Five millennials seek to change the world through their passions

You go through the internet and you would probably see memes and blog posts that say, “Kids these days.” No matter what that means, it sure isn’t purely negative.

 

We got to meet five millennials who all pursued their passion and showed the world that there are young people who are making the world better than how they found it. May it be through building a Sunday school for underprivileged children or disrupting the filmmaking scene, these Generation Y-ers attempt to make a difference.
 

 

(Photo courtesy of: Mikhail Red)
 

Fourteen is never a young age to start creating films. In fact, Mikhail Red produced his first short film at this age. When he turned 15, he found himself on his way to Germany where one of his films would be screened in an international film festival. Since then, he was on a roll.

 

Mikhail doesn’t snub the fact that filmmaking today has become more democratized, more accessible, and more affordable. While that’s well and good, he sees it as a reason to have a stronger voice as an auteur to stand out in the field of up-and-coming movie makers.

 

“My personal approach is to push the medium through new boundaries, creating strong story premises where imagination takes precedence while conveying a movie’s message through a more classical method: visual language,” says the 23-year-old filmmaker.

 

This isn’t easy, most especially if you’re in a country like the Philippines where the market is used to stories that are rooted in reality. Mikhail admits that it’s something that he couldn’t just ignore.

 

If you’re a typical filmmaker, you would probably just join the bandwagon. But if you’re like Mikhail, who does things his own way, you wouldn’t follow others’ footsteps. Rather, you would dig your own path by finding your own niche, sticking to it, and hoping that it helps cinema’s taste. He uses his zeal for the craft to disrupt the filmmaking scene.

 

Mikhail says, “What I would like to see for a change are plots that are imaginative and creative, with strong emphasis on telling stories through visual language… rather than an abundance of dialogue.”

 

This is exactly what he did in “Rekorder,” his first feature film, where he used several filmmaking formats such as outdated distorted video, webcams, CCTVs, and modern 2K technology. For Mikhail, it was the best way to convey the story and message of the film, which is about “the evolution and bastardization of cinema.”

 

Mikhail’s style and advocacy in filmmaking must be working. As a matter of fact, “Rekorder” has already made it to more than 10 international film fests and won five international awards, including the Best New Director award at the 2014 Vancouver International Film Festival.

 

“After years of making shorts, I had to learn things the hard way,” he says. “But it all paid off in the end.”

The guy who aims to feed the world

 

(Photo courtesy of: Gerald Marin)
 

Filipino scholar Gerald Marin, 24, knew all along that there should be a solution to world hunger. For him, it isn’t an unsolvable phenomenon.

 

So Gerald formed a team of five--all are master’s students in food innovation and product design in Europe--and produced their very own passion project: FoPo Food Powder, a startup that sourecs overripe fruits from groceries and transforms them into food powder, stretching the food’s shelf life from two weeks to two years, or even more.

 

Freeze-drying saves a fruit from spoilage as it reduces its microbial growth, given that bacteria thrive in wet substances. So there’s a promising potential in maximizing this technology, he says, as food wastage is an issue not just in the Philippines but around the world.

 

Gerald’s team is not easily daunted. He tips that one of the brave steps you need to do as a game-changer is to “explore options and be open to new ways of doing your business.” So now, even though they’ve already managed to make food powder made out of overripe fruits, already a feat in itself, they’re still continuing with their research as they want to eventually come up with food powder made out of vegetables and meat.

 

They’re now in negotiations with some non-government organizations and local government units as they plan on having their product included in disaster relief operations--which makes sense, given that the Philippines is in a disaster-prone part of the region.

 

It’s pretty obvious by now that Gerald and his team are very ambitious with their brainchild. “We’re not allowing another person to go hungry again,” he says, whose team uses their knowledge, experience, and passion in food technology in their quest to make the world free from hungry people.

 

“Work hard and work smart,” Gerald tips. And just as how his team doesn’t want another food to rot, he adds, “Don’t let your billion-dollar idea go to waste.”

 

In the case of Gerald and his partners, obviously, they didn’t.

The girl who turns her passion into profit

 

(Photo courtesy of: Apple Alegro)
 

Passion is what pushed young entrepreneur Apple Alegro, 31, to leave her corporate job and start a business: Uke Box Caffe, the country’s first ukulele-themed coffee shop.

 

Apple and her partners Michelle See and Celina Baraoidan are all passionate about coffee--that’s what brought them together in the first place. In fact, before they cut the ribbons of Uke Box Caffe, they traveled to the mountains of Benguet and flew all the way to towns like Vienna, Austria and Budapest, Hungary to learn more about artisanal coffee.

 

The ukulele factored in because of Apple’s love of the instrument. She grew up playing and collecting ukuleles, so she knew that she would want to take her love for it to the next level.

 

So Uke Box Caffe is not just any artsy coffee shop in the metro; it also intensively promotes the instrument. Actually, aside from the usual coffee-shop operations, they’re also lending and selling ukuleles that are crafted by the local creative craftsmen of OB of Pampanga, known for their well-crafted and genuine ukuleles. The cafe also provides ukulele workshops and holds open-mic sessions on Friday and Saturday nights for those who want to sing and play the ukulele.

 

“While watching a performance is enjoyable, participating in that art form is life-enriching,” Apple believes.

 

She shares that founding a brick-and-mortar business really pushed them to their limits. For one, they lacked the experience in hands-on business management when they entered the start-up arena.

 

“When I was still working as a general manager in a BPO [company], we work or not, we get paid,” says Apple. “[In managing your own business], if you don’t work, the lower chances of getting your investment back.” But she’s quick to add that if you’re really passionate about your craft, nothing can take you down.

 

How do the girls make sure that Uke Box Caffe won’t fade out amid the growing artisanal coffee-shop industry in the country? They built their own community through the things they’re most zealous about: coffee and music.

 

Apple tips that budding entrepreneurs need to bank on their passion for them to last in the business scene. “We have strengths we need to use and weaknesses we need to improve.” And that, she adds, take a lot of hard work, too.

The guy who helps a Dumagat tribe to have an eco-sustainable community