I’m Gian (jee-yan).

As a child, I was desperate for my sisters approval. I worshipped her like the sun, as younger sisters do.

One day, she came home with this plastic encased red device she had worked tirelessly over greasy griddles to get. A dinky hand held camcorder. It took just one video for her to reach retirement, and that’s when I took my chance.

I filmed moments with my childhood best friends, and spent hours in Windows Movie maker on my dads broken PC. I found myself so immersed in the process of moulding a story together that time did not exist in those vacuums.

To this day, this process of hyper focus through shooting and editing is my favourite flow state. And now, my relationship with the art of storytelling has grown to be my greatest love.

Experience.

A woman smiling and holding a bunch of bananas at a market stall with various fruits, including bananas, dragon fruit, and papayas, visible around her.

My work has brought me to California, Costa Rica, Peru, Thailand and Guatemala. I’ve received my 500 Yoga Teacher Training hours in the process amongst many countless life transforming experiences. Despite my degree in Media Production (at Toronto Metropolitan University), my skills are mostly born from real world experience. I was born with rose coloured glasses. Now, inspiration comes to me with effortless ease.

At my core, my belief system is largely Buddhist. The lens in which I see the world is built with honesty, and humility at the forefront. I endeavour to grow deeper in my self-love journey, and pride myself on my love for communication (apparent in my love of languages through French, Spanish and Tagalog), and emotional intelligence. So, know, without a shadow of a doubt, that my arrival to your retreat will be so much more than just to capture the experience. If we got so far as to get on a call, it’s because I would genuinely want to be there myself.

A woman with dark hair, glasses, and tattoos is relaxing in a swimming pool, leaning back on the pool's edge with water covering her body from the chest down.
A woman with long hair, glasses, and a shell necklace is smiling and holding a slice of watermelon in her left hand, with her right arm resting on her head. She is outdoors with a background of trees or plants.
A young woman with glasses, long dark hair, and a top knot, wearing a black tank top and beige pants, posing with her hand behind her head against a plain white background.
Woman with long hair and glasses sitting on the edge of a small pool surrounded by lush green plants and a concrete wall with windows.

I was born in the Philippines and was raised in Ontario, Canada. From garnishing burgers as a teenager, to shooting retreats in Peru, I’ve had a long journey of uncovering my greatest most joy inducing gifts. After truly learning the value of hard work and fun, my working life has become my greatest joy. Now, everything feels like play.