How far can you go with a Silliman degree? by Mac Florendo | The Voice of Magic | Mr. Magic of the Philippines

How far can you go with a Silliman degree? Alumni of the Silliman University College of Mass Communication share their stories of how they have gone on to pursue their respective passions.

By Mac Edsel Florendo

Originally published in Metro Post: https://metropost-online.com/voice-and-magic-p13474-794/

MANILA — I have always been curious and adventurous since I was a kid, leading me to many places and to many things: becoming a voice actor, a food rescue advocate, a multimedia producer, and a magic show performer.

I am not comfortable in my comfort zone, and that’s probably why I will always be creating and performing for a long time. I think this kind of infinite zeal and lifelong passion for celebrating life has always been the fuel in my journey.

Ever since I was young, I had always found enjoyment in the performing arts, including music and magic. But being a “creative person” wasn’t much appreciated in my family. I had always believed I was the ‘black sheep’ of the family for being creative. But that didn’t discourage me from developing my skills, even if I failed a lot at first. I just knew I was becoming wiser each time I failed.

Studying Mass Communication at Silliman was one of the best decisions I have made in my life, even if it wasn’t my first choice in college. I actually thought of taking up IT or Psychology or Music; but I took Mass Communication because I heard it would lead me to more fields of learning such as media production.

Taking up Mass Communication turned out to be beneficial to my Voice Acting career now because I am able to develop the skill of networking with people through effective communication.

I had always exposed myself to many facets of culture and society in this country and around the world. In 2013, I studied in Hannam University, a private Christian university in Daejeon, South Korea under a foreign student exchange program where I got to study Global Communication and advanced video production. I also learned the Korean language, and made many friends from different countries.

In 2015, I was also selected as one of the delegates in the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) where I got to study in the US and meet the former President Obama at the White House in Washington, DC.

This was where I started asking myself: “How do I become a better Filipino?’”

That one question led me to form a non-profit organization known as Food Rescue ASEAN, now Food Rescue Philippines, where my team and I would bike around public markets and collect surplus but perfectly-edible food. These foods would then be distributed to low-income families in need of food in Dumaguete.

I know that our organization’s goals could be misinterpreted by some. I would like to clarify that Food Rescue is not a feeding program. Our goal was addressing food wastage and hunger by redistributing still-edible food to people in need.

I guess our efforts truly paid off. Food Rescue Philippines as a purpose-driven and visible norm-changer youth organization was recognized as a YSEALI Seeds for the Future 2015 grants winner by the U.S. Mission to ASEAN, and one of the Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (TAYO) of the 14th TAYO Awards in 2017.

The award motivated me to pursue causes that actually contribute to society.

I think I’ve always been a natural thrill-seeker — something that I discovered in college. It was probably the reason why I joined the Cuernos de Negros Mountaineers Club, a non-profit organization that brought together mountain climbers and environment advocates.

Becoming an environmentalist manifested in my behavior through the years. Here in Manila where I moved after college, I would ride my bamboo bike, continuing the mission of Food Rescue Philippines by collecting surplus food to be distributed to the needy.

I figured that spending time on my hobbies actually reminds me to enjoy life through my passion for performing arts. When I am not honing my voice-acting skills, or pedaling around the streets to rescue food, I perform magic.

Performing magic has always been a fascination ever since I was young. My father used to gamble a lot, and there were a lot of cards lying around our house. I would play with them, and learned magic tricks. I actually grew up wanting to be a superhero; I think performing magic is the closest thing to that daydream.

Performing magic led me to become a member of the magic group The Story Circle, winning the championship in the Runit Decks Cardistry Death Match Championship in 2017, and being a hand talent for Unilab’s TV advertisement in the same year.

I admit that there’s yet a lot to learn. Working in the corporate industry, particularly in media and events production companies helped me realize what I really want to do in life aside from merely making money. It made me think of the value of legacy, helping others realize what they also want to achieve in life.

In October 2020, I enrolled in the Certified Voice Artist Program of the voice acting class of Pocholo Gonzales. Three months ago this year, I left a wonderful full-time job, and took the plunge to do freelance work creating videos and voice-overs. One of the first persons whom I called was my mentor, Pocholo Gonzales, who congratulated me on the bold move. I may have lost a job but I didn’t lose my skills.

I have learned that our skills are actually enough to support us. And by becoming a voice actor, I am now able to do more of the activities I really enjoy doing.

For me, voice acting is an art form. It is an art of becoming, and another art form of storytelling; in a way, the art of mastering how to influence people, using the voice as an instrument.

The challenges in voice acting are like any other that anyone would encounter in other ventures when taken seriously. And with this, I acknowledge how much I still need to practice the range of emotions that I must take control of. I also have yet to learn the technical set-up for high quality voice recording and production.

I believe that developing the skills of voice acting is indispensable despite the technological advancements in the world. In the world of artificial intelligence, emotions would always remain unique to humans. Despite being very smart, AI could never imitate genuine human emotions.

Pursuing creative pursuits is paved with undeniable challenges and uncertain times. But I like telling my peers and others who will come after us to get used to embracing failures as well. I now take failures and mistakes positively. I always try to find a way to accept it, and to work around it; otherwise, it would be like playing God.

As I move along and move forward, I aim to become wealthier not simply in terms of financial gains, but more importantly, in terms of invaluable aspects of life that cannot be equated with money. One can use the same verbs (like earn, save, multiply) that are normally used alongside ‘money’ with other aspects of wealth, such as ‘earning trust’, ‘adding more experiences’, and ‘multiplying friends’.

Committing my life to all of these social and creative causes brings me closer to attaining my childhood dream: becoming a superhero that the world needs.

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Mac Edsel Florendo studied Mass Communication at Silliman University, and graduated cum laude in 2016. He was born on Jan. 14, 1995 in Zamboanga City to parents Marcos & Esmeralda Florendo Jr.