Member Directory

Bles Chavez-Bernstein is a Filipino-American soprano, poet, and author of Without Rhyme, a poet’s story, and In The Typhoon’s Eye, a story of childhood and leaving home. Bles has performed solo concerts in various countries including the U.S., Thailand, Philippines, Germany, and South Korea. In the last eighteen years, proceeds from her performances have supported advocacies for women and children worldwide. Bles has also devoted many years in the art and vocation of nursing, working as a registered nurse in the U.S. both as bedside clinician and director of nursing, in two clinical specialties: mental health and addictions nursing. Currently she is working on her second collection of poetry, The Sensuous Healer. For more information on Chavez-Bernstein’s works, visit: www.blessingingpoet.com

Karessa Malaya ( Nueva Ecija) is a writer based in Madrid, Spain. Her first book of poems and short stories, “Cosechas del insomnio” (Diversidad Literaria) was published in 2021. She loves joining poetry recitals and dancing, but sings badly for a Filipina. She is currently studying photography while mothering her son Leo and thriving in the former colonizer’s land.

Dunia Mayrit lives in Cairo, Egypt for years now. A fan of culture and arts, Dunia spends time appreciating God's and man's creations.

Francine Alessandra Vito is a writer, serial thrifter, and an advocate for the slow living lifestyle. You can find her sustainable fashion and lifestyle posts on her Insagram account, @francinealessandra17.

Louise Baterna is a writer and former lifestyle journalist in Manila. She lives in Brussels and works as Chef Du Cuisine at the Residence of the German Delegation to the NATO.

Yingying Kooyman is married and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. She loves to travel and the heightened experiences and challenges that immersing in unfamiliar cultures, languages, structures brings. She realizes that people of different cultures share the same things: love for family and life, and that overall people are kind. An avid fan of Rafa Nadal, she gardens, loves jazz, and learning new languages. She collects cookbooks and dabbles in photography. She is a lifelong advocate for children’s causes and social justice.

Ella Assenberg Van Eijsden and her son visited the Philippines in 2018. She fell in love with the country that she wants to go back. She lives in Meppel, the Netherlands.

Antonio J. Montalván II is a social anthropologist and museum professional who writes opinion essays for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Vera Files, PressOne.PH, and Al Jazeera Digital. He also travels the world occasionally in his study of material cultures.

Raymond Unico is a Filipino queer living in the Netherlands. He completed his master´s degree in gender studies at Utrecht University. He is particularly interested in issues around race, gender and sexualities. School of thoughts such as critical race theory, postcolonial theory, and posthumanism are influential in his works and mosed of thinking. Raymond enjoys reading, writing, and learning new things.