MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Like many Filipinos who call themselves raketeros or raketeras (hustlers), former Binibining Pilipinas contestant Ayn Bernos considers herself one, being a content creator, host, podcaster, business owner, or simply, a creative online entrepreneur.
“Social media is the main reason I get to do what I do. I use many platforms for every single endeavor [and] every part of my content creator life,” said Ayn.
The Creative Force
Ayn’s professional career in the creative industry started when she had internships with digital marketing agencies and magazines. She then had her first career as a social media specialist. After years of building on those experiences, she was inspired to make her own path.
“What pushed me to take the leap outside of working for other people was creative freedom,” said Ayn.
As someone who was not a designer, creating designs was one of Ayn’s biggest questions. Back when she was a one-woman team, doing all of the work was a challenge until she discovered Canva through her sister.
“Canva has made a lot of things more accessible. As somebody who is not a designer, how do you create designs? Our team had the opportunity to learn, expand and execute our best ideas,” said Ayn.
Managing Time, Content, and Team
As someone who is as busy as Ayn for engaging with so many people, attending events and shoots, hosting, and more, planning is an integral part of her day-to-day life. In order to accomplish her content and many responsibilities, her collaboration and execution with her team is something she looks forward to.
Whenever she has ideas, Ayn prefers on putting them all together traditionally on a pen and paper to create her skeletal structure which then transfers to her computer so it would be easier for her to show and present to the entire team.
“I don’t have a 9 to 5 [working hours] as there is a lot where I have to be. When I have the time and I’m on the go, I simply look at the team’s progress in Canva and I see that my team is getting it together,” Ayn said, explaining how collaboration with them works.
Empowering Filipinos
When asked what her proudest moments are, Ayn explained that it was the opportunity to create a community for Filipinos to embrace who they are and their own beauty, and this started when she was creating educational content.
“I always say something about education, which is ‘work in progress.’ My philosophy not just as a content creator, but also as an educator, as a student as well is that, you’re always supposed to be learning and there is no shame in that,” explained Ayn when asked what she wants to do in the future.
“I am not only here because I empower other people but I have been empowered myself. My job as someone in this industry is to always keep the doors open because somebody opened them for me,” she concluded.
