Wildlights

The life of an OFW is anything but easy. Between the demands of work, adapting to a new culture, staying connected with loved ones, and carving out time for personal passions, it’s no wonder many feel burnt out—or even give up. But my guest today is built differently. Meet Mary Joy Cruz, better known as Host Mayumi—a woman whose presence lights up every room and every event she hosts. She’s not just a bright personality; she’s a Wildlight in the truest sense. In this episode, we talk about the parts of her work that fuel her soul, the challenges she faces as an OFW, and how she continues to serve, inspire, and bring joy to others despite it all. This is a conversation about resilience, the power of family, the dignity of hard work, and the beauty of living in service. Welcome to Wildlights. 📲 Follow Wildlights: Instagram: @wildlightspod Follow Alexis Matthew Reyes: Instagram: @alexcvi TikTok: @alexcvi

Artificial Intelligence is no longer a distant future — it’s here, and it’s reshaping almost every aspect of our lives. In this episode of Wildlights, we dive deep into how AI is transforming the way we search for jobs, redefining learning in the academe, and even influencing how we build and sustain personal relationships. But beyond the technology itself, we ask the bigger questions: How is AI impacting our humanity? Our choices, creativity, and emotions? What do we gain — and what might we lose — as machines become part of our everyday decision-making and interactions?

We are now at the start of 2025, and are probably curious to know what this year has in store for us. And while we can never be sure, perhaps, the stars can? In this episode I speak with one of my good friends, Christian Dale Espartero. Christian, aside from being an architect, faculty member, is also my go-to tarot reader. From time to time, whenever I have personal problems in work or love life, I ask him to do a reading for me, where he would send me insight that helps me make a decision or not. In this episode, we do exactly the same for all twelve signs, letting you guys know what your themes will be for 2025. Welcome to Wildlights.   Follow Wildlights on Instagram @wildlightspod & Alexis Matthew Reyes on Instagram @alexcvi Tiktok @alexcvi

For 2024, my hashtag was #FaithFrequency2024. It was the year I chose to have faith in myself, and in my ability to achieve any goal I put my mind and heart into. I came into 2024 with at least this mindset, but I came out of it with so much more. In this episode, I talk about my craziest airport experience and what #FaithFrequency2024 made me realize even more. Follow Wildlights on Instagram @wildlightspod & @alexcvi

For one to be able to practice architecture in the Philippines, one would have to take a licensure examination. In Dubai, this exam is held once every year, and this year I, together with my other aspirants, took it and thankfully passed this exam, making us now registered and licensed architects. However, one of my closest friends and my guest for today, Ar. Nono Guiao, not only passed this exam, but also clinched the top spot. In this conversation, we talked about manifesting success, his experiences as a student and a working professional, and his inspiring story of hardwork and perseverance.

The good part about any conversation with my friend Cedie Duller, is that it is often the perfect balance between chill and insightful. As a screenwriter and director, Cedie has experience and insight especially when it comes to mental health that I know can be of value especially to young adults. In this episode of Burning Questions, he and I sat for a quick drink and talked about life as an OFW, balancing career and passion, navigating situationships, choosing between love or career, and even our favorite movies.

So every year instead of coming up with new years resolutions I come up with a hashtag I use as a guide for the year. I do this because it’s easier to make decisions this way. This year my hashtag was #Thrive2023. I wanted this year to be the year of rewarding myself after a really taxing 2022. Of course this year had its set of challenges, and #Thrive2023 really had to test my emotional and mental endurance. I wanted to share with all of you 4 lessons that #Thrive2023 has taught me.

I have wanted Shaila Rebortera to be on Wildlights ever since I concepted this podcast in my mind. We have been friends for over a decade and witnessing her journey from when we were young until the beauty queen she is now always leaves me inspired and I’m sure you will find it the same as well. With the challenges she has faced this year on top of her recent announcement of her daughter Amelia, her courage to have come on and talk about these experiences has been invaluable. Our conversation takes us way back to our high school years, her past relationships, her recent posts on abuse, the story of her daughter’s birth, and how motherhood has ultimately changed her worldview.

My conversation with Jam Buynay was surprisingly insightful. You see she grew up in the Philippines and Thailand and so I had so much fun asking her about growing up as a third culture kid, her family background, her work both in communications and as a social media content creator, and even her being an introvert. However perhaps what struck me most about our conversation is how values of family and respect for others collide in her experience as a Filipina in Thailand.

Snow Halud has been my friend since 2013 and one thing I love about her is that she is and has always been unafraid of taking risks and adventures. One of the most freespirited people I know, she has been working for Qatar Airways and has traveled parts of the world and has met tons of people but what strikes me most about Snow is that she is not afraid, but EAGER to experience and embrace the thing most of us fear the most: change.

One thing I love about talking about love, is that whatever age, gender, or race you identify as, you have an idea of what it is. Imagine as a child you had an idea of what it means to be in love, and today as an adult you probably have made the distinction of what real love and fake love looks like! This is the reason why I brought in my uni philosophy professor, Ma’am Duane Allyson Pancho, to join me in talking about the vastness of this concept of love, and to paint a picture of what it looks like, and what it’s not especially in the context of our personal relationships. Welcome to Wildlights!

I have known Ryan Banks for quite some time now, and I can say is that he’s probably the easiest person to get to know and to befriend. He also happens to be an architect and designer from Cebu now based here in Dubai since 2007, with features from Filipino magazines Ilustrado and Expat Media, noting his work for renowned brands such as Google, Microsoft, and most recently, Cartier. What fascinated me about our conversation? It’s that our friendships and relationships are perhaps the most important thing to take care of even when we try to grow our professional careers.

In this episode, I sit down with Gwyneth Vasquez who is the valedictorian of Ateneo de Davao University Batch of 2023. Last June, Gwen's commencement speech trended on Tiktok and Facebook, which allowed many to think and be aware of the privilege we share as she narrated her fieldwork and friendship with Weweng, who hails from the indigenous community of the Tagakolu in Malita, Southern Mindanao. Our conversation also touched on her pre fieldwork and post fieldwork experiences, with the overarching question we tried to answer is how to choose which battles to pick, and how to ensure that we are able to fight these battles with enough sanity as the youth.

In this episode, I spoke with one of the most independent women I know, Mae Bornillo. She moved to Dubai at the age of 21, worked for corporate, before she decided that corporate was NOT a fit for her, and that coaching more suited her skill set and her goals. At 28, she now operates her coaching business at full steam hosts her own podcast The Scale on Socials Podcast, which you guys should check out, and has full control over her time – which I know, most of us can only dream of. Our conversation was full of insight and revolved around the question, when does one know when it’s time to quit the 9-5 job and how does one go about doing it? If you guys have any more questions, messages, or letters, feel free to send yours to wildlightspodcast@gmail.com! You can follow my personal account @alexcvi and the podcast @wildlightspod.

In this episode, I bring in my sister Therese Reyes, and we had a Q&A session following my poll from Instagram. (You guys can follow me @alexcvi and the podcast @wildlightspod) The questions ranged from topics including sex and controversial conversations, lowering standards for anybody, definitions of success, my life's personal hurdles, and even career questions. If you guys have any more questions, messages, or letters, feel free to send yours to wildlightspodcast@gmail.com!

In this special episode, I spoke with the best manifester I know, my mom MJ Reyes. We had a candid conversation about her ability to manifest specific things in her life, from her college days to her experience as a working adult who needed to support for her family. My mom is the most positive person I know, and I wanted to give all the Wildlights a glimpse into her person and her wisdom, as I have. This episode is my birthday release, and I hope all of you enjoy this conversation with the best mom I could possible wish for!

In this episode, I sat down with my longtime friend, JC Santos. We have been friends since high school, and in this episode, we talked about everything that we have learned since then. One thing that ties our narratives together is the ability to acknowledge our weaknesses and address them as a strategy for growth. We talk about our work experiences and challenges that ultimately show that working with our weaknesses can actually lead to promising professional and relationship growth.

In this episode, I sit down with my friend Reil Benedict Obinque. Reil and I talked about a LOT of things. For instance, we talked about Math and meditation. We talked about his teaching experiences - the challenges and the rewards. We talked about his experience as a Law School student. But mostly, we talked about how essential it is to spend me time to make progressive life choices.

In this episode, I invited my friend Christian Medina, a host and social media content creator, to share his thoughts on online trusting in an age where information online can easily be manipulated. This conversation tackled online dating, fake news, real life connections, and being loyal to principle instead of people.

In this episode, I spoke with Ren Galeno, who is an epitome and melting pot of creative ideas. The conversation recalled her childhood and our college years (including her fondness for commuting), her current comic work, and the seemingly effortless process she undertakes in generating creative ideas.