Bianca Gonzalez on the joys of parenting and podcasting
What’s a typical day for mom and Kapamilya host Bianca Gonzalez-Intal?
For Bianca, as a mother of two girls, Lucia, 6, and Carmen, 3, having a work-from-home setup means more time to take care of her children.
“I think the beauty sa work ko is hindi ako 9 to 5 (job). Because of that, nadadala ko yung kids ko sa school, hinahatid ko sila,” she told The STAR during the Spotify Creator Mixdown event recently held in Taguig City. “Tapos kapag times na may work ako, buti na lang my husband din hindi 9 to 5, siya naman ang sumusundo sa kids.”
The 39-year-old mom is married to retired Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) cager JC Intal.
“The day is just filled with quality time with them and also work. Until now, work-from-home pa rin ang karamihan talaga ng work ko so whenever I need (to) have interviews, whenever I need to make interviews, it’s still at home. Bihira lang yung mga in-person events. So, I’m really able to schedule well,” she said.
Bianca and JC are hands-on parents to their daughters. As Bianca shared, “Yes (even JC is very hands-on), including the preparation of baon in the morning. ‘Pag-take ng temperature, lahat, paghanda ng bag, super hands-on. My kids are young, 6 and 3. So, I feel that this is the time na ang bilis mawala na maliit sila. So, I try to make the most of this age. Kasi ‘pag matanda na sila, ‘wa na sila care sa akin. ‘Pag may sarili na silang life.”
When it comes to disciplining their kids, Bianca admitted that she is the stricter parent as compared to her husband. “Because I guess daddy siya and we have two girls so parang konting hingi lang ng mga anak namin, he would give in. So, yes ako yung strict pero sobra akong malambing. Very loving, very malambing. Very hands-on and very strict.”
Aside from fulfilling her duties as a mother, Bianca is also busy juggling her time between her podcast channel, producing videos on YouTube, hosting ABS-CBN’s CinemaNews and some side events as content creator.
When queried if she thought of doing acting again, she replied, “Naku hindi na. Sa almost 19 years ko, lagi akong tinatanong mag-a-act ka pa ba? At this point, parang hindi na talaga. Mas enjoy kong interview-hin na lang yung mga bida ng pelikula kesa sa ako.”
Through her podcast titled Paano Ba ‘To, Bianca gets to share personal life lessons and advice to her listeners.
On why it is important for celebrities and showbiz personalities to have a podcast, she explained, “I think it all will start from the objective, I guess, of why a celebrity or someone from entertainment starts a podcast. I think one thing in common na narinig ko sa local podcasters is they really started because gusto lang mag-chikahan, gustong mag-share ng stories.”
“So it was the same with me. Although with me, it already existed as a book and then a video series bago siya maging podcast so I think it’s a platform for everyone who are interested sa mahabang usapan, which is the nature of the podcast,” she furthered.
She pointed out how podcasts allow for a deeper dive into the topics at hand.
“We are used to short videos, snackable (content) but a podcast kasi mas deep dive siya. You really get to spend time with the one you’re listening to. So kung yung ang goal ng isang celebrity na mas ma-explore yung mahabang usapan then definitely a podcast is a great platform,” she said.
For those who are new to the world of podcasting, Bianca offered, “If they try listening to an episode na engage na engage sila, either sa topic or dun sa host, I think mae-enjoy nila yun. I think it’s so fresh na mahabang usapan naman. Hindi lang yung laging mabilis-mabilis. Yung napa-practice din yung attention span. Yung slowness ng isang totoong kwentuhan.”
“My topics in my podcast are things that I’m really interested in, things that I really want to learn about… ‘Pag yung pinapakinggan ko sobrang interested dun sa pinag-uusapan nila, I feel like I’m into it, too. So parang nahahawa nung energy ng listener dun sa energy nung conversation,” she added.
Meanwhile, Spotify’s head of Studios for Southeast Asia Carl Zuzarte shared that the current trend in podcasting is about love and relationships, entertainment and culture and wellness.
In the last 12 months, according to a media release, these are among the top Spotify podcast shows: Barangay Love Stories, Dear MOR: The Podcast, Charot Readings with Macoy Dubs & Show Suzuki, skypodcast and Punchline with Alex Calleja.
Podcasting is “really (a) good reflection of the entertainment industry,” Zuzarte pointed out. “A lot of podcasters talk about what is happening, a big movie, what’s happening in sports and what’s happening in the news. So podcasting is a good mirror of that and because of all these conversations, it’s also shaping the industry, right? New trends (and) new conversations come from podcasting and are reflected back into the media. That’s how we see it.”
It will “help grow the creator economy,” he further told this paper. “Because this is another way now. Not everyone could be a certain kind of creator, this is a new kind of creator that we can target and if you look at the number of creators that you see coming from sort of like even students, professionals, this is just another opportunity to grow the industry even more.”
On the future of podcasting, he noted, “In the Philippines, we will see. Given the trajectory to reach markets which have been podcasting for a long time, that means you see more creators are (into) podcasting (and) more listeners coming to podcasting. It’s as simple as that.”
“You see the key genres continue to grow. And you also find new genres popping up in the future. You see Spotify (is) innovating (and) who knows what else is gonna come up. We just see more listeners, more creators and more engagements in podcasting,” added Zuzarte.
- Latest
- Trending
