[1.8] 12 About 12: Kyle Jennermann a.k.a. Kulas a.k.a. Becoming Filipino
Raising P500,000 for Tacloban, living in Mindanao, and sharing positivity energy
Hi friends and travelers!
This โ12 about 12โ series is simply 12 facts about 12 people who have managed to make a life of travel. Each story is broken down into four parts:
Origin: how did they start traveling?
Grind: what did they sacrifice?
Breakthrough: when did they go big?
Scale: what are they making of it now?
At the end of each email, I compress my takeaways from the traveler into one thing to remember.
Have an amazing week!
~ Atom
#8
Meet Kulas, a Canadian vlogger turned resident Filipino! ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ญ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ญ
In my eyes, Kulas is the epitome of Filipino travel vlogging. His positive energy and boundless curiosity are absolutely entertaining to watch. His rate of producing content is unbelievable (he posts almost daily). He offers a very uplifting perspective on the country that only strengthens nationalism. He finds stories, destinations, and activities that no one has tried; he goes to places even Filipinos are afraid to go. And underlying all of this is a goal to simply share positivity. What Kulas brings to his videos is what I deeply aspire to bring with me on my travels.
Origins
Kulas was born and raised in the small town of Comox in Vancouver, Canada.
Kulas started traveling in 2007 when he went around India and Asia. By the time Kulas moved to Hong Kong in 2012 he had experience living in Britain and had already been to 29 countries.
Kulas first encountered the positive energy of Filipinos through his Filipino colleagues at Asia Pacific Adventure, Hong Kong.
Grind
In January of 2013, these same colleagues turned friends invited Kulas to visit the Philippines for the first time (country number 30!). He stayed for 3 weeks and got the full Filipino experience of passing coins down a jeepney, house hopping during a fiesta, and helping a neighbor move houses among other things.
Inspired by the happiness and warmth extended to him during this trip, Kulas made a bright orange cardboard โSMILEโ sign and carried it around Hong Kong. His goal was to share the happiness he found.
Kulas returned for a second trip to the Philippines from June to August 2013, spending his time between Cebu and Cagayan de Oro.
When Typhoon Yolanda hit in November 2013, Kulas was compelled to help. He found himself in Tacloban City just 9 days after landfall and set up One Tacloban, which raised P500K in donations. โI was with Filipinos at that time in Hong Kong and seeing the way it affected them, I just wanted to do something,โ Kulas recalled to Good News Pilipinas.
Breakthrough
Kulas started Becoming Filipino in February 2014 with the goal of โsharing all those beautiful, amazing, positive, and inspiring things that this culture has brought into my life.โ The first thing he did with his brand was to make and distribute business cards asking people to send him something about where theyโre from that makes them happy or smile.
Scale
In 2016, Kulas shot a TV show with ANC called Becoming Filipino, Your Travel Blog. "I have never had a day in the past two years where I'm not stopped for selfies or maybe people run up to me and give me high-fives," Kulas shares sheepishly about his life in Mindanao.
In 2019, Kulas was tapped as the Philippinesโ tourism ambassador.
And just last week, Kulas actually became Filipino as he was recognized by the Senate of the Philippines and granted Filipino citizenship. An absolute miracle even he was not expecting. In fact, quoting from his About page on YouTubeโฆ
#BecomingFilipino is an adventure. It is the journey of a 26 year old Canadian trying to โBecome Filipinoโ. Simply put, I am not Filipino. I donโt have a Filipino passport and it would be almost impossible for me to get one. Truth is I will never be able to say โI am Filipinoโ. But there are so many simple beautiful things that I have experienced and witnessed that make up Filipino cultureโฆ Things that I would be honoured to learn from, and be honoured to share with the world around me.
With 1,505 videos and 1.04M subscribers, Kulas continues to post almost daily videos on his Becoming Filipino YouTube channel.
THE ONE THING
SMILE.
โI started recording positive stuff that was happening every day. I felt I need to get this out to the world because people may respond to it and maybe theyโll want to do stuff.
And what happened after that was truly overwhelming. People did respond. It wasnโt even just sending money, which was huge, but it was the vibe. It grew and grew and grew to the point where we had a mini NGO. We called ourselves One Tacloban and we were doing positive stuffโฆ
Iโm certain that the UN gave us goods and people sent us money because they could sense we were real and honest and we showed thatโฆ Iโm 100% convinced Becoming Filipino started and thrived because I was a real dude doing something that was positive not just for me but for the people around meโฆ This is what Becoming Filipino was founded on.
To this day I always remind myself, Kyle/Kulas, whatever you do is it something thatโs good not just for you but for other people around you? Does it have a little bit of a positive purpose? If it ticks those boxes then I continue it.โ
โ Kyle Jennermann
Iโm reluctant to call Kulasโ journey to Becoming Filipino a grind because I doubt it ever felt that way to him. In his Strive For More podcast episode, he shares that although bad things do happen heโs never had a bad day. Every day is a good day because every day is one day of fulfilling his passion and purpose to share positivity.
This may all sound cliche, but heโs absolutely serious about this. And his energy is infectious! In the quote above alone, he mentions the word โpositivityโ in every other sentence. I love it!
Iโm always smiling when I watch Kulasโ videos. Even just looking at his titles and thumbnails forces me to smile.
In shortโฆ
What brought Kulas on his journey? Smiles.
What keeps Kulas on his journey? Smiles.
Need a tip for your journey? Smile! :โ)
If you want more from Kulas you can go subscribe to his YouTube channel here and listen to his podcast on Strive For More.
Other sources: Good News Pilipinas, CBC, Politiko