Asia
Having been around a creative family all of his life, Asia knew that he would never be able to suppress his desire to create. Growing up, this felt awkward as he struggled to question why his Filipino decent seemed to almost outcast him from others. And more so, he even felt sometimes shameful to show his nationality to the world around him, afraid of ridicule and further social exile.

It was then that he found spoken word poetry.

A few years ago, he stumbled upon some spoken word artists at a local college who invited him to an open mic. Seeing the craftsmanship of turning a written poem into an expressive language, he found the creative outlet he's been searching for his entire life.

In Jan 2006, Asia was diagnosed with testicular cancer. And although he has undergone successful initial surgery, his battles daily. He is “Fighting 2 Live, Living 2 Love.” To Asia, there nothing is more important than to be heard. And as he stresses whole-heartedly in his poem Anthem, "I can give a shit about fame or sold-out concerts in my name, if I can't use my God-given talents to make a change. Because we are poets, we live, breathe and die for this."