BOSFilipinos is turning 5 this year! In this episode, we’ll look ahead and share what you can expect from our group in 2022. That includes how you can get involved and a little bit more about the future of our show. Trish Fontanilla, who runs BOSFilipinos, joins us for this episode.
Listen to the episode and see the transcript below.
Transcript
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Kaitlin Milliken: Hello, and welcome to the BOSFilipinos Podcast. I'm your host, Kaitlin Milliken, and this show is obviously made by BOSFilipinos.
In each episode, we highlight a different aspect of Filipino life in Greater Boston. But today, we’re giving you an update on what BosFilipinos itself is doing. That includes what you can expect from our group in the future, a few personnel news, how you can get involved and a little bit more about the future of our show.
For this look ahead, I hopped on a call with Trish Fontanilla, the woman who runs the whole operation. If you’re a long time listener, you might remember Trish from our second episode ever.
Thank you so much Trish for being here today.
Trish Fontanilla: I am always excited to talk to you, Katie.
Kaitlin Milliken: So I know that we've had you on the show before, and most of the folks who are listening do know what BOSFilipinos is. But if you could just like give us a little bit of a highlight and background, for those who may just be listening to their first episode, of what the group has done in the past.
Trish Fontanilla: It's such an interesting thing to talk about these days. I feel like it's taken on different iterations since a pandemic. But I think of it as a community group to talk about different Filipino happenings around the city, as a way to bring people together — putting out some great content through podcasts and blog posts and social media. And just a way to elevate Filipino and Filipino American voices around the city. Things that we've done in the past… So this is pre-pandemic, stuff that hopefully fingers crossed, we get to do a little bit more of in 2022. We were doing bi-monthly meetups, so people just getting together that are Filipino and their partners or kids, just a way to see each other every other month. We've done profiles on the website, these podcasts. We were doing some videos of me learning Filipino, which was pretty great, even though I didn't always remember all the things that Hyacinth, who's another volunteer, helps us with. But yeah, just a different way to get multimedia, both in-person and online as a way to, again, highlight different voices around the city.
Kaitlin Milliken: Great. So I know that you mentioned some things that we've done prior to the pandemic, some of the online stuff we've been continuing to do. It's a new year. Tell us what's in store.
Trish Fontanilla: Yeah, you know, I wish the COVID fairies out there would give us more memos about all these different variants that are coming. Because I think I was talking to someone in early December and thinking about doing meetups again. But we will definitely see. I would love to do some sort of outdoor picnic situation to make things safe for people. I hope by next Christmas, we could do a holiday celebration. We did kind of…it wasn't a Noche Buena because it wasn't for Christmas. But we did a really great event at St. Anthony's in Downtown Crossing and a lot of different folks, cross generational, came and brought food, which was really amazing. So I'm hoping we can do some of that as well.
I also know that we have some volunteers that have reached out that want to help. So continuing to up the content a little bit. I know the past couple years have been draining for a lot of us. I feel like I waffled already during this podcast. But I'm going to be optimistic and hopeful of us gathering in different ways in-person this year. So that is my dream to do a little bit more of that in 2022.
Kaitlin Milliken: I also know that there's a lot of, you know, online stuff that happens for Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Filipino Independence Day, Filipino American History Month. So if you were to think about the big things throughout the whole year that people should watch out for, what would you highlight?
Trish Fontanilla: I know on Independence Day, there is a flag raising at City Hall. I know there's a few other Filipino groups that get involved with that.
AAPI Heritage Month is April and Filipino American History Month is in October. So we like to do profiles. I try to do a profile every day, which is a lot of folks, I'm really proud. Idon't think we’ve repeated anyone yet. And because there's so many Filipinos and Filipino Americans around the city. So if people know of amazing people or you are an awesome person, or you need someone to tell you how awesome you are, please nominate yourself or other people because we'd love to highlight and profile different folks.
And if you're the kind of person that likes to put together events, I think for this upcoming year, still focusing on outdoors. I know in the past, we've done kayaking, you know people have done hikes. So I know I'm a little bit more comfortable talking about those kinds of events in this upcoming year. It's very much driven by what people are interested in. So if there's some cool stuff that's happening especially, particularly if it's outside and we can gather together safely, I would love to talk to different people about their interests and you know amplify that out into the communities so they can meet new folks and have folks to do the things that they love together.
Kaitlin Milliken: Great and I know that there are a number of other Filipino groups or people who put on events. I know PEAR has done online panels as well as some in-person outdoor activities. The colleges in the area have been putting on a variety of different types of programming in different mediums. If people want to get their events highlighted or promoted by BOSFilipinos, what's a good way to do that?
Trish Fontanilla: Yes, for sure. And we've done throughout the pandemic, we've actually partnered with a few different organizations. I know, during the school year last year, we did some panels with some of the college groups, especially some of the groups of the students that graduated last year that were really worried about networking. So there was some Filipino community groups, but I know there was also Asian and immigrant groups that were like, “Hey, we're going into the workplace, and we need a little help.” So if you ever want to partner with a group…
I mean, we are self-funded. So we have limited sponsorship resources. But if you ever want to be amplified, or want to be interviewed or highlighted, you can tag BOSFilipinos on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. The best way for us to pay attention is also to send us an email at info@bosfilipinos.com. Instagram is our most lively, I think, channel. I personally am not gonna lie, I'm not on Facebook as much. So if you tag us on Facebook, it may take a few days or a week for me to get back to you. But if you tag us on Instagram, I personally am on there pretty much every day, so I'll see it there too. And then on Twitter, I check too. So happy to amplify anything. I will say a lot of people do a lot of fundraisers. So unless you're affiliated with a nonprofits, I tend to not share those. Just because I know that there's so many things happening in the Philippines, and I don't have the resources to backtrack, to see where funds and stuff go. But if you have any questions, you can always send an email to info@bosfilipinos.com.
Kaitlin Milliken: Awesome. Same question about getting involved. Some folks may want to volunteer with BOSFilipinos, get connected and participate in whatever talents and skill sets that they bring to the table. Tell me about what BOSFilipinos is looking for from volunteers and sort of how people can reach out and start participating.
Trish Fontanilla: There's a form on our website. So bosfilipinos.com. There's that form on the, I think it's like the contact us page. So there's that. You can also send a note on Instagram, I will say I’m a little bit old school. So if you need a longer reply, I will probably prefer email so that I can type it out. Because I'm not as cool answering all the things on my phone for Instagram.
But yeah, I've always asked volunteers because I can tell people what we need. But I feel like engaging people in what they're passionate about, what they like to do, is an easier thing with volunteers. Because otherwise, there's just some administrative stuff… If anyone finds joy in that if you do, please email info@bosfilipinos.com. Always looking for people that are creative people that like doing multimedia. So you know, audio, video, blog posts, and then get an also, again, events, if you're interested in leading a group of people, essentially saying, “Hey, I'm going on this hike, can you share with the BOSFilipinos group that I'm going on the hike, and if people want to come we can connect?” That kind of stuff. And we can do it in a way that feels safe. So not, you know, sharing your location necessarily, but getting interested and having people to connect with you.
Tell me how much time you have. Do you like an hour? Do you have a few hours a week that you want to volunteer? And what are you most passionate about? Or who do you want to meet? And then we can figure out a way to, you know, funnel that back into BOSFilipinos and have it be something that you're really excited about, but also something that's helpful for the community as well.
Kaitlin Milliken: Right? I am going to actually take a moment to make a specific ask. Trish already knows this, but I'm actually going to be moving in the near future and the show will no longer be hosted and led by me specifically. So if you have podcasting skills and you listen and you are interested in volunteering, or if you would like to host and have the equipment, you could reach out to that same email. You could also reach out to me on Twitter and I'm happy to talk a little bit about the process if you're a little intimidated but are intrigued. That's KatieMilli on Twitter and also Instagram etc. That's my last plug.
Trish Fontanilla: Well first off, what I wanted to say is thank you for being the founder of the BOSFilipinos podcast, I think you were potentially the last hug I had for a very long time. Because we met in person right before the podcast launch. And we got JP Licks ice cream. And we sat by the Charles River. And we started talking about this podcast, and I have gotten so many amazing compliments about it. I think it's been a wonderful addition to what BOSFilipinos is doing. It's a different way for people to consume information that we've done before. So I think I want to take a quick moment to say thank you so much for setting us up and for continuing on during the pandemic.
Anybody that is interested in hosting, or co-hosting, or the technical side. I mean, as you can maybe tell, I can ramble all day, and ask people questions, but the technical side and what he does behind the scenes, I don't even know all the things that you do behind the scenes, you just make magic and it happens. So definitely reach out to me or Katie. And we will hopefully figure something out. Or if there's like other ways we want to, you know, share information. But this has been such a lovely way to get to know the city to get to know the people. And I'm really thankful for you for doing this podcast.
Kaitlin Milliken: I think my last question for this episode would be like, you know, one Filipino thing in 2022 that you're excited for. So I think that could be like a personal thing. If your family does stuff. Something for BOSFilipino. Something that happens in the city You know, we can both share one and wrap it up.
Trish Fontanilla: A little piece of news that some people may or may not know is I am on the transition committee for the new mayor of Boston, Michelle Wu. And I am going to continue to be. The transition actually finished up in January. Because, you know, there was no longer a transition period. There is a little time in between that's never happened before. Mayor Walsh went to work for President Biden. And then there is an interim mayor, Mayor Janie. So there's a lot of stuff. I was a transition committee advisor. And I'm going to continue to be an advisor for the mayor of Boston. And it is pretty freaking awesome. To have the first elected woman, first elected Asian American, and it's really given me hope in a lot of different ways.
Thinking about this year, it's going to be BOSFilipinos fifth anniversary. And so, I was just thinking about that. So I would love to do some sort of celebration, again, outside. Our birthday is in July. So hopefully that will work out. So I'm crossing my fingers, that will be good.
And something that I've been talking about for a really long time is having a festival in the city of Boston. And I was hoping it would happen year five. It's not. No festivals are going to come together in the next few months. But thinking about getting those wheels turning and doing something really awesome and celebratory, that is inclusive of a lot of different people around the city would be lovely. So I would love to use this fifth birthday as a way to kick off that around the city.
Kaitlin Milliken: That's awesome. I definitely would also want to highlight like a Filipino thing I always look forward to that BOSFilipinos works on: Our blog posts that come out in October for Filipino American History Month. I know both you and I have written posts, and so has Hyacinth, another volunteer. But I definitely encourage folks that, if they have a great story to tell about their Filipino American upbringing or an aspect of Filipino or Filipino American life they really like… I've talked about books in the past one. So it's not only just family history, definitely get writing and send them in. And it's always exciting to read those from a person-on-the-internet perspective. So very excited for that.
Trish Fontanilla: That is like a really good point. It doesn't have to be historical. It doesn't have to be a list. Get in your feels. It doesn't all have to be like rosy happy stuff like there's a lot of different things that we experience in the city as people and you know, as people that are growing up around this. If you have some personal essays, we'd love to read those and even if they've been published before.
Kaitlin Milliken: Thank you so much, Trish, again for taking the time. Very excited to see what 2022 has in store.
Trish Fontanilla: Thank you.
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Kaitlin Milliken: This has been the BOSFilipinos Podcast. I'm your host, Kaitlin Milliken. Music for our show was made by Matt Garamella. Special thanks to Trish Fontanilla for everything — including making the time to chat for this episode. If you’re interested in running this show or pitching in, send an email to info@bosfilipinos.com. If you like our show, you can subscribe on your streaming platform of choice. You can also follow us on Instagram, @bosfilipinos, for more. Thanks for listening and see you soon.