00:00 Now, a Filipino-American author is bringing the Filipino brand of Kilik to the world.
00:05 Ana Gomez, who also goes by the pen name Christine Bray, has captured the hearts of readers around
00:12 the world with her unique storytelling and the take on love.
00:15 Now, let's get to know more about how this multi-awarded author and a leading female
00:19 figure in global advertising did it all.
00:23 Ana is joining us right now all the way from Indiana in the US.
00:26 Good morning to you, Ana.
00:27 How are you?
00:28 Hi, Christine.
00:29 Thanks for having me.
00:31 Well, you know, Ana, let's introduce yourself to people that are not yet familiar with you.
00:37 Let's take a trip down memory lane and, you know, figure out how all this started for
00:42 you.
00:43 For someone that was so used to planning things out in her life, a lot of things happened
00:49 that were quite unexpected, okay?
00:51 So you were born and raised here in the Philippines.
00:53 You finished your studies here.
00:55 You graduated, well, you went to Assumption and then you went to La Salle and then you
01:00 managed two restaurants and then in 1995, is that correct, you decided to move to the
01:05 States.
01:06 You're a certified public accountant.
01:09 I mean, a lot going on.
01:10 Chief financial officer of several ad agency and now, oh, you are such an amazing writer,
01:19 author.
01:20 I mean, how did this all happen?
01:24 I don't know.
01:25 I'm still trying to figure that out.
01:27 Everything was really unexpected.
01:28 I had a career that was going well as a CPA in Chicago and I decided to write my first
01:38 book when my mom passed away in 2010 and the rest is history.
01:42 I self-published my first book and I've had seven books after that.
01:48 So you never really planned these things.
01:51 Yeah.
01:52 But I mean, okay, so what prompted you though?
01:55 You said that you were going through a lot in your life and writing has always been some
02:00 sort of therapy for you, but growing up, it was never something that you said, "Oh, I
02:05 really want to be a writer maybe one day."
02:08 Was that ever in the picture at all?
02:11 No, it really wasn't.
02:13 I really just had so much emotion about losing my mom at such an early age and I really just
02:19 wanted to write.
02:20 And you know, I'm here in the States.
02:21 Everybody knows how the Filipino culture is or at least they don't know.
02:25 They never took time to even learn it or find out.
02:28 So I wanted to incorporate the Filipino culture, my growing up in the Philippines with what
02:33 happened and everything else.
02:36 And at that time, I think the indie romance genre was just booming.
02:41 So I decided to write my first romance novel.
02:44 I self-published it and then just kept publishing after that.
02:48 Tell me a little bit about Pinoy Kilig.
02:52 I mean, what is it and how different is it from other romance?
02:56 I mean, love is love.
02:58 But how did you tackle romance?
03:02 I really, it's more of a woman's fiction that I write about.
03:08 I've written books when I was going through a midlife crisis.
03:11 I've written it when I first started working.
03:12 I've written them from experiences of traveling.
03:16 So it's more that and then obviously there's always a romance factor because everybody
03:20 loves romance and I'm a hopeless romantic.
03:22 But it's more a woman's journey because there's a lot of things that go into a story about
03:28 a person's growth or transformation or relationships, you know, more than just really just more
03:36 than just romance.
03:39 And also about the journey.
03:40 Go ahead.
03:41 No, I said I hope that makes sense.
03:44 Yes, it does.
03:45 But I mean, a lot of evolution might have happened when you first started your first
03:52 book, which is The Light in Your Wound.
03:55 You started that and you wanted to walk away.
03:56 You said, OK, I'm just going to put this out there.
03:59 This is my therapy.
04:00 This is what I need to do.
04:01 And I'm done.
04:02 And you did it all under a pen name of Christine Bray.
04:06 But that didn't happen, though.
04:08 You decided, well, maybe not.
04:11 Let's continue this journey on.
04:13 Yeah.
04:14 No, it was actually somebody who picked it up and set up a Facebook page for me.
04:19 And that's really how it started.
04:20 There were a lot of women who, you know, just really identified with the story and they
04:25 built a fan page.
04:26 And they said, you know, that story is not over.
04:29 You need to continue it.
04:30 And so I actually did it for the fan base.
04:32 I did the second book and then I just couldn't stop writing.
04:36 It was just something that became second nature to me.
04:40 So how many books did you write under your pen name?
04:44 Six or five?
04:46 No, let's see.
04:48 I don't even remember.
04:49 Four.
04:50 Four under my pen name.
04:51 All right.
04:52 All right.
04:53 OK, let's see.
04:54 Now, each one of those books had a certain theme.
04:59 So the first one was to help you get over your mom.
05:03 And then the second one kind of closed that story out.
05:07 And what happened to the third, fourth and fifth and all the other books that happened
05:12 along the way?
05:13 The third was a midlife crisis.
05:14 The fourth was a part of my life where I just felt really hopeless, you know, not because
05:21 of anything, just, you know, it comes a point in a woman's life where you're like questioning,
05:25 like, where am I?
05:26 You know, it was before, right after I turned 50, you know, what have I done?
05:31 And then the other books started.
05:34 I became more comfortable in my career.
05:36 And as a spokesperson for diversity, I became more comfortable with who I was.
05:41 And then the leadership role kind of took over.
05:43 And I wanted to write about those things.
05:45 So I thought, you know, I should have a voice.
05:48 And I started using that as my platform, which is why I switched to my real name, because
05:53 I felt comfortable enough to come out and say, you know, I'm writing this in support
05:57 of my culture, in support of my life, in support of everything that I've gone through.
06:01 Okay, so you switched with which book?
06:04 Did you switch with your collaboration with Christopher?
06:10 Was that when you decided to like, okay, let's take on my new real name?
06:13 No, actually, that was funny.
06:17 I was gonna take a break because I was gonna focus on my career because at that time, my
06:21 career was just blowing up at the same time.
06:24 And my agent actually said, Hey, Walmart is looking for material.
06:28 Why don't you write this really simple, really easy book?
06:31 It's formulaic, it's got a start, it's got an end, it's got characters that kind of do
06:37 the same thing, the storyline is the same.
06:40 And then just by, you know, by the grace of God, I was able to meet Christopher through
06:44 a friend and we hit it off really well.
06:47 So we agreed to write the books together.
06:49 So now is it option for a movie?
06:51 So is that really happening?
06:53 Yeah, the strike just keeps moving on.
06:56 The strike really stopped everything.
06:59 And I hear now there's a backlog of things in the pipeline.
07:03 But yes, that's still continuing.
07:05 We're still working on that.
07:07 Okay, so so this book that you wrote with Christopher is like a Kona series, a book,
07:12 right?
07:13 And it's like a five series book.
07:14 Aside from that, but you also did a book on your own, My Goodbye Girl.
07:20 And you know, this is like, totally on your own.
07:23 How different would you say with My Goodbye Girl be from the first few books that you've
07:29 come out with?
07:32 It's the first one where it's officially Anna Gomez.
07:35 So it's a little less, how do I say, like, maybe less sexy.
07:42 It's, it's, it's got a bigger message.
07:46 It's it's about the life that I lived, like traveling and meeting people and building
07:51 relationships all over the world.
07:54 But it still has the same lessons and messages, you know, the brevity of life and, you know,
07:59 just how women, you know, us women, how we transform and evolve over the years.
08:06 For those that are interested in getting that book, I mean, it is the fall winner, My Goodbye
08:10 Girl is a fall winner in 2023.
08:14 Is that right?
08:16 Yes, it won last year.
08:18 Yeah.
08:19 Well, congratulations to you.
08:20 I mean, so all of these, as I said earlier, you're somebody that likes to plan your life.
08:23 I mean, you're so set with the numbers and everything has to have its, you know, start
08:27 and end.
08:28 And then all of a sudden, these things keep popping up in between and pushing you left
08:32 and right.
08:33 But, you know, making you also, you know, grow as a person and discover another side
08:39 of yourself that you probably never thought you realize, how do you balance it off?
08:44 I mean, where are you headed now in 2024?
08:47 You have this flourishing global corporate career, hero of, you know, you were awarded
08:53 a hero for all that you do for women in the global arena.
08:59 And then you come up with this wonderful story of your life, of sharing the Filipino culture
09:05 all around the world.
09:06 Where are we going, left or right?
09:08 I mean, how are we going to balance this off in 2024?
09:13 I'm actually thinking of toning down a little bit, but I think a lot of it is, you know,
09:18 somebody in my early career told me, if you really love something, you'll find a way to
09:22 do it.
09:23 And I think that's how I've been living my life for the past few years.
09:27 I've just really been prioritizing things, prioritizing things that are important to
09:31 me and my job most especially.
09:34 And then things just fall into place.
09:37 And I have a really big planner.
09:39 So I write everything down and make sure that I have a schedule.
09:43 There's only 24 hours in a day.
09:45 So that's the downside.
09:48 So which side are you going to taper off a little bit, the global side or the writing
09:52 side?
09:53 Because you still have a few more books coming out in the series and a movie, you have to
09:57 write the screenplay.
09:58 Well, we hope to have you back here.
10:03 I think I'm very lucky I have a publisher that does all that for me.
10:06 And that helps me out in that sense because they know my priorities, my job.
10:11 I really, really like to slow down in the sense that probably just take more time for
10:16 myself this year.
10:17 Just to be with the family, be with the kids.
10:20 My son just got engaged.
10:22 And so I want to enjoy that this year.
10:24 So I'll tell mommy duty calls.
10:26 Well, thank you so much.
10:28 We hope to have you back in the Philippines.
10:29 You're back here 2015.
10:30 But we hope to have you back here again for more book signing and to be able to chat with
10:35 you here on set more about your books and about your life and what else we can expect
10:41 from Ana Gomez.
10:42 Thank you so much for being with us here on CNN Philippines.
10:45 Congratulations to you.
10:46 Thank you.
10:46 you.
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