It’s been a month since we launched Kate Was Here, the travel show produced by Plus Network on the Kumu app.

I’ve done TV hosting, event hosting, and podcasting, but live streaming is a whole different ballgame. It took a while to get my flow, but I finally got it. I have friends who have been making money livestreaming on various apps since the pandemic started, and they told me it’s not as easy as it looks.

At first I thought, how hard could it be? It’s probably the same as running your Gen Z-centric social media apps like Tiktok, except that it’s an hour and not 15 seconds long.

Boy was I in for a challenge! I learned to set up an aesthetic backdrop (Thanks to my neon sign sponsored by MF Plus Designs!), maximize all my existing vlogging gear (lighting is key), and multitask several things behind the scenes while hosting and interacting with the audience of my live stream. I admit my first episode was shaky, but I polished the succeeding episodes.

Watch my highlights:

As I prepared my weekly segments, I realized it’s difficult to talk about travel when you live in the Philippines. As you know, our government isn’t handling the pandemic as well as New Zealand, Australia, and Taiwan. It’s tricky to promote Philippine tourism while encouraging people to be responsible and listen to science and safety protocols. I’m a vaccinated pro-science traveler who stays mostly at home, does the occasional travel for my mental well-being, and at the same time, I want to help resuscitate our economy, especially the food and tourism sector. It’s hard to balance responsible travel, doing my part in keeping the COVID numbers down, and supporting the food and tourism industry, but I’m trying my best.

Catch Kate Was Here on the Kumu app (under Plus Network) every Friday at 8pm (UTC+8).