From stage fright to speakership roles, Gia Abao’s Kahit Kabado

Content creator and public speaker Gia Abao used to be terrified of public speaking. Ironically, today, being on the podium is a huge part of her career — she even created an entire platform on it!

Enter: Kahit Kabado, an initiative that assists Filipinos to be more confident in communication, especially under pressure.

A graduate of Consular and Diplomatic Affairs at De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, one of Gia’s earliest major exposures to public speaking was as a delegate through the National Model United Nations held in New York. A consortium of thousands of future diplomats from all parts of the globe, it was a milestone wished for by any budding diplomacy practitioner.

But for the young student, she struggled with impromptu speeches, which made her cry for days on end.

“After graduation, I realized how many opportunities may open when you know how to communicate your ideas. I continued to attend trainings, read books, studied different communication techniques, and intentionally placed myself in situations where I had to speak,” she confessed.

Today, Kahit Kabado offers written guides, workbooks, self-paced courses, live webinars and small group coaching sessions, in addition to her public speaking engagements and workshops. Corporate training is likewise on the books.

Thus far, she has been a resource speaker for various affairs at schools, corporations, organizations and youth communities. Some of these engagements included TEDxYouth at the De La Salle University, the Toastmasters International’s Centennial Celebration and Plan International x TikTok Youth Co-Creation Workshop, among many others.

Gia has also released campaigns for GCash, BDO, Dove, Canva, Apple, UN Women Asia-Pacific and several other brands. She was likewise named the Face of TikTok Beauty Fest 2026.

We had a brief chat with the Kahit Kabado founder about how she developed her thrust into a full-blown venture:

You had a fear of public speaking before. Tell us the journey of how you overcame it.

“It was definitely not an overnight transformation. What kept me going was seeing small improvements.

“After the National Model United Nations, I continued training relentlessly. I volunteered for class presentations. Sometimes I would practice even when there was no presentation coming up. After college, I joined different training sessions in impromptu speaking, pitching, sales and communication until I slowly developed my own speaking style.

“Confidence did not come before practice. Practice came first, and confidence followed.”

When did you establish Kahit Kabado? What led to this decision?

“I established Kahit Kabado in July 2025.

“Ever since college, I had always wanted to become an entrepreneur, although I didn’t really know what that would look like for me. I previously started a physical-product business called Touchic. However, balancing it with being a full-time content creator became difficult. Eventually, the business did not work out.

“Instead of starting another physical product, I asked myself: Why not build something around a skill and expertise that I already use every day? That became Kahit Kabado.

“Our first test product was my ebook, Kahit Kabado: A Confidence Guide for Every Filipino Who Has Ever Felt Afraid to Speak. In our first month, we sold around 1,000 copies without running paid advertisements. It was driven organically through my community.

“Kahit Kabado showed me that I could build a business while also solving a problem I personally understood.”

You published a free guide on answering on the spot. Tell us more about it.

“One of the most common struggles I noticed when I started Kahit Kabado was that both Filipino students and professionals had difficulty answering questions on the spot.

“Because a large part of my community is young, I also understood that not everyone could immediately purchase an ebook or enroll in a program. So I created a free resource with quick scripts they could use to start practicing.

“I didn’t want cost to be the reason someone had nothing to practice with.”

How about your own ebook?

“When I was learning public speaking myself, I noticed that many books gave great advice but I still had questions like: What exactly do I say? How do I create an outline? How do I tell a story? What do I practice when nobody is watching?

“So I incorporated mini-exercises, frameworks, personal stories and techniques that readers could actually practice.

“I didn’t want to write another guide that simply advised people, ‘Be confident.’ I wanted to show them what they could actually do when their mind goes blank.

Looking to the future, what’s next for you and Kahit Kabado?

“The long-term vision is bigger than me. My goal is for Kahit Kabado to become one of the go-to communication and public speaking programs designed specifically with Filipinos in mind. I want it to eventually help people even when I’m not the person standing in the room.”

Name other projects you are currently up to. Please expound.

“I’m working on another ebook for 2027 and continuing to develop Kahit Kabado’s learning materials. I’m also beginning to explore more opportunities in corporate training and thinking about how I can bring what I’ve learned from content creation and public speaking into more structured learning experiences.

“I’m at an interesting point in my career where content creation opened a lot of doors for me. But I’m now more intentional on what I want to build beyond content.

“I still love being a content creator. However, I’m also asking myself: What can I build that can outlive a viral video?”