Bringing the Filipino brand of "kilig" to the world

CNN Philippines

A Filipino-American author is bringing the Filipino brand of "kilig" to the world. Anna Gomez who also goes by the pen name Christine Brae has captured the hearts of readers around the world with her unique storytelling and take on love.  Let's get to know more about this multi-awarded author and a leading female figure in the global advertising industry.   Anna is joining us right now all the way from Indiana in the US.   Visit our website for more #NewsYouCanTrust: https://www.cnnphilippines.com/  Follow our social media pages:  • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CNNPhilippines • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cnnphilippines/ • Twitter: https://twitter.com/cnnphilippines

Transcript

00:00 Now, a Filipino-American author is bringing the Filipino brand of Kilik to the world.

00:05 Ana Gomez, who also goes by the pen name Christine Bray, has captured the hearts of readers around

00:12 the world with her unique storytelling and the take on love.

00:15 Now, let's get to know more about how this multi-awarded author and a leading female

00:19 figure in global advertising did it all.

00:23 Ana is joining us right now all the way from Indiana in the US.

00:26 Good morning to you, Ana.

00:27 How are you?

00:28 Hi, Christine.

00:29 Thanks for having me.

00:31 Well, you know, Ana, let's introduce yourself to people that are not yet familiar with you.

00:37 Let's take a trip down memory lane and, you know, figure out how all this started for

00:42 you.

00:43 For someone that was so used to planning things out in her life, a lot of things happened

00:49 that were quite unexpected, okay?

00:51 So you were born and raised here in the Philippines.

00:53 You finished your studies here.

00:55 You graduated, well, you went to Assumption and then you went to La Salle and then you

01:00 managed two restaurants and then in 1995, is that correct, you decided to move to the

01:05 States.

01:06 You're a certified public accountant.

01:09 I mean, a lot going on.

01:10 Chief financial officer of several ad agency and now, oh, you are such an amazing writer,

01:19 author.

01:20 I mean, how did this all happen?

01:24 I don't know.

01:25 I'm still trying to figure that out.

01:27 Everything was really unexpected.

01:28 I had a career that was going well as a CPA in Chicago and I decided to write my first

01:38 book when my mom passed away in 2010 and the rest is history.

01:42 I self-published my first book and I've had seven books after that.

01:48 So you never really planned these things.

01:51 Yeah.

01:52 But I mean, okay, so what prompted you though?

01:55 You said that you were going through a lot in your life and writing has always been some

02:00 sort of therapy for you, but growing up, it was never something that you said, "Oh, I

02:05 really want to be a writer maybe one day."

02:08 Was that ever in the picture at all?

02:11 No, it really wasn't.

02:13 I really just had so much emotion about losing my mom at such an early age and I really just

02:19 wanted to write.

02:20 And you know, I'm here in the States.

02:21 Everybody knows how the Filipino culture is or at least they don't know.

02:25 They never took time to even learn it or find out.

02:28 So I wanted to incorporate the Filipino culture, my growing up in the Philippines with what

02:33 happened and everything else.

02:36 And at that time, I think the indie romance genre was just booming.

02:41 So I decided to write my first romance novel.

02:44 I self-published it and then just kept publishing after that.

02:48 Tell me a little bit about Pinoy Kilig.

02:52 I mean, what is it and how different is it from other romance?

02:56 I mean, love is love.

02:58 But how did you tackle romance?

03:02 I really, it's more of a woman's fiction that I write about.

03:08 I've written books when I was going through a midlife crisis.

03:11 I've written it when I first started working.

03:12 I've written them from experiences of traveling.

03:16 So it's more that and then obviously there's always a romance factor because everybody

03:20 loves romance and I'm a hopeless romantic.

03:22 But it's more a woman's journey because there's a lot of things that go into a story about

03:28 a person's growth or transformation or relationships, you know, more than just really just more

03:36 than just romance.

03:39 And also about the journey.

03:40 Go ahead.

03:41 No, I said I hope that makes sense.

03:44 Yes, it does.

03:45 But I mean, a lot of evolution might have happened when you first started your first

03:52 book, which is The Light in Your Wound.

03:55 You started that and you wanted to walk away.

03:56 You said, OK, I'm just going to put this out there.

03:59 This is my therapy.

04:00 This is what I need to do.

04:01 And I'm done.

04:02 And you did it all under a pen name of Christine Bray.

04:06 But that didn't happen, though.

04:08 You decided, well, maybe not.

04:11 Let's continue this journey on.

04:13 Yeah.

04:14 No, it was actually somebody who picked it up and set up a Facebook page for me.

04:19 And that's really how it started.

04:20 There were a lot of women who, you know, just really identified with the story and they

04:25 built a fan page.

04:26 And they said, you know, that story is not over.

04:29 You need to continue it.

04:30 And so I actually did it for the fan base.

04:32 I did the second book and then I just couldn't stop writing.

04:36 It was just something that became second nature to me.

04:40 So how many books did you write under your pen name?

04:44 Six or five?

04:46 No, let's see.

04:48 I don't even remember.

04:49 Four.

04:50 Four under my pen name.

04:51 All right.

04:52 All right.

04:53 OK, let's see.

04:54 Now, each one of those books had a certain theme.

04:59 So the first one was to help you get over your mom.

05:03 And then the second one kind of closed that story out.

05:07 And what happened to the third, fourth and fifth and all the other books that happened

05:12 along the way?

05:13 The third was a midlife crisis.

05:14 The fourth was a part of my life where I just felt really hopeless, you know, not because

05:21 of anything, just, you know, it comes a point in a woman's life where you're like questioning,

05:25 like, where am I?

05:26 You know, it was before, right after I turned 50, you know, what have I done?

05:31 And then the other books started.

05:34 I became more comfortable in my career.

05:36 And as a spokesperson for diversity, I became more comfortable with who I was.

05:41 And then the leadership role kind of took over.

05:43 And I wanted to write about those things.

05:45 So I thought, you know, I should have a voice.

05:48 And I started using that as my platform, which is why I switched to my real name, because

05:53 I felt comfortable enough to come out and say, you know, I'm writing this in support

05:57 of my culture, in support of my life, in support of everything that I've gone through.

06:01 Okay, so you switched with which book?

06:04 Did you switch with your collaboration with Christopher?

06:10 Was that when you decided to like, okay, let's take on my new real name?

06:13 No, actually, that was funny.

06:17 I was gonna take a break because I was gonna focus on my career because at that time, my

06:21 career was just blowing up at the same time.

06:24 And my agent actually said, Hey, Walmart is looking for material.

06:28 Why don't you write this really simple, really easy book?

06:31 It's formulaic, it's got a start, it's got an end, it's got characters that kind of do

06:37 the same thing, the storyline is the same.

06:40 And then just by, you know, by the grace of God, I was able to meet Christopher through

06:44 a friend and we hit it off really well.

06:47 So we agreed to write the books together.

06:49 So now is it option for a movie?

06:51 So is that really happening?

06:53 Yeah, the strike just keeps moving on.

06:56 The strike really stopped everything.

06:59 And I hear now there's a backlog of things in the pipeline.

07:03 But yes, that's still continuing.

07:05 We're still working on that.

07:07 Okay, so so this book that you wrote with Christopher is like a Kona series, a book,

07:12 right?

07:13 And it's like a five series book.

07:14 Aside from that, but you also did a book on your own, My Goodbye Girl.

07:20 And you know, this is like, totally on your own.

07:23 How different would you say with My Goodbye Girl be from the first few books that you've

07:29 come out with?

07:32 It's the first one where it's officially Anna Gomez.

07:35 So it's a little less, how do I say, like, maybe less sexy.

07:42 It's, it's, it's got a bigger message.

07:46 It's it's about the life that I lived, like traveling and meeting people and building

07:51 relationships all over the world.

07:54 But it still has the same lessons and messages, you know, the brevity of life and, you know,

07:59 just how women, you know, us women, how we transform and evolve over the years.

08:06 For those that are interested in getting that book, I mean, it is the fall winner, My Goodbye

08:10 Girl is a fall winner in 2023.

08:14 Is that right?

08:16 Yes, it won last year.

08:18 Yeah.

08:19 Well, congratulations to you.

08:20 I mean, so all of these, as I said earlier, you're somebody that likes to plan your life.

08:23 I mean, you're so set with the numbers and everything has to have its, you know, start

08:27 and end.

08:28 And then all of a sudden, these things keep popping up in between and pushing you left

08:32 and right.

08:33 But, you know, making you also, you know, grow as a person and discover another side

08:39 of yourself that you probably never thought you realize, how do you balance it off?

08:44 I mean, where are you headed now in 2024?

08:47 You have this flourishing global corporate career, hero of, you know, you were awarded

08:53 a hero for all that you do for women in the global arena.

08:59 And then you come up with this wonderful story of your life, of sharing the Filipino culture

09:05 all around the world.

09:06 Where are we going, left or right?

09:08 I mean, how are we going to balance this off in 2024?

09:13 I'm actually thinking of toning down a little bit, but I think a lot of it is, you know,

09:18 somebody in my early career told me, if you really love something, you'll find a way to

09:22 do it.

09:23 And I think that's how I've been living my life for the past few years.

09:27 I've just really been prioritizing things, prioritizing things that are important to

09:31 me and my job most especially.

09:34 And then things just fall into place.

09:37 And I have a really big planner.

09:39 So I write everything down and make sure that I have a schedule.

09:43 There's only 24 hours in a day.

09:45 So that's the downside.

09:48 So which side are you going to taper off a little bit, the global side or the writing

09:52 side?

09:53 Because you still have a few more books coming out in the series and a movie, you have to

09:57 write the screenplay.

09:58 Well, we hope to have you back here.

10:03 I think I'm very lucky I have a publisher that does all that for me.

10:06 And that helps me out in that sense because they know my priorities, my job.

10:11 I really, really like to slow down in the sense that probably just take more time for

10:16 myself this year.

10:17 Just to be with the family, be with the kids.

10:20 My son just got engaged.

10:22 And so I want to enjoy that this year.

10:24 So I'll tell mommy duty calls.

10:26 Well, thank you so much.

10:28 We hope to have you back in the Philippines.

10:29 You're back here 2015.

10:30 But we hope to have you back here again for more book signing and to be able to chat with

10:35 you here on set more about your books and about your life and what else we can expect

10:41 from Ana Gomez.

10:42 Thank you so much for being with us here on CNN Philippines.

10:45 Congratulations to you.

10:46 Thank you.

10:46 you.

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