Partially Pinoy

One of the first foreign-trained members of the Philippine National Football Team, Chris and his family are pioneering fixtures in Filipino football. Now the director of the Kaya FC Football Academy, and creator and host of the popular podcast Across The Line, he is transforming lives on and off the pitch. In this first of his three-part series, we dissect his formative days in England and his early experiences realizing he had more than his English roots.

Mark Winhoffer is an academic and Team Captain of the Yale Soccer Team. He spent part of his childhood in the Philippines, while his mom served as IBM’s first female country president. He’s played on the Philippine National Junior and Senior Football Teams (nicknamed the azkals) is graduating with a degree in Economics and plans to join the Azkals Development Team in 2021. Mark’s resilience, hard work and multiple stories of comeback demonstrate a drive that cannot be underestimated and have set the stage for successful careers on and off the field.

Stacie Gancayco-Adlao is a Fil-Am (Filipino American) filmmaker, actor, and award-winning screenwriter born and raised in California. Stacie uses her creative skills and talent to showcase her Filipino culture and identity, both as a screenwriter and on various media outlets like Popsugar. Her mother is of Irish descent and her father was born and raised in the Philippines. Based in Los Angeles, she and her Irish-Filipino husband, Tyler Gancayco-Adlao, have won numerous awards for showcasing underrepresented stories. She explains how her identity guides her creative choices and motivates her to get to know her roots.

Mary Grant the Filipina is a Fil-Am (Filipino-American) creative who uses her humor and wit to share her mixed-identity culture through her writing, parody videos, short films and engaging social media posts. We discuss her unique upbringing as well as the challenges she faced growing up different in a very white Virginia. From her roots in Pampanga to her experience in Hollywood, we get to know how Mary’s identity shapes her creative choices and inspires her to bring voice to the Filipino-American experience.

Misagh Bahadoran, former Philippine National Team forward, has had an unconventional path. He’s been a dentist, cook, taxi driver, National Team futsal player, and has swam, played badminton, and completed triathlons at the highest levels. Learn about his life in both Iran and the Philippines and how he went from his provincial family home to finding his footing as a real estate developer in Manila. We discuss what his Filipino-Iranian identity has meant for him, how it’s influenced the friendships he seeks, and hear his pep talk for those who are of mixed identity like him.