared the famous quote above during her talk, which the participants readily ate up.
They learned that opportunity is objective. It comes and goes as it pleases regardless whether you are ready for it or not. In short, you don’t have any control over it.
What you can control though, is your preparation. Constantly improve and develop your skills, talents and packaging. And don’t wait for the opportunities to just come. Seek it out.
When that time comes, you’ll be more than ready to take advantage of it.
Having said that, I personally think that it is important to point out that you will never be 100% prepared for anything.

Showing up is half the Battle

Take the participants of this CHInoy TV workshop for example, not all of them have been preparing to audition. Some even just joined at the last minute. But by attending and participating, they placed themselves in the best position to succeed.
Oftentimes, half the battle is won just by simply… showing up.
John Robert Powers – Putting your Best Foot Forward
We learn best by doing. And John Robert Powers sure delivered.
The participants learned about:
on-camera appearance,
calming relaxation techniques and
tons of acting exercises (with critiques) to help them in their audition later in the day.
It was the most engaging part of the workshop where the talents were given on-camera exercises to show what they got and receive constructive critiques in return.

Relaxation exercises c/o John Robert Powers

Talents were taught the basics of on-camera appearance

On-camera exercises and critique

Talents actively engaging in the Q&A
The highlight definitely was the “Tiger Balm” exercise where each talent was given a limited time to create a commercial to sell this medical ointment. Doesn’t sound like the sexiest of products, right? Think again.

You’ll be surprised what a few minutes of preparation and a deep desire to be on TV could do.

I was blown away by their creativity, the number of “RARR” reference (complete with the scratching motion) and instant transformation from quietly sitting in a chair into a whole new person in front of a camera.
It was a blast!

Ivica Say, Cheryl and Vince Golangco of When in Manila share a light moment :)
Of course, CHInoy TV hosts Jayson Kiong, Stephanie Obiles, Lesley Tomas, Alice Lee, Jason Tomas, Benedict Yujeco, Kendrick Chua and (workshop host) Norman Ong didn’t back down and gamely joined the exercises and put on funny and witty displays for all the participants to enjoy and learn from.

CHInoy TV Hosts

They are pretty much ready for the audition.
Just one more thing…
Learning Chinese

After the whole day workshop, everyone was revved up and ready to go.
The director then gave them the lines they will use for the VTR and as an aside they will be in both English and Chinese!
Nothing to be surprised about, this IS CHInoy TV right? But I noticed a collection of nervous laughter and cold sweat all-around.
The Mandarin Chinese part was absolutely dreaded.
But it shouldn’t be that way.
Cris Garcia (Confucius Institute): Opportunities and Second Chances

Cris Garcia on opportunities and 2nd chances with Mandarin Chinese
Cris Garcia could attest to that. Amazingly enough, Cris, who himself is without any Chinese ancestry, is a Mandarin Chinese teacher at the Confucius Institute at Ateneo de Manila University.
He shared the strength of China’s economy and the sheer number of people speaking Mandarin Chinese. Being a fluent Mandarin speaker opens a lot of doors to you in terms of employment and business. Including being a host at CHInoy TV ;)
He shared that a lot of his students are Filipino-Chinese who just memorized their way through out their formal Chinese schooling. And are now studying Mandarin Chinese once again to make up for the lost time.
Taking language classes at language institutions such as the Confucius Institute is a great way to (re) learn the language and take advantage of the worldwide trend towards Mandarin Chinese.

It is a dynamic language that could be learned by ANYONE regardless of age or background.

There is a catch…

Learning from school could only take you so far. If you never use it outside of the classroom, it will gradually disappear.

Use it or lose it.

You must actually find time in your day to actually use or be exposed to the language. It shouldn’t be something you HAVE to do but something you actually WANT to do.
This is where Money in Mandarin can help. I know you all are busy and simply don’t have a lot of time to dedicate solely to learning a language. I hear you, because so do I. Just make it as part of your life.



Courtesy of Money in Mandarin

Record breaking crowd attends TechTutor5

Manila, Philippines – If attendance is any measure of interest, the fifth annual TechTutor seminar clearly shows how technology has created an impact in the way people do things – in work, in play and in education.

The one-day seminar held on September 24, 2013, at the Mall of Asia ARENA, drew a record-breaking crowd from nearly sixty (60) universities consisting of educators, learners, administrators, and parents. The theme of this year’s Techtutor seminar is all about “Gamification of Education”.

“In its five years of existence, Techtutor5 is the biggest ever and we only have the Lord to thank. He provided us with a beautiful weather that enabled our attendees to come to the venue safely. Of course, we would like to thank all our attendees as well for making Techtutor5 a huge success,” said Jerry Liao, Chief Operations Officer of Infochat. “Our crowd was treated to an afternoon full of fun and with a new found knowledge that gamifying education can be more effective and be more efficient.”

Experts from various fields like Johanson Tiu (Science), Noel L. Flores (Art), Archie Lawrence P. Geneta (Communication), Pocholo Gonzales (Voice Acting) and Ms. Olen Juarez-Lim (Image development) were at hand to share their expertise and to demonstrate how gamification can be applied to their respective subjects.

Techtutor5 is supported by Acer, AMA University, Brother, Canon, Dell, Engenius, Fujifilm, Globe Telecom, HP, iSecure, Kaspersky, Lenovo, Microsoft, MMD, Samsung, Smart Communications, Sony, and WSI.

Gamification of Learning typically involves applying game design thinking to non-game applications like education to make them more fun and engaging. Gamification can potentially be applied to any industry and almost anything to create fun and engaging experiences, converting users into players.

Courtesy of Tempo Online

The VoiceMaster Pocholo Gonzales on Aksyon TV

The VoiceMaster featured in Spotlight (February 2014)

The VoiceMaster Pocholo Gonzales featured in Wow Batangas (September 2012)

What You Should REALLY Do to Make Your Business Successful

You opened a new restaurant in town. Your site is where your target market roams around everyday for work or school. You have the best marketing plans to magnetize people to go try your stuff. But in less than six months, your stats start whispering that soon, you are going to close down your business.

Ouch. Ever wonder why a seemingly good and perfectly-planned business fall down too easily just like that? And why in the world that small eatery nearby is still standing proud and growing?

Last week, I attended a seminar organized by Philippine Marketing Association – Batangas Chapter dubbed as “Trojan Marketing: How Brilliant Marketing Ideas Turn Ugly and How Simple Ideas Emerge Successfully”.

The seminar was chopped into two. Part one was all about personal branding as discussed by the talented and uniquely entertaining Pocholo “The VoiceMaster” Gonzales (who did countless of dubbing for animations, movies, TVCs, etc) and part two was the main chunk about Trojan Marketing as dissected by Lloyd Luna, a business consultant, motivational speaker, author of a couple of business books, pianist, etcetera.

Personal branding is basically how you market yourself to the world (www.stevepavlina.com). Why is it important and what does it have to do with your business?

Say for example, you own a fashion store. You’re selling the most stylish to-die-for pieces but you’re a shabby chic. How do you think your customers will believe that you actually sell clothes and stuffs that will make heads turn and gain overflowing compliments about beauty and style?

Personal branding, according to Pocholo Gonzales, can be achieved and maintained by being consistent, by writing about you and your business on blogs or any medium you think of, by creating an output of interest for your customers, and by extending a helping hand to others (knock knock, that’s what CSRs are for). And oh, if you practice online marketing, Gonzales advised that you pay attention to Google. Yes, sir.

Moving on to Trojan Marketing. For marketing practitioners, have you heard of this new type of marketing? Yes, the basis has something to do with the Trojan Horse from Greek mythology. Lloyd Luna pointed out ‘carelessness’ as a major culprit why good people fail.

Trojan Marketing, according to Luna, is “the art of ingraining the message by breaking the buyer’s wall to hit the emotion”. He talked about perceived value (of one’s good), branding (the importance of the name, the logo, the packaging), knowing your market and how you will be able to ‘break that wall’ a.k.a your customer’s perception of what you’re selling.

I won’t be discussing here all that they’ve shared in the seminar but allow me to share two lines from Luna that might inspire you to think further as well.

One: “Comfort zone is kill zone”. Challenge yourself and do what else you think you can do. Get out of the box and perhaps be bolder, braver in taking risks. But…

Two: “Avoid being everything to everybody”. Unless you own a shopping mall that says they’ve got it all for you. Winks.

Starting a business involves risks. If you won’t dare to materialize your ideas, they will remain as they are — ideas floating, wanting to burst out of your mind. And hey, if you want to know more about Pocholo and Lloyd, Google them. They’re so available online.

Courtesy of Wow Batangas

Voice it out (December 2012)

          In the Philippines, a name that has become synonymous with voice-overs is CreatiVoices Productions. It is a company cofounded by Pocholo “Voicemaster” Gonzales, himself a longtime voice actor.

          Doing voice-overs has grown into a lucrative part-time industry due to the continuing expansion of the electronic media. “Before, voice acting was just for radio,” says Gonzales. “Now there’s also the Internet, PodCasts, video games, and cartoon and TV show dubbing.

          The most popular of these voice-over applications, he says, are audio- book recordings, animation or TV show dubbings, original content (pre-voice recording), and radio and TV advertisements.  Voice-over talents, who are paid on a per project basis, can actually earn some P30,000 to P50,000 for doing audio books alone, which are mostly textbook translations; about P10,000 to P20,000 for radio and television advertisements ; P500 to P1,000 per episode for anime and soap opera dubbings; and up to P30,000 for original content creation.

          So how does one get into the voice-over business? Gonzales says that voice-over training is a prerequisite no matter how good the aspiring voice-over talent is, and he emphasizes that doing voice-overs is not just a hobby but an art and a profession.

          Indeed, this was why Gonzales decided in 2007 to put up the Philippine Center for Voice Acting, the first and only professional voice acting school in the Philippines. He established Creativoices itself with an initial capital of only P20,000, but it has become almost an industry by itself.

          As the training arm of CreatiVoices, the center conducts a two-month voice acting program for a selected number of students using modules imported from the United States.

          “When you train with us, in one day I can make you create 20 voices,” says Gonzales. He says that although the center does not guarantee voice-over jobs to students who finish the program, it gives them support in landing voice-over contracts.

          In fact, almost a quarter of his stable of 400 local voice-over talents are graduates of the program, and a lot of his talents find work with other voice-over companies. He explains the industry practice: “Even among my talents, there are no exclusive contracts. In my own case, I’m not exclusive to my own company; I work with different recording studios as well.”

          Considering that projects don’t come regularly, he also cautions voice-over talents to treat doing voice-overs strictly as a “sideline” profession.

          Active in the industry for over 15 years now, Gonzales has done voice-over projects for hundreds of radio and TV commercials for practically all of the major telecommunication companies, fastfood chains, beverage companies, financial institutions, and government agencies as well as politicians on the campaign trail.

          Some of his former students at CreatiVoices have done very well themselves upon finishing its voice-over training program.

          For instance, Jo Carol Fernandez communications sophomore at the Miriam College in Quezon City, has done many voice-over projects for anime shows since finishing the training. She says she dubbed voices for major characters in the shows Bokura Ga Ita (26 episodes) and Negima as well as for other projects outside CreatiVoices.

          On the other hand, Mark B. Aragona, writer and financial consultant, received an offer to do three advertisements for a large telecom company barely a month after finishing his voice-over training. “Let’s just say I made five times my investment for those ads,” he says. Aragona likes the fact that doing voice-overs is very flexible in terms of time. Although some projects can take up to an hour, he says, doing 15 minutes of voice-over work for an advertisement is already long.

          Voice actors like Fernandez and Aragona are able to cultivate and hone their talent for professional voice-over work through CreatiVoices, which has since grown into an agency with 10 full-time staff and some 500 local and international on-call voice actors. 

          The company has not only given the voice-over industry a common face but now also enjoys instant recognition as the industry leader. Says Gonzales of people wanting to go into doing voice-overs: “If you have a job, and if you’re really good and I want you to take the character, I will wait for you.” And he tells aspiring talents to see doing voice-overs not just as another job but also as a way of having fun, like what he himself does. 

Courtesy of Entrepreneur Philippines

Sungduan: Extramural Training 2015 (April 2015)

SEVERAL award-winning journalists and well-respected media personalities in the country are set to converge and share their expertise to communication trainers and campus journalists in Summer Media Extramural Training 2015.

Dubbed "Going beyond the Conventional: Training the Trainers, Campus Press and Communication Students" the activity will make April a significant month to remember for all participants as they will be undergoing an intensive training in the field of broadcast, and online journalism.

Organized by the School Press Advisers Movement Inc. (SPAM, Inc.) under the auspices of founder and president Melanie Briones, the media training aims to help all participants understand more about the craft and art of news production for radio and give them tips on news writing, news delivery and broadcast.

The journalism skills of the participating delegates from the different schools will also be more honed as they will learn new techniques needed in news, sports, and sci-tech writing including the Online Journalism craft.

Expected to give lectures and trainings in Extramural Training 2015 are the Voice Artist for CreatiVoices Productions CEO and Managing Director Pocholo “Voice Master” Gonzales, UP Diliman Professor and DZUP Radio Program Director Mel Estonilo, and blogger, online journalist, social media professional, and educator Mark Pere Madrona.

Photo from the original article.

Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) Correspondent and TV Host Tonette Orejas is also one of the invited lecturers with Ben Domingo Jr., Chairperson of the CHED Technical Committee for Journalism and a member of the CHED Technical Panel for Social Sciences and Communication. Domingo, a former columnist of the Sports Weekly Magazine is accredited/certificated referee of the Badminton Asia Confederation.

Kim Joshua Daño who made a name as an award-winning Graphic Artist during his campus journalism stint and now a Division Trainer for Campus Journalism in the Division of Imus City for Editorial Cartooning and Collaborative Publishing complete the list of lecturers.

The summer media training is open to all communication trainers, students, and campus press or members of student publications. This will be held at Marello Retreat House, Tagaytay City on April 28-30, 2015.

One should never stop learning. Attending seminars and workshops is very important to learn the necessary skills needed to be competitive and discover the new ideas on how to be more effective and efficient journalists and campus paper advisers.

Courtesy of Sunstar.com

The VoiceMaster with the typhoon Yolanda survivors

"Every Christmas, we hold a Christmas EB (eyeball) for friends and acquaintances to celebrate the season. But this time, I thought why not use this opportunity to do something for the kids of Haiyan survivors here in Metro Manila. 

The students, professionals and start-up entrepreneurs who responded, made Christmas day happier for the kids of Yolanda survivors  at the evacuation site also known as “Tent City”, at the Villamor Air Base Elementary School.This initiative  was able to:

• Raffle cash and benefited 7 of 27 families at the evacuation center.

• Cater a McDo meal w/ toy for the kids at the evacuation site.

• Each kid also received another toy, a set of toiletries, and a kiddie book

• Aside from the cash raffle, families also received a wall calendar

• We also gave gifts (diaries, planners, memo pads, toiletries) to social workers

At the end of the event, we still have 2 large bags of gifts, and as agreed, have turned these over to Cathedral of Praise, who have an ongoing relief operations and can bring the toys and kiddie books, along w/ other relief goods, to Visayas.One of our objectives for this initiative is to impress upon the kids young mind the Christmas message, and the dance activities we had is a subtle reminder that they are not on their own as they face the future.  Here’s one of the dance activities we just did."

Courtesy of asksonnie.info

The VoiceMaster Pocholo Gonzales featured in Yahoo News Blog (May 2014)

While children his age were busy watching television, this 7-year-old would instead be tuned into the radio.

There was no TV set in his home in Bataan. So he killed time listening intently to the range of voices, especially of radio news broadcasters and drama talents, coming out of the small box. When he felt he had heard enough, he would do something that would make him extraordinary.

He successfully imitated the voices.

Today, at 34, Pocholo Gonzales is acknowledged as the “Voice Master.”

He is the voice of more than a hundred characters that have become familiar to radio, television, movie, computer game and anime aficionados: Cha cha in “Bubu Cha Cha,” Kuro Chan in “Cyborg Kuro Chan” and Shan Cai’s father in “Meteor Garden.”

But Gonzales has gone beyond voicing and dubbing characters. In 2005, he formed CreatiVoices Productions, the only Philippine-based online voice-over company, and began teaching Filipinos the art of acting with their voice.

“Voice acting for me is not a work or a career; it’s my craft,” Gonzales said. “It’s my Mona Lisa. It’s my masterpiece.”

Not that success came easy.

Gonzales joined the voice acting industry when he was 16 after winning a voice acting competition of a radio station. But he would soon discover that the industry was unfriendly and mafia-driven.

“They don’t want newbies. They don’t want new people. They don’t want new voices,” he said.

He resigned three times in various companies as a voice artist, but he was undeterred and even expanded from radio to other mediums.

Changing one’s voice is complicated, and it will take years to explain everything about it, Gonzales said.

Fortunately for beginners, including students of CreatiVoices, they learn the three basic techniques in changing one’s voice. One, changing the pitch. Two, changing the pitch’s character or making the voice huskier or thinner. Three, changing the tempo.

But the main key to changing one’s voice is to identify with the character. “Be the character, and your voice will change automatically,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales considers all the characters he has dubbed his favorites because, he said, he put his heart in every one of them. He identified with each character and became the character, including those in anime, of which he has really never been a fan.

CreatiVoices is Gonzales’ way of helping create a better future for fellow voice artists.

He holds voice acting and dubbing workshops with a single-mindedness to make artists out of his students. “There are dubbers and there are voice artists,” Gonzales said.

Voice acting, he said, is not about the money but about passion. And when your voice is heard by thousands of people, someone would remember and recognize you, he added.

Because voice actors are heard, not seen, Gonzales lamented that voice acting is among the most unrecognized crafts. It also saddens him that Filipinos mostly dub the work of foreigners when they could have been the best producers and content creators in the animation industry.

So Gonzales has turned himself into a motivational speaker as well, drawing inspiration from national hero Jose Rizal.

Like Rizal, Gonzales said he wants to motivate the youth the most because he believes they are talented but cannot express themselves freely. One of his goals is to create a venue for them where they can express their thoughts and opinions.

In his talks, the Voice Master likes to cite his own experience to show his audience how to overcome adversity. “I am a fan of my own story because I came from nothing,” he said.

Given his family’s tight finances, studying abroad to hone his craft even after Gonzales discovered his talent was out of the question. So he studied voice acting on his own until he got the chance to learn more about it in U.S. 11 years ago. He received the Youth Action Net Award sponsored by the International Youth Foundation and Youth in Action Award by the Global Youth Action Network in U.S.

Again, Rizal was Gonzales’ inspiration. “He saw the world without money. He just had the passion,” he said.

Knowing his voice is one of his biggest assets, the Voice Master takes extreme care of it. He does not strain or abuse his voice. He gargles with warm water and salt every morning.

But he knows full well that the time would come when his voice would get weaker and might just be gone one day.

That doesn’t worry him too much. By then, he said, he would have created many other voice artists. “So they can be my voice, and they are already my voices, so I can claim I have thousands of voices,” Gonzales said.

In the end, what matters most is the person has lived the life he or she really wanted. “Do what you love and love what you do—and you will die happy,” said the Voice Master.

Courtesy of Yahoo News Philippines

VoiceWorx Caravan at St. Dominic College of Asia (February 2015)

Photo from the original article.

          
          The first- ever voice acting seminar/ workshop was conducted last February 19 2015 at the Studio Theater participated by AB Communication Students.

          Mr. Pocholo “The VoiceMaster” De Leon Gonzales, CEO of the CreatiVoices Productions led the workshop together with the Voice of The Youth Network anchors, Mr. Andrew San Fernando, Ms. Ada Vina Cuaresma, Ms. Jana Abejero, and Mr. Dan Capucion who served as speaker for the workshop.

          The introduction about voice acting, his journey as a voice over talent, dubber, a voice director and his journey as a motivational speaker were discussed by Mr. Pocholo Gonzales, and proper breathing and posture was discussed by Ms. Ada Vina Cuaresma. Mr. Dan Capucion and Mr. Andrew San Fernando discussed radio dramas, and the proper characterization and Ms. Jana Abejero discussed about her tips in writing radio scripts.

          For the closing remarks, Ms. Ada Vina Cuaresma declared the all the participants in the workshop are all ambassadors of Voice of the Youth Network in Cavite.

THE VOICEMASTER

          Pocholo “The VoiceMaster” Gonzales is a veteran voice artist, broadcaster, voice coach, youth advocate and motivational speaker. For the past 20 years, he has been utilizing his voice not only to entertain people, but more importantly to inspire, motivate and empower the Filipino youth. (http://pochologonzales.com/)

          At the young age of 16, Pocholo experienced first-hand politics and monopoly surrounding the industry, especially among the major media networks. This fuelled his desire to create a new breed of voice artists – those who lend their voices for the passion than the compensation, those who treat voice acting as an art and not a job, those who would inspire and support aspiring voice artists, and those who would be happy to see new artists join the industry. This is what led him to set up his company and create its voice acting workshop.

          Pocholo has been honored locally and internationally for being the founder of Voice of the Youth (VOTY) Network, a youth organization that aims to inform, inspire, involve and empower the Filipino youth through media and ICT.

          Pocholo is one of the most – if not THE most – inspirational and sought-after motivational speakers in the Philippines. He has been invited to take the podium in more than 1000 schools and universities, as well as in various organizations and events here and abroad. He shares his knowledge and expertise in Voice Acting, Communication, Personal Branding, Guerilla Marketing, and Youth Empowerment and Development.



Courtesy of St. Dominic College of Asia

Pocholo "The VoiceMaster" Gonzales at Iloilo Comic Con (March 2014)

THE VOICEMASTER  AT ILOILO COMIC CON

Photo from the original article.

          Futurist, Social Entrep, Youth Advocate, Voice Artist, Voice Director/Coach, Motivational Speaker, Broadcaster, Producer, Anime/Events Specialist, Angelprenuer and Personal Branding Expert.
Pocholo “The VoiceMaster” Gonzales is a  Filipino Voice Actor whose voice over works appeared in radio and TV  commercials, radio dramas, children’s programs, computer games, dubbed foreign  telenovelas, films and anime, and original animation. And so far, spoke to more than 100 schools and universities around the world.

          Although still very young, Pocholo “The  VoiceMaster” Gonzales is already considered as a veteran in the art of voice  acting for television, radio, and even online. He started his professional  career at age 16 and since then has harnessed his talent to become one of the best and most experienced in the field of voice acting.

          He also organizes  shows, seminars and workshops on voice acting. At present, he owns and manages  CreatiVoices Productions, CreatiVisions Productions and Speech Communication  Center,  and also keeps himself busy with the society of young voice artists of  the Philippines or SYVAP, a group of voice actors and talents he organized.

          Aside from his voice acting credentials, he takes pride at being honored as  a youth advocate in Washington DC, New York, Seoul, Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Beijing  for being the founder of the Youth Organization Voice of the Youth Network.
Finished BA Speech Communication and took his MA for Broadcast  Communication at the University of the Philippines Diliman.

          He believes  that voice acting is an art that needs to be heard, to be recognized, and to be  further developed. He used the youngest board member of the Advertising  Suppliers Association of the Philippines and Animation Council of the Philippines, Inc.  Currently,  board member of the Philippine Marketing  Association, Junior Chamber International (JCI) Makati and Ship for SouthEast  Asian Youth Program Alumni Association.

          He is a branding expert as  well. He gives talks in different places around the country and imparts his  knowledge in Communication, Voice Acting, Personal Branding, Guerilla Marketing,  and Youth Empowerment and Development.  The Pochology 101.
The  VoiceMaster has also worked with various CEOs and Government Officials.
He produced Voice of the Youth Radio on DZME, Youth Service Radio on DZSR, Voice of the Youth TV, Creative Business TV, and Tek Tok TV at Global News Network  and also worked as a director for Hero TV and Cinema One.

          On June 12,  2003, he received the Youth Action Net Award sponsored by the International  Youth Foundation in Washington D.C. USA and  the Youth in Action Award by  the  Global Youth Action Network in New York City, USA.

         In 2009, He was  awarded one of the GoNegosyos Most inspiring young entrepreneur by the former president of the  Philippines, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
In 2012 He spoke to the Voice Over International Creative Experience “VOICE 2012″ in Anaheim, California. He met the best voice over artists in the world.

          He was  also part of the Faculty of Asian Academy of Television Arts being  manage by Wilma Galvante former EVP of GMA 7 and now the Head Dean of Artista  Academy of TV 5.
Currently he is produced and anchored the only youth oriented radio show “Voice Of The Youth Radio” on DZIQ Radyo Inquirer 990 AM every Saturday from 3-4:30 pm and Tinig Kabataan on DWDD 1134 Kh every Sunday at 12-1 pm.
He’s already traveling around the country to help teachers take good care of their voices through his advocacy VOICE CARE FOR TEACHERS PROGRAM.

          Ladies and Gentlemen, the man behind Pochology, The VoiceMaster Himself! MR. POCHOLO  DE LEON GONZALES



Courtesy of Iloilo Comic Con.