Writer. Photographer. Creative.

Mabuhay!

That means "Welcome" in Tagalog.

My philosophy is to “feel first; write later”. I give projects that human connection that consumers can touch with their hearts.

I have a knack for telling stories that bring people closer to a feeling, themselves, or even to others. Being a part of your team as both a writer and a photographer will give your project character, and will create that sense of familiarity that makes us all go “Hey! I remember that.”

My Background

For the past year, I have been in the not-for-profit sector at my local community centre, helping marginalized youth in low-income neighbourhoods as a Youth Program Facilitator. I have also been on a committee as the Director of Communications, and Media Relations Coordinator, for Canada’s first and largest national youth conference for Filipino-Canadians. Through the Welcome Inn Community Centre and Pinoys on Parliament, I applied these skills:

• Team Management
  
• Brand Strategizing
  
• Content Writing
  
• Photography
  

And have brought measurable outcomes such as raising $80,000 for the Welcome Inn’s “The Giving WELL” Project through Facebook, and sold-out the Pinoys on Parliament’s conference in three-days through Instagram.

I am passionate about using my skills to strengthen communities and bringing them closer to their goals.

Kasamahanco.

KasamahanCo. first started as a podcast to curate and gather stories of Filipinos living in Hawai’i, but has since transformed into a multi-media company with a mission to share the experiences of Filipinos all over the world.

Currently, I contribute to KasamahanCo. on a monthly basis, sharing my thoughts on the Filipino culture as a First-Generation, Trans-Masculine, Eldest child of a single mother (wow, what a mouthful).

DEAR ROME

“Dear Rome” is a collection of reflections on my life. Made up of two parts personal essays, one part self-improvement, this personal blog is a recipe formed from that bold wisdom that can only come with being 20-something.

I write only when I am inspired. Only when I have something to say. Only when I want to remember myself.

Welcome inn community centre

The Welcome Inn Community Centre is situated in Hamilton, Ontario’s lower downtown region. Better known as “Bayfront”, the neighbourhood’s social landscape is a drastic juxtaposition in and of itself. The community consists of the cities poorest and wealthiest, with no separation between them. Those living in low-income housing, come to the Welcome Inn to access their Food Bank, ESL Language services, After-School programs, Seniors programs, and so much more.

The “Not Built In A Day" series was Welcome Inn’s latest fundraising campaign. During this project, I interviewed community members to share their personal stories for a short video series on Instagram. Through these interviews, those living in the North End would understand who the community centre serves and how their donations improve the lives of their neighbours.

The giving well project

The “Giving Well” Project was a fundraising proposal, and on the project, I worked in tandem with the Executive Director to help communicate the service upgrades that our programs would receive from their donations, through their Facebook page.

My approach to the "Giving Well" Facebook campaign was to make the content suitable for the format, build an online personality that could read as personable based on the captions, and make graphics that were reflective of the community.

IMAGINE... THAT COULD BE US

The “Imagine...That Could Be Us” fundraising campaign suggested a reality in which the core part of the programs at the Welcome Inn, did not exist due to lack of funding. On this project, not only did I create the vision for the fundraiser, but the marketing visuals as well.

Inspired by the Volkswagen ads of the 1960s and 70s, my approach to designing the ads for “Imagine...That Could Be Us” heavily relied on its copy. Creating copy-heavy visuals lessened the opportunity for interpretation and allowed us to share our program’s impacts on our communities clearly.

As a result, the fundraising advertisements helped to motivate and inspire donors from across Hamilton to contribute to Welcome Inn’s programs, resulting in them meeting their goal of $70,000.

pinoys on parliament

Pinoys on Parliament (POP) serves as a “meeting place” for Filipino/a/x youth all across Canada, calling them to gather at the nation’s capital each year. This conference allows delegates to see that there are Filipinos in other professional sectors outside of the traditional ones that our parents constantly encourage us to enter. At POP, young Filipino-Canadians can find community in discussing the diasporic experience in Canada, and reconnect with our culture in order to continue its legacy.

As the 2024 Directors of Communications for POP, I had the responsibility of bringing the theme of “Laro” to life and designing a team that would achieve that with me.

The literal translation of the term “Laro” is “to play”. I centred the idea of play to express the act of healing our inner-child.

For the theme reveal, I filmed myself at my childhood park, sitting on swings. As I place my earphones in, Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For” from the “Barbie Movie” begins to play. The videos that appear over my face are childhood videos from some of the members of POP.

Going forward, I wanted to incorporate drawings and fonts that appeared like they were done by a child into the promotional tools and graphics, while still being mindful of readability/accessibility.

"laro"

And its conception.

Aloja

Marcellus

"laro"

And its conception.

I also incorporated nostalgic design concepts and items into the promotional graphics as well. For example, the waitlist graphic is made to look like the notebooks one would find in the 90s/early 2000s - with a plastic coating, bubbly font, and photos of cute objects. I took major inspiration from magazines like J-14, Teen Vogue and other youthful media also from the early 2000s, and sometimes placed a cultural twist to them, including cultural icons like the Jollibee mascot into the design.

DELEGATE NOTEBOOK

In collaboration with my committee member, Iana Razo, we created this delegate handbook to look similar to a notebook that would be seen in a student’s bag. Filled with stickers, doodles, highlighter and more, I am very proud of the way my ideas came to life in this design.

POP’s conference handbooks throughout the years

OTHER PINOYS ON PARLIAMENT PROJECTS

"Balikbayan"

And its original design.

The literal translation of the term “Balikabayan” is “return (to) country” - or in this case, returning home. POP’s Board of Directors initial vision for the project was to incorporate motifs of water.

Higuen Elegant Serif

Marcellus

"Balikbayan"

And its transformation.

The rationale behind this was to highlight the archipelago make-up of the Philippines. However, I believed the branding of the theme would not resonate with what is commonly associated with Balikbayan. Most often, Balikbayan is used as an adjective to describe a box that is sent back home to the Philippines. Inside, there are non-perishable foods, sweets, shoes, clothes, and many other items too expensive for our relatives to purchase in their own cities/towns/villages.

I took this understanding and proposed to alter the vision to revolve around travel. This meant moving away from the water motifs, and transitioning to details that included motifs related to transportation (but mainly featured the aircrafts), the sky, clouds, post mail, and of course, boxes.

Maragsa

RoxboroughCF

"Balikbayan"

And its translation.

In tandem with both my Graphic Designer and Website Designer, we successfully steered the creative direction of the project on all of POP’s platforms. Balikbayan became recognizable and relatable to our audience.

"our website"

"our INSTAGRAM"

DELEGATE FLIGHT LOG

My culminating project for Pinoys on Parliament was to design a “Delegate Handbook”. This handbook would include the biographies of all our speakers, workshops, and panellists; our sponsors; the schedule for the weekend; an introduction to our committee members; a letter from our chair; and a few special mentions.

It was a massive project; spanning the course of a month.

The handbook has evolved its look over the years, with the 2022 book being the most drastic deviation before my own influence

I wanted to do something different. Again, I rebranded the handbook to fit the theme. Instead of calling it a handbook, I called it a “flight log” - a device pilots used to record their flight. I wanted it to look like a vintage flight manual from the 50s and onwards

Although these fonts deviated from the ones in our branding guide, I thought these were better suited for the creative direction of the flight log. Fonts “Tall” and “Now” were similar to the straight-laced fonts that appeared in the references I was using, which made the large portions of copy easier to read.

Lastly, I originally wanted to add a screen-print filter on the photos that were shown in the log, however, decided that it was much safer to not alter the images at all in order to receive no alterations from the BOD.

My photography

Ralph Lauren’s approach to his namesake brand’s advertisement campaign in the late 1900s, early 2000s, is the driving force behind my own creative direction within my photography. Bruce Weber’s approach to Lauren’s vision, casting “real people” in his photoshoots, also influences my personal style. However, these two giants cannot hold a flame to the items that sparked that shutterbug within me, all those years ago. My childhood photo albums, in all their candid, beautifully amateur glory, are the reason why I shoot what I shoot and how I shoot.

Capturing life’s silence is what I do best.

Work with Me

Email:

limrome@hotmail.com

Instagram:

@itskuyaro

LinkedIn:

Rome Lim

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