Andi Manzano on "raising kids who we want to be world changers"

Andi Manzano also known as Andi-9, was known as a radio jockey and television host. Andi rose to fame as a disc jockey at FM radio station Magic 89.9. She also became an MTV VJ when she won an MTV VJ hunt in the Philippines.

She is currently still a DJ on Magic 89.9 teaming up with Riki Flores and Delamar Arias for The Mother Show, a program tackling motherhood and family life.

Now that she's a wife (to GP Reyes) and a mom (two beautiful girls, Olivia and Amelia), she vlogs about her life on her YouTube channel.

The Asian Parent was able to catch her talk about motherhood and vlogging at the recent Moms' Edition of Youtube Fan Fest.

What an ideal mom should be

Andi Manzano who's now a mom-of-two, would always see to it that she gives her best as a mom to her beautiful girls and her inspiration for doing so is her mom, Rose Manzano.

"For me, when it comes to inspiration, it's my mom. She's my inspiration—you know I'm becoming like her."

"Magkamukha na nga kami, e," she laughs.

The radio DJ continues, "The way she disciplines us, the way she encourages us, the way she inspires. Parang it's very inspiring and I just wanna be the way she is—as a wife, as a mom, as a friend, so she's really my inspiration and she's the person that when I have problems with my kids, 'Mom what do I do,' she's the person I run to."

Parenting philosophy

Andi also shares that when it comes to parenting philosophy there's no podcast nor books to be followed, but just really guides.

She says, "Parenting philosophy for me, I just, I mean all of us, we want to become the best mom that you can be, di ba? Parang your image of a mom, parang feeling niya she has it all together, di ba? Parang, 'Ay, kaya niya 'yan, kaya niyan,' but when you become a mom, 'What am I doing?' di ba?"

"So you question yourself like, 'What am I gonna do? Am I doing this right?' But then you know, you just try to be better, you try to do your best in raising your kids. You know for me it's just really raising kids who we want to be world changers," she continues.

She adds, "I always tell them ever since the start, even GP when they were young, 'You know you're gonna be smart, you're gonna be kind, you're gonna have a big heart.' So it's just really encouraging them every day and I feel like when you keep saying that you're gonna believe it and their gonna live it out."

How important is prayer in the way she raise her kids

As a mom and wife, Andi Manzano is pretty vocal with her faith and she believes that prayer is a vital part of her raising her kids.

She affirms, "Prayer is very important. I think it's... for me, one of the things that I want to do when I'm frustrated, when I'm happy, when I feel lonely—it's one of the things that I also want to pass on to my kids."

She adds, "Even at such a young age Olivia would always be like, 'Mom we forgot to do something' like (me) 'What?' (Olivia says) 'Pray!' Yeah so it's nice when you know parang those are the things na talagang nakakataba ng puso, when you see how you want your kids to grow."

How to start your own vlog in 4 easy tips

Andi Manzano started her own vlog 5 years ago. She has 104K subscribers already on her channel.

The mom-of-two mostly vlogs about her passion for life, her faith, motherhood, make-up, cooking, some reviews and a little bit of her and her family every day.

Andi shares 4 easy tips to all first-time YouTubers who would want to start recording and uploading. She simply says, "Just do it. So now kasi when you start a vlog your like would people actually watch this, is it really relevant, am I making sense—there's so many things, but you know what, just do it. If it makes you happy, do it!"

She continues, "And next would probably be you don't have to have the perfect gadget. I started with filming on my phone and it all started there, because I had a kid, I didn't know what camera was in, I didn't know what vlogging camera to use. So I started with my phone, because again it was used to document everything."

"Next would probably be, you have to want to learn. Because it's no joke to edit, it's no joke, to all the vloggers, right? Late nights, sometimes I edit at 1AM when the kids are sleeping. So just be open to learning, to editing—and my sisters were the ones who actually taught me how to edit."

Lastly, she believes, "Just be yourself! Yeah be yourself, di ba? I think people already see through the lens if you're being plastic, if you're true, or if you're pretending. For me just be yourself—be kalog, be whatever, be funny, I don't know—just be yourself. I think that's the most important thing."

Also read: Judy Travis on vlogging, motherhood, and vlogging about motherhood!