DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – A Filipina who has regularly joined pageants in her province to help bring food on the table now counts among the Filipino community’s popular vloggers here, with themes ranging from the typical Pinoy expat life, as well as the city’s touristy places and diverse cuisines. Rechel Hoco, 23 of Bongabong, Oriental Mindoro and the youngest of four siblings, said she routinely joined the beauty contests to earn money and help with the family’s expenses. “Noong mga panahon po na ‘yun, yung pagsali sa barangay pageant, para sa iba, ay parang katuwaan lang po.
Pero sa akin, sa murang edad na 13, naging trabaho na po sya,” she said. (Back in those days, many joined pageants for fun. Not me, at a young age of 13, it was a job.
) Vlog Hoco has been vlogging back in the Philippines. It took her a while, she said, for Filipinos in Dubai to notice her work. “Yung mga contents ko hindi pumapatok nuong una.
May mga views naman po. Pero galing sa Pilipinas po madalas, at hindi sa local audience ng mga Pinoy dito sa Dubai,” said Hoco, who arrived in 2022 and whose first day job was at an events company. (My contents were not making good hits at first.
I got views but mostly from the Philippines, not among the local audience of Filipinos here in Dubai.) She finally cracked it in July last year when she featured the use of clackers, or lato-lato in Filipino, which was trending in the Philippines at the time. “I bought one and used it for the first .