Maria Irene Aserios / Irene a.k.a. Mindanaoan is a multi-awarded blogger, USA-experienced and seasoned social media specialist, practising publicist, content creator and vlogger, newspaper columnist, founding director of the Creator and Influencer Council of the Philippines, Google Business Group – Women lead, traveler, BTS Army and a proud relief operations volunteer.
She is also an O visa holder, a visa granted by the government of the United States of America to people with extraordinary skills and who have risen to the top of their chosen field. Her visa was granted for her extraordinary skills on social media, business, and blogging.
Currently, she runs a social media and public relations agency, MISA PR and Social Media, and is a founding director of the Creator and Influencer Council of the Philippines (cicp.com.ph) She is the Director for Youth and Academe. She is also the 2023 President of the CDO Bloggers Network, home of award-winning bloggers in Cagayan de Oro and neighboring areas.
Mindanaoan is also a regular resource person for social media and blogging related conferences/workshops here and abroad.
In 2012, Mindanaoan completed a US Government Department of State-sponsored International Visitor Leadership Program for global leaders. She toured the U.S. for about a month for her IVLP experience. The IVLP is a United States of America Department of State-sponsored program for U.S. Embassy-nominated global leaders (one cannot apply for the fellowship, the US Embassy has to choose you). Her program was for social media, digital media and how these affect the US elections.
Irene has landed on the 3rd spot on the “Top New York Lifestyle Blogs To Follow 2022″ list. Her Mindanaoan.com blog also landed on the same list in 2021, 2020, 2019 and 2018. She also bagged a Top CDO Blog award from the CDO ICT Council plus both the Mindanao Blogger Of The Year 2013 and Best Lifestyle Blog awards in the 2013 Mindanao Blog Awards. Recently, Acquisition International – London’s Business Excellence Awards 2020 bestowed her the Most Inspirational Travel Blogger award.
Maria Irene Aserios a.k.a. Mindanaoan has also fetched awards from the Philippine Blog Awards and CDO Blog Awards. She was declared as a finalist in both Social Media Advocate and Blogger of the Year categories in the 2016 Globe Media Excellence Awards. Her other blog also landed on the “Top 25 Philippine Travel Blogs” for both 2018 and 2019.
She is the founder of a bloggers group and social media club. She is also an active member of several online media, bloggers and social media enthusiasts groups all over the world.
She bagged a Top CDO Blog award from the CDO ICT Council. In 2013, she was declared the Mindanao Blogger of the Year and also received the Best Lifestyle Blog award in the 2013 Mindanao Blog Awards. She has also fetched awards from the Philippine Blog Awards and the CDO Blog Awards.
She is an official member of the International Bloggers Association. In the Philippines, she founded the Bukidnon Bloggers and is the blogger behind a top ranking community blog. She is also a part of the Mindanao Bloggers as well as the CDO Bloggers.
Mindanaoan.com is also a regular speaker on social media, online publicity and blogging. Some of her speaking engagements included one in Kuala Lumpur for Social Media Week Malaysia, Google Business Group – Women sessions, Social Media Day celebrations, school events and Google Days. She has also served as resource speaker in many events including those for Google, NGOs, US Embassy and Malaysia Social Media Week in Kuala Lumpur. Her most recent speaking engagements were during the Davao Camera Club 37th Anniversary (keynote speech) and before Meranao students and teachers of Masiricampo Abantas Marawi. The topics were about social media and how it can foster peace, community engagement and uphold human rights.
She has a weekly column dubbed “Mindanaoan Meets World” on Gold Star Daily, Mindanao’s largest newspaper. She is also a proud brand ambassador of the “I Heart CDO” campaign of the Islands Group. She has worked with numerous brands all over the world and is an ambassador of several globally-recognized brands and businesses.
Mindanaoan is available for work and travel. Contact: [email protected]
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I believe I am a child of Mindanao, Philippines. I was born and raised in Davao City and have lived in two other areas in Mindanao – Cagayan de Oro City and Bukidnon. Mindanao is my native land. This is where I belong, feel secure and am at peace. To be in Mindanao is to feel the embrace of a warm, soft blanket.
I am a chronic traveler – you most probably will notice this in my blog posts. I travel a lot I should be called the-one-with-itchy-feet!
I am drawn to human interest stories and I have a couple of advocacies that I am absolutely fond of.
I have traveled to other countries outside of the Philippines:
United States of America
South Korea (and a side trip to North Korea)
Singapore
Hong Kong (SAR, China)
Macau (SAR, China)
Shenzhen, China
Malaysia
Thailand
Japan
I love taking on new challenges and discovering new places. I love design, computers, fashion, culture, entertainment and exotic food.
Put me in an island with just a pen and paper and I will be fine.
Currently, I provide public relations, events management, marketing and advertising services. I can also provide content creation services, social media strategy, online publicity and branding services. If you want to know more, just CONTACT ME
Apart from this blog, I also share my thoughts, rants and raves, ideas and interesting photos and links via these social networking accounts:
Please feel free to follow me:
Twitter
Facebook
Pinterest
Instagram
IMPORTANT:
All content, images and other material found in this blog called “Mindanaoan” are mine and are fruits of my original intellectual creations unless otherwise indicated. No one is allowed to copy, redistribute, quote, feature or transmit this in any form or means without prior written consent from me. Once I give you the authority to do so, you are required to give due credit to the Mindanaoan blog by stating both my blog title and a direct, working link to this blog (http://mindanaoan.com)
Hi from a fellow Mindanaoan. I’m from Iligan City, but is now based in Manila. 🙂
Am happy to have stumbled upon your blog, and look forward to reading your stories about Mindanao.
I agree with you on this: “I have learned to become more patient. I realized that everything happens for a reason and each and every one of us has that perfect time. You just have to wait.”
All the best!:)
@meikah – Thank you for dropping by! My blog just turned one and it’s currently being upgraded/customized so my apologies for the mess 😀 I’m so glad to meet a fellow Mindanaoan — I see you’re a very proud mom! Being one must be the greatest feeling in the world. Salamat and let’s keep these blog visits a habit, yes? Ayo ayo!
nice blog. black and gold evokes a nice sense of mystery. the wild and the beautiful!
oh, hey look, you have a blog (thanks fb). pabookmark nga.
Macky!
This is a nice blog, and i really echo your sentiment about Mindanao being a warm soft blanket. Yes it is my friend…. warm and forgiving, as it is wild and beautiful. A land for hearts both warm and brave, its kaleidoscope of color, culture and language weaving a tapestry unlike no other place in the country. Mindanao is kind to those who appreciate its rugged charm and diversity, holding endless wonder.
@john – thank you for your kind words! balik balik ha? 🙂
surely. to be at peace and feel at peace amid this wild, imperfect and sometimes violent but truly beautiful land is god’s grace. Wala’y sayop ang tawo nga naa sa kasingkasing ang mga damgo ug bahandi.
Mao! Salamat 🙂
hi there..just dropped by and i’m from mindanao too..c: nice blog you got and by the way, i never knew there’s a new club in cdo opening this fri at cdo until i saw it in your post..haha..probably be going..anyway, i will be frequenting this site..c:
Hi Wella! Salamat! 🙂 Were you able to attend the opening of the club? Hope to meet you soon! I frequently visit CDO 🙂
thanks for you guys for the love of our country, our land. we are all one to probe to the world that mindanao is our land not for the interest of any political abuses to prevent more conflict problem in mindanao… yes for peace proccess
@Julfagdir – hear, hear! Yes for peace!
Nice to see this site. I was born and raised in Luzon but migrated here in Davao 15 years ago. I now considered myself as a Dabawenyo. My kids were born and studied here in Davao and considered myself lucky fortunate for settling here in this great city.
Good luck in this endeavor for providing the real picture of the island of Mindanao from a real Mindanawan perspective and not from a Metro Manilan perspective. Sa Dabaw pa, Ato ni bay!
@pinoysatimog – Thank you! I’m pretty proud of this Mindanaoan blog talaga. I’m a Dabawenya myself and I’m glad to know that you’re having a blast in Davao. What do you do?
hello. would you know anyone who can do internet marketing?
@John Tria – yup. I know lots. Please feel free to email me at mindanaoan (at) gmail. com to let me know what you require.
hi miss mindanao-if u happen in bacolod drop me a note beforehand ok?see u!
Thanks shellah!
morofriends.com visit po kayo atin po ito Moro
Hi,
i am blessed that I found your website about Mindanao. I am also very passionate about that area and I am travelling the Philippine islands – and especially the “land of the promise” – every time I have saved enough money. As a German with a Philippine mother from Mindanao, I started to discover my second home five years ago, and I am always happy to read and get to know more about Mindanao;)
Hey John thanks for visiting my humble blog. Where’s your mother from?
@john-its good to know that u havent forgotten your rootS! as for my self, havent been to mindanao but i heard from my mom that my maternal grandpa has relatives there in davao.wish i can meet them too!!!pls stay connected with the pulse of mindanao!!mabuhay and god bless on your trips back home!!
Hi,
she originally comes from the mountainside near Ozamiz City. I am there every now and then, but I prefer places like CDO, Camiguin and Siargao. But I was also able to visit Bukidnon, and I was really amazed by that area. Met some guys from the Talaandig tribe there and I am planning to come back;)
Hello John,
Cool. Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you’re back. I’m often at the Bukidnon-CDO area =)
Nice to meet you and thank you for visiting Mindanaoan.com!
~ Irene
oy miss mindanao-i hope u have booked a flight to bacolod na. happy trip! dont forget to drop me a line at my facebook ok?
I went to Mindanao for a week a couple of weeks ago moved around from General Santos City, Davao and CDO all in one week. It was awesome! From Davao we took a bus to CDO it was for 8 hours but I can’t imagine why most of our kababayans are scared of the place. It was just amazing. A lot of the locals there were asking if we were scared. I told them Bakit? Nasa bansa ko parin ako ah. I think the media sometimes is just going overboard with reporting.
@Angela – Glad to know that you had fun in Mindanao! That’s one of the main reasons why I put up this http://www.Mindanaoan.com blog – to let others know how safe it is here and that we welcome tourists!
Yeah, that is why I am currently also setting up a new website about Mindanao for all Germans: http://www.minanao-reisen.de/ 😉 We have to show people that Mindanao is much more than the often negative things media are spreading about the land of promise!
@John – Hey, thanks for sharing. Good luck with that 🙂
Hi, I somehow misspelled it…the right domain-name is http://www.mindanao-reisen.de/ – maybe you could change that one? Thx alot and go on with your good work here!
@John – thanks! your link is now live.
hi thanks for setting up a site that can show and explain that its safe to visit mindanao . i myself have a prenotion that its not safe to go there so i miss the opportunity to explore the place. hopefully in the future if i have the opportunity i can visit the great mindanao. thanks again folks!
Hi Shellah! Thank you for your message. It really is very safe here in Mindanao. Although of course I won’t deny that there’s an element of danger as well…but then again all other places naman have that 🙂 Do visit Mindanao soon!
hi 4me mindanao is the most beuatiful and riches land hir in the philippines…wala q naanak diri but dri nku nidako….go Mindanaons..God and Peace be with us…..
@Pitch – mismo! padayon mindanao 🙂
this is one cool site.keep writing more articles.
Thank you!
Hi. I stumbled on your site while looking for information on the new Abreeza mall in Davao. I really had to comment on your site because I was inspired to blog more. Thank you for being an inspiration. From a fellow Mindanaoan.
Wow! This comment made my day 🙂 Thank you very much!
Hello Ma’am,
I was your follower on Twitter for a while (@junameeh). I didn’t know you were a blogger then. I just noticed that you had strong convictions about helping out in the recent flooding in Luzon. You also helped me out on my boxing query. I appreciate that. Now, here I am in your blog and I’m really inspired to take blogging more seriously. I have this personal/fashion/lifestyle/advice blog for a while now. It really doesn’t have a specific niche. I basically just publish my essays on subjects that strike me at a certain moment. I am an Accountancy student so, I don’t really have much time to write posts.
I hope you can also visit my blog. I know it’s not as popular as yours but you inspired me to take it a step further. Do you have any advice for me regarding how to market my blog? Please visit it and tell me what you think.
Regards,
Juna
Padayon, Mindanaoan. Keep up the good work in promoting our beautiful islands. 🙂
Thank you Miss Jojie!
Hi Maria. I am from Mindanao, too and studied in Davao City. Your story is so inspiring! I am in deep awe of how far you have come. Truly amazing! Thank you for being a PROUD Filipina.
Lots of love,
Denise