Why Kaya exists
Kaya is a free community for Filipinos who want to earn more from their skills, especially with foreign clients, and grow in confidence, health, family, money and learning.
The people behind Kaya
Kaya's 2 co-founders
Kaya has 2 co-founders: John Smulo and Mariane "Yanyan" Labonete. Here is who each of them is.
Meet John
John Smulo · Co-founder of Kaya · 2026 Pusong Pinoy Awardee
John Smulo is an American who chose the Philippines. He has lived here since January 2020, first in Cebu and now in Manila.
In 2008 he started Purple Cow Agency, a digital marketing company that serves clients abroad. Today it runs with a skilled Filipino team from its office in Cebu IT Park. He has started other businesses too, including a health care outsourcing company.
That matters for you. For years, John has been the foreign client. He hires, pays and keeps Filipino talent. He knows what clients abroad look for, and what makes them say yes.
Pusong Pinoy Award, May 2026
The Benita and Catalino Yap Foundation gave John the 5th Pusong Pinoy Award. Pusong Pinoy means "a Filipino heart." Filipino leaders chose him after a personal interview, for his work helping Filipinos grow.
His YouTube channel about life in the Philippines has more than 34,000 subscribers and more than 4.8 million views. He has been interviewed on Philippine radio and writes for Diskurso, a Philippine publication.
"I keep meeting Filipinos who are better at their work than the clients paying them know. Kaya is where I help them get paid what that work is worth, without losing their health or their family time along the way." John Smulo
Meet Yanyan
Mariane "Yanyan" Labonete · Co-founder of Kaya
Yanyan is an accountant from Batangas who did what many Kaya members want to do. She left corporate work and started freelancing online. Her first client was in Texas, for part time bookkeeping. She started at US$3 an hour and raised her rate step by step to US$10.
Her road there was not straight. She studied accountancy and worked abroad as an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) in Saudi Arabia, for Japanese and German companies. Back home, she tried online selling in 2018 and insurance in 2019. During the pandemic she taught herself Facebook ads. Then she found her place: bookkeeping for clients abroad, through Upwork and OnlineJobs.ph.
Once she was earning, other accountants started asking her how she did it. So in 2021 she started Accounting PIFOLZ, a free Facebook community for accountants and bookkeepers. It now has more than 25,000 members. Members share how they find clients abroad, what to charge and how to keep the work.
What Yanyan runs
- Task-Wise VA Consultancy, founded in 2021. It helps companies in the United States and Australia hire Filipino accounting and admin staff.
- WorkSync Opum Solutions, cofounded in 2025 with accountants and Certified Public Accountants (CPAs). It does outsourced accounting and recruitment.
- World MasterClass Philippines, which she has led since July 2026. It runs business events and speaker training in Manila.
- Accounting PIFOLZ, her free community for accountants and bookkeepers, since 2021.
In Kaya, Yanyan runs the Facebook group. She welcomes new members, connects people who do the same work and helps choose the free classes.
Why we started Kaya
At every talk he gives, John meets the same kind of person: skilled, hard working, and paid far less than their work is worth abroad. Most of them do not know which of their skills foreign clients pay for, or how to reach those clients.
After each talk, those people went home and the connection ended. Kaya is the place where it continues: a free community where Filipinos learn from each other, find their starting point and grow together.
Bayanihan, the Filipino tradition of neighbors helping each other, is the model. Members share what works, warn each other about scams and celebrate each other's first foreign client.
Every member starts with the Skills Check
It shows which of your skills foreign clients pay for, and your next step. Free, about 5 minutes.
Start my free Skills CheckWhat Kaya is, and what it is not
- Kaya is a community first. The Facebook group, the classes and the tools are free.
- Kaya is not a course seller. Some events and courses cost money later, and they are always optional.
- Kaya is not an AI brand. AI is 1 topic among many.
- Kaya is not a recruiting or investment group. Those posts are not allowed.
The 6 areas of Kaya
- Skills and earning. Find what you are good at, get foreign clients and charge what your work is worth.
- Confidence. Speak up with clients, name your price and present your work without fear.
- Health. Sleep, energy and stress, for people who work night shifts or foreign hours.
- Family. Time with the people you work for, and limits on your work hours.
- Money. Save, build an emergency fund and avoid scams, when your income comes in dollars.
- Learning. New skills, including AI, explained in plain language.