Content creator Kobe Francisco is kicking off new chapters of his career with nothing less than grit and unyielding determination.
Related: Kaira Mack Is Taking It All In, One Cool Girl Step At A Time
It’s a homecoming of sorts for content creator and aspiring host Kobe Francisco, who spent the last nine years of his life discovering what he wanted to do a thousand miles away from home.
After spending almost a decade of his youth in Thailand, and going to university for international business management, Kobe is back home in the Philippines to pursue his dreams of doing it all—content creating, hosting, and even acting. Though he’s only been back to the Philippines for a year, the 25-year old has been consistently working, creating his signature fitness and lifestyle content, signing with Cornerstone Entertainment, starring in vertical series My Favorite LIAR (2025), and, most recently, hosting the MMGI Career Fair.
With relentless drive and a penchant for just going for it, Kobe jumps into career shifts and new endeavors wholeheartedly, win or lose, succeed or fail. He’s got a winner’s mindset, in the sense that there’s never any loss in learning, and it drives him towards excellence.
At the MMGI Career Fair at the University of the Philippines Diliman, Kobe kicks off his local hosting career with the game face of an athlete and a vibe that never quits. Read the full interview below.
WINNING AND LEARNING WITH KOBE FRANCISCO
How long have you been hosting? How did you get into it?
I’ve hosted in my university before, but back here in the Philippines—because I just got back last year—I’ve never had a hosting gig. So my last hosting gig was maybe two years ago in Thailand. My university started this for me, because they liked how fluent I was in English, and so they got me for all the events. Every month, I was hosting, to the point na nagsasawa na ata sakin yung mga students. That’s when I went, “oh, I can do hosting,” because eventually I grew more confident. But I really want to just like be an artist or like an influencer, and if I could do it at the same time, I definitely would.
For sure—and there’s a lot of intersections in that kind of career path, as well. What degree did you take up in Thailand?
I did International Business Management. I was in sales in when I graduated, I worked for about a year until I just went full-time being a content creator and artist.
What was going through your mind when you wanted to go full-time as a content creator?
When I was in Thailand, I was just doing random content and posting it on social media just because I wanted to. Eventually, I was getting more followers. People started to appreciate my content. Then brands started to reach out…projects, endorsements, but I was missing out on them because I was in another country. My market is for Filipinos and not really Thai, so it was like 90 percent of the brands are Filipino. So if they reach out, I can’t go to the event, they can’t send me the products because I’m too far away and it would cost a lot. So I said to myself, why not try to go back to the Philippines and start a new career here as an influencer?
It was risky. I could either fail or be successful, or gradually become successful. But if it failed, that’s a very, very big risk for me to take. But so far, not bad! A lot has been happening for me.
Did you set a deadline or ultimatum for yourself? Like, “if I go to the Philippines, this is what has to happen or else I’m going to go back?” Or is it just like “I’m going to stay here and do what I can”?
My friend actually asked me once like, “What if it fails?”. Ang sabi ko lang sa kanya, “I have to make it work.” If I had to do many different jobs in the industry, then go. Now I’m into hosting, I’m acting as well, I actually did my first series last month. So really, all over the spectrum.
How do you balance it all?
I just try to! I try to have a social life, I’m very much into sports, I do triathlons, I do the Ironman, so I make time for that. But I just love being active.
You lived in Thailand for about nine years, right? Is there anything that you picked up being there that you brought back here?
A lot. Respect! Because Thai people are very respectful. They’re very religious. They believe in karma, whether good or bad. So anything that you do will eventually come back to you. So if it’s a good thing that you did, after a few years, a few months, it will go back to you. If you do something bad, it might not happen to you. It could happen to your child, to your family members, to your son, your next generation—so I think that’s one thing that makes Thailand a bit safe, some more values like that.
What about for things like work, maybe for something that helped you with your confidence?
For the workplace in Thailand, it’s quite laid back. So even though it’s quite stressful in the workplace, the people are still kinda chill. Here, the tension is crazy—the deadlines and everything. They’re gonna push you to the limits. But in Thailand, they’re quite laid back and chill. Happy-happy and all. I think that’s one thing—staying calm under pressure. It’s one thing that I gained from living there.
Do you have any advice for young people who want to take those risks and just follow their dreams despite all of the possibilities that happen?
For me, you really have to take risks in life. You have to step out of your comfort zone and do more than what you think you can do. If it fails, then that’s okay. At least you tried. If you were successful when you did that, then good! I mean, if you step out of your comfort zone, you were successful, then good. If not, and you failed, at least you learned. You never really lose in life. It’s either you win or you learn. If you don’t fail, you don’t learn.
Right, and as young people who are working, we fail a lot! You just gotta take it by the chin. So what about your goals, your next steps? Anything new that’s happening in your life?
Well, we had our first series last month. I want to do more acting and definitely more hosting, kasi I want to be active here. There’s not a lot of male hosts in the industry—we have Robi Domingo and Markki Stroem, and more—and I want to be part of the list and be part of that Gen Z circle of hosts.
There’s a lot of Gen Z people who want to be hosts now. I’m so interested to see people go down that path. A good host really makes or break something, and we’re so glad that there’s like a pool now of aspiring and like growing hosts. What about some long-term goals?
One of my goals—my timeline is before 2030—is to do a full Ironman [Race]. I did the Half Ironman. The Half Ironman is only 1.9 kilometer swim, 90 kilometer bike, and then 21 kilometer run. I want to do the full one, which is double that. That’s my goal! Kasi every year, I want to challenge myself. It’s either I do the Half again and do a faster time, that gives me a sense of success, or do the full one. And then, of course, I want to achieve greater heights in the entertainment industry as an artist, as a host, gain more followers and reach higher engagement on my socials, as an influencer and content creator.
Photos by Joshua Navato, edited by Gelo Quijencio.
Continue Reading: Karina Bautista Is Living Her Best Independent Girlie Life
