With over 6 million followers on Instagram alone, Donnalyn Bartolome is definitely among the biggest celebrities to have emerged from the world of social media in recent years. Describing herself in her own account as a professional tinkerer, she has already tinkered with a lot of things, from television to music to the movies, since “she has arrived” as far as her show business career is concerned.
Recently, it seems she has found a new area to get herself and her tinkering fingers busy with: the world of politics. While rather odd and unusual for a young, fun-loving girl like Donna, it also is refreshing to know that she is actually willing to be pro-active in sharing her thoughts and feelings to matters that are not only serious and relevant but have a huge impact on the nation’s future.
“I believe all of us are influencers in our own ways. Someone with no followers can be an influencer too, to their friends and family and we have to use that to help make our country better. What more for someone like me who can be heard and possibly influence people on a larger scale? I’m honestly just doing my part,” she explains.
Tracing her roots to the country’s culinary capital, the young descendant of Pampangueno grandparents is lending her heart to the cause of caring for the lives of those Filipinos in the countryside, who she wants to empower with the right education. She says: “One of the biggest lessons I learned as a probinsyana is that if you focus on education, opportunities are limitless.”
Cognizant of the realities faced by her kababayans in the Central Luzon province, she laments the presence of two pressing concerns that the government needs to immediately address in order to improve the socio-economic profiles of the grassroots Pinoys: “Among the biggest problems faced by people living in the provinces is the lack of job opportunities and lack of family planning. Combining the two contributes greatly to poverty,” Donnalyn believes.
Despite these strong convictions on socio-political issues and realities, Donnalyn is not running (yet) for any public office. She is, however, supporting the advocacies of the Ang Probinsyano Party List, which, she believes, is on the same page as herself in its advocacies. Asked how much support and commitment she is willing to give for her fellow probinsyanos and probinsyanas, on a scale of 1 to 50 (50 being the highest), she immediately blurts out: “50, all the way,” stressing just how strongly she feels for their plight.
And how, as a social media influencer, will she carry on the message of empowering those in provincial communities to dream bigger dreams and achieve more in their lives? Donnalyn has this to share for her ka-promdis: “I have content plans that I know can make a difference in the lives of my fellow probinsyanos, maybe share ideas on how they can help themselves. I actually have a campaign #HelpToHelpYourself. This campaign focuses on giving a more sustainable income to the beneficiaries. This way I also teach people who love donating to help effectively. As the saying goes “Give a man a fish you feed him for a day. If you teach a man how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.” #HelpToHelpYourself influences people to help themselves because, no matter how much help you receive, if you don’t help yourself, you will be back to where you started.”