In the stand-up comedy world, Jo Koy is big. So big that he can fill up sports arenas and sell out shows. So big that even in a small community called Orillia in Ontario, Canada, he was able to draw a predominantly non-Filipino audience -- not his usual Filipino American constituency -- to his performance.

Behind Jo Koy’s comedy is a story familiar to many in the Filipino diaspora—the journey from the margins toward belonging. The things that once made him feel different—his Filipino mother, family stories, food, language, humor—became his greatest material. PF contributing writer Cesar Polvorosa Jr. calls this diasporic capital: the culture, memories, relationships and ability to move between worlds that immigrants carry with them, often without realizing their worth. Jo Koy turned that inheritance into a career, but his story also reminds us that no immigrant succeeds alone. Behind every achievement are families, communities and generations of stories carried across oceans.

Jo Koy's story is also a notable lesson in belonging. For years, immigrants were expected to soften their accents, hide their differences and blend in. Jo Koy defied this expectation and did the opposite. He made the Filipino mother louder, the family more familiar, the quirks more visible—and invited the wider world to laugh with us. What was once a source of marginalization became a source of connection, pride and possibility. ["Jo Koy: The Joke’s on Marginalization"]

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In another field of entertainment, British Filipina singer/songwriter Clarissa Mae is making waves after she became the youngest ever winner of Gigs, London's biggest busking competition. She has since opened for the sensational Filipino girl group BINI and produced an EP with her own compositions. Read Julienne Loreto's profile of this emerging star and listen to her compositions in "Clarissa Mae Ragrag: From Busking to the Concert Stage."

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Ten Filipinos in this month's lineup of Overseas Filipino Achievers are making their marks in eight countries: Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sweden, Qatar, Canada, Dubai, Australia and Italy, proving once again that Filipino talent can shine anywhere and everywhere.

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Both a lament and a declaration of enduring love, a Filipino American balik-scientist gives voice to the weight of loving a country that keeps breaking his heart. [Roderick dela Cruz's "The Heartbreaking Weight of Loving a Country"]

Our Video of the Week is a podcast: "Kamusta Mars" by Henni Espinosa and Keesa Ocampo featuring our publisher, Mona Lisa Yuchengco.

From our archives, read our stories about two women who are newly minted National Artists: Imelda Cajipe-Endaya for Visual Arts and Patis Tesoro for Design.

[Read It Again]

Presents from the Past by Serina Aidasani

Patis Tesoro Turns Up the Heat by Gemma Nemenzo

Patis On My Mind by Mona Lisa Yuchengco

[Video of the Week]
From Escaping Martial Law to Building Legacies with Mona Lisa Yuchengco